Comments on: 80% of the way toward chaos

By: doretta

doretta — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 00:50:53 +0000

It’s been displayed very nicely for us this week.
John Kerry is incompetent at standup comedy and George Bush is incompetent at everything else.

By: no_backbone

no_backbone — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 00:00:13 +0000

“Now that John Kerry’s incompetence at stand-up comedy is no longer dominating the news, can we start paying attention to the huge story Kerry’s gaffe stepped on?”
Only if you apologize first.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 19:54:26 +0000

I hadn’t seen the full image before (with the key reads and additional indicators).
I have to say reading the key is a bit confusing. Given GW’s need to have things spelled out precisely, I hope the presentation was better than the figure.
For example:
-Political/religious leaders increase public hostile rhetoric
- Unorganized spontaneous mass civil conflict
You might think these were problems by definition, but they’re the only issues marked “routine” (green). So are they non-existent, or just minor issues compared to the real problems of the country?
-Army ineffectual
and
-Kurdish accelerate moves toward secession
These are only yellow, so can we just ignore those for now?
The only Indicator in the red is low level violence motivated by sectarian differences. Considering how far into the red the “Index of Civil Conflict” is, I’d have to guess that’s the big problem. But it sounds so unimportant. “Low level violence”? “Sectarian differences”? Nothing an anger management counselor couldn’t take care of.
Maybe “Sectarian death squads control the streets” would have been a better caption.

By: JMG

JMG — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 19:40:53 +0000

Dear Mark: I regard this chart as a cry for help from the American military. “Please voters, help get us out of this.”
In 2004, the CIA made the same plea and the voters ignored them. This time….
Armies have more guns than spies. I am not casting any aspersions on the patriotism of the American military when I point out self-preservation is the first law of institutional nature as well as human nature.
There have been many other societies where a military under the same stress as ours would’ve ALREADY overthrown the civilian government.

By: Cranky Observer

Cranky Observer — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:55:41 +0000

> Classified for exactly what reason?
Well, yeah, _I_ agree with you there!
I am just commenting on where the Mighty Wurlitzer(tm) is going to take this by Monday.
Cranky

By: Bargain Countertenor

Bargain Countertenor — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:16:44 +0000

Classified, yes.
Classified for exactly what reason?
There’s nothing in here that isn’t available in public sources. There is only one reason for classifying a synthesis of public sources. First, that it tells folks that the people wearing the uniforms in the Pentagon think things are beyond SNAFU, and beyond FUBAR.
BushCo doesn’t want US to know that the military thinks things are this f***ed up. Hence the classification. No national security interests are compromised by this document. Personally, I find it reassuring to learn that somebody in that funny building has a handle on things.
BC

By: Cranky Observer

Cranky Observer — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:06:52 +0000

The pushback is already rolling on this: the slide is a “classified document” and by publishing it the NYT has confirmed itself as a hotbed of treason.
Cranky