Collaboration Zones – Page 1200 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/09/052011/09/05

Chuck Spinney: Can USA Move Beyond 9/11 Pathology?

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Genocide, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War, Media, Military, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Officers Call, Policy, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Strategy, Waste (materials, food, etc)

CS Note: Lightly reformatted by text unchanged and nothing added

Can the United States move beyond the narcissism of 9/11?

The unity brought about by the tragedy was intense but fleeting. The war on terror has been disastrous abroad and divisive at home

Gary Younge, guardian.co.uk, Sunday 4 September 2011 18.00

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks the then national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, called in her senior staff and asked them to think seriously about “how [to] capitalise on these opportunities”.

The primary opportunity came from a public united in anger, grief and fear which the Bush administration sought to leverage to maximum political effect. “I think September 11 was one of those great earthquakes that clarify and sharpen,” Rice told the New Yorker six months afterwards. “Events are in much sharper relief.”

Ten years later the US response to the terror attacks have clarified three things:

the limits to what its enormous military power can achieve,
its relative geopolitical decline and
the intensity of its polarised political culture.

It proved itself

incapable of winning the wars it chose to fight and
incapable of paying for them and
incapable of coming to any consensus as to why.

The combination of domestic repression at home and military aggression abroad kept no one safe, and endangered the lives of many. The execution of Osama bin Laden provoked such joy in part because almost every other American response to 9/11 is regarded as a partial or total failure.

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2011/09/052011/09/05

Marcus Aurelius: US at Permanent “War” + War RECAP

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War, Media, Military, Officers Call

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

The new normal, era persistent conflict.

A decade after the 9/11 attacks, Americans live in an era of endless war

Gregg Jaffe

Washington Post, September 5, 2011, p. 1

Video: The attacks of September 11, 2001 forced Americans to reevaluate their views on the nation's security. A decade later, is the country stronger and better prepared to prevent a terror attack? (Aug. 31)

This is the American era of endless war.

To grasp its sweep, it helps to visit Fort Campbell, Ky., where the Army will soon open a $31 million complex for wounded troops and those whose bodies are breaking down after a decade of deployment.

Read full article.

See accompanying graphic.

Phi Beta Iota: This is not new. War has been the norm since President General David Eiserhower warned of the rise of the military-industrial complex. The article is worth reading in full to understand how very smart people can become very stupid–we are in a state of endless war because none of our leaders have the integrity to apply their undeniable intelligence to waging peace, which is vastly cheaper than war–the problem is that peace enriches poor people rather than concentrating wealth.

See Especially:

Review: Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace – How We Got to Be So Hated

2011/09/032011/09/03

Richard Wright: Mike Vicker’s Trillion Dollar Adventure

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War, Military

Soldier, Thinker, Hunter, Spy: Drawing a Bead on Al Qaeda

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

New York Times, September 3, 2011

EXTRACT:

“I just want to kill those guys,” Mr. Vickers likes to say in meetings at the Pentagon, with a grin.

. . . . . . .

As covert American wars — in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia — continue in the second decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, so will the questions of legality, morality and risk that go along with them.

. . . . . . .

In Mr. Vickers’s assessment, there are perhaps four important Qaeda leaders left in Pakistan, and 10 to 20 leaders over all in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Even if the United States kills them all in drone strikes, Mr. Vickers said, “You still have Al Qaeda, the idea.”

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: The insanity of it all is hard to fathom. Vickers is a male counterpart to Fran Townsend. The US Government, “in our name,” is spending over a trillion a year (that it borrows) for elective wars and global assassinations that are pissing off millions of people, while the “Undersecretary of Intelligence” spends all his time trying to kill the dirty dozen. All we can do at this point is recommend a close reading of Paul Fernhout: Open Letter to the Intelligence Advanced Programs Research Agency (IARPA).

2011/09/03

Berto Jongman: Iraq Suicide Bombing Results + RECAP

09 Justice, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of War, Military

Open source assessment of a devastating terrorist tactic.

Free But Must Register

or full PDF

2011-09-03 Iraq Suicide Attack Study

200 coalition soldiers were killed in 79 suicide bomb events during 2003–10. More Iraqi civilians per lethal event were killed than were coalition soldiers (12 vs 3; p=0·004).

