In Rumsfeld's Shop

[brneyedgrl80]

I'm not sure if this would belong under this forum, so if it needs to be moved to a more appropriate forum please do so.

This is a 3 part article written by someone who worked in the pentagon for 20+ years. And she is a republican, she writes for militaryweek.com.

Ask yourself why our crooked media does not have this woman on any of the cable news shows.

In Rumsfeld's Shop

A senior Air Force officer watches as the neocons consolidate their Pentagon coup.

Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski recently retired from the U.S. Air Force. Her final posting was as an analyst at the Pentagon. Below is the first of three installments describing her experience there. They provide a unique view of the Department of Defense during a period of intense ideological upheaval, as the United States prepared to launch—for the first time in its history—a "preventive" war.

In early May 2002, I was looking forward to retirement from the United States Air Force in about a year. I had a cushy job in the Pentagon's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, International Security Affairs, Sub-Saharan Africa.

In the previous two years, I had published two books on African security issues and had passed my comprehensive doctoral exams at Catholic University. I was very pleased with the administration's Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sub-Saharan Africa, former Marine and Senator Helms staffer Michael Westphal, and was ready to start thinking about my dissertation and my life after the military.

When Mike called me in to his office, I thought I was getting a new project or perhaps that one of my many suggestions of fun things to do with Africa policy had been accepted. But the look on his face clued me in that this was going to be one of those meetings where somebody wasn't leaving happy. After a quick rank check, I had a good idea which one it would be.

There was a position in Near East South Asia (NESA) that they needed to fill right away. I wasn't interested. They phrased the question another way: "We have been tasked to send a body over to Bill Luti. Can we send you?" I resisted—until I slowly guessed that in true bureaucratic fashion and can-do military tradition my name had already been sent over. This little soirée in Mike's office was my farewell.

I went back to my office and e-mailed a buddy in the Joint Staff. Bob wrote back, "Write down everything you see." I didn't do it, but these most wise words from a trusted friend proved the first of three omens I would soon receive.

Read more here:http://www.militaryweek.com/kk120103.shtml

 

[freeandfun1]

Very boring article that really, says nothing.

 

[Annie]

Seems to me this is a rant series of articles. In #2, there is this self-reported bias going on, which accounts for her 'take' in events:

During the late summer and fall I was industriously trying to get our overdue bilateral visits with Morocco and Tunisia back on schedule. There must have been clues throughout the fall that I was less than politically reliable. On the wall behind my desk, I had a display of cartoons and articles questioning the legality and justness of pre-emptive wars, images of neoconservatives gone wild, and other antiwar humor. I had plenty of visitors, and even folks who I had pegged as a little too imperialist for my taste enjoyed my personal wailing wall. But as winter approached, the propaganda campaign gained ground, Congress bought in, my sense of humor darkened, and the cartoons selected for the wall got angrier.

More is found at the opening of the 3rd article:

As the winter of 2002 approached, I was increasingly amazed at the success of the propaganda campaign being waged by President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and neoconservative mouthpieces at the Washington Times and Wall Street Journal. I speculated about the necessity but unlikelihood of a Phil-Dick-style minority report on the grandiose Feith-Wolfowitz-Rumsfeld-Cheney vision of some future Middle East where peace, love, and democracy are brought about by pre-emptive war and military occupation.

Later, she is surprised she is not 'court martialed', but notes what 'happens to dissidents', shock! They get moved, not jailed, hung, or fired!

I felt fortunate not to have being fired or court-martialed due to my politically incorrect ways in the previous two years as a real conservative in a neoconservative Office of Secretary of Defense. But in fact, my outspokenness was probably never noticed because civilian professionals and military officers were largely invisible. We were easily replaceable and dispensable, not part of the team brought in from the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for Security Policy, and the Washington Institute for Near East Affairs.

There were exceptions. When military officers conspicuously crossed the neoconservative party line, the results were predictable—get back in line or get out. One friend, an Army colonel who exemplified the qualities carved in stone at West Point, refused to maneuver into a small neoconservative box, and he was moved into another position, where truth-telling would be viewed as an asset instead of a handicap. Among the civilians, I observed the stereotypical perspective that this too would pass, with policy analysts apparently willing to wait out the neocon phase.

The rest goes into 'conspiracy theory' of the likes of Bill Kristol and others visiting. Really, too weird!

 

[DKSuddeth]

this is actually a repost that was put up here sometime in January I believe. Every pro-war conservative either embraced the neo-conservatism in it or steered well clear calling it an article by a 'disgruntled employee'.

 

[brneyedgrl80]

Sorry for the repost.

I just found it pretty interesting to share.

 

[Merlin1047]

A senior Air Force officer watches as the neocons consolidate their Pentagon coup.

Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski recently retired from the U.S. Air Force. Her final posting was as an analyst at the Pentagon. Below is the first of three installments describing her experience there. They provide a unique view of the Department of Defense during a period of intense ideological upheaval, as the United States prepared to launch—for the first time in its history—a "preventive" war.

:rotflmao:

Old news and hardly the holy grail you anti-Bush folks are seeking.

The part that gave me a chuckle was the characterization of a Lieutenant Colonel as "as senior Air Force officer". That's a hoot. An LTC is hardly considered "senior", especially in the rank-heavy Air Force.

And at the Pentagon, they use LTCs as door stops.