Thursday, July 03, 2003

An Engineer's Viewpoint. Just love this one.  I need them too! Barbara Bund, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, tells the story of a group of engineers at Quaker State who were invited to observe consumer focus groups discussing the company's motor oil. "This one engineer was sitting in the backroom watching a group in which not one single person understood the difference between synthetic oil and nonsynthetic oil," Bund says. "He walked out of there and said, ‘We've got to get smarter focus groups.'" 3:00:10 PM    comment []

Playing Defense. The simple beauty of not attacking other countries is that you don't have to occupy them afterwards.  You don't have to impose your ways on them.  You don't have to suppress their populations to get at a rebellious minority.  Just ask the Israelis how well the whole "occupation thing" is going for them -- I'm sure they're ecstatic about it. El Busho has managed to put the US into the position of occupier in two countries in as many years.  We're stuck there now.  Those soldiers are going to be there for a long time, and resentment is just going to build and build.  In Iraq we've destroyed their infrastructure, directly and indirectly.  Modern peoples (us and the Iraqis) are generally more concerned about their day to day comforts (electricity, running water) than they are about their political leadership.  Just look at where the lack of interest in politicial leadership has landed us in this country!  Because we have taken away their day to day comforts, we are the enemy.  Add to that the always-wonderful presence of fanatical Islam, and you have a recipe for harsh pain. I keep staying away from the Q word, but it's going to sneak out eventually.  The latest figures I've seen show the US maintaining a presence in Iraq for five years.  Those are going to be some pretty pissed off reservists. Bush may have wanted to reshape the middle east, and he may yet succeed.  The true cost of doing that was never explained, and probably will be avoided at all costs.  The dual wars may yet be the biggest error of Bush's presidency.  12:54:29 PM    comment []