Readers Comments on "9-11 on 9-10"

Thanks for your comments and e-mails. Readers brought up two issues that merit attention. First, one reader asked if I was blaming Bush for something he didn't start.

No, it did not start with Bush. As I mentioned in the post, the serious failures began with the first oil crisis and the decision to play the OPEC and oil dependency game. This was mostly Nixon's doing. All the ensuing Presidents got it wrong, most importantly Bill Clinton, who failed to respond adequately to the growing terrorist threat.

But it took a self-righteous, incompetent President, George W. Bush, to turn much of the world into the U.S.'s enemy following 9-11. I ought not to make this argument again; I spoke my piece already.

Second, I was asked if it would have been possible to use strategy tools, e.g. game theory, to do a better job in managing the terrorist threat. Effective strategic management is always necessasry. However, this was not the Bush Administration's problem. The Administration's actions have been driven by its values, not by the facts.* There was perfectly good data to tell that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction and that there were insufficient troops to occupy Iraq. Rumsfeld ignored the data out of hubris ( one of the less exciting forms of self-righteousness) and sent American troops to die. I am afraid that good data, game theory and sophistocated scenario planning tools will never be a match for stupidity, arrogance, corruption and callousness.

*On the fact-value question, I have written several posts. I would suggest, howerver, reading the first chapter of Herbert Simon's "Administrative Behavior".

Comments

[Antonio]

From chapter 1 of the book mentioned by David: “..to be efficient simply means to take the shortest path, the cheapest means, toward the attainment of the desired goals.”. In the case we are discussing, controversy is not on the goals but in the judgment to select the methods, the strategy.

Best,

Antonio

[robertomassss]

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