Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

Spoke in Williamsburg this morn to several hundred Army band members/leaders at what I think is their big annual training. Went about 50 min with some follow-up. They gave small bag crammed with Army band music CDs.

Made up for night previous: they got me suite in hotel on first floor and I found ants crawling on my limbs just as I was falling asleep, necessitating a midnight switch.

Woke up with terrible throat but got through talk. Apparently my second son got me again. Like his older two siblings last summer, this kid's getting rid of some tonsils this summer, as he's been a Typhoid Mary this winter/spring. My older kids, sans tonsils, largely sail this winter. Problem is, the sick younger kids win trip to mom-and-dad's bed.

At Reagan before flight home, I picked up Doug Feith's War and Decision, which should have been subtitled, "We were all young--and neocons--once."

It is well-written and worth reading. Best, it helps me remember what I liked about Bush when I edit the book, so a good balancer, reminding me of an argument I often offered when I spoke on OFT/OSD's behalf for two years after 9/11 and which I sought to impart in the Rumsfeld profile in Esquire: these guys really changed the system for the better and innovated plenty. What clearly did not keep pace was the rest of the government--especially State. Rice was also a disastrous enabler of poor interagency and does no better now at State.

Of course, the book self-serves plenty and defends by PowerPoint and memo too much, but again, a useful balancer, and helpful to me right now.

Also looking for some help by Galrahn who reminds me to disaggregate my comments on naval change/non-change better.

It amazes me that again I pen tens of thousands of words (very few side stories this time too) and STILL I find myself scrambling to make sure this or that issue gets covered adequately, even as I constantly remind myself that the book is designed to operate fundamentally at the level of grand strategy.

Warren has said already that this effort will test the limits of what it means to be a book! Hope that doesn't spook Neil too much. He's already said no "grand strategy" in title and I have to agree, because I wouldn't probably buy a book with that term in the title either!