Naomi Klein 7

'Interesting take on Rumsfeld in Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine"

(pp332-333):
" ... Rumsfeld's marshalling of his tech and media know-how from the
business world put the marketing of fear at the centre of US military
doctrine. During the Cold War, the fear of a nuclear attack was the
core of the deterrent strategy, but the idea was to the nuclear
missiles to stay in their silos. This attack was different:
Rumsfeld's war would use everything short of a nuclear bomb to put on
a show designed to bombard the centres, pull and play on emotion, and
convey lasting messages, with targets carefully chosen for their
symbolic value and their made-for-TV impact. In this way, Rumsfeld
theory of war, part of his project of "transformation", had far less
in common with the "force on force" battlefield strategies of the
generals, who are always slowing him down, and far more in common
with the terrorists against whom Rumsfeld had declared permanent
war. Terrorists don't try to win through direct confrontation; they
tend to break public morale was spectacular, tele-visual displays
that at once expose their enemy's vulnerability and their own
capacity for cruelty. That was the theory be behind the 9/11
attacks, just as it was the theory behind the invasion of the Iraq."
And again earlier on page 332:
" In open defiance of the laws of war barring collective punishment,
Shock and Awe is a military doctrine that prides itself on not merely
targeting the enemy's military forces but, as its authors stress, the
"Society with large" -- mass fear is a key part of the strategy."
I thought we had sort of thought that indiscriminate attacks -
especially those aimed at such general targets as civilian morale
(euphemism = "mass fear") are just a tad illegal
Garth Cartledge'