I am a supporter of "not funding"-- that is, using the power of the purse vested with Congress to control the next phase of the Iraq debacle. When September arrives I will have less than no impact on the debate but I am preparing myself (as a citizen) for that magical month by using this time to do a Recess Reset, mentally recalibrating for the variety of arguments I can expect to hear from my betters.
Today I look at the words and ideas of Thomas P.M.Barnett. He is a corporate and military strategist/futurist who has advanced a comprehensive theory of Iraq that sounds technologically sophisticated but also practical due to his own vast Military and Corporate experience. He may be providing a final philosophical refuge to war supporters that doesn't sound completely insane. He's a coherent extremist, if you will.
Barnett is also involved with a company called Enterra Solutions that trades in tech-infrastructure and such heady concepts as Enterprise Resilience Management and Automated Rule Sets-- the company has contracts with the Port of Philadelphia and some entities in Kurdistan.
The Decision to Invade Iraq
Barnett supports, and still supports, the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Here's how he sees it in a "globo-techno-military-historical" context:
Big Bang refers to the implied (and sometimes openly voiced) strategy of the Bush Administration to trigger widespread political, social, economic and ultimately security change in the Middle East through the initial spark caused by the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and the hoped-for emergence of a truly market-based, democratic Arab state...The Big Bang was and still is a bold strategy by Bush, one that I support.
I say merely that it was irretrievably fucking dumb.
What Do We Do Now?
Barnett is a Military Loyalist, if nothing else, an optimistic, can-do guy who just wants to keep moving forward and play the hand he's been dealt. I'm from a military family so I can appreciate the attitude. Barnett likes the look of Kurdistan:
Yugoslavia didn't fall into place in a day. It did so in sequential chunks. Recognizing Kurdistan-the-success is crucial to keeping the Big Bang sequential instead of cumulative. Take what the board gives you, I say. And pull most U.S. troops eventually back to Kurdistan. Don't leave Iraq, but stay where you're welcome and accept a certain commute for certain necessary activities. Grow some lawn and stop only killing weeds. Then let others see where the grass is greener. Demonstration effects make globalization go round.
Well, here we go: redeployment, great... can we expect more attempts to push partitioning or some sort of modular reconfiguration of our endgame in Iraq, political solutions, Oil Law, training-- to somehow salvage what we have done? But there's this insurmountable problem and Barnett and I agree on it.
Bush and Republicans Are Made of Fail
We have got to get past this navel-gazing need to define "victory" in Iraq. It is strategically infantile to maintain a requirement that serves no purpose but to enhance our national self-esteem. The Big Bang isn't about getting credit. It's about getting what we want. Bush just seems like he's in over his head at this point, saying what he thinks he's supposed to say because his administration's run bone dry on strategic thought.
Correct. Bush and Republicans will continue to fail even by the standards of the mighty Big Bang, strategic alternatives will be ignored and/or mishandled by them. This is why I believe that Democrats in The House need to take control of this situation as Representatives of the will of the people. Not funding seems the only way to do so.
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