History, Security

Senator Brownback opposes Bush plan

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A rather stunning critique of the Bush plan for troop escalations has come from the Republican Kansas Senator Sam Brownback:

“I do not believe that sending more troops to Iraq is the answer,” Brownback said while traveling in Iraq. “Iraq requires a political rather than a military solution.”

Brownback had previously supported a short-term surge of troops if it could help achieve long-term political stability, which the Bush Administration has said it hopes a troop surge will help achieve.

But Brownback rejected that argument after meeting this week with several Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and U.S. military commanders.

“I came away from these meetings convinced that the United States should not increase its involvement until Sunnis and Shi’a are more willing to cooperate with each other instead of shooting at each other,” Brownback said.

“The best way to reach a democratic Iraq is to empower the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own nation building,” Brownback concluded, saying it is not in U.S. interest to get deeply involved in sectarian strife.

Not surprisingly, Brownback’s comments also reflected the reality on the ground that Iraq may be moving dangerously towards balkanization.

I think many people, especially conservatives who back the President, do not realize that the surge is in fact a “flip-flop” from the Rumsfeld doctrine, which failed miserably. If you know anything about the early successes in the war, you might know that the wisdom of the Generals who asked for troops on the ground was overruled by Rummie and thus Bush.

Moreover, Rummie disbanded and dismissed US Army leaders who wanted to use classic counterinsurgency tactics with boots on the ground, instead favoring highly mobile and mechanized “Stryker” brigades. So Brownback is really echoing an opinion that it is too late to flip-flop and now implement what was dismissed by Rummie. The military role has been altered so much by executive mismanagement that a political solution is the best counterinsurgency plan for the current situation.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has just seen a new bill introduced (HR 413) that tries to repeal the legislation that gave the President the authority to invade Iraq:

A BILL

To repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243) and to require the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq .

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REPEAL OF PUBLIC LAW 107-243.

The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note) is hereby repealed.

SEC. 2. WITHDRAWAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM IRAQ .

The President of the United States shall provide for the withdrawal of units and members of the United States Armed Forces deployed in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in a safe and orderly manner.

It will be interesting if this brings up the argument again that the “Mission Accomplished” speech by Bush ended the scope of his authorization and the time spent since then has been unauthorized.

Energy, Security

ORV route designation

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The risks of off-road vehicle (ORV) use have become an increasingly serious issue for public land management. The U.S. Forest Service is now undertaking a motorized vehicle route designation process to regulate use on National Forest lands and minimize impact. Alternatively, I suppose, the vehicle owners/manufacturers could work to self-regulate and significantly reduce the impact of ORV so their routes would not have to be so limited. The hurdles to this latter approach appear to be at least twofold:

  1. Innovation in ORV has not been geared towards reducing impact. The converse, actually, it has been pressure from outside regulation that has led the manufacturers and consumers to become more aware of the externalities of ORV use. Innovation in the market regarding conservation thus has come as a result of regulation.
  2. Self-regulation by highly independent groups would still beg the question of how to prevent irresponsible use, which would likely end up becoming an argument for an independent/third-party enforcement agency, which just prolongs acknowledgment of the need for U.S. Forest Service involvement rather than providing a realistic alternative. There could be innovation here as well, such as using satellite tracking to ensure compliance, but this again raises questions of privacy, etc. that are historically best handled through a body of common law.

The groups impacted by ORV externalities include a wide variety of perspectives (bikers, hikers, campers, equestrians, hunters, fishers, conservationists, etc.) with a common goal of finding an ecologically sustainable, manageable, and enforceable ORV route. California has some interesting details available on their National Forest site that explains what has been happening:

The U.S. Forest Service ORV route designation entails a Five Step Process:

1. Compile an inventory of existing roads, trails, and routes used by wheeled vehicles;
2. Issue a Temporary Forest Order that prohibits wheeled vehicle use off of mapped/existing routes or open areas;
3. Develop site-specific proposals for changes to the National Forest System roads, trails and areas;
4. Conduct National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses of roads, trails, and areas for public motor vehicle use; and
5. Issue a Motor Vehicle Use Map showing National Forest System roads, trials, and areas authorized for public motor vehicle use.

“Wheeled” vehicles? Seems to bounce back and forth with “motor vehicle”. Wonder where the official definition of these terms might be.

Security

Test for Psychopaths

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A test reported by the BBC in 2004 suggested it could shed light on how to find psychopaths lurking in non-violent environments, such as your place of work:

Professor Robert Hare, of the University of British Columbia says “corporate psychopaths'” arrogance and focus helps them succeed.

They may also be superficially charming, prone to fly into rages and likely to take credit for colleague’s achievements.

[…]

“There’s lots of evidence that people who are highly motivated, highly successful – particularly in finance and business – have some of these psychotic traits.

“These are people who are extremely focussed on achieving their goals, and who are not too concerned about other people’s feelings.

“There are other people who have very narcissistic traits; they want to be centre-stage and their needs have to be put first.”

He added: “People do say that you’re a psychopath if you’re violent and a successful businessman if you’re not.”

That apparently led someone to propose a Bush Poll. It turns out 84% of people who used the test diagnosed the President of the US as a psychopath.

FINAL RESULTS: Out of 6,595 evaluations submitted, the average score is 32.3850. Discarding both high (40) and low (1) scores produces 5,540 submissions with an average of 31.0404.

4,499 respondents out of 6,595 (68 percent) rated President Bush’s public behavior as consistent with that of a psychopath by submitting evaluations with scores over 30.

A score higher than 30 supports a diagnosis of psychopathy (25 in some studies — 5,566 [84 percent] placed Bush in this category).

[…]

Forensic studies of prison populations have reported average scores of around 22 on PCL-R; “normal” control populations show an average score of around 5.

Poetry, Security

Plane Crash Poetry

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Security and risk managers always talk about plane crashes and the fear we should have about flying. Doing a little searching, I stumbled across a poem by Steve Wilson on The Catholic National Weekly that perhaps raises as many questions as it answers:

…trees. A handbag. Sunglasses.
A crystal vase. An Italian shoe beside

the road. The villagers remember
with calm faces. And of the days to follow,
that burgeoned winter-white, hesitant,
detached—what do they think?

They resign themselves like a scarf
to the will of the chill and ragged air.


5 a.m., outside Bucharest, Romania, 1995

Resign themselves to the will of the air? Touching imagery to mourn the tragic loss of life, but it hardly fits the definition of giant jets using forced air and thousands of gallons of fuel, as well as ultra-light carbon and aluminum construction, to fight the elements and boldly embrace science and challenge the laws of gravity.