Book Review: State of Denial

State of Denial by Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster (September 30, 2006), 576 pages

Rumsfeld is a dick

Won’t flow the forces we need

We will be too light

This was a haiku written by Steve Rotkoff, a senior military intelligence officer with 25 years in the Army very early after he was drafted for the Iraq war planning. Rotkoff was not alone with such assessment about the Defense Secretary. When asked about Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Richard B. Meyers put both his hands on a small table and laid his head on it to express his frustration. At one point Rumsfeld stopped talking to National Security Advisor Condi Rice that the President has to step in.

Bob Woodward’s third book in the Bush at War series talks about the arrogance of Rumsfeld, clueless nature of the the folks who managed the war and ends with the constant denial of facts by the President and Vice-President. The book was written based on interviews with Bush’s national security team, key players in the administration responsible for military, diplomacy and intelligence. He talked to people in Defense, State and CIA including the Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld.

One thing I have always wondered is how the reaction against Sept 11 attacks transformed into a war against Iraq and who was responsible for it. Once again it turns out to be Rumsfeld. The day after the attacks, it was Rumsfeld who asked Bush on why they shouldn’t go against Iraq as well. Rumsfeld was one person who thought that George H.W. Bush had screwed up badly by not going against Saddam in 1991. Initially George W. Bush puts him off, but later decides to go with the plan, 71 days after the 9/11 attacks.

A think tank consisting of Bernard Lewis,  Mark Palmer, Fareed Zakaria, Fouad Ajami and the likes were gathered secretly and they analyzed the middle east problem and concluded that a confrontation with Saddam was inevitable. The question then was on what pretext would the war be started and WMD looked like a natural choice. The top intelligence officer for the invading forces, James “Spider” Marks was given a list of 946 sites where intelligence had indicated there were production plants or storage facilities.

The only problem was that the list was outdated. David Kay, who went to Iraq as the inspector after the first Gulf war was sent this time as well and he found that there was no new information on this. Still this did not prevent the President and Vice-President from repeating again and again about the WMD threats to America and its allies. The search teams did not find any WMD and in one instance the “Scooter” Libby calls David Kay in Baghdad and gives him the co-ordinates to search.

Besides talking to a large number of people, Woodward has also reviewed secret documents and secure communication between the leadership in Washington and Baghdad. After analyzing all this information the book is written in such a way that it is a page turner and you get to know a lot about the personality clashes that happened.

George Tenet at the CIA was against the White House. Rumsfeld was against Jay Garner. Condi Rice could not stand Rumsfeld. Then there is a president who doesn’t want to know any details and keeps on repeating that we will prevail. As you read those chapters, you are shocked to see the callousness with which this war was done.

When Jay Garner was replaced with Paul Bremmer and one of the first things he performed was de-Baathification. When he was dissolving the Ministry of Interior, Bremmer did not know that Police reported to ministry. Once that happened, the number of insurgent attacks increased exponentially. Then in a scene which seems inspired from Wag the Dog, President Bush asks Secretary Rice if they should approach Hollywood to prepare a propaganda campaign.

The number of people who grew frustrated with Rumsfeld were not just Condi Rice or the Generals. By Spring 2004, Paul Wolfowitz was frustrated  as he had been trying to get Rumsfeld to take on the training of Iraqi security forces and Rumsfeld was resisting it strongly. Even Laura Bush tells that she thought Rumsfeld was hurting the President.

There are some funny moments when Woodward reveals some secret conversation. After David Kay testifies before Congress blaming the NSC and Rice for the intelligence lapses, he gets a call from Robert Joseph, an NSC Staffer. “This conversation never took place”, Joseph says when he meets Kay, but the whole thing is there in the book.

Reading the book you get the feel that two people could have stopped the war. One of them was Colin Powell, who was at his peak of influence when the war started. According to Senator Carl Levin of Michigan Powell could have told the President that this the wrong course. The other person was President George H.W.Bush. He and Barbara Bush knew this was wrong, but did not influence the President because they thought that it was not ethical and W should make his own decisions.

