Pentagon's "Political Will" in a Box

The world is a complicated place. And the American government is having a tough time figuring out who's really on its side, these days. So I guess it makes sense that the Pentagon wants a software tool for determining the amount of "political will for reform and collaboration with the USG [U.S. government] in democratization, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism efforts."

I mean, one day, Tony Blair is George Bush's BFF in Iraq -- the next, he's planning on troop withdrawals. Iraqi president Nouri al-Maliki hates the "surge" (or maybe he's really committed to it.) Pakistani chief Pervez Musharraf is either a valuable ally in the war on terror, or a jihadist whipping-boy. And let's not even get into where all those Iraqi tribal sheiks stand.

As the Defense Department request for proposals reminds us...

Military and other planners traditionally make instinctive assumptions about the presence or absence of political will based on a variety of subjective factors. Until now, no objective framework for determination has been developed or applied. The result is that major decisions regarding collaboration, information sharing, funding and planning are based almost exclusively on individual idiosyncracy, without taking into account historical or collective experience.

Sound familiar?

Details on the tool over in the DANGER ROOM...