A Global Force For a Global Peace™
From the Desk of the CEO
Many of you will recall dark days when we failed to get the contract to invade Iraq. In hindsight, which is 20/20, our success in Afghanistan caused us not to keep our eye on the ball which we dropped when we stepped up to the plate. Lessons learned.
Subsequently of course, we dragged out the Afghanistan mission in a satisfactory way for all concerned. Soldiers were deployed, people killed, missions flown, munitions expended, opium grown, and money made. It's the essence of NATO.
The Libya contract was another matter. Although successful by the standards of Afghanistan, the whole chain of command thing was weird. It was a gong show. Nobody knew what the plan was because there was no plan. Also, there was the whole legal business about what was and was not authorized by UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which superseded Resolution 1970, and it was awkward. The Afghanistan thing used NATO Charter Article 5 to justify the invasion in self defence, but that would never have flown in Libya. Actually Libya was a "no-fly" zone. Haha. That's a little NATO humour.
And of course there was the whole Egyptian confusion. Luckily, we didn't have to bomb, we only had to sell the military weapons that could terrorize the population who were intent on self determination, even if that meant the Muslim Brotherhood formed a government. Democracy is one thing, electing a dangerous radical is another. Ask Hamas.
Then there was Syria. I don't like to use this language with employees, but it was a cluster-fuck. It was unhinged. Rather than speaking with a single voice, NATO descended into mission-babble that - instead of developing a decent bombing campaign that has never worked for anybody except NATO and its corporate partners - was stillborn in the most awkward possible circumstances. NATO client states tried to exercise self-determination. The result: blue balls.
Fortunately, the Ukraine disaster has presented itself. Although to some extent manufactured by our Public Affairs Department, it has all the ingredients of a good old fashioned tank battle on the Steppes that lacks only cavalry. It's what we do.
Stalingrad will be ours.
