The mindset of the professional foreign policy-types in Washington

"At the actual substance of strategy," says strategist William Lind @ American Conservative, " they are incompetent—which matters not a whit at [Washington, D.C.'s imperial] court. In fact, any skill at the substance of policy easily becomes a disadvantage at court because it can lead to saying things people further up the ladder do not wish to hear. At that point, your ladder becomes a chute. And so Washington bungles on, winning less important battles at the expense of losing more important ones, and with them wars. Failure brings no reform: the Establishment just moves on to do the same thing in a new venue.",