Category: Cultural Intelligence

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Bin Laden Show 34: Non-Event for Most Muslims

Advanced Cyber/IO, Cultural Intelligence, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making

The unimportance of bin Laden

tariq Tariq Ramadan

Guardian, Monday 9 May 2011
Muslim majority countries will soon no longer be defined by their relationships with the West

EXTRACT:  The elements of a new political philosophy defining the West's relationship with Islam and with the Muslims can only emerge from the crucible of the broad-based movement for justice, freedom, democracy and dignity now sweeping North Africa and the Middle East. The rebirth now underway in the East must be understood first as an appeal for critical self-examination by the West. Once the rejoicing at the elimination of bin Laden, the “symbol of the cancer of terrorism” is over, the West should move rapidly to review its regional policies.

Phi Beta Iota: The West continues to lie to itself at all levels.  Absent an honest strategic analytic model and a commitment to developing a mature approach to intelligence and policy that create non-zero solutions for a world that works for all, the West will continue to decline.

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Bin Laden Show 33: How Did CIA Stage It?

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency

Phi Beta Iota: The jury is still out on this one, but here is one notional depiction of how CIA did it.  Bear in mind that CIA is admitting it has a safehouse and observation post within sight of the larger compound and that this is in the equivalent of a “resort town” where foreigners have relatively easy (but still observed) passage.

01  Decision is made by Panetta, after suggestion by the Directorate of Operations (DO), to stage the execution of Bin Laden as Panetta's final “accomplishment” with three major side effects: a) pressure on Pakistan; b) excuse to exit Afghanistan and pretend Petraeus was successful; and c) bump for Obama

02  Decision is made by Panetta, after suggestion by the DO, that this be a totally black operation that deceives all participants outside of the closed CIA circle executing the deception operation.  The President, the Secretaries of Defense and State, and the Joint Special Operations Group will all be lied to.  [We prefer this version, but the really scary version, as with 9/11, is that they are all a party to the deception.]

Continue reading “Bin Laden Show 33: How Did CIA Stage It?”

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Bin Laden Show 32: Journalists on Fiction and Lies

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Officers Call
Jeff Carney, Born 22 May 1965

Journalists Are Grumbling About Changing Raid Details

By Uri Friedman May 05, 2011

Atlantic Monthly

The White House's account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden has undergone some revisions in recent days–a fact White House press secretary Jay Carney (pictured above) attributed to a “fog of war” atmosphere as information continues to stream in. But that explanation hasn't been sufficient for some journalists, who are beginning to grumble on Twitter.

The changing story has drawn considerable criticism, notably from analysts on the left, where there was already ambivalence about celebrating bin Laden's death. Salon‘s Justin Elliott has been hitting hard, claiming the Pentagon's report from Monday now “reads like fiction” and writing “on my way to becoming a Deather with latest story change that there was no big firefight after all.” Filmmaker Michael Moore observes, “The Pentagon lied about the Jessica Lynch rescue & they really lied about Pat Tillman. They've already changed their OBL story 3x in 3days..” Bin Laden, states author Joe McGinniss, “was unarmed, we killed him. Spinning it like self-defense is as wrong as Vietnam.”

Elsewhere on Twitter, Politico‘s Ben Smith writes, “Admin could have avoided all this grief by just making up a story out of whole cloth and sticking to it, as is traditional,” while Slate's Dave Weigel tweets, “Tomorrow, admin sources will revise story. bin Laden actually in purgatory” (where a majority of CNN poll respondents believe he is). Weigel also cites the claim from administration officials in the Times report that bin Laden had an AK-47 and Makarov pistol in arm's reach: “So was one in hand and one in arm's reach? STUPID LANGUAGE.”

Then there's Time‘s Bobby Ghosh, who says “methinks media would not have been so understanding if it was Bush in the WH now, making so many mistakes in announcement of #OBL‘s killing,” adding, “‘Fog of War' excuse doesn't wash. How many factual errors did Bush White House make in announcing Saddam's capture… or Zarqawi's killing?” Ghosh delivers one more parting shot: “By claiming ‘fog of war' the WH is suggesting Seals gave wrong first information. If there was a fog, it was in the WH. Fog of politics.”

To catch you up, here are some of the main ways the story has changed in recent days:

Read original….

