by Roedy Green ©2002-2009 Canadian Mind Products
Defence Science Board
The Defence Science Board is part of the Pentagon. It tabled a report on the state of the Iraq war and posted it on the
Defense Science Board website on 2004-12-13, delaying from September to ensure it did not
embarrass Mr. Bush during the election. It was remarkably candid. Though the language is stilted, the things it says are
in direct contradiction to the line Cheney, Bush and Rumsfeld have been handing you.
The document has changed since I first quoted it. It is now not quite so blunt as it once was and uses deliberately
vague, bureaucratic language to disguise the tongue lashing it gives George W. Bush. Then in 2008-09
they pulled it altogether, presumably to ensure it did not embarrass Republicans during their convention. You can read
it in various incarnations with the Wayback Machine feeding it
the original URL http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2004-09-Strategic_Communication.pdf
Some of the things it says, quoted verbatim from the new version, are:
- “Thus the critical problem in American public diplomacy directed toward the Muslim World is not one of “dissemination
of information”, or even one of crafting and delivering the “right” message. Rather, it is a
fundamental problem of credibility. Simply, there is none.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
- “There is no yearning-to-be-liberated-by-the-U.S. groundswell among Muslim societies — except to be
liberated perhaps from what they see as apostate tyrannies that the U.S. so determinedly promotes and defends.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
- “Muslims do not “hate our freedom”, but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority
voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the
longstanding, even increasing support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan, Pakistan, and the Gulf states.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
- “U.S. policies on Israeli-Palestinian issues and Iraq in 2003-2004 have damaged America’s credibility and
power to persuade.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
- “What was a marginal network is now an Ummah-wide movement of fighting groups. Not only has there been a
proliferation of “terrorist” groups: the unifying context of a shared cause creates a sense of affiliation
across the many cultural and sectarian boundaries that divide Islam.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
- “Muslims believe we are self-serving hypocrites. They believe we have ulterior motives that serve American
interests at the expense of truly Muslim self-determination.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13 deleted from current version.
- “The war has increased mistrust of America in Europe, weakened support for the war on terrorism, and undermined U.S.
credibility worldwide.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
- “Negative opinion of the U.S. has not yet bottomed-out, but is in fact continuing to move dynamically.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
- “The creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of the Patriot Act were two such
representative organizational and legislative responses. There will surely be many more the longer the struggle goes on —
because deeper expectations within the Washington policy and defense cultures still seek out Cold War models.”
translation: “The creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the passage of the Patriot Act was an
obsolete, Cold War-style response to the new terrorist threat.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
- “There is consensus in these reports that U.S. public diplomacy is in crisis.5 Missing are strong leadership,
strategic direction, adequate coordination, sufficient resources, and a culture of measurement and evaluation. …
Presidential leadership and the bipartisan political will of Congress are essential.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
- “A unifying vision of strategic communication starts with Presidential direction. Only White House leadership,
with support from cabinet secretaries and Congress, can bring about the sweeping reforms that are required.”
~ Pentagon Defense Science Board Report 2004-12-13.
The report diplomatically says that George Bush totally screwed up the Iraq war. Citizens of every country but America,
especially Muslims, saw how the Bush Administration lied about having proof of WMDs and the Ba’athist-connection
with al Qaeda to justify the invasion of Iraq, which resulted in hideous deaths of over a hundred thousand civilian
Iraqis, mostly children and the maiming of an order of magnitude more.
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