...as much as it bugged me to put money in his pocket, given that I'm working on an OIF decisionmaking project and will be doing interviews after my book comes out, I need to know what's in it. I'm only 30 pages in it--it's articulate and well-written, but I can already see the seeds being sowed for the "stab in the back" argument.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
Libraries seem so....socialistic. I prefer to own the means of production.
Tsk, tsk - I thought you folks got rid of slavery, Steve? I mean, after all, Feith produced the book, so it is only logical to view him as the means of production .
Not at all, Rex! I'm shocked (but not "appalled" ) that you would think so! After seeing him on that 60 minutes interview, I am firmly of the opinion that he has had a Road to Damascus type of conversion experience and is now solidly in the Green Party / Earth First camp. After all, he has produced such an amazingly large amount of organic fertilizer....
Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
Senior Research Fellow,
The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
Carleton University
http://marctyrrell.com/
that would be Feith-based "intelligence" and associated higher-level thought...MarcT: Not at all, Rex! I'm shocked (but not "appalled" ) that you would think so! After seeing him on that 60 minutes interview, I am firmly of the opinion that he has had a Road to Damascus type of conversion experience and is now solidly in the Green Party / Earth First camp. After all, he has produced such an amazingly large amount of organic fertilizer....
He is articulate; so was Jim Jones. No wonder GEN Franks liked him so much
Tom
PS
Steve please read each word twice and that will count for me...
Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
Senior Research Fellow,
The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
Carleton University
http://marctyrrell.com/
I know but we are GOOD at being mean
here is another bit from yet another beacon of higher intellect:
And that would be after the SecDef dismissed said countries as "Old Europe"...Inside the Ring
Feith Speaks:
...For example, Mr. Feith criticizes former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage for the failure of diplomacy in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion.
Mr. Feith said Mr. Powell did not make any speeches in France or Germany as part of efforts to win support from those countries, and failed to win Turkey's backing for a northern invasion route into Iraq, which seriously hampered the war effort.
Now drink your Koolaid, read some more, and take a nice nap...
Amazon already has 14 used books available, saving nearly 40%
Must be a quick read
If you want to blend in, take the bus
While the level of repartee and rapier-like wit is gratifying...really, it's like having a seat at the Algonquin Round Table...could someone give us ignorant folks a paragraph or two on what exactly makes Mr. Feith the dastardly ignoramus he appears to be?
Try here as a start...
Hi Eden,
Some of it comes from the fact that he was one of the primary architects of the push to invade Iraq and is now attempting to blame everything that went wrong on other people. Basically, he is taking no responsibility for his actions at all. What is even worse, at least for me, is that he seems to have convinced himself that he is not to blame - either that or he is an excellent liar (which is possible...). At best, he is self-deluded and, as with many charismatic ideologues, invites others to share in that delusion.
Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
Senior Research Fellow,
The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
Carleton University
http://marctyrrell.com/
Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
Senior Research Fellow,
The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
Carleton University
http://marctyrrell.com/
I'm only 70 pages or so in, but I've noticed that Feith keeps stating over and over that in the weeks after September 11, the administration decided the enemy was a "network," not an organization. It's pretty easy to see where this is going--it's setting the stage for a defense of the Iraq decision.
But my initial thought is that pretty much everyone who has analyzed how one destroys a network focuses on the need to identify and neutralize critical nodes. I'm anxious to see the logic that makes Iraq a critical node in the transnational terrorist network.
Now, nose back to the grindstone....
I heard his rap on the Diane Rehm show, a DC area NPR affiliate. Here's the page, there's a link there to an audio feed.
She poked him in the eyes a couple of times. He's deft with his spin, has his story, is sticking to it. Remarkable how prescient he comes off in his telling.
I hope no one on the bus got hurt when it bumped over Powell.
As you know, I do not subscribe to any of the impedimenta proselytised in the new theories of war, such as networks,
...but my understanding of such gobbledegook was that you attacked the linkages between the nodes and not the nodes themselves, as the power of the "network" is in the linking mechanism. If not, then the nodes are merely "layers" in a hierarchy.
...now back to the book written by some guy called S. Metz
Infinity Journal "I don't care if this works in practice. I want to see it work in theory!"
- The job of the British Army out here is to kill or capture Communist Terrorists in Malaya.
- If we can double the ratio of kills per contact, we will soon put an end to the shooting in Malaya.
Sir Gerald Templer, foreword to the "Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya," 1958 Edition
Not quite Wilf,
A network system that is tightly coupled like a hiearchy, political hegemony, or military social network if you attack the connectors then the nodes will faill. Imagine cutting command and control and you get the idea.
If the network is loosely coupled the network connections may be loosely coupled and the nodes themselves are the point to attack. In cell networks the coupling may be one direction and one to many. Cutting the network connections will have little effect.
In loosely coupled social networks (especially) the nodes may not all be of the same importance and they can be disturbed or placed into an instable state by interupting critical points. This is true if there is a primary ideological focus, it is very true if there is a financial or social capital focus, and in the case of social movements thought leaders can become the critical locus.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
The key term is critical nodes.Originally Posted by William F. Owen
Eliminating a link between identified operational elements (e.g. the cut-out is the link, the agent is one node and the handler is another) results in only temporary disruption of that part of the network. Whether you capture or kill the individual acting as a physical cut-out, or shut down the website acting as a virtual cut-out, its the same thing - both can be replaced without significant effort.
Eliminating the agent is also just a temp disruption. Another can be recruited, and handlers tend to run intel cells in parallel, just for that contingency - as well for corroboration of information.
The critical node in this simplistic example is the handler. Eliminate him and the entire intel network he had running is done; capture him and there is significant potential of not only rolling up his net, but of attacking higher in the network.
This same basic principle described for the intel cell holds for logistics and operational cells, and for the network as a whole. Destroying links only temporarily disrupts the network. Identifying and eliminating critical nodes is how you eventually destroy the network.
However, in practice, when dealing with a group that competently structures its clandestine organization, you are often forced to settle for the temporary disruptions and hope that the information gleaned eventually leads to effective targeting of critical nodes for destruction. It is a long and painstaking process - unless you get incredibly lucky.
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