Well, it was a nice thought. (See previous post.) I was actually starting to half-believe all the happy horseapples about how we maybe killed SH with that first attack on the bunker and the regime was going to come apart quickly as a result. If that were the case, or even a reasonable probability, the current big bombing raid on Baghdad wouldn’t seem to make much sense.
I’m not sure what pushed the button; maybe the oilfield fires? Anyway, now we get to see how smart the smart bombs really are.
As usual, the politicians are sanguine, and the results are likely to be sanguinary.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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