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burnunit""It's not all book signings and publicity photos you know. You want fame, you have to be prepared for a long, hard slog." - Gilderoy Lockheart, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, page 298.
So. So that's where Rummy got it. Maybe he was reading it to a grandchild the day before; maybe he was reading it to Dubya for bedtime reading. Who knows. I know this: whereas I should be comforted that our Secretary of Defense is reading fantasy books like I do, I am deeply deeply troubled that he should be setting international wartime policy by them.
Think about it. The timing fits. With nothing better to do than watch the military snatch defeat from the jaws of victory—the military which he had hamstrung with minimal troop strength— Rumsfeld probably started the reading the Harry Potter series earlier in October, 2003. Somewhere along the way, the line stuck in his head, and he idly wrote it into the memo that got into the hands of the press.
It's most fitting that a bunch of chickenhawk neocons would nod their heads sagely at this wisdom imparted by the Lockheart character, who was in the process of fleeing Hogwarts just as he was asked to step up and defend the innocent students from the monster. No doubt the image of a fame-hound fraud lying to his public for years about his acumen in his chosen field is one they hold near and dear to their hearts.
"Does the US need to fashion a broad, integrated plan to stop the next generation of terrorists? The US is putting relatively little effort into a long-range plan, but we are putting a great deal of effort into trying to stop terrorists. The cost-benefit ratio is against us! Our cost is billions against the terrorists' costs of millions.
Do we need a new organization?
How do we stop those who are financing the radical madrassa schools?
Is our current situation such that "the harder we work, the behinder we get"?
It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another, but it will be a long, hard slog." - Rumsfeld's memo
So. So that's where Rummy got it. Maybe he was reading it to a grandchild the day before; maybe he was reading it to Dubya for bedtime reading. Who knows. I know this: whereas I should be comforted that our Secretary of Defense is reading fantasy books like I do, I am deeply deeply troubled that he should be setting international wartime policy by them.
Think about it. The timing fits. With nothing better to do than watch the military snatch defeat from the jaws of victory—the military which he had hamstrung with minimal troop strength— Rumsfeld probably started the reading the Harry Potter series earlier in October, 2003. Somewhere along the way, the line stuck in his head, and he idly wrote it into the memo that got into the hands of the press.
It's most fitting that a bunch of chickenhawk neocons would nod their heads sagely at this wisdom imparted by the Lockheart character, who was in the process of fleeing Hogwarts just as he was asked to step up and defend the innocent students from the monster. No doubt the image of a fame-hound fraud lying to his public for years about his acumen in his chosen field is one they hold near and dear to their hearts.
"Does the US need to fashion a broad, integrated plan to stop the next generation of terrorists? The US is putting relatively little effort into a long-range plan, but we are putting a great deal of effort into trying to stop terrorists. The cost-benefit ratio is against us! Our cost is billions against the terrorists' costs of millions.
Do we need a new organization?
How do we stop those who are financing the radical madrassa schools?
Is our current situation such that "the harder we work, the behinder we get"?
It is pretty clear that the coalition can win in Afghanistan and Iraq in one way or another, but it will be a long, hard slog." - Rumsfeld's memo