Suicide bombers in Iraq kill significantly more Iraqi civilians than coalition soldiers. Among civilians,
children are more likely to die than adults when injured by suicide bombs.

Phi Beta Iota: The US Government is delusional if not maliciously deceptive in focusing on Al Qaeda and on suicide bombing as a “threat.” Terrorism is a tactic, and nothing more than a traffic accident in the larger scheme of things. Suicide bombings are also directly correlated with the invasion and occupation of foreign Muslim countries by US forces. Duh. In passing, we grieve to observe that we now have more military personnel committing suicide than are being killed in action.

2011/09/03

Koko: CIA and Libyan Intelligence VERY Close, Including Rendition–meanwhile Fran Townsend Excels at Being a Vacuous Bimbo

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War

Koko Sign: Who is this blond vacuous bimbo that keeps appearing on television with nothing serious to say? Yes, we gorillas know that vacuous bimbo is a tautalogical redundancy, it just seemed appropriate.

Documents shed light on CIA, Gadhafi spy ties

From Ben Wedeman, CNN

September 3, 2011 7:15 p.m. EDT

Includes video.

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — Documents seized at the Libyan intelligence headquarters have revealed a surprisingly close relationship between the CIA and their counterparts in the Gadhafi regime.

. . . . . . .

Fran Townsend, CNN counter-terror analyst who worked as President George W. Bush's homeland security adviser, said that when suspects were transferred to any country, not just Libya, U.S. officials asked the government for assurances that they wouldn't violate human rights of the person in question.

Read full report…

Phi Beta Iota: CNN lost its integrity when Ted Turner left, and it has not had anyone really serious on the national security account for a while. Koko is right–Fran Townsend is an idiot who knows nothing. These are trying times–if CNN is serious about getting back into analytics, they need to change their linen.

2011/09/032011/10/22

Chuck Spinney: Hill Staffer Expose of the GOP

11 Society, Articles & Chapters, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Government, InfoOps (IO), IO Deeds of Peace, IO Impotency, Methods & Process, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Threats

My very close friend Mike Lofgren, and Republican of the Old School, one of the smartest people I have ever met, backs out of the Capital Hill Saloon with both guns blazing. Knowing the truly dedicated people like Mike in government over the years is one of the things that made my 33 years in government service both a privilege and honor for which I will remain ever thankful.

Chuck Spinney
Ste Maxime, France

Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult

by: Mike Lofgren,

Truthout, 3 September 2011

Barbara Stanwyck: “We're both rotten!”
Fred MacMurray: “Yeah – only you're a little more rotten.”
– Double Indemnity (1944)

Those lines of dialogue from a classic film noir sum up the state of the two political parties in contemporary America. Both parties are rotten – how could they not be, given the complete infestation of the political system by corporate money on a scale that now requires a presidential candidate to raise upwards of a billion dollars to be competitive in the general election? Both parties are captives to corporate loot. The main reason the Democrats' health care bill will be a budget buster once it fully phases in is the Democrats' rank capitulation to corporate interests – no single-payer system, in order to mollify the insurers; and no negotiation of drug prices, a craven surrender to Big Pharma.

But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP.

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2011/09/03

Marcus Aurelius: AmEx CEO Blasts Obama and Buffet

03 Economy, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence

MSNBC had Mr. Golub on the Dylan Ratigan show yesterday. The Clintonesque sub for Ratigan was aghast that Golub did not want to buy into higher tax rates and that he advocated making the 50% or so of Americans who pay no taxes pay their share. The follow-on segment had three talking heads, at least two of whom were also aghast that Golub might want to keep more of the money he earned.

My Response To Buffett And Obama

By HARVEY GOLUB

Wall Street Journal, 22 August 2011

Before you ask for more tax money from me, raise the $2.2 trillion you already collect each year more fairly and spend it more wisely.

EXTRACT:

Today, top earners–the 250,000 people who earn $1 million or more–pay 20% of all income taxes, and the 3% who earn more than $200,000 pay almost half. Almost half of all filers pay no income taxes at all. Clearly they earn less and should pay less. But they should pay something and have a stake in our government spending their money too.

. . . . . .

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