Let's go, you and I, into the PowerPoint sty. . .
It is reported in the U.S. Press that PM Maliki gave a PowerPoint presentation to U.S. President Bush, which asked for more support for the Iraqi forces, and for the Americans to leave. This presentation was given while Maliki and Bush met in Jordan--obviously the democracy is too dangerous of a place for Mr. Bush.
I find this ironic and a sad comment of our times. I wrote earlier in this blog that Thomas Rick, in his wonderful and terrifying book, Fiasco: the American Adventure in Iraq, reported that the DoD was sending orders in PowerPoint, much to the military's consternation because they were huge files, and one really can't write/read coherent military orders in PowerPoint. The military was told to "get with the technology" by Rumsfeld.
There is this prevailing teleological group-think in the U.S. administration that all new technology is good technology, with design and purpose to improve the world, so surely one should use it.
Sorry, remember Beta? Eight Track tapes? Just because it is there, doesn't mean that it serves the purpose at hand. It really frightens me that very, very important world decisions and theories are reduced to Powerpoint Presentations (I wonder if anyone has use the "clapping hands" sound to punctuate some particularly salient point). It's a kind of Foreign Policy for Dummies. Mr. Maliki surely noted at some time that Mr. Bush is not an avid reader (although he claimed to be reading Camus' The Stranger over the summer: if he finished it, Camus obviously made no lasting impression). So the Iraqi administration concocted a PowerPoint presentation for Mr. Bush--little text and lots of graphics, I'm sure. Unfortunately, it didn't work. More Americans, not less, are going into the seventh circle of Hell, and the Iraqi forces are ill-equipped and poorly-trained as usual; not to mention that they are barely eating and are living, in some cases, horrible conditions.
If Americans do go in, the GIs need to live and work with the Iraqi troops. That means LIVE with them. Don't go back to the Forward Operating Bases, with the Burger Kings and Taco Bells. This seems painfully obvious. It would be rough for the Americans initially, but it would be a far more successful strategy.
Perhaps someone will compose a PowerPoint presentation asserting this very idea. Yikes.
It is reported in the U.S. Press that PM Maliki gave a PowerPoint presentation to U.S. President Bush, which asked for more support for the Iraqi forces, and for the Americans to leave. This presentation was given while Maliki and Bush met in Jordan--obviously the democracy is too dangerous of a place for Mr. Bush.
I find this ironic and a sad comment of our times. I wrote earlier in this blog that Thomas Rick, in his wonderful and terrifying book, Fiasco: the American Adventure in Iraq, reported that the DoD was sending orders in PowerPoint, much to the military's consternation because they were huge files, and one really can't write/read coherent military orders in PowerPoint. The military was told to "get with the technology" by Rumsfeld.
There is this prevailing teleological group-think in the U.S. administration that all new technology is good technology, with design and purpose to improve the world, so surely one should use it.
Sorry, remember Beta? Eight Track tapes? Just because it is there, doesn't mean that it serves the purpose at hand. It really frightens me that very, very important world decisions and theories are reduced to Powerpoint Presentations (I wonder if anyone has use the "clapping hands" sound to punctuate some particularly salient point). It's a kind of Foreign Policy for Dummies. Mr. Maliki surely noted at some time that Mr. Bush is not an avid reader (although he claimed to be reading Camus' The Stranger over the summer: if he finished it, Camus obviously made no lasting impression). So the Iraqi administration concocted a PowerPoint presentation for Mr. Bush--little text and lots of graphics, I'm sure. Unfortunately, it didn't work. More Americans, not less, are going into the seventh circle of Hell, and the Iraqi forces are ill-equipped and poorly-trained as usual; not to mention that they are barely eating and are living, in some cases, horrible conditions.
If Americans do go in, the GIs need to live and work with the Iraqi troops. That means LIVE with them. Don't go back to the Forward Operating Bases, with the Burger Kings and Taco Bells. This seems painfully obvious. It would be rough for the Americans initially, but it would be a far more successful strategy.
Perhaps someone will compose a PowerPoint presentation asserting this very idea. Yikes.
posted by mariestaad at 3:30 PM
1 Comments:
The good Iraqis have no desire to work for us, and the ones that will, would like to see us all dead. Alas, my fellow Romans; will the white man's burden ever end?
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