At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Chamber Foundation, located in Wahington D.C. on 1615 H Street NW, held its National Security Foreum this morning with Army Brig. General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director for plans and policy at U.S. Central Command. Kimmitt discussed counterterrorism operations in the Middle East, future trends and conficts in the region and their global implications. Among his statements included the assertion that detainee deaths at Guantanomo and abroad were "propaganda", although he gave no evidence to back up this claim and referred the question to the Pentagon.
The 90 minute lecture and Q and A were illuminating, if nothing else. The General spoke grandly of the great gains made by the U.S. military in the region, despite news reports to the contrary. Asserting that the problem was simply the media's non-reporting of such events, he touted operations by the Marines to set up hospitals and distribute medical care (presumably after destroying the areas in question, of course--you know, carrot and the stick, drop the bomb then hand out candy bars).
Naturally, Kimmitt had no comment regarding how such "non-reporting" may have more to do with the embedding of journalists within narrow regions of Iraq, or the widespread lack of protection for reporters who venture from these regions. He stated that "100 planes" take off every day in Iraq, but you only hear about the ones that don't land. Apparently not understanding the definition of "news", Kimmitt linked this tendency of the media to not report positive events as contributing to a potential decline in the morale of soldiers (a notion, incidentally, he virulently denies is currently happening) and hence, their mission performance.
The General does a nice two-step in this area, as does the whole party line regarding Iraq: Keep up the support for the war, or our performance will suffer (not that it's happening of course) and we will repeat the more sadder events in our history (Vietnam analogy, although this is not ANYTHING like Vietnam now, of course). Interesting. Apparently, losing in Vietnam was the fault of the protestors and dissidents who refused to go and kill gooks. It had nothing to do with the widespread resistance to our occupation, and never even mind the horrors of civilian deaths (millions) caused by the war...no, the problem was the damn long hairs and their democratic ways. Just like today, in Iraq.
Get all that? Apparently, any comparison to Vietnam is off the table unless, of course, one doesn't support the war, and then we are repeating the lessons of Vietnam.
This jackass actually says this (paraphrased, of course) to a room full of Dow Chemical represetatives and they swallow it whole. Unbelievable.
One of the points of the General's appearance was to stress the unwillingness of the military to extend itself permanently in Iraq, but to maintain a presence in the Middle East for "months and probably years" to promote "democracy". In delicious irony, Kimmitt (or perhaps the organizers) did not allow questions to be taken from the media present on this or any other topic. Apparently, this was done in the hopes of promoting a free exchange of ideas and to strengthen the promise of democracy.
So to sum up: progress in Iraq is good, our presence is altruistic and humane, the reported deaths of over 100 detainees is propaganda, support the mission and the troops, don't repeat the lessons of Vietnam by opposing the war, and no questions from the media please.