Richard Haas of the Council on Foreign Relations can’t stand GWB’s stupidity any more.
I missed this at the time. Maybe you did too.
Shortly after the war in Lebanon broke out, the Beloved Leader opined:
“This moment of conflict in the Middle East is painful and tragic. Yet it is also a moment of opportunity for broader change in the region. Transforming countries that have suffered decades of tyranny and violence is difficult, and it will take time to achieve. But the consequences will be profound for our country and the world.”
That proved too much for Richard Haass, director of policy planning for the State Department under Bush the First. Haass is a credentialed Republican. Moreover, as President of the Council on Foreign Relations, he has a professional and organizational interest in keeping on speaking terms with the powers-that-be. Yet he responded:
An opportunity? Lord, spare me! I don’t laugh a lot. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time. If this is an opportunity, what’s Iraq? A once-in-a-lifetime chance?
Precisely.
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
View all posts by Mark Kleiman
Really, I'm just too f*cking stupid to live. Would someone please, please put me out of my misery?
Thank Heaven for the delete key!
Haass spells his name with a double s.
Also, he was director of policy planning under Powell–i.e., Dubya's first term, not Bush 41.
http://www.cfr.org/bios/3350/richard_haass.html
[Corrected – MK]
Well, that comment was certainly helpful.