delayed due to network issues
John at OpFor writes there are only 8 Spectres. Eight?? Are we doing the equivalent of circling the bombers around the city to make it look like we have more (ala early Cold War Soviets “showing off” their “immense” strategic bombing fleet).
Preeti Aroon at Foreign Policy posted one way to strike at extremist “pop culture.” Ah, the power of association and persuasion at work.
Foreign Policy also lists “the world’s stupidest Fatwas.” Let’s remind people who can and cannot issue a fatwa and use that in our IO. Let’s start with UBL…
Tom Hayden has this sad diatribe at the Huffington Post:
But counter-insurgency, being based on deception, shadow warfare and propaganda, runs counter to the historic freedom of university life. Why then should Harvard collaborate? Is it now a violation of academic freedom to demand there be protocols limiting professors providing support and legitimacy for inherently secretive, classified and deliberately deceptive programs designed ultimately to kill people?
…the Pentagon occupation of the academic mind may last much longer than its occupation of Iraq, and may require an intellectual insurgency in response.
This is the same ivory tower argument of Roberto Gonzalez. Poor Tom doesn’t get it. He’s the screaming left liberal who apparently didn’t read the COIN manual or understand modern information war.
I have encountered the resistance poor Tom is putting up personally. Comporting with Carnes Lord’s quip that, “like journalists, public diplomats are liberal,” I fought a losing battle against this “liberal” side when I sought support for an open, cross-spectrum discussion on privatization of war and its impact (among other initiatives). Yes, it’s easy to keep your head in the sand and you won’t hear the bad thoughts, but your ass will get (sun)burned.
“But counter-insurgency, being based on deception, shadow warfare and propaganda, runs counter to the historic freedom of university life.”To me it seems that opposition to academic involvement in COIN stems from a misunderstanding of COIN, rather than from any real disagreement with the mission. That’s a good thing – it means that this is a failure in communication rather than some clash of principles. Educate the academics on what COIN really is (protecting the population, helping set up local institutions, etc.) and I think there will be less opposition.