The Long War, the Wrong War, and the War Against Vision

As mentioned here before, Darth Rumsfeld has recently spoken of his plans for the future of your tax dollars, the lives of your children possibly, and maybe even your life too.

The first step in seizing control of people's minds is to stake a claim on the language they use to describe an idea. Thus we now find the blank check for endless war has been given a monniker that reeks of propaganda designed to appeal to Greatest Generation wanna-bees, the Long War.

You can find the whole hoary document here as .pdf file (with a tip o' the tinfoil hat to dr. sardonicus).

The BBC has concisely summarized the verbiage on "information operations" here and the greater plan here:

The document identifies four categories of threat:

* Traditional challenges - other nation states fielding conventional militaries which will compete with the US

* Irregular challenges - terrorism and insurgency chief among them

* Catastrophic challenges - the use of weapons of mass destruction by international terrorist networks or "rogue states"

* Disruptive challenges - an enemy's ability to counter or interfere with US capabilities, perhaps through new technologies.

Xan says it seems Americans who diss Dear Leader or the manliness of Darth Rumsfeld and write or talk about it fall into the last category:

WASHINGTON -- The government concluded its "Cyber Storm" wargame Friday, its biggest-ever exercise to test how it would respond to devastating attacks over the Internet from anti-globalization activists, underground hackers and bloggers.

Bloggers?

Participants confirmed parts of the worldwide simulation challenged government officials and industry executives to respond to deliberate misinformation campaigns and activist calls by Internet bloggers, online diarists whose "Web logs" include political rantings and musings about current events.

At least we don't have American nukes and Death Stars aimed at us. For a different slant, let's look at the Chinese government-sanctioned analysis (as any website out of Hong Kong must be) of the situation. Written for American consumption by an Arab private contractor for the D.o'D. based in Alexandria, Virginia (read the credits at the bottom of the linked page), of course, and thus likely to be its own kind of propaganda on multiple levels:

"Long War" is the Pentagon's latest template to fight the "war on terror". The importance of this concept will be signified by the fact that it will be capitalized in all future official military documents, a la "Cold War". The expectation is that eventually it will catch on the same way as "war on terror", which was in the process of being replaced by another phrase, "war against extremism". However, that phrase was not catchy enough. The expectation is that "Long War" will be...

The Long War is an intricate concept. No one should dismiss it as just one more mindless phrase-making exercise in the jargon-laden world of the Pentagon. A lot of thinking seems to have been done before deciding to underscore it. There also appears to be an elaborate coordination between the Pentagon and the newly created office of the director of national intelligence (DNI). In his maiden appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee as DNI, John Negroponte identified terrorism as "the pre-eminent threat" to the US, both domestically and abroad, and the globalization of technology as a reason underlying the spread of weapons of mass destruction. (No one then missed the significance of the ongoing conflict between Iran and the US on the issue.)

In emphasizing the Long War, the US is developing its thinking along the same path that formulated the intricate concept of the Cold War. Considering that the US won that war, a powerful driving force underlying the Long War is that an elaborate and enduring strategy - which also contains a repertoire of political-military operations and tactics - would result in another victory.

Given the highly plan-oriented world of the US military, resources have to be allocated for several years in a row. For that reason alone, a military-oriented anchor had to be found to make a case for future military campaigns. During the Cold War years, there was that mammoth Soviet Union, which was depicted as a supposedly indefatigable and unrelenting enemy. However, when it imploded in 1991 - largely as a result of its acute internal contradictions and as a result of the severely misplaced planning that emphasized expenditures to build military power at the expense of economic power - no other enemy of a colossal proportion took its place. (China is being envisaged now in that capacity in Washington. However, realistically speaking, the military capabilities of that rising power are no match for the awesome conventional and nuclear prowess of the US.)

...In a synchronized endeavor, the US intelligence agencies (the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office, and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation) are preparing themselves to understand the intricacies related to global jihad. They stress whenever possible the long-term threats that global jihadis pose to the US, and are coordinating their actions and linking intelligence with the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, as well as the security agencies of America's allies...

That viewpoint is one amazing breakdown and window into the situation. As usual, what's not said with the rhetorical hooks is important in breaking down this piece of infotainment. Who's jihading whom, and does the jihad eminate from Mecca, Tehran, Tel Aviv, or Houston?

The other point is hilariously correct and ironic and a window into the competition's own strategery in the Long War on Terra. Let's repeat it to emphasize it:

...[the U.S.S.R] imploded in 1991 - largely as a result of its acute internal contradictions and as a result of the severely misplaced planning that emphasized expenditures to build military power at the expense of economic power...

Yes indeed. Ignore your own manufacturing and production infrastructure and human capital in the interests of producing a militaristic corporatist police state. Squelch and imprison the most creative in your society in the interest of control. Do your best to produce a post-modern post-industrial feudalism world wide, trashing your own economy to enrich the celebrities and aristocrats with the Right Stuff, and rewarding the Party middle management suck-ups on the corporate teat.

Watch the Patriots snuggle up for their Long War against reality as they slide down the Hubbert curve.

Pootie-poot thinks its funny, too.

Implode, beotches!