Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pakistan to US: Stop missile strikes near border

"...Reflecting that frustration, U.S. military and CIA drones that patrol the frontier region are believed to have carried out at least 15 strikes since mid-August, including one that killed about 20 people at the home of a Taliban commander on Monday......The United States rarely confirms or denies involvement."

1 comment:

William deB. Mills said...

The stubborn insistence in Washington on pursuing the same tactics to solve major national problems regardless of how long those tactics continue to worsen the U.S. situation suggests that the real problem facing the U.S. is a fundamental failure of management. Repeated missile strikes on Pakistan are a case in point of the failure of the tactic of trying to achieve foreign policy goals through violence. Missile attacks rally support for anti-Western insurgents by harming and therefore angering the innocent. U.S. national security is being fundamentally mismanaged. Al Qua'ida could hardly be more satisfied at the way things are turning out.

A similar pattern of mismanagement regarding national financial policy has of course now become obvious to all: Wall Street foxes with appointments in Washington guarding the Wall Street hen house (the "hens" being the dollars that the American people have invested in the stock market).

It isn't about "terrorism." Nor is it about "small government." It's about managerial competence. Yes, one could well argue that it is about patriotism (in short supply among the elite) vs. corruption. But the corrupt will always be around. Only through competent management can corruption be controled and goals achieved.

We either need to simplify our huge national systems (e.g., the financial system and the national security system) by "downsizing" them--which will make us all poorer--or we need to learn to do a much better job of managing systems that have become almost impossible to understand. And just think, I never even mentioned health care!