Ineptitude – Page 111 – Public Intelligence Blog

For those who think the Iraqi surge was a stunning success, a small dose of reality from one of the most knowledgeable observers of Iraq

The Sunni Revolt Is Growing

Saddam and the US Failed Iraq

by PATRICK COCKBURN

Counterpunch, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Baghdad.

The civil war in Syria is destabilising Iraq as it changes the balance of power between the country’s communities. The Sunni minority in Iraq, which two years ago appeared defeated, has long been embittered and angry at discrimination against it by a hostile state. Today, it is emboldened by the uprising of the Syrian Sunni, as well as a growing sense that the political tide in the Middle East is turning against the Shia and in favour of the Sunni.

Could a variant of the Syrian revolt spread to the western Anbar Province and Sunni areas of Iraq north of Baghdad? The answer, crucial to the future of Iraq, depends on how the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, responds to the seven-week-long protests in Anbar and the Sunni heartlands. His problem is similar to that which, two years ago faced rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria. They had to choose between ceding some power and relying on repression.

Most Arab rulers chose wrongly, treating protests as if they were a plot or not so broadly based that they could not be crushed by traditional methods of repression. The situation in Iraq is not quite the same, since Maliki owes his position to victory in real elections, though this success was not total and depended overwhelmingly on Shia votes. He has nevertheless ruled as if he had the mandate to monopolise power.

Read full article.

2013/02/122013/02/12

SchwartzReport: White House Pigs versus Public Ducks

Corruption, Government, Ineptitude

The Right's fact free economic theories, and its hate for Obama, combine to drive us back into recession. This really does need to be understood by the American middle class. Here is a very good take on what the Sequester would do.

WHITE HOUSE WEB SITE

Fact Sheet: Examples of How the Sequester Would Impact Middle Class Families, Jobs and Economic Security

Unless Congress acts by March 1st, a series of automatic cuts—called a sequester—that threaten thousands of jobs and the economic security of the middle class will take effect. There is no question that we need to cut the deficit, but the President believes it should be done in a balanced way that protects investments that the middle class relies on. Already, the President has worked with Congress to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion, but there’s more to do. The President believes we can not only avoid the harmful effects of a sequester but also reduce the deficit by $4 trillion total by cutting even more wasteful spending and eliminating tax loopholes for the wealthy.

Unfortunately, many Republicans in Congress refuse to ask the wealthy to pay a little more by closing tax loopholes so that we can protect investments that are helping grow our economy and keep our country safe. Our economy is poised to take off but we cannot afford a self-inflicted wound from Washington. We cannot simply cut our way to prosperity, and if Republicans continue to insist on an unreasonable cuts-only approach, the middle class risks paying the price. The most damaging effects of a sequester on the middle class are:

Read full list of alleged harm to public of sequester cuts.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: White House Pigs versus Public Ducks”

2013/02/12

NIGHTWATCH: Democracy and Its Enemies — Comment by Robert Steele

Academia, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Law Enforcement, Media, Military

Tunisia: Media sources reported an agreement is imminent on a new national unity government for Tunisia to settle the political crisis following the murder of a prominent opposition politician last week. Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Islamist Ennahda Movement, said that a new government is expected to be announced in two or three days.

Comment: Democracy should have come more easily to Tunisia than to almost all other Arab states because of its tradition of secular, cosmopolitan tolerance. The Islamists, even so-called moderates, have overreached here as in Egypt. Tunisian cities do not seem as unstable as Egyptian cities, but Islamist governments in both states have shown no ability to improve economic conditions.

Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: Democracy and Its Enemies — Comment by Robert Steele”

2013/02/112013/02/11

DefDog: Was Petraus Bombed By a Zionist Bimbo Honey Trap? + Broadwell RECAP

Corruption, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Media, Military

The article reads as if JSOG and CIA were having a fight and JSOG wanted Petraeus gone. That is not consistent with other reports that suggest that JSOG is not happy with CIA at the operational and analytic levels, and it also does not fully address the much higher probability that Broadwell, who is Jewish, was a straight-up honey trap from the Zionists/Mossad. Has anyone tracked the money that put Broadwell on scholarship into JFK for her “chance encounter” with Petraeus that she artfully managed to turn into both a bankable affair and direct access to Arab private meetings with Petraeus?

