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| Obsessed With Iraq, We've Lost Sight Of The Rest Of The World | |
| 2006-12-03 | |
For the past few years, the dictators and terrorists have been gaining ground, and with good reason. The deepening catastrophe in Iraq has distracted the world's sole superpower from its true goals, and weakened the U.S. politically as well as militarily. With new congressional leadership threatening to make the same mistake--failing to see Iraq as only one piece of a greater puzzle--it is time to return to the basics of strategic planning. Thirty years as a chess player ingrained in me the importance of never losing sight of the big picture. Paying too much attention to one area of the chessboard can quickly lead to the collapse of your entire position. America and its allies are so focused on Iraq they are ceding territory all over the map. Even the vague goals of President Bush's ambiguous war on terror have been pushed aside by the crisis in Baghdad. The U.S. must refocus and recognize the failure of its post-9/11 foreign policy. Pre-emptive strikes and deposing dictators may or may not have been a good plan, but at least it was a plan. However, if you attack Iraq, the potential to go after Iran and Syria must also be on the table. Instead, the U.S. finds itself supervising a civil war while helplessly making concessions elsewhere. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #12 Politics is not chess, it is poker. In this case the player holding the Cards (bush) has folks yelling his cards and demanding to know every move prior to any move. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-12-03 22:40 |
| #11 Those of us who watched President Reagan and Elliot Abhrams export US model democracy and prosperity to Latin America, have to wonder why the leftist wreckers are returning to office. The model worked, and I saw it in person in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia and Central America. Unfortunately, Latin Americans are buying quick fix Jimmy Carter snake oil. Could anything have been done to maintain Reagan-Abhrams? |
| Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550 2006-12-03 21:34 |
| #10 Hmmm..Obsessed With Iraq, We've Lost Sight Of The Rest Of The World America has always been accused of losing 'sight of the rest of the world', before, during, and most likely after Iraq. Maybe we pay attention to things we think are important to us! Wow, what a concept, not like any other nation seems to ignore what seems important to some people. Like I see all the hard work being done on Darfur by others. Maybe, our attention wouldn't be necessary if others actually started carrying the load and not simply pass resolutions and make proclamations about numerous and various crisis around the globe. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2006-12-03 16:53 |
| #9 lol "Bobby". Somehow I just knew you'd make an appearance (the bonefish told me so) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-03 09:16 |
| #8 Not smart enough to spell my own name. |
| Posted by: Bobby Fischer 2006-12-03 09:12 |
| #7 Kasparov is a dolt!!! He knows nothing!! Remember, "Almost everyone who has been around me turned out to be a secret agent working for the Jews, working for the CIA... The Jews have planted so many of their Jew agents and CIA rats all around me. So many people... Girlfriends, lawyers, everybody almost, turned out to be working for the CIA and the Jews! Unbelievable but true." Yes - I really believe this! |
| Posted by: Bobby Fisher 2006-12-03 09:11 |
| #6 Viewing the world as a chess board neglects the fact that foriegn policy has many participants that can influence outcomes, beyond the two players at the board. Jeez, it's that Kasparov? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2006-12-03 08:32 |
| #5 I would like to see a Go master's take on the world situation. I'm a rank beginner but Go looks like a better analog than chess. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-12-03 08:23 |
| #4 To expand on Bunyip's analysis: What if I walked up to one of the chess players and sawed his head off with a scimitar while making a "lulululululu" sound. That's going to screw-up a well planned Lucena position... |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2006-12-03 03:54 |
| #3 It is an interesting analysis, but I don't buy it. Viewing the world as a chess board neglects the fact that foriegn policy has many participants that can influence outcomes, beyond the two players at the board. Taking the chess analogy a little further, imagine being a player whose pieces can have their capabilities restricted by defensive rules of engagement. So your queen can suddenly only move left to right, your bishop can only move one square at a time, you can only move every second pawn, and only when there is a black pawn less than 2 squares away. pretty screwball way to play chess, but our ROEs limit the aggresive use of combat forces in exactly this way. Imagine being the white player, but some of your allies are black pieces, and you don't know which. And there are some other colours that pop onto your board every now and again and take out your pieces, and players from other boards keep telling you how to play, and squares on the board randomly explode every now and then. Imagine that the spectators in the chess stadium can't really see the board, so they make up whatever they like to explain what is happening. But they make it up in a way that they think will impress their friends "back home". And it does, even though it has nothing to do with what is actully happening on the board. So, I am very suspicious of the chess analogy. |
| Posted by: Bunyip 2006-12-03 02:34 |
| #2 Thanks for posting this, Steve. I've seen some of Kasparov's other op-eds (esp. in the WSJ) post-9/11, and there's no doubt whatsoever that he's on the side of the good guys. About the only thing his analysis is missing is why GWB and Co. failed to anticipate the damage the fifth-column media would cause to both the Iraq campaign and the larger GWOT. |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2006-12-03 00:49 |
| #1 Wow! |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-12-03 00:45 |