thedrifter
03-30-03, 06:48 AM
The Soufflé has Fallen
Richard Perle’s resignation this week as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board should come as no surprise.
When Richard isn’t advising friends Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney and his former assistant, Doug Feith, he spends a lot of time creatively designing and perfecting soufflés.
Like Perle’s other creative interest, consulting companies selling influence to shady characters who wish to leverage the power of the neocon sway in Washington, the soufflé is a fragile concoction.
Like the choreographed dance of “shock and awe” to destroy civilian lives and infrastructure with the pinpoint accuracy of precision guided munitions to preserve civilian lives and infrastructure (think Beast embracing Beauty, but uglier), if everything isn’t precisely controlled (logistics, timing, temperature and focus), the soufflé falls.
Sometimes the soufflé falls, and if you are with family, you can laugh it off and eat the deflated mess and it tastes just fine.
Sometimes, in a more formal or public setting, the soufflé falls, and boy, have you got a disaster on your hands!
Ooh, the embarrassment! Given that Perle and his soufflé eating compatriots haven’t served in battle or combat, one can imagine that what they feel as they watch this soufflé falling, ever so slowly, is sheer horror.
Excuses may be found -- the temperature wasn’t right, the serving plate uneven. Perhaps the eggs we used were too old or too fresh. The jarring as we walked across the room to the elegant dining table perhaps broke the magic of this soufflé.
As we think of the tragedy of this soufflé, it is painful and inconvenient to realize that the magically designed neocon invasion and occupation plan has led to restricted rations for our warfighters and a vulnerably extended supply line of five desert days.
As we think of the tragedy of this soufflé, it is painful to witness the chaos in the humanitarian side of the operation in the south of Iraq, and it will only get more challenging and expensive and frustrating as we go north.
As we think of the tragedy of this soufflé, the clarity of what we intended becomes lost in a dusty gritty battlefield. Now (as always) we want to get home from our new bases in Baghdad, but how long we it take, and at what cost?
So let’s not think about it.
If we just keep our focus, we can get through this culinary disaster.
But alas, poor Richard has stepped down. The humiliation is too great.
His loss as Chairmen will be felt by all. Of course, he is staying on as a member of the Board, and his influence will remain.
And, really folks, I am being way too unfair. Back in December 2002, I stood up and asked Under Secretary for Policy, Doug Feith, a direct question about Richard’s influence, at an under secretary town hall meeting in the Pentagon.
Feith explained that Perle and the DPB “get together and talk…. Sometimes [they]… ask what would be a useful subject for them to chew on for our benefit. … they frequently come up with questions or insights that are real value-added to the work that we do. ..sometimes the value is in the form of their reporting to us what people in Asia or Europe or Latin America are saying or perceiving about our activities, and that's very valuable input…”
Asia, Europe and Latin America. Of course! No mention of Iraq or Middle East or anything like that. So see guys, from the horse’s mouth, Perle actually has had little or nothing to do with Mideast policy, the invasion and conquest of Iraq, or any of that.
Plausible deniability is such a sweet ingredient, and Perle will keep working it into his soufflés. Someday, he might get it right. Most assuredly, he will get a lot richer as a result of this war, even if his reputation as a chef has suffered.
Sorry, soldiers and seaman and airman and Marines. But in soufflés, as in experimental wars to change history in other peoples’ countries, you have to break a few eggs
Sempers,
Roger
Richard Perle’s resignation this week as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board should come as no surprise.
When Richard isn’t advising friends Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney and his former assistant, Doug Feith, he spends a lot of time creatively designing and perfecting soufflés.
Like Perle’s other creative interest, consulting companies selling influence to shady characters who wish to leverage the power of the neocon sway in Washington, the soufflé is a fragile concoction.
Like the choreographed dance of “shock and awe” to destroy civilian lives and infrastructure with the pinpoint accuracy of precision guided munitions to preserve civilian lives and infrastructure (think Beast embracing Beauty, but uglier), if everything isn’t precisely controlled (logistics, timing, temperature and focus), the soufflé falls.
Sometimes the soufflé falls, and if you are with family, you can laugh it off and eat the deflated mess and it tastes just fine.
Sometimes, in a more formal or public setting, the soufflé falls, and boy, have you got a disaster on your hands!
Ooh, the embarrassment! Given that Perle and his soufflé eating compatriots haven’t served in battle or combat, one can imagine that what they feel as they watch this soufflé falling, ever so slowly, is sheer horror.
Excuses may be found -- the temperature wasn’t right, the serving plate uneven. Perhaps the eggs we used were too old or too fresh. The jarring as we walked across the room to the elegant dining table perhaps broke the magic of this soufflé.
As we think of the tragedy of this soufflé, it is painful and inconvenient to realize that the magically designed neocon invasion and occupation plan has led to restricted rations for our warfighters and a vulnerably extended supply line of five desert days.
As we think of the tragedy of this soufflé, it is painful to witness the chaos in the humanitarian side of the operation in the south of Iraq, and it will only get more challenging and expensive and frustrating as we go north.
As we think of the tragedy of this soufflé, the clarity of what we intended becomes lost in a dusty gritty battlefield. Now (as always) we want to get home from our new bases in Baghdad, but how long we it take, and at what cost?
So let’s not think about it.
If we just keep our focus, we can get through this culinary disaster.
But alas, poor Richard has stepped down. The humiliation is too great.
His loss as Chairmen will be felt by all. Of course, he is staying on as a member of the Board, and his influence will remain.
And, really folks, I am being way too unfair. Back in December 2002, I stood up and asked Under Secretary for Policy, Doug Feith, a direct question about Richard’s influence, at an under secretary town hall meeting in the Pentagon.
Feith explained that Perle and the DPB “get together and talk…. Sometimes [they]… ask what would be a useful subject for them to chew on for our benefit. … they frequently come up with questions or insights that are real value-added to the work that we do. ..sometimes the value is in the form of their reporting to us what people in Asia or Europe or Latin America are saying or perceiving about our activities, and that's very valuable input…”
Asia, Europe and Latin America. Of course! No mention of Iraq or Middle East or anything like that. So see guys, from the horse’s mouth, Perle actually has had little or nothing to do with Mideast policy, the invasion and conquest of Iraq, or any of that.
Plausible deniability is such a sweet ingredient, and Perle will keep working it into his soufflés. Someday, he might get it right. Most assuredly, he will get a lot richer as a result of this war, even if his reputation as a chef has suffered.
Sorry, soldiers and seaman and airman and Marines. But in soufflés, as in experimental wars to change history in other peoples’ countries, you have to break a few eggs
Sempers,
Roger