Communities of Practice – Page 997 – Public Intelligence Blog

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

Rodriguez is dumb enough to take this as a complement. His Wikipedia page looks like it was written by CIA PAO.

Ex-CIA official says tapes destroyed to prevent al Qaeda reprisals

(Reuters) – Jose Rodriguez said it took a “few hours” to destroy 92 videotapes showing his CIA colleagues using harsh interrogation techniques – including waterboarding – on al Qaeda leaders such as September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

But the former director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service told Reuters on Monday that he ordered the tapes destroyed to protect his colleagues from possible retaliation by al Qaeda.

The tapes of interrogations at a CIA “black site” included images of waterboarding – a form of simulated drowning – on Mohammed, Abd al Rahim al Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, three al Qaeda leaders now held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay.

Rodriguez said he was afraid the material would be leaked.

“You really doubt that those tapes would not be out in the open now, that they would not be on YouTube?” he said. “They would be out there, they would have been leaked, or somebody would have ordered their release.”

After the tapes were destroyed in an “industrial-sized disintegrator,” he said, “I felt good.”

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: Rodrigues is what you get when a clandestine service becomes a bureaucracy, and people are promoted for ass-kissing, going along, and generally playing the political game. Latin America Division has been a joke for decades, relying heavily on liaison for hand-outs, on making up stuff taken from the newspapers, on Chiefs of Station claiming recruitments that could never be turned over, and so on. One legitimate reason for DIA to want its own clandestine service (with full non-official cover options) is because CIA no longer know how to train, equip, or operate a clandestine service. It has lost its integrity across the board and despite the best of intentions, General Petraeus will never “get it” and not have time to fix it even if he did. Rodriguez' book is beneath contempt — a perfect companion to the books by Dick Cheney and Doug Feith. In retrospect, Rodriguez may merit investigation for his role in enabling Dick Cheney's many high crimes and now known lies. Between Rodriguez and Khost Kathy you have the disembowelment of CIA in a nutshell. This sort of stuff disgraces the profession of intelligence.

Colin Powell Letter Against Torture

Journal: Reflections on Integrity UPDATED + Integrity RECAP

Journal: The Truth on Khost Kathy

Steele The Craft of Intelligence 2.6

2012/05/032012/05/03

DefDog: Afghanistan security deal Obama signed has holes

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, DoD, Government, IO Impotency, Officers Call

This represents one of the dishonorable acts a politician can commit. Using other people's lives to win an election…….a clear indication of the lack of integrity of an individual who holds the highest office of the land….and the speech sounds like it was modeled after LBJ's equally incoherent speech in the closing days of Viet-Nam. The second article is pure propaganda, witless and without merit.

Afghanistan security deal Obama signed has holes

CBS News, May 3, 2012

WASHINGTON — The 10-year security compact that President Barack Obama signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai contains promises the United States and Afghanistan cannot guarantee they will keep, and loopholes for both nations.

The deal signed Tuesday also allows either nation to walk away on a year's notice. That could allow the next U.S. president, or the next Afghan leader, to scuttle a deal negotiated by his or her predecessor.

For Obama, the agreement represents a compromise with Karzai after messy negotiations over U.S. military detention of Afghan suspects and raids on Afghan homes that offend Afghans.

Read full article.

Obama’s Deal With Afghanistan Underscores Its Crucial Role in the War on Terror

2012/05/022012/05/02

Reference: Fukishima Update — Much Much Worse

03 Economy, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Government

Fukushima Primed For Worldwide Disaster

The radioactive Fukushima Genie is out of the bottle and is primed to accomplish a worldwide disaster. If the roof of Reactor building #4 collapses, a building that is now seismically rated at zero, a pool of 1563 spent fuel rods perched 100 feet above the ground would also collapse ~ resulting in a gusher of global radiation that would put most of the world’s human and biological populations at severe risk.

by Allen L Roland

The greatest and most dangerous on going cover up in the world today is not the official 9/11 cover up (now into its 11th year); it is not the supposed assassination of Bin Laden by Navy Seals last year (an operation with no confirmed body, no video and completely staged as a re-election gimmick as we are now witnessing); but instead, it is the unspoken on going conspiracy of silence regarding the spreading worldwide nuclear radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011.

. . . . . .

Just recently, authorities in Japan confessed that the amount of cesium-137 released by Fukushima is equivalent to 168 of the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A brief confirmation came from a recent article in the Telegraph ~ “Japan’s government estimates the amount of radioactive caesium-137 released by the Fukushima nuclear disaster so far is equal to that of 168 Hiroshima bombs.”

Read full article with photos, videos, and links.

