BROADBAND COMPETITION UNWINDING: THE TRUE COST OF A "POLITICS OF DISTRACTION"

January 04, 2005
BROADBAND COMPETITION UNWINDING: THE TRUE COST OF A "POLITICS OF DISTRACTION"
Steve Clemons
Washington Note
Last night, I read through an interesting set of papers prepared by the left-lurching Institute for Policy Studies. One of the papers, the titles of which I don't have with me here at my neighborhood Starbucks (but will post later), was about the "true costs of the Iraq War." The other proposed a "unified security budget for the United States." I found both papers intriguing -- though my own politics are actually more conservative than the writers of these interesting papers. But the approach each took was quite impressive.
What the paper on the true costs of the Iraq War missed though was that there has developed a "politics of distraction" which has created many other such costs for the nation. Speculating about alternative futures, or presents, is complicated but necessary when thinking about the opportunities costs of actions taken and not taken.
For instance, if America had not allowed so many of its defense-related financial and military resources to become bogged down in Iraq and the Middle East, my hunch is that we would be engaged in more vigorous confrontation with China. The Chinese leadership realizes this as well and thus has many incentives to do whatever it can to covertly supply reasons for America to remain distracted with Iraq and the Middle East problem that we now own. That doesn't make China good, or bad -- but it's the smart thing for China to attempt.
Alternatively, America's distraction with Iraq and U.S. foreign policy has diverted the gaze of the nation from other very important issues. In theory, the number of issues that this war has distracted us from could be infinite, but I believe that there are some biggies. To the degree that one agrees with this argument, the opportunities lost in many other spheres need to be added to the long list of financial costs and to the human lives ended and shattered by this war....