In what could signal a new turn in Pentagon policy, US military leaders are taking advice from Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, a former guitarist for the 1970s country-rock band the Doobie Brothers. Baxter, who has also played with Steely Dan, Elton John and Dolly Parton, now has a high-level Pentagon security clearance and regularly advises leaders on “out-of-the-box” thinking, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks in which 6,000 people died, Baxter told a group of military policymakers, defense contractors and US Defense Department staff that solving America’s security problems hinged on changing the “perceptions of our enemies.”
"You live in a dirt-poor place, but if you blow yourself up in the name of Allah, you'll get 73 virgins, all the dope you can smoke, a backstage passes to Bruce Springsteen ... How do we nullify and negate that threat?" he was quoted as saying by AlterNet.com, in a report on the musician’s presentation for the “Pentagon-friendly” Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
"The way to keep a kamikaze pilot out of aircraft ... is to deal with it at the source" - that is, the motivation - added Baxter, who this spring was appointed to the board of directors of the SAFE (Safeguarding America For Everyone) Foundation, a non-partisan organization “dedicated to educating the American public on ballistic missile and [weapons of mass destruction] threats.”
AlterNet.com quoted Baxter as saying that the goal of US policy should be to "re-engineer the perceptions of our enemies." To this end, the guitarist proposed intense US "perception engineering," including psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns designed by advertising executives, and “nanomachines” that could invade the circulatory system and affect the brain and thought patterns of the target.
According to the SAFE statement, Baxter’s resume includes stints as a “technical consultant to several scientific organizations,” adviser to congressmen Curt Weldon and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), both members of the US House Science Committee, and participant in “numerous war games for the Pentagon.” The ex-Doobie Brothers band member is also on the Potomac Institute board of regents and currently serves as chairman of the Civilian Advisory Board for Ballistic Missile Defense, according to the statement.
According to the AlterNet report, Baxter has emerged from his 1970s musician days as a strong advocate of missile defense systems. "If we launch a nuclear attack against China - all we do is solve their housing crisis," the online news service quoted Baxter as saying.
Despite his unprecedented rise to military adviser, Baxter remains humble. “I'm still a musician and a practicing musician for the future but transitioning from just the music arena to the arena of national security and more specifically in the area of ballistic missile defense and being an adviser to some of the folks on Capitol Hill,” Baxter told The Cincinnati Enquirer this summer.
Nevertheless, the guitarist acknowledged that he had been forced to surmount “certain obstacles,” telling the Enquirer “One is not having a long background in [national security issues]…Another is coming from a place where people do have a problem understanding how a musician - immaturity, no real understanding of the geostrategic and geopolitical situation…can evolve into a person where he is listened to by people with political and military responsibility.” – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