Tip of the Hat to George Donnelly at Facebook.

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Bin Laden Show 31: Let Sleeping (Dead) Dogs Lie…

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency
Chuck Spinney Recommends...
Excellent food for thought!

Bin Laden Is Dead, but What About His Ideas?

Uri Avnery, Antiwar.com, May 8, 2011 @ 11:00 pm

“Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see [it], and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.”

This is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible (Proverbs 24:17-18) and, indeed, in the Hebrew language. It is beautiful in other languages, too, though no translation comes close to the beauty of the original.

Of course, it is natural to be glad when one’s enemy is defeated, and the thirst for revenge is a human trait. But gloating—schadenfreude—is something different altogether. An ugly thing.

Ancient Hebrew legend has it that God got very angry when the Children of Israel rejoiced as their Egyptian pursuers drowned in the Red Sea. “My creatures are drowning in the sea,” God admonished them, “and you are singing?”

These thoughts crossed my mind when I saw the TV shots of jubilant crowds of young Americans shouting and dancing in the street. Natural, but unseemly. The contorted faces and the aggressive body language were no different from those of crowds in Sudan or Somalia. The ugly sides of human nature seem to be the same everywhere.

The rejoicing may be premature. Most probably, al-Qaeda did not die with Osama bin Laden. The effect may be entirely different.

Safety copy below the line…

Continue reading “Bin Laden Show 31: Let Sleeping (Dead) Dogs Lie…”

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Bin Laden Show 30: Five Truths On Killing Bin Laden

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Sense-Making, Military, Peace Intelligence

Osama bin Laden

Comment: Five Surprising Truths About the Killing of Bin Laden

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |

For intelligence and terrorism experts, the frustrating part of Osama bin Laden’s assassination is not the lack of details on the operation, nor the diplomatic ping-pong currently taking place between America and Pakistan. Rather it is the media spectacle that has unfolded around the story ever since it first made headlines. The cacophony of conjecture that has hijacked the global news agenda is maintained by an army of talking heads, who rely on rumor and speculation to satisfy sensationalist media editors. The outcome is a sterile media circus, devoid of substance, which leaves news consumers confused and uninformed. To counter this trend, intelNews lists here five truths of critical importance about Osama bin Laden’s assassination. In summary: One, America does not have to prove it killed bin Laden. Two, bin Laden’s assassination is not a victory against terrorism. Three, it likely will not reduce —and may even increase— terrorism. Four, it will not have the slightest effect on the Taliban or the war in Afghanistan. Five, even if the Pakistani government consciously shielded bin Laden, there is not much the US can do about it. More specifically:

Read full posting.

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Bin Laden Show 29: Wikipedia 75% Summary

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Military
Marcus Aurelius Recommends

//F-6 INFO//F-6 INFO//F-6 INFO//

Death of Osama bin Laden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Operation Neptune's Spear)

Phi Beta Iota: Assuredly worth a look.  Well-organized but probably developed by CIA sock-puppets, gives almost no attention to the so-called conspiracy theories and completely misses, among many other important counter-factuals, Dr. Dr. Steve Pieczenik (BLS XIV), the SOTTReport (BLS XVIII) and more recently, Presidential Directive 11 of August 2010 (BLS XXV).  As Brother Marcus suggests, F-6, but in our view good as a starting point.

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Bin Laden Show 28: CIA Official Post & Photos

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency
Marcus Aurelius Recommends

The official CIA posting, with photos, of “the hunt for Bin Laden.”

The Final Chapter in the Hunt for Bin Ladin

“The president gave us a mission and we delivered on it. This success is a testament I think to our great skill, great creativity, and perseverance, and really the courage of hundreds of Agency officers over the last nearly 10 years. You never lost focus. You never lost determination. You never lost faith that we would ultimately tighten the net around Bin Ladin and ultimately rid the world of the most infamous terrorist in our time.”

—CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, May 2, 2011

Phi Beta Iota: The photos, six of them, are a MUST SEE.  They capture the absolute essence of CIA's handling of the Bin Laden Story.  As of today, the photos are: 5 of Leon Panetta in various heroic poses, and one of the CIA Museum.  Note the heights of the various pieces of wall, labeled prior to the operation.