NYT on the Afghanistan Decision
A really fascinating article on the process that the White House used to make the decision to go into Afghanistan. Two thoughts:
1) Having been through long, arduous, difficult strategy decision processes with Learning Unlimited (the nonprofit I am starting), I understand what went into this much better-the difficulties, the openness, the strong disagreements. My own experiences are nowhere close to this kind of major decision, but they give me a much better reference point than I've had in the past. Our decision-making process at LU is working, but we also have a lot of thought to devote to how to do it better.
2) I am so very glad to have a President who goes through this kind of a process to make a decision in the White House. I've often felt that the point of a democracy is not to elect those with similar views to yourself, but to elect people who will be able to process the facts available to them (but not to you) and make a good decision based on those facts. I am very pleased with this process and kind of decision-making.
Best quote from the article:
The reaction at the Pentagon, said one official, was “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” - military slang for an expression of shock.
I have to wonder if the NYT writer didn't realize what that stands for, or if they included it with that phrasing just to be amusing.
1) Having been through long, arduous, difficult strategy decision processes with Learning Unlimited (the nonprofit I am starting), I understand what went into this much better-the difficulties, the openness, the strong disagreements. My own experiences are nowhere close to this kind of major decision, but they give me a much better reference point than I've had in the past. Our decision-making process at LU is working, but we also have a lot of thought to devote to how to do it better.
2) I am so very glad to have a President who goes through this kind of a process to make a decision in the White House. I've often felt that the point of a democracy is not to elect those with similar views to yourself, but to elect people who will be able to process the facts available to them (but not to you) and make a good decision based on those facts. I am very pleased with this process and kind of decision-making.
Best quote from the article:
The reaction at the Pentagon, said one official, was “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” - military slang for an expression of shock.
I have to wonder if the NYT writer didn't realize what that stands for, or if they included it with that phrasing just to be amusing.