The last line reads, “With all Bush’s upbeat talk and optimism, he had not told the American public the truth about what Iraq had become”. Even though everything was going wrong in Iraq, the President and Vice-President  and Rumsfeld were in denial. The final chapter of the book is an eye opener when Rumsfeld claims that he is not directly responsible for the deaths in Iraq though he was a micromanager of this war. President Bush was not even willing to acknowledge the fact that no WMD was found.

This scathing critique of Bush and Co. is a must read.

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Train your mind, Change your brain

There was a study done some three years back on the effect of meditation on the brain and it was observed that during meditation the brains of monks showed increase in brain waves called gamma waves during compassion meditation. There is a new book called Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain by Sharon Begley which has more details on the research in this area.

The question asked by the Dalai Lama was “Can mind shape brain matter” and the answer provided by neuroscientists was that physical states give rise to mental states and not the other way around. Now there is evidence that it can happen the other way as well.

Prof. Davidson then used fMRI imaging to detect which regions of the monks’ and novices’ brains became active during compassion meditation. The brains of all the subjects showed activity in regions that monitor one’s emotions, plan movements, and generate positive feelings such as happiness. Regions that keep track of what is self and what is other became quieter, as if during compassion meditation the subjects opened their minds and hearts to others.

More interesting were the differences between the monks and the novices. The monks had much greater activation in brain regions called the right insula and caudate, a network that underlies empathy and maternal love. They also had stronger connections from the frontal regions to the emotion regions, which is the pathway by which higher thought can control emotions.

In each case, monks with the most hours of meditation showed the most dramatic brain changes. That was a strong hint that mental training makes it easier for the brain to turn on circuits that underlie compassion and empathy.

“This positive state is a skill that can be trained,” Prof. Davidson says. “Our findings clearly indicate that meditation can change the function of the brain in an enduring way.”[How Thinking Can Change the Brain]

Where is Mullah Omar?

Apparently in Quetta protected by the ISI according to a captured Taliban soldier.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has made similar allegations in the past.

However, Pakistan’s interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, rejected the claim, saying “this is totally baseless”.

“We have no information on the whereabouts of Mullah Omar. He is not living in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the Afghan intelligence service had “made contradictory statements since the arrest of this so-called spokesman of Taliban”.[Mullah Omar ‘hiding in Pakistan’]

Turns out this information is the same as that found in some secret U.S Military documents found by ABC News.

Lesson from Somalia

When the Islamic Courts Union took control of Somalia it was like a repeat of the Taliban taking over Afghanistan.  They did the usual things, like banning football and enforcing Sharia, but soon it became obvious that Somalia was becoming a terrorist state.

These men have seized power in a country that contains 17 operational terrorist training camps, as described in a confidential report prepared by the nongovernmental group Partners International Foundation in 2002. The claim in this report has been confirmed by a military intelligence source. Today, hundreds of terrorists from Afghan istan, Chechnya, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Arabian peninsula are said to be flocking to Somalia to train in or staff these camps. According to a military intelligence source, the camps provide training in the use of improvised explosive devices to counter Ethiopian vehicles.[A New Terrorist Haven]

Also came reports that al Qaeda was operating in Somalia and unlike 1993 the United States did not run away from fighting. In 1993 the American forces were sent into Mogadishu to capture two lieutenants of a Somali warlord. The raid was successful, but two Black Hawks were downed by the Somali militia and a battle at close range between the Americans and the Somali militia erupted.

Continue reading “Lesson from Somalia” →

Avesta and Rig Veda

The Acorn recently had a post on the divergence of Persian and Indian cultures over values suggesting that Persians went for morals while Indians went for might. He quotes Rajesh Kochhar’s observations on the similarities between Avesta,  the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism and Rig Veda. In this context it will be useful to see the relation between Avesta, Avestan, Rig-Veda, and dates of all of them.

The Backstory

In 1786, Sir William Jones, a British judge in Calcutta noticed that there were striking similarities in the vocabulary  and grammar of Sanskrit, Persian, Greek, Latin, Celtic and Gothic. This discovery resulted in the creation of a new field called comparative linguistics which led scholars to believe that all these languages were derived from a pre-Indo-European language which had its origins somewhere in Northern Europe, Central Asia, Southern Russia or basically anywhere-but-India.

