DonS Says:
August 24th, 2014 at 12:55 am

Also, the biggest failings in Bush’s handling of the wars was actually not the wars themselves, but the aftermath. The occupation and rebuilding were the parts the Bush administration did poorly, underestimating the issues they would face in those phases.

Acording to Douglas J. Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy for United States under President George W. Bush, Bush did not intend to occupy Iraq for long. Instead he intended to quickly turn Iraq over to governance by Iraqi exiles. According to Feith, Paul Bremer did not implement Pres. Bush’s plan.

Also, the biggest failings in Bush’s handling of the wars was actually not the wars themselves, but the aftermath. The occupation and rebuilding were the parts the Bush administration did poorly, underestimating the issues they would face in those phases. One issue was the Democrats, who proved willing to put interests of Party ahead of country.

J.J. Says:
August 22nd, 2014 at 9:57 pm …

The atrocities are aimed at the collective will of the citizenry. The jihadis have studied how North Vietnam used propaganda and quislings within our ranks to destroy our will to keep supporting South Vietnam. Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, ISIS, and others are all trying to win through propaganda designed to break the collective will of their enemies.

An excellent observation JJ. There are other ways of viewing their behavior I think.

Nietzsche observed and criticized how thoroughly Western Civilization is infused with empathy for the victim. He attributed it to “Jewish slave morality”. Nietzsche observed and applauded how (non-Judeao/Christian) Pagan societies were not so encumbered.

I suspect ISIS’s atrocities are inward directed much the same way Roman imperial atrocities were broadcast, celebrated and memorialized for internal audiences. Those atrocities were used in no small part to unify and legitimatize the empire by scapegoating the victims. Nietzsche understood and applauded.

This we don’t seem to grasp.

Further, the jihadists seem to have identified and are exploiting vulnerability in our society.

I will borrow from a recent Legal Insurrection post:

Misleading Initial Narrative of Zimmerman-Martin Case Applied in Ferguson
Posted by Andrew Branca Tuesday, August 19, 2014 at 12:30pm

A Too-Familiar Misinformation Cascade

This most recent high-profile shooting has also seen the deployment of a too-familiar misinformation cascade in cases where there is a real or perceived racial element. This misinformation cascade achieves its purpose by taking what few “facts” are typically available in the immediate aftermath of such an event, and passing them through a rhetorical filter to construct two defining narrative elements:

* The pure victim: An image of the victim as an innocent, nearly saint-like, young child of such tender years as to suggest that the very notion of him committing an act of malice is preposterous.

* The monstrous aggressor: An image of the shooter as an angry, hateful, racist monster with a hunger for shooting young black children dead in circumstances totally absent of legal justification.

This is precisely the same propaganda strategy the Islamicists have used to foil and demonizel Israel’s recent defense against Hizbullah and Hamas genociders. I fear this propaganda strategy is gaining ground in the USA.

southpaw Says:
August 22nd, 2014 at 5:17 pm …

Then we investigate the possibility of bringing the criminals who beheaded Foley to NY for a vigorous trial, after appointing him an army of defense attorneys and opening an ISIS Beheaders Defense Fund.

Then we allow the ACLU to file a lawsuit against the US government for violating the rights of the beheaders…

Before his appointed as US Attorney General in 2009, Eric Holder was a managing partner with Covington & Burling. During his tenure as a Covington & Burling managing partner, Covington & Burling provided more pro-bono legal aid to terrorists held in detention in Guanté¡namo Bay than any other American group. I seem to recall that it provided no pro-bono legal support for American servicemen charged with various crimes during the GWoT.

During Eric Holder’s tenure as Covington & Burling managing partner, his firm touted its relationship with Institution Quraysh.

This is how Wikipedia describes Institution Quraysh

Institution Quraysh for Law & Policy, also known as iQ, is a transnational law firm, and think-tank with offices in Doha, Jeddah, and London. The institution’s primary area of focus is the Arab World, in particular the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It advises regional, and international corporations operating in the region, in addition to policy work with national governments, sovereign entities, and international non-governmental organisations.

iQ is affiliated with the Washington, D.C.-based global law firm Covington & Burling LLP, with both firms providing legal and consulting services jointly to clients in the Middle East and the wider Arab World.

Institute Quraysh touts its extensive connections with Qatar. Qatar funneled approximately $1/2 billion of weapons supplied by the US to Islamic hardliners among the Syrian rebels. Qatar supports ISIS. Qatar supports Hamas. Qatar supports the Muslim Brotherhood.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2014/0418/Behind-Qatar-s-bet-on-the-Muslim-Brotherhood

In light of AG Eric Holder’s early and continued efforts to free Islamicist detainees held at Guanté¡namo Bay, a Qatari goal I understand, I’ve often wondered to what degree Eric Holder’s appointment as US Attorney General is an instance of regulatory capture.

Again from Wikipedia:

Regulatory capture is a form of political corruption that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or special concerns of interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating. Regulatory capture is a form of government failure; it creates an opening for firms to behave in ways injurious to the public (e.g., producing negative externalities). The agencies are called “captured agencies”.

For public choice theorists, regulatory capture occurs because groups or individuals with a high-stakes interest in the outcome of policy or regulatory decisions can be expected to focus their resources and energies in attempting to gain the policy outcomes they prefer, while members of the public, each with only a tiny individual stake in the outcome, will ignore it altogether.[1] Regulatory capture refers to the actions by interest groups when this imbalance of focused resources devoted to a particular policy outcome is successful at “capturing” influence with the staff or commission members of the regulatory agency, so that the preferred policy outcomes of the special interest groups are implemented.

Regulatory capture theory is a core focus of the branch of public choice referred to as the economics of regulation; economists in this specialty are critical of conceptualizations of governmental regulatory intervention as being motivated to protect public good.

Often cited articles include Bernstein (1955), Huntington (1952), Laffont & Tirole (1991), and Levine & Forrence (1990). The theory of regulatory capture is associated with Nobel laureate economist George Stigler, one of its main developers.

I wish the Republicans would start wrapping the carnage, mayhem, bloodbaths and inaction on America’s part around Hillary’s faux blond head very soon. Our side can’t let them get any ground with her bleating, “I TOLD Him..” and, “I repeatedly made it clear to the President..”, etc., etc.

Hilly, Honey Bunny, YOU were his Sec’y of State. Other than putting a tanker load of miles on airplanes, there’s NO evidence that you did squat. Except, of course, help Obama broadcast weakness, lack of interest and testicular concavitude to a watching-listening world.

That’s a psychological state. Why is that? If it’s because of the Left’s propaganda, then the fix begins with taking a step back and correcting the Left’s propaganda from the basic premises, eg, explain that the decision for Operation Iraqi Freedom was right on the law and justified on the policy.

Cure patient zero. Set the record straight first, then take the steps from there to reprogram We The People’s collective mental state. See the weariness drain away and the conviction rise.