The guy who invented shock and awe is named Harlan Ullman. I found him through Google. He's another right wing think tank "strategist" and "military expert" who advises the pentagon on how best to kill people at the least cost to taxpayers.
Following is an email conversation I had with him just before the Iraq invasion began:
ME:
Mr. Ullman -- Shock and awe -- along with loathing, disgust and
a barely suppressed gag reflex -- pretty well characterize my response to
your "little Hiroshima" plan for Baghdad.
They don't hate us for our freedoms, Mr. Ullman. Nor do they hate us
because we can buy houses.
They hate us because all sane people detest murderous imperialists
engaged in cynical resource grabs. They hate us because we have
demons in our midst who advocate unleashing the fires of hell on
civilian populations, then dismissing the charred results as "collateral damage."
Not in my name, Mr. Ullman.
xxxxxxxxxxx
Ullman:
Sadly, you miss understand the point. Shock and awe is meant to get the
enemy to quit as quickly and cheaply as possible not target civilians.
there is a moral imperative on our part to use our force to minimize
casualties and damage all around.
Assuming you oppose the war and it still comes, what is your
alternative to possible tens of thousands of civilian casualties if we
go to battle the old way?
Me:
Mr. Ullman -- I fail to see how lobbing between 600 and 800 cruise
missiles into a city of about 5 million people over a two-day period
creates a credible "alternative to possible tens of thousands of
civilian casualties" -- unless, of course, your objective is to kill
far more than tens of thousands. In that case, shock and awe seems
just the ticket.
And in case these Iraqi civilians are just statistics to you, here's
what some of them look like:
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/iraqkids.html XXxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ullman:
No one is talking about lobbing hundreds of bombs profligately into a city. If we do, then that will be a huge and costly error. However what I don't understand is how things have been so turned around. why is GW Bush cast as the villain and the real thug, Saddam, seen as the victim?
Me:
On the contrary, every news reference to shock and awe I've seen has included some sort of dire threat to Baghdad itself. Note this line from a CBS News story from Friday, January 24th:
"There will not be a safe place in Baghdad," said one Pentagon official who has been briefed on the plan.
The full story is here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/24/eveningnews/main537928.shtmlAnd I've heard similar threats from administration officials on NPR, PBS and ABC.
As to the Bush/Saddam/thuggery issue . . That's a false dichotomy. Just because I see Bush as a murderous thug with designs on Iraqi oil doesn't mean I support Hussein, yet another murderous thug.
As far as I'm concerned, an imperial presidency and an autocratic dictatorship have far too much in common. A pox on both houses.
I could enumerate my personal list of Bush administration offenses against the Constitution -- and against sanity in general -- but they've been done to death by others already.
In closing, I hope your strategy fails miserably, that the invasion fails, that Bush's twin objectives of projecting US military might into the region while grabbing Iraqi resources fails, that the US military presence fails and is forced to leave the country without securing any oil fields, and that you're eventually held up as an icon of all that's wrong, insane or both about the US policy of preemptive war.
Now don't bother me again.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
And here's his bio:
Harlan Ullman, PhD
Creator of Shock & Awe Strategy, 10 Steps to Defeat Global Terror
A no-nonsense adviser to the most powerful government and business leaders, Harlan Ullman explains why the war on terror is different than prior threats to the U.S. and how politicians and military experts need to change their thinking and behavior to ensure stability. Using his unique combination of experience—from combat veteran and Pentagon adviser to Harvard economics Ph.D. and businessman—Ullman untangles the new and future challenges facing big business to those encumbering small entrepreneurs caused by events on the world stage.
Full bio here:
http://www.eaglestalent.com/speaker-bureau,1954,presenter,Harlan-Ullman,speaker.asp?source=googleJust another overly degreed war monger getting paid by our taxes to devise better, faster and cheaper ways to murder men, women and children.
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