2012/05/02

Reference: Surrounding Iran – Updated with Pop-Up Info Boxes

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Iran, 07 Other Atrocities, DoD, IO Deeds of War, Military

Interactive: Map: US bases encircle Iran

Dozens of US and allied forces' military installations dot the region, from Oman, UAE and Kuwait to Turkey and Israel.

Doha, Qatar – US military bases continue to form a strategic envelope around Iran, although the American withdrawal from Iraq at the end of 2011 may have changed the regional balance somewhat towards Iran's favour. While US forces are scaling back in many parts of the globe due to budget cuts – and have begun a gradual depature from Afghanistan to be completed by 2014 – their international presence remains vast.

From an active-duty force of 1.4 million soldiers, the US has deployed some 350,000 troops to at least 130 foreign countries around the world. Some are at Cold War-era installations, but many are in or near combat zones in the Middle East. At more than 750 bases internationally, private contractors and third-country nationals also form a large percentage of the staff, in addition to military reservists and civilian employees of the Pentagon.

US military installations in the Middle East serve to keep an eye on Iran, but their regional footprint was significantly expanded well before Iran became the most publicly cited foreign “threat”.

There were three reasons why the US sought a presence across the Middle East, says Mehran Kamrava, Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar:

“Securing oil resources, guaranteeing the security of the state of Israel and combating threats to American interests” were the initial priorities of US military activity in the region prior to the first Gulf War, Kamrava says.

“Subsequently, direct military presence wasn't in the form of impositions, but the [security umbrella] was a conscious policy decision on the part of the Persian Gulf states.”

See Interactive Map

Earlier Version with Black Dots: Graphic: US Bases (44) Surrounding Iran

2012/05/02

DefDog: Leaving Afghanistan – As Ignorant As When We Invaded

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Government

What an IO goldmine for the Taliban……ending a war takes two just as a Tango does. By saying we are done it provides an opponent with victory. There is no other way to spin it. Now the questioning begins (as it should have. Lack of intelligence on Pashtu culture is the root cause of this war. If we had understood Pashtunwalli and the meaning of sanctuary we would have understood Omar's obligation to bin Laden. We didn't because it is not found in the classified enclaves of the intelligence
community….it is found on the many websites regarding Pashtuns and Afghanistan though.)

In Afghanistan, President Obama signals end to the war

WASHINGTON — Speaking to a war-weary nation from the epicenter of the fight against terrorism, President Obama signaled the end of what he called “a decade under the dark cloud of war.”

“This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end,” Obama said before a backdrop of armored military vehicles and a draped U.S. flag at the Bagram air base.

Obama's address to the nation capped a surprise visit that coincided with the anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, a mission that has become an unexpected focal point in his campaign for reelection.

PHOTOS: Obama makes unannounced visit to Afghanistan

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: What DefDog forgets is that the Taliban offered to give up Bin Laden, but the Bush-Cheney regime refused that offer. Below are a few headlines to that effect. In retrospect, we now realize that the Taliban's demand for proof was one that Cheney could not accept because Cheney knew with precision that 9/11 was a controlled false flag operation for which Bin Laden was a patsy. Who would have thought we would one day consider the Taliban more honorable (at the time) than our own Administration? The core point is valid: the US went into Afghanistan ignorant, and leaves Afghanistan just as ignorant. The same was true of Viet-Nam. The ideologues in policy dismissed the educated views of the intelligence community in both instances. What we consider important is that between AF-IQ and Libya, this may well be the last tolerated invasion of any country by the US acting unilaterally. Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela — and many others, are now not only in a position to slam down on US acting up, but highly motivated to do so. The era of US carpetbagging is coming to an end, but the USG will be the last to realize this, and will destroy is domestic economy as a final desperate action.

Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over

US Refusal of 2001 Taliban Offer Gave bin Laden a Free Pass

Book Reviews:

9-11 Truth Books & DVDs (38)

Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback (226)

Impeachment & Treason (123)

2012/05/01

Winslow Wheeler: Pentagon Aviation Plan Over-Budget Lacking Both Intelligence and Integrity

Corruption, Government, Military

WinslowWheeler Cropped — Winslow Wheeler

My analysis of DOD's latest “30 year” (not really) Aviation Plan is running at Time's Battleland Blog at http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/05/01/the-pentagons-million-dollar-aviation-plan/, and below. In my judgment, the overriding revelation in this document is of the incompetence and disingenuousness of the bureaucracy in DOD that wrote it. If you think documents like this, costing over $1 million to produce, add anything to oversight and understanding our defense problems, I hope to convince you otherwise.<

Readers who get to the very end of this e-mail will note a change in my signature block. The change is also announced in a new press release from POGO at http://www.pogo.org/press-room/winslow-wheeler.html.

