That might not be true had the Left not expelled all the non-detractors and defamers. But they did.

Yes, divided we stand.

You have added to that division by characterizing “those on the Left” as detractors and defamers.

Sorry, I am offended and strongly disagree. That would be like me saying the the Right is “as a rule, jingoistic.”

(Note that I added a qualifier, as you did, for balance).

“It’s been almost six years since 9/11, and those years have featured no significant organized terrorist attacks on our shores, despite our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, actions which certainly could be considered provocative. People of different political persuasions interpret this fact in ways that stem from their own pre-existing notion of things, because the truth is that we don’t know exactly why this has been true.”

If one would play the old Watergate game of “follow the money,” it might lead to those who could effectively tell al-Qaida to cool it with attacks on the U.S. mainland. Such power brokers might also have an interest in the U.S. staying in Iraq and thus effectively blocking Iran’s future power. Who might that be?

Might we be so busy “mirror imaging” (sensu Richard Pipes in “Vixi”) our enemy culture that we miss the main interests of the various Arab-Muslim factions, assuming they think just like we do, have the same interests and motivations?

In an essay on the Arabs, Paul Bowles said their outstanding characteristic was that an Arab “didn’t trust anyone, not even his mother.” Might some of our strategic problems lie in not appreciating the results of such a cultural attitude?

It was a minor raid by Cockburn, of little logistical benefit, a simple terror/propaganda op. In point of fact, if DC had a competent marshall in charge of defenses, they could have held out via guerrila and dug in defenses inside the capital. This would have forced the British raiders to retreat back to their ships, or else be surrounded and annihilated by superior American reinforcements. Even Johnny can tear apart British regulars once those British regulars are cut off from retreat, deep inside enemy territory.

There was actually some officers and Naval artillerymen/Marines that filtered back after being routed, reorganized in the city, and setup some defenses that bloodied the British forces. For whatever reason, the Congressional building never burnded down, so even though they got the mansion, it just more or less pissed us off. The Congressional building was made out of stone, so that was kind of hard to burn down really.

Back in those days, being defeated by British regulars using American militia (meaning drafted folks) was often a common expectation. Only a few American commanders ever defeated the British forces in the open field with a mix of militia and American Continental regulars.

Even in World War II the logistics were such that it was not practical to invade or even to attack the US mainland, although there were some attempts at small-scale sabotage.

Therefore the British Raid wasn’t an invasion, by those terms, so much as a… raid. Even though they had their bases in Canada to work off of, they more or less kept to their side of the border.

How many people have heard Canadians brag about how it was them that burned down the American Presidential Mansion when the Canadians only got their independence last century?

The War of 1812 is a useful study, however…as in the case of the GWoT, it was global in theater, very multi-faceted, involved bizarre alliances and international politics, was supported by some at home, and vociferously opposed by others. In fact, in contraposition to our current situation, the president (Madison) was forced into war by a bellicose congress. Again, not arguing with you or anything, but it does make for an interesting comparative study.

The linkage between the two levels is bi-directional with the weaponized databases in the middle vacuuming up data of all types at ferocious rates with action items being pushed as far down as possible to avoid the “long way up and long way down”/stale data problem. (nb: traditional intell gatekeepers are not all that happy with this, leading to much MSM leakage.)

The tempo at which this OODA and PCDA is carried out is very fast, highly classified and largely invisible, especially in terms of “Big Picture” briefings. Open source metrics are badly lagging indicators.

This leads to a vacuum which is conducive to ideological template pushing of the sort often seen here.

An interesting unforseen consequence is that the Left/Dem/MSM coalition has had to increase its’ operational tempo since good news in Iraq/WOT is bad news for their political objectives. This coalition is not used to, or organized for, this type of political warfare and this has led to piles of mistakes,knotted knickers and “inoperative” press releases that are making a rather large lump under the carpet.

My favorite toast: “Confusion to the our enemies. All of them.”