Thought Theater

It's A War; Not A PR Campaign genre: Just Jihad & Six Degrees of Speculation

They just don't get it! The calls, by numerous retired generals, for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld along with criticism of this administration's ongoing execution of the war in Iraq are being met with a public relations strategy. Early reports indicate that the meeting between Rumsfeld and a group of retired military leaders today was more about devising a winning message than trying to devise a better war strategy.

If I correctly understand the call for Rumsfeld to resign, it comes after these generals have concluded that so long as Rumsfeld remains in his position, the war strategy cannot and will not be changed. Hence, if these generals have concluded that the strategy won’t work and must change, then calling for Rumsfeld to resign is simply acknowledging the only avenue available whereby the changes they support can be implemented.

This administration’s myopic view seems to simply meet criticism of policy with a revised political strategy. These efforts are demonstrated by the numerous talking heads that are attempting to undermine the remarks of former generals critical of the Secretary of Defense’s handling of the war. Rushing to announce a briefing with a group of military strategists is more of the same. The longstanding objections to Rumsfeld are primarily focused on his intransigence. Gathering a group of chosen military consultants is akin to hiring cheerleaders. They make for good photo-ops, they attract attention, but they can’t salvage a victory if the team doesn’t know how to execute a winning game plan.

This behavior merely adds an exclamation mark to the assertion that the need to vindicate the ideological leanings of this administration repeatedly takes priority over the troubling realities on the ground. The dangers of an administration of ideologues is that they are inclined to see all criticism as nothing more than an ideological push-back motivated by political considerations. There is an obvious irony to this situation. While the criticism is likely not about ideology, the consequences of interpreting it as so have implications far greater than political advantage. Perhaps it’s nothing more than the boy that cried wolf, when initiating this war, being unable to accept that others may be speaking words that are both sincere and factual. Regardless, reality trudges forward in this mire we call Iraq.