I have a simple request: Is it possible for the Bush administration to go one day without fulfilling its critics’ direst predictions about its war aims and operational abilities? 
Yesterday, The Washington Monthly released my new article on the Bush administration’s grand plan for reforming the entire Middle East. One assertion many found difficult to believe was my claim that the administration would soon seek to provoke wars with Syria and Iran. Today, Don Rumsfeld threatened both countries with just that. Admittedly, this creates some extra buzz for the article and this website as well. But frankly, Don, TPM is doing okay and, buddy, you’re starting to get a kinda scary.
The language Rumsfeld used was key. He basically accused the Syrians of committing acts of war against the United States. The key wording was: “We have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night-vision goggles. These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces. We consider such trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable for such shipments.”
Now, what makes this really weird is that background briefings at the Pentagon suggest that we’re not reacting to anything new. Rather, this is a long-standing issue we’ve had with the Syrians — presumably a subset of our larger issue with their sanctions-busting.
This invites a pretty obvious question: was this the best day to bring it up? I’m no expert on the military art. But I have the impression we’ve got our hands full at the moment.
Here’s another question …
Let’s assume Bill Clinton had launched the country on a major war on the other side of the globe. Clinton’s top military advisors had told him and his Sec Def that he was sending them to war gravely under-gunned, without all they needed to get the job done and protect the lives of American troops. Then let’s assume that Clinton and his Sec Def ignored their advice. He and the Sec Def told the generals they didn’t understand how modern wars were fought and sent them out anyway. And then let’s assume that the generals and admirals warnings were rapidly confirmed on the battlefield with a bogged down offensive and an escalating number of American casualties. Do you think Clinton and his Sec Def might be in some hot water? Yeah, me too.
Joseph Galloway, a storied old war reporter, was on Lou Dobbs show this evening and walked through the whole sorry story. In 
its outlines it was basically what I’ve been telling you on this site for several days. But obviously Galloway knows a lot more about war-fighting doctrines than I do and also much better sources. So he laid out the story with gripping, sorrowful detail. Basically, the Rumsfeldians thought a new day had dawned in the annals of war. The old doctrines were out the window. And the fuddy-duddies with the uniforms and medals just didn’t understand. Now it seems like they knew something after all.
Finally, is it time — strictly for humanitarian reasons — to set up a journalistic no-fly-zone to give some sanctuary for the hawks who’ve been telling us for months that a few good SWAT Teams could take down Saddam’s regime.
I mean, think about Ken Adelman, who a year ago said that Iraq would be a cakewalk. (Okay, what did he really say? Ummm, well “I believe demolishing Hussein’s military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk.” I think that counts as calling it a cakewalk.) Now he’s been driven to the hills by reportorial fedayeen. He’s run ragged, exposed to the elements, and short on food. Or what about Richard Perle, who said Saddam’s regime was “a house of cards [which would] collapse at the first whiff of gunpowder.” Sure, AEI would like to send out a relief mission. But most of their troops have run off to the hills with those makeshift tarp-and-cardboard tents like Adelman and Perle. And well — how to put this? — let’s just say they’re just not in much of a position to beg relief from the UNHCR. Can’t we at least protect these war-hawk worthies from fixed-wing aircraft, if nothing else? Toss ’em some MREs from the spare C-130? I mean, just for humanitarian purposes.