According to Romila Thapar, Indo-European speakers had central Asia as their habitat and gradually over many centuries they branched out in search of fresh pastures. According to her, it is these central Asian migrants who wrote the  Avesta in Iran and Rig-Veda in India. According to Thapar there is an argument that people who migrated to India were dissidents of the Old Iranian, hence you find a significant reversal of meaning in concepts common to both Avesta and Rig-Veda.

Continue reading “Avesta and Rig Veda” →

Climate and Civilizations – Mayans and Tang

Sometimes civilizations die due to climate change. Sometimes civilizations arise due to climate change. According to research by Geologist Anil Gupta of IIT Kharagpur declining monsoons could have caused the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization and now it turns out that the Tang dynasty of China and the Mayans were also bought down by shifts in monsoon cycle.

The records show that around the time that these civilizations went into decline, they experienced stronger than average winds in the winter and weaker summer monsoon rains. These weak rains would have reduced crop yields.

The Mayan civilisation and Tang dynasty were contemporary and there is a striking similarity between the Chinese and Latin American climate data. These include a general shift towards a drier climate around AD 750 and three very dry periods between then and AD 910, the last of which coincides with both the Maya and the Tang collapse. [Collapse of civilisations linked to monsoon changes]

Troubling people again..

The other day, Kerala High Court struck down certain provisions of Self Financing Professional Colleges Act enacted by the Communists. According to the court some of the provisions of the act were unconstitutional and would violate the fundamental rights of the petitioners.

The sections declared null and void include admission to professional self-financing colleges through a single entrance exam.

The government’s power to decide the minority status of institutions providing reservation to SCs and STs and deciding fee structure have also been struck down.

This is a setback for the CPM led government, which had taken on the private professional college[Kerala HC slams private college’s rule]

Delivering the verdict the court gave a lecture and said that such private colleges should be encouraged and the Government should stop interfering in their business. I though the court would send copies of Lexus and the Olive Tree to the Honorable Ministers, but it did not.

One man, Kerala School Teachers’ Association (KSTA) general secretary A.K. Chandran went so far as to tell the High Court of Kerala that this was against the “spirit” of the constitution. Since the judiciary has turned down something you would think the natural course would be to appeal the decision till all options are exhausted. Then that would be very un-commie.  Public life has to be disrupted and some agitation has to be planned.

Terming the High Court Division Bench’s judgment revoking certain key sections in the Kerala Professional Colleges Act “a verdict against the collective will of the people in the State,” the Students Federation of India (SFI) State leaders have warned of an intense agitation on the issue.

SFI State secretary M. Swaraj and president P. Sindhu Joy said at a press conference here on Thursday that the SFI would organise student marches to the High Court and 13 district courts on January 15 to protest against the judgment, which, they alleged, favoured commercial interests in the education sector. [SFI plans agitation]

The idea of private businesses free from Government control must be more shocking to the Communists than Saddam’s hanging. If this were China, then all this court business could have been avoided, but thankfully we live in a country where there is a sensible judiciary.

Yakshas

A 2000-year-old aesthetically carved sculpture of dancing Yakshas has been excavated from a famous Buddhist site in the State’s Krishna district close to a National Highway that runs between Vijayawada and Hyderabad.
The fragmented sculpture on a stone slab measuring 15 x10 x5 cm had once adorned the roof of the Maha Stupa at Gummadi Durru in the district.
Giving details of the recent exploration at the site, he said that the sculpture depicts the Yakshas playing instruments and dancing.
“The garments and facial expressions of the Yakshas in the sculpture are akin to the Amaravathi school of Buddhist art,” he said.
The site was first discovered during the excavation made by East India Company during British Raj and has been unapproachable till recently as it was covered with thick bushes and shrubs.
After cutting the thick forest strip embracing a hillock at the site, ASI has taken up the excavation work for the conservation of the antiques, Das said.[Sculpture of dancing Yakshas excavated in Hyderabad]

In Hinduism besides the pantheon of main Gods, there are a large number of lesser ones like the snake-spirits (Nagas) and earth-spirits (yakshas). Of these the Yakshas associated with Kubera and are considered friendly, but those of the female gender, the Yakshis, would sometimes have you for dinner. Some Yakshas are romantic, like the one who convinces a cloud to take a message to his wife in Kalidasas’s Meghadūta, while some are quiz masters, like the one Yudhistira encountered near a lake.

