Category: Government

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Marcus Aurelius: Paul Pillar on Intelligence & Policy

Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Deeds of War, Peace Intelligence
Marcus Aurelius

Think Again: Intelligence

I served in the CIA for 28 years and I can tell you: America's screw-ups come from bad leaders, not lousy spies.

Paul Pillar

Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb 2012

“Presidents Make Decisions Based on Intelligence.”

Not the big ones. From George W. Bush trumpeting WMD reports about Iraq to this year's Republican presidential candidates vowing to set policy in Afghanistan based on the dictates of the intelligence community, Americans often get the sense that their leaders' hands are guided abroad by their all-knowing spying apparatus. After all, the United States spends about $80 billion on intelligence each year, which provides a flood of important guidance every week on matters ranging from hunting terrorists to countering China's growing military capabilities. This analysis informs policymakers' day-to-day decision-making and sometimes gets them to look more closely at problems, such as the rising threat from al Qaeda in the late 1990s, than they otherwise would.

On major foreign-policy decisions, however, whether going to war or broadly rethinking U.S. strategy in the Arab world (as President Barack Obama is likely doing now), intelligence is not the decisive factor. The influences that really matter are the ones that leaders bring with them into office: their own strategic sense, the lessons they have drawn from history or personal experience, the imperatives of domestic politics, and their own neuroses. A memo or briefing emanating from some unfamiliar corner of the bureaucracy hardly stands a chance.

Read rest of article.

Phi Beta Iota:  Brother Pillar avoids the obvious – the excessive influence of the banks, military-industrial complex, and the Zionists, among others.  CORRUPTION is our greatest enemy.  Both parties are corrupt, and a third party (or Americans Elect) is not the answer–we need to restore the INTEGRITY of the entire process from election through governance through accountability.

See Also:

Review: Intelligence and U.S. Foreign Policy – Iraq, 9/11, and Misguided Reform

2010: Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Trilogy Updated

Journal: Politics & Intelligence–Partners Only When Integrity is Central to Both

Journal: Reflections on Integrity UPDATED + Integrity RECAP

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Penguin: Drums of War on Iran

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Iran, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Corruption, Government, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence
Who, Me?

And with the rise of oil prices by early Spring “caused by Iranian threats”, the Casus Belli will have been laid.

THE ROVING EYE
The US-Iran economic war
By Pepe Escobar

NEW YORK – Here's a crash course on how to further wreck the global economy.

A key amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act signed by United States President Barack Obama on the last day of 2011 – when no one was paying attention – imposes sanctions on any countries or companies that buy Iranian oil and pay for it through Iran's central bank. Starting this summer, anybody who does it is prevented from doing business with the US.

This amendment – for all practical purposes a declaration of economic war – was brought to you by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), on direct orders of the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.

Read full article.

See Also:

Israeli and US troops gear up for major missile defense drill after Iran maneuvers

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Susan Lindauer: IRAQ – The Legacy of Deception and Its Costs

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Military
Susan Linauer

IRAQ: THE LEGACY OF DECEPTION AND ITS COSTS

Susan Lindauer, Former CIA Back Channel to Iraq at the United Nations

Most Americans are astonished to discover that right up to 9/11, the CIA was developing a “Real Politik” vision of Iraq that recognized the fast approaching collapse of U.N. Sanctions. The CIA was preparing for Peace—with a ruthless determination that the United States would capture the lion's share of spoils from Iraqi Reconstruction contracts in any post-sanctions period.

German pilots transporting medical supplies and doctors into Baghdad International Airport at the end of the Clinton Administration had blasted the myth of invincibility surrounding sanctions. To this day, those pilots are anonymous—but they changed the equation in total. Their courage honoring the Berlin Airlifts in the Cold War was quickly copied. Across Europe and the Arab world, activists began to organize humanitarian flights into Baghdad. On the Security Council, France and Russia argued strenuously that the ban on air travel had been self imposed, and the no-fly zone could not prohibit humanitarian flights.

By this time, UN sanctions had killed over 1.7 million Iraqis; wiped out literacy in a single generation; and created artificial starvation in the world's second most oil-rich nation. Iraq's world class hospitals that once rivaled London and New York had been ravaged.  Sick of the misery, the global community refused to stay silent any longer.

The CIA saw the writing on the wall. International loathing for “genocide by sanctions” had reached such a peak of outrage that there was no possibility of re-crafting the hated policy. Secretary of State Colin Powell's vision of “smart sanctions” had come too late.

The CIA was determined to control the agenda for the advantage of the United States, however. And so quietly through my back channel, we undertook a proactive, covert dialogue over exactly what concessions Iraq would offer the United States, in exchange for lifting the sanctions. As a long-time opponent of sanctions myself, I was eager to get results.

Continue reading “Susan Lindauer: IRAQ – The Legacy of Deception and Its Costs”

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Mini-Me: Occupy 9/11 Emergent – War by Deception 2011 – The shadow government and shadow economy

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Genocide, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, InfoOps (IO), IO Deeds of War, Military, Movies, Officers Call, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Videos/Movies/Documentaries
Who? Mini-Me?

Occupy 9/11 is emergent. This film, loaded on 1 February 2011, is now going viral. At 2:28:42, this is one of the best documentaries on the topic, and it is free online.

YouTube War by Deception 2011

Phi Beta Iota:  This is an extraordinary contribution.  It is highly recommended for students as well as adult learning clubs; it provides the best “overview” in one place.

See Also:

9-11 Truth Books & DVDs (33)

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Richard Wright: Doug Macgregor on Wake Up – America Can’t Afford Its Military

03 Economy, 10 Security, 11 Society, Blog Wisdom, Corruption, DoD, Government, Military, Officers Call
Richard Wright

Wisdom!

Strategy & Policy

Wake Up: America Can't Afford Its Military

By

 

EXTRACT:

It's no secret what's required in 2012 and beyond: an efficient and effective organization of military power for the optimum utilization of increasingly constrained resources. More specifically, a serious audit of the U.S. Department of Defense, along with a national reset where the roles of politicians, bureaucrats and four stars are recast as servants, not masters, of the national interest. Unfortunately, inside the Beltway where accountability is a dirty word, political and military leaders are free to conflate their personal and bureaucratic interests with the national interest.

As a result, there is still no willingness to comprehend or, at least, admit the truth: America's current national security posture is fiscally unsustainable. Today, the United States' national debt is so large it will swallow almost any legislation the President and Congress agree to pass. It is only a question of time before the U.S. government is compelled to make drastic cuts in federal spending.

Read full article.

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Marcus Aurelius: Obama, CIA, Murder by Drone…

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, Military, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
Marcus Aurelius

Under Obama, an emerging global apparatus for drone killing

Greg Miller

Washington Post, 27 December 2011

The Obama administration’s counterterrorism accomplishments are most apparent in what it has been able to dismantle, including CIA prisons and entire tiers of al-Qaeda’s leadership. But what the administration has assembled, hidden from public view, may be equally consequential.

In the space of three years, the administration has built an extensive apparatus for using drones to carry out targeted killings of suspected terrorists and stealth surveillance of other adversaries. The apparatus involves dozens of secret facilities, including two operational hubs on the East Coast, virtual Air Force­ ­cockpits in the Southwest and clandestine bases in at least six countries on two continents.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Obama, CIA, Murder by Drone…”

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