Mechanisms of control

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One might wonder how things seem to move so smoothely along the Bush - Neocon approved path. What happened to all those career folks who are in government service? You know, those folks who are there administration after administration? Folks have said that conspiracies are virtually impossible in Washington because too many people would have to know. Well guess again.

An article by Karen Kwiatkowski (recently retired AF Lieutenant Colonel) Career Officer Does Eye-Opening Stint Inside Pentagon (7/31/03, Beacon Journal), is an eye-opener for the process. Here are some excerpts that point the way (emphases are mine):

"Functional isolation of the professional corps. Civil service and active-duty military professionals assigned to the USDP/NESA and SP were noticeably uninvolved in key areas of interest to Undersecretary for Policy Douglas Feith, Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld. These included Israel, Iraq and to a lesser extent, Saudi Arabia."

"In terms of Israel and Iraq, all primary staff work was conducted by political appointees, in the case of Israel a desk officer appointee from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and in the case of Iraq, Abe Shulsky and several other appointees. These personnel may be exceptionally qualified; Shulsky authored a 1993 textbook Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence."

And who are these appointees?

"Cross-agency cliques: Much has been written about the role of the founding members of the Project for a New American Century, the Center for Security Policy and the American Enterprise Institute and their new positions in the Bush administration. Certainly, appointees sharing particular viewpoints are expected to congregate, and an overwhelming number of these appointees having such organizational ties is neither conspiratorial nor unusual. What is unusual is the way this network operates solely with its membership across the various agencies -- in particular the State Department, the National Security Council and the Office of the Vice President."

Kwiatkowski's report is substantiated (at least in part) by the flurry of Iraq finger-pointing ireflected in Pentagon Civilians' Lack of Planning Contributed to Chaos in Iraq (Landay & Strobel, 7/12/03, Kight-Ridder).

So how does one make ones plans, carry out specific agendas? First, as noted above, by assigning the "important" intelligence, planning and monitoring tasks to political appointees. By placing these appointees in critical positions across agencies and having them communicate and work together, an informal level of control pervades any checks and balances system.

This approach is frightening in its simplicity. So simple in fact that one has to wonder why it hasn't been standard practice. What Kwiatkowski seems to indicate though is that this "clique" operates and communicates almost solely within its own membership. This is something that goes beyond the framework of the "shadow government" that was revealed in the wake of 9/11/01 (the hiding of hundreds of people deep underground to ensure the "Continuity of Government" in the event of a massive disaster Shadow Government Is at Work in Secret 3/1/02, Gellman & Schmidt, Wa.Post). Nor does it fit the definition of "shadow government" utilized (primarily) by the extremist right of "Jews" trying to take over the world. Rather, this is more like a coup.

Certainly, this is a regime that prefers secrecy -- as has been demonstrated repeatedly in the news. Examples include: restricting the release of Presidential papers and record, Cheney's refusal to release his energy-related sidebars, Ashcroft and the ignoring of the Freedom of Information Act, etc. But then, perhaps it comes "naturally" with Shrub joining "The Skulls" (as did dad and granddad).

The depiction of "insiders" running their own game smacks of conspiracy to me. The idea of an insider's game, with the full resources of the US economy and military behind it, is a frightening scenario to say the least. The reality of it boggles the mind.

Posted by rowan at August 6, 2003 04:19 PM | Printable Version | [eMail this article!] |