From Hinduism, Buddhism too inherited the yakshas and they are the attendants of Vaiśravaṇa, a chief modeled like Kubera. One famous sculpture from the Mauryan era is that of the Didarganj Yaksi (pic). The stupa railings in Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh are carved with both yakshas and yakshis besides scenes from the Jataka tales.

See Also: Buddhist Art at Amaravati

Excavations in Nalanda

Hindustan Times: ASI to carry out major excavations in Nalanda

According to Director (Exploration and Excavation) RS Fonia of ASI, “The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) gave us detailed satellite imagery of about 16 square kilometre area around the ancient site of Nalanda. Till date excavations have been carried out only in 1.5 sq km area.”

“The satellite data helped us to understand the topography and structural remains around Nalanda and this year during August-September ASI carried out initial explorations leading to the discovery of a number of mounds in villages of Baragaon, Begampur, Machhardiha, Juafardih, Rukministhan,

Paparnausa, Jagdishpur, Sarichak, Kul, Bhadari, Nanana, as also remains of ancient sculptures, gates, pillars, potsherds of Red ware of medieval period,” he said.

Fonia said, “Baragaon used to be part of the trade route to Nepal and Lhasa from eastern India to reach China and Central Asia.”

History of Nalanda goes back to the days of Mahavira and Buddha in the sixth century BC. It was the place of birth and nirvana of Sariputra,one of the most famous disciples of Buddha.

See Also: Reconstructing Nalanda,  Along Huen Tsang’s path, again

Buddhist sutra found in Bamiyan

A part of a Buddhism sutra was found inside one of the two giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, providing a hint for unveiling the mystery surrounding the creation of the statues, a Japanese news agency reported Sunday.

The fragment of the scripture was believed to be the original Sanskrit document, written with the letters often used in the 6th and 7th century, according to a Kyodo news dispatch from Kabul.

Although various scripts have been found inside Buddha statues in Japan, it was the first time a sutra was found inside an Afghan Buddha statue, Kyodo said. The script was written in “Gilgit/Bamiyan type one characters,” which were used in a region that spread over what is now northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, Kyodo said.

The document was the beginning section of a sutra that spelled out the basic belief of Buddhism and said all things were mortal, Kyodo said. It was written on pieces of birch bark and wrapped in a piece of cloth with mud balls, which could have been symbols of Buddha bones, according to the researching team, Kyodo reported. [Secret sutra found in rubble of Bamiyan Buddha]

Last year a Buddhist residence was discovered by a Japanese team in Bamiyan and at that time I wrote

Archaeology has returned to Afghanistan in a big way. First there was the announcement regarding the Bactrian Gold.. Then there was constant news about the search for a third reclining Buddha in Bamiyan by Zemaryali Tarzi based on a note written by Huen Tsang. Now a Japanese archaeologist team has found some new structures in Bamiyan.

Besides this, the Japanese team also discovered Buddhist caves dating back to the eighth century about 120 KM west of Bamiyan, but when it comes discovering documents, this is not the first discovery in that region. Last year ancient documents, which for some reason is called Buddhism’s Dead Sea Scrolls were found in Bamiyan. Actually there were found in 1996 and was smuggled out to Pakistan. Some of these manuscripts, the earliest of which were dated to 1st century AD were some of the oldest Buddhist manuscripts ever written. While the recently discovered sutra was written in Sanskrit, more earlier ones were written in a language called Gāndhārī.

“Before the discovery of these manuscripts, Gandhari was primarily known through coin legends and inscriptions which are highly formulaic and have a limited vocabulary,” he said. “These manuscripts therefore substantially increase the corpus of documents in this language.”

The Gandhari manuscripts are constructed of birch bark which becomes brittle with age, or palm leaf. A large number are damaged or fragmentary, and they are exceptionally difficult to read: there are no spaces between words and the spelling was never standardized. For example, the Sanskrit word dharma, meaning ‘law’ or ‘teaching’ may appear in Gandhari as dharma, darma, dhama, dhrama, or dhrarma. [Master of Gandhari sheds light on Buddhism]