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Seven Days in January
How the Pentagon Counts Coups in Washington
By Tom Engelhardt TomDispatch
Defense Secretary Robert Gates testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009, before the Senate Armed Services Committee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sometimes it pays to read a news story to the last paragraph where a reporter can slip in that little gem for the news jockeys, or maybe just for the hell of it. You know, the irresistible bit that doesn’t fit comfortably into the larger news frame, but that can be packed away in the place most of your readers will never get near, where your editor is likely to give you a free pass.
So it was, undoubtedly, with New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller, who accompanied Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as he stumbled through a challenge-filled, error-prone two-day trip to Pakistan. Gates must have felt a little like a punching bag by the time he boarded his plane for home having, as Juan Cole pointed out, managed to signal “that the U.S. is now increasingly tilting to India and wants to put it in charge of Afghanistan security; that Pakistan is isolated… and that Pakistani conspiracy theories about Blackwater were perfectly correct and he had admitted it. In baseball terms, Gates struck out.”
In any case, here are the last two paragraphs of Bumiller’s parting January 23rd piece on the trip:
Mr. Gates, who repeatedly told the Pakistanis that he regretted their country’s ‘trust deficit’ with the United States and that Americans had made a grave mistake in abandoning Pakistan after the Russians left Afghanistan, promised the military officers that the United States would do better.
His final message delivered, he relaxed on the 14-hour trip home by watching ‘Seven Days in May,’ the cold war-era film about an attempted military coup in the United States.”
Just in case you’ve forgotten, three major cautionary political films came out in the anxiety-ridden year of 1964, not so long after the Cuban Missile crisis — of which only Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick’s classic vision of the end of the world, American-style, is much remembered today. (“I don’t say we wouldn’t get our hair mussed, but I do say no more than ten to twenty million people killed.”)
All three concerned nuclear politics, “oops” moments, and Washington. The second was Fail Safe, in which a computerized nuclear response system too fast for human intervention malfunctions and fails to stop an erroneous nuclear attack on Moscow, forcing an American president to save the world by nuking New York City. It was basically Dr. Strangelove done straight (though it’s worth pointing out that Americans loved to stomp New York City in their fantasies long before 9/11).
Read more at TomDispatch.
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=13082
Posted by Bob Higgins on Feb 1 2010, Filed under AfPak, WarZone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Gates is an idiot, Bush brought him aboard as a token..Now you see the real Gates red nose and all…must be a heavy drinker like the author or this article…I hear all Marines are nothing more then a bunch of drunks…
Dennis – “all Marines are a bunch of drunks”??????????!!!!!!!! One can only hope a few marines can find out who you are and beat the crap out of you. I’m not and have never been a marine and I’d like to slap you silly but what would be the point – you’ve already shown yourself to be way beyond silly.
Please, if you use up all the exclamation points and question marks in a single comment;
what are the rest of us supposed to use when we become quizzical or enthused?
Oh good! There was still one of each left.
Oh. But I am one of America’s elite rich. It never occurred to me that I might be being greedy. I only took what I deserved. Maybe the Fed. Reserve can create some more.
Frances.. are you really rich, or do you have rich friends that would like to help some busted up Veterans of war get back on there feet, if so please consider helping those in need… please see http://www.greenrecovery.org badly in need of funds to assist Veterans recovery and reintegration. paul@greenrecovery.org
WHERE WARS ARE WON OR LOST
Wars are waged by older men
In battle rooms in countries apart.
Who call for greater firepower
And troops for the combat chart.
While out among the shattered flesh
The dreams of all have turned gray.
So young and determined their faces were
Till on the battlefield they lay.
Unable to overcome their pride
The politicians cast their vote.
For this or that or something else
As the rage of war sounds its note.
Wherever wars are won or lost
The soldiers fall like toys.
Down through history it remains the same
Most who die are hardly more than boys.
Like monkeys in a revolving cage
Man squabbles for the peanuts of power.
When will we rise above our greed
And become as a beautiful flower?
Death to death, dust to dust
The wrath of war is a horrible crime.
It’s the beast within that still prevails
As it has through the torments of time.
By Soldier For The Lord
Tom Zart
Most Published Poet
On The Web
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[...] This is a supplement to Bob Higgins’ post on Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in Seven Days in January: How the Pentagon Counts Coups in Washington [...]