I recall that U. of Chicago creativity theorist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi once tried what you have done with Stephen Covey, the 7 habits guru, and received a curt response along the lines of ” I'm highly effective – or as you say 'creative' – because I don't waste my time answering things like this “.

Let us know what your prof has to say after you turn that in.

http://www.cominganarchy.com/archives/2006/02/19/interview-by-a-dead-mujahid/

Mark, I agree it is amazing. Our prof had told us the Csikszentmihalyi -Covey story to warn us, so I was expecting only short answers (actually, I was thrilled when Tom agreed to anything at all). I'm shocked and amazed.

To get these high-quality answers, publicly, from someone of Barnett's stature is unbelievable.

And thanks for not just a link, but a high-quality post on the interview.

http://zenpundit.blogspot.com/2006/02/tdaxp-triumph-intrepid-dan-of-tdaxp.html

Amazing!

Awesome interview! The answers were very detailed and informative. Big props for you and Dr. Banett. Good job!

Let's see…OODA loops (my head hurts), Dr. Barnett, integrated attacks against other blogs, babes, charts…the only thing missing is a post on China featuring Zhang Ziyi, and maybe other Asian babes. Take care,

Sonny

Mad shouts for the kind words. By the way, your trilogy on Private Military Companies [1] [2] [3] is top notch

Sonny,

Sweet, thanks. I constantly look for ways to add Ziyi, rest assured.

What does the “apocylyptic” [4] damage to the Golden Mosque [5] look like in your three spheres analysis of Iraq [6]?

PS: In addition to people who've commented here, now Chiasm links to the interview too! [7] Sweet!

[1] http://fdnf.typepad.com/live_from_the_fdnf/2006/02/eo_and_genocide.html
[2] http://fdnf.typepad.com/live_from_the_fdnf/2006/02/whats_a_pmc_ii.html
[3] http://fdnf.typepad.com/live_from_the_fdnf/2006/02/pmcs_iii.html
[4] http://www.juancole.com/2006/02/shiite-protests-roil-iraq-tuesday-was.html
[5] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,185640,00.html
[6] http://fx-based.blogspot.com/2006/02/topic-iraq-three-spheres.html
[7] http://chiasm.blog-city.com/soul_of_barnett.htm

Funny you ask about the Golden Mosque. I have a posting in my cranium right now about the issue of mosques in Iraq. Let's just say that my personal experience with Golden Mosques (especifically the Iman Ali Shrine in An Najaf, Iraq) has not been pleasant.

The jig has been up for a long time. The insurgents know that they can take refuge in mosques and that will always complicate our efforts to take action against them. It's pretty much a lose-lose situation. We always get blamed regardless of what happens. Even if it's their own explosives and RPGs that go off inside a mosque, we get blamed for it. Without getting to much into it, bottom line is: the insurgents use mosques and other sensitive locations (hospitals, schools, etc) to their advantage. They have no qualms about setting up staging areas, command posts, and ammo dumps inside mosques. They now that whatever happens, the international media will always benefit their goals. Take care,

Sonny

I just saw the pictures of the Askariya Shrine in Samarra…Holy cow! The dmage is worse than what I initially thought. This is pretty bad. Take care,

Sonny

PS I am with you on the Esquire thing.

http://zenpundit.blogspot.com/2005/01/will-soldiering-head-back-to-future.html

Have a great weekend.