The One Percent Doctrine

Ron Suskind’s new book, The One Percent Doctrine, has to be the most frightening book since Americans had the bejesus scared out them when the Soviets got the A-bomb. It is the most amazing nonfiction work about the inner workings of the United States Government that I have ever read and has the ring of truth. If only half of the assertions are correct Americans have every right to chew their nails.

Ron Suskind’s ability as a story teller is unquestioned and his narrative forces page turning at a rate equal to a beach novel. He is fine writer and analyst and his sources appear impeccable.

I’ll hit a few of the highlights, but you must read this book yourselves. Right now! The title comes from a proposition articulated by Vice President Dick Cheney that given the nature of the world we face low-probability, high-impact threats must be addressed as if they are certain to happen. Thus, the long shot possibility of an al Qaeda nuclear device being detonated in an American city must dealt with as if terrorists are in the process of securing the device and arranging its transport at this very minute. If a foreign government could be considering providing such a device to a terrorist organization, all of the resources of the U.S. must directed to stopping the transfer.

It is common knowledge that the Iraq regime was targeted to be dealt with by the Bush administration prior to 9/11, and the One Percent Doctrine dovetailed perfectly with this preconceived notion and it became inevitable that we would make war on Saddam. While there is nothing new on the targeting of Iraq, that a rational was now available to national leaders for planning and preparing for the attack fit perfectly with the intent of those at the wheel.

But two things were wrong with the doctrine and the target: Iraq, the pre-selected target for demonstrating American capability and will, was no longer in the business of developing WMD, neither was it the most dangerous state on the planet for providing al Qaeda or other terror groups with WMD technology or devices. Other states or private entities, including some in Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and even Switzerland were far more likely to be of assistance to the terrorists.

The bottom line, while the concept of `One Percent’ was draining on government human, technical, and financial resources by itself, the added overlay of having applied it dishonestly by targeting Iraq for political reasons prior to 9/11 and then proceeding without adequate intelligence was a formula for unmitigated disaster.

A supposition that derives from Iraq and the panicked response to the post 9/11 world by the American government in order to take the fight to al Qaeda instead of letting them bring it home to us again shook me to the core. Perhaps al Qaeda doesn’t want to attack the U.S. at this time. According to Suskind, one of the thoughts circulating in Washington is that the terrorists may happy to bomb our allies rather than us in hopes of separating those fighting beside us thus leaving us to fight alone in the heart of the Muslim world. Thus the attacks on Madrid and London instead of New York may be even more ominous than we thought.

Obviously, Osama bin Laden and his principal aids are brilliant tacticians and we are becoming aware that they are adept strategic thinkers as well. While they did not attack us on 9/11 to prompt the attack on Iraq, it is possible that they are happy with us stuck in the sand with fewer coalition partners each month. They are fully aware of the negative perception of the war on the American public and know that this is causing a political strain on the party in power as well as on the nation and its economy. If we pull out, they are likely to believe that we’ll be far more reluctant to enter the fray again. My thoughts raced to the Russian strategy toward Napoleon and to the Minute Men of New England during the Revolution. Scary!

This book is so full of brilliant insights and bons mots, some of which are being widely circulated by the media, that it will take several postings to do it justice. I’ll close this one since it is already too long.

What else will Ron Suskind reveal to the readers of this blog? Tune in tomorrow!

Blog on!

Wild Bill