Battleland.Blogs.Time.com
May 1, 2012

PROCUREMENT

The Pentagon's Million-Dollar Aviation Plan

By WINSLOW WHEELER

The Pentagon’s new, high-flying 30-year aircraft-buying blueprint – the Annual Aviation Inventory and Funding Plan Fiscal Years (FY) 2013-2042 – makes for depressing reading.

No, not because it predicts the loss of U.S. air superiority — its verbiage on that score is blithely reassuring—but because it evidences the Defense Department’s persistent refusal to acknowledge the overriding and fundamental air power issues. Bottom line — America’s combat aviation inventory and our air combat capability are:

– Decaying.

– Growing smaller and older.

– Becoming ever more costly.

The document starts out with wonkish assurances that the 30-year plan is fully consistent with the latest “strategic guidance” from the White House and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and it works hard to convince readers that all is well.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: We cannot say it any plainer: any flag officer, any senior executive service officer now serving and putting up with all this fraud, waste, and abuse, LACKS INTEGRITY. From the Secretary of Defense to the Service Chiefs to the various “leaders” (more like over-promoted clerks), the Department of Defense sets the gold standard for fraud, waste, and abuse. They do no favors to those who die for their country–the infantry–both Army and Marine Corps–just 4% of the force–takes 80% of the casualties and receives 1% of the total budget. Hence, we must conclude that the persistence of this lack of integrity across the board among the Pentagon seniors is DESIRED by a Congress and a White House that themselves LACK INTEGRITY. It may be time to re-do Title 50 and Title 150–but first we have to find an honest Congress and an honest President. If General Flynn keeps his integrity as D/DIA, and perhaps finds a wing-man or two, then the first thing DIA could do is scrub the entire Pentagon budget in relation to the “strategic generalizations” first developed by the Marine Corps Intelligence Center (soon lost, as the Marines fell prey to the money wagon and lost their integrity as well).

Chuck Spinney: Hardware Über Alles in the Spendagon — Paneta Pumps Corporate Profits While Veterans Commit Suicide + Meta-RECAP

Richard Wright: General Flynn to Head DIA – Exile or Reward? PLUS Comments by BG Bubba Boo, Ralph Peters, and Airborne Ranger

Journal: Reflections on Integrity UPDATED + Integrity RECAP

2012/05/012012/05/01

Marcus Aurelius: Polish Lid Comes Off Global Rendition-Torture Pot

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, Ethics, Government, Law Enforcement

March 27, 2012

Polish Ex-Official Charged With Aiding C.I.A.

By JOANNA BERENDT and NICHOLAS KULISH

WARSAW — The former head of Poland’s intelligence service has been charged with aiding the Central Intelligence Agency in setting up a secret prison to detain suspected members of Al Qaeda, a leading newspaper here reported on Tuesday, the first high-profile case in which a former senior official of any government has been prosecuted in connection with the agency’s program.

The daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the former intelligence chief, Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, told the paper that he faced charges of violating international law by “unlawfully depriving prisoners of their liberty,” in connection with the secret C.I.A. prison where Qaeda suspects were subjected to brutal interrogation methods.

When President Obama took office in 2009, he said he wanted to “look forward, as opposed to looking backward” and rejected calls for a broad investigation of C.I.A. interrogations and other Bush administration counterterrorism programs. In sharp contrast, the Poles see the case as a crucial test for rule of law and the investigation by prosecutors here has reached the highest levels of Polish politics.

One of Poland’s prime ministers during the period when terrorism suspects were alleged to have been subjected to torture in Poland, Leszek Miller, could be charged before Poland’s State Tribunal, the newspaper said.

“We try to treat our Constitution seriously and try not to forget the fact that there was a manifest violation of the Polish Constitution within the country’s borders,” said Adam Bodnar, vice president of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, based in Warsaw.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: There is nothing honorable, patriotic, or even intelligent about rendition and torture (or the drone program managed by CIA) All those US citizens who can be identified by foreign governments as participants in the rendition and torture programs or the drone programs would be well advised to avoid any foreign travel lest they be arrested and charged for crimes against humanity. Poland–like Iceland against financial terrorism–is on the right path.

Bin Laden Show 59: Waterboarding for Morons Part II–Senator John McCain Gets Explicit “NO–N, O”

Bin Laden Show 55: Waterboarding for Morons

Journal: Chuck Spinney Sends–On Torture–While Obama Signs Law Blocking Release of Torture Photos

Former CIA Director, Former CIA Counterterrorism Director, 31 Other Intelligence Experts Announce Support for McCain Anti-Torture Amendment to Defense Bill