Retarded Regimes

Europundits writes about the confusing behavior of thuggish/terror regimes, such as Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

I'm going to use a soccer analogy here. Sometimes teams that play rough are doing so strategically, because they are big guys and it's to their advantage to intimidate opponents. They realize by baiting a softer, more talented team, they can put themselves at a greater advantage to win. This is a smart way to play.

However, there are other teams, who play rough because they don't really know what they are doing. They are confused on the field, don't know how to play, and think that it gives them an advantage, OR, sometimes they don't even realize they are playing dirty or cheap - because they don't even understand the rules. Sometimes they cannot control banging into the other team because they are uncoordinated. I actually see this a lot. These types of games are unpleasant for everyone. Both teams get angry, because the retarded team doesn't think it's doing anything wrong and the normal team gets pissed at the rough play, then the retarded team thinks the normal team is making up claims of dirty play and is either cheap themselves or a bunch of pussies. Either way, it encourages more dirty play. This lack of strategy, however, NEVER benefits the retarded team. They are retarded and almost always lose, but they make it as unpleasurable a game and loss and possible. This is how I see the state actors, Iran, Saddam, Mullah Omar, etc, behaving - like a retarded soccer team that doesn't even know how to play right, even when they want to. And because of this ineptitude, we get pissed at them, they get pissed at us, and tit for tat it goes on.

All you can do on the soccer field is win handily, because if nothing else, they understand the scoreboard. The worst thing you can do is let them stay in the game, thinking they have a shot, because it emboldens them.

With respect to Saddam, some of his mania appears to be logic based. He wanted the citizens of his country to believe he had WMDs and would use them if they ever rose up against him. At the same time, he wanted the UN and the US not to invade his country because of the WMDs. So here he has a tricky game - if he lets the inspectors come and see everything, he figures that anti-Saddam elements within Iraq might get some ideas. His logic, therefore, was to buy off the Russians and the French with lucrative contracts, hoping they could discourage the US from acting alone, while he maintained the illusion of having WMDs, so he could remain in power.

Some of his top military men were surprised when there were no WMDs - which to me, signifies our intelligence failures, while still bad, aren't completely without basis. When dealing with a madman, it's hard to ask someone to predict his behavior. And that is sort of the whole point, isn't it?