Was General David Petraeus Targeted for Take-down by the Military?

New documents reveal that there's far more to the Petraeus sex scandal than meets the eye.

Douglas Lucas and Russ Baker

WhoWhatWhy, 5 February 2013

Paul Broadwell Before Going Under Covers — Paul Broadwell Before Going Under Cover

EXTRACT:

Among other revelations the documents show that:

-Petraeus was suspected of having an extramarital affair nearly two years earlier than previously known.

-Petraeus’s affair was known to foreign interests with a stake in a raging policy and turf battle in which Petraeus was an active party.

-Those providing the “official” narrative of the affair—and an analysis of why it led to the unprecedented removal of America’s top spymaster— have been less than candid with the American people.

. . . . . . . .

General David Petraeus’s headlong fall from grace cannot be dismissed as the denouement of yet another peccadillo in an unforgiving moral climate. The plot is thicker than that—perhaps as thick as the often-unnamed heart of the story: oil.

Continue reading “DefDog: Was Petraus Bombed By a Zionist Bimbo Honey Trap? + Broadwell RECAP”

2013/02/11

Chuck Spinney: Panetta’s Phony Doomsday Scenario

Corruption, Government, Ineptitude, Military

Panetta’s Phony Doomsday Scenario

Two Questions for the Next Secretary of Defense

by FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY

CounterPunch, 11 February 2013

EXTRACT

Figure 1 places Mr. Panetta’s claim into the context of past defense budgets. I have aggregated these budgets into the four year totals corresponding to each presidential term since Harry Truman’s second term began 64 years ago in 1949 (FY1950). Bear in mind, the effects of inflation have been removed and these four-year totals are presented in trillions of FY13 constant dollars.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Panetta's Phony Doomsday Scenario”

2013/02/102013/02/10

Chuck Spinney: Time to Face the Truth About Iran

05 Iran, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Ineptitude

An excellently argued appeal to sanity.

Time to Face the Truth About Iran

by Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett

Agence Global, 07 Feb 2013

Fifty years ago, during the Cuban missile crisis, the United States faced what is frequently described as the defining challenge of the Cold War. Today, some argue that America is facing a similarly defining challenge from Iran’s nuclear activities. In this context, it is striking to recall President John Kennedy’s warning, proffered just months before the missile crisis, that “the great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” Half a century later, Kennedy’s warning applies all too well to America’s discussion — it hardly qualifies as a real debate — about how best to deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

For more than thirty years, American analysts and policy-makers have put forward a series of myths about the Islamic Republic: that it is irrational, illegitimate and vulnerable. In doing so, pundits and politicians have consistently misled the American public and America’s allies about what policies will actually work to advance US interests in the Middle East.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Time to Face the Truth About Iran”

2013/02/102013/02/10

Berto Jongman: Brennan Set Petraeus and CIA Up in Benghazi, CIA 7th Floor Also Betrayed Him, Dual Chain of Command in Africa + Brennan/Drone RECAP

Corruption, Government, Ineptitude

EXCLUSIVE: David Petraeus was brought down after betrayal by vengeful CIA agents and his own bodyguards who made sure his affair was exposed, claims new book

Brandon Webb, a former Navy SEAL, and Jack Murphy, a former Green Beret, reveal the new claims in their book ‘Benghazi: The Definitive Report'
Petraeus was humiliated after a ‘palace coup' by high-level intelligence officers who did not like the way he was running the CIA, authors say
Amazon Page (Kindle)
The book also claims that Petraeus and Ambassador Chris Stevens were caught off guard by Benghazi consulate attack because they weren't briefed about on-going U.S. military operations in Libya
Webb and Murphy say Benghazi attack was a retaliation for secret raids authorized by Obama security adviser John Brennan