Well, I got half way through this .. and what's he saying? "Eat MacDonald's or die?" He may be speaking as military strategist ... but he has no perception whatsoever of economic factors shaping the "Gap" (which is an ironic description considering the role GAP manufacturers has within the globalised economy). He's just trying to ineptly justify economic colonisation (by any other name) through force - using the sort of arch language of a conspiracy theorist ..

Unfortunately, I no longer work within the rarified atmosphere of the UNDP (Human Development Reports '97/'98), the Asian Development Bank, Senior World Bank Economic advisers .. cos, colleagues there could demolish his non-empirically prsented theories about the threat that under-developed economies seemingly pose to the West in about 5 minutes flat .. and I'm too knackered to be bothered to dig out resources

I think someone put it more succinctly in the pub:
We won't bomb white people cos they are basically signed up to the same things we are - friendly fire is frowned upon.
We won't bomb yellow people cos we either might need 'em .. and they can generally afford to buy our "stuff"
Don't bother bombing the black people .. cos they don't pose a threat and are too poor to buy our stuff
Let's bomb the brown people .. who have the oil we need to prop up the whole rotten system!!

"Of course the people don't want war....that is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." Hermann Goering (Adolf Hitler's deputy) at the Nuremberg trials, 1946

Thanks for flagging up the article .. reading through the lines, it actually confirms what most of us think .. this war is about pinning down economic control of the planet's resources and trade whilst pretending to be the planet's moral saviour. The terrorists responsible for 9/11 just handed Bush a great PR opportunity / moral justification for accelerating a process that was already in progress.