National Security Expert: U.S. Foreign Policy Leaders ‘Have Lost The Ability To Think

...Coughlin says this is a clear example that when you commit to a narrative, you can suppress the truth and undermine our national security.

This was with respect to the bizarrely described "workplace" incident courtesy of Major Hasan, who appears at least to have been reasonably up front about his own ideological allegiance. They didn't listen before his murderous rage and they have attempted - successfully, more or less - to couch it in such terms that fit the narrative that Islam is not to blame.

The author's case is that (1) when clinging to this sort of narrative contravenes fact, the people in charge of policy prefer the narrative, and (2) that U.S. foreign policy is currently in the keeping of people for whom fact is inconvenient.

I don't have a problem with either assertion. The gooey wishful thinking that led the State Department to support the replacement of Moamar Gadaffi with *whatever* and to follow up by using that conduit to attempt to support an equally fictive Arab Spring (and getting an ambassador killed in the meantime) is exactly the sort of thing that has led the current administration to be laughed at as the pathetic amateurs they really are. Allegiance to The Narrative is what led Marie Harf to embarrass herself on the international stage by (1) solemnly invoking unemployment as not just a reason, but as a justification for people to decapitate other people, and (2) insist that anyone rightfully protesting this idiocy as being completely out of touch with reality, as simply too stupid to appreciate how "nuanced" a position it is. This is not to pretend that Ms. Harf is unique in this deliberate obtuseness, in fact, they're all pretty much like that.

The American citizen is prevented from dealing with this directly. The citizen who knows perfectly well that it is suicidal fantasizing must work through layers, each of which is intent on protecting the Department of Fantasy from any vulgar influence by those who can actually think. The stupidity has percolated through the gate keepers. We can't fire these fools.

Nor is it obvious that any incoming Republican administration is likely to clear the ideological cobwebs out of the way. There's a great deal of institutional resistance, especially within the State Department, whose inhabitants consider this sort of thing their own private preserve. Yes, they've screwed up spectacularly, but only in the eyes of those of us too ignorant to appreciate the nuance. It's not really a disaster, you see, it's all in the interest of the Greater Good.

Fire these idiots, please. They're going to get us all killed.

these people have lost the ability to think

It's that for anyone to reach the decision making stage, they've jumped through so many hoops, fronted for so many other's ideas, and compromised so much they don't know what a principle is. Add to that they must have been a bit dumb and unprincipled to begin with to play along for personal gain.

I think we've elected some principled people in DC, with Senator Sessions as their elder statesman. I just hope they can hold it together and bring more people to their side.

The US foreign policy is on the wrong side of everything. And it's paralyzed. ISIS should've been disintegrated when they were marching in a column across the desert. Instead everyone in DC was trying to figure out what's in it for them. Nobody in the military had the initiative to do take upon themselves for the good of the civilized world. This kind of lack of integrity and ability to sort things out and consider what's good for civilized people ALWAYS leads to the fall of civilizations.

beyond disgusted

excerpt from above link…

The general perception is expressed by Thomas Mockaitis when he said that a “hearts and mind” campaign should be directed against Underlying Causes he describes as “discontent stemming from bread and butter issues, lack of jobs, decent housing, electricity, running water, health care and education.”6

The Underlying Causes model reflects a choice to examine terrorism strictly in terms of economic depravation, an approach our national defense apparatus can measure without having to change how it does business. The weakness of this approach is more broadly understood than many inside the U.S. Government realize…

p.5

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