The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
“Stiglitz's “$3T war” also mentions the lack of auditability (/transparency/visibility) has resulted in lots of fraud which is significant factor in lack of adequate equipment for troops. Vietnam and “perpetual war” scenarios hobble the troops so there can never be decisive victory … it just goes on and on; the continuing fraud is motivation for the strategy. This is similar to beltway bandits “Success of Failure” culture, always failure, means never finishing and money flows forever ”
The 2011 Washington Whistleblower Assembly – a Conference for Accountability, will be held this September 19-20, 2011 in Washington, D.C. Resources for those interested in the conference are listed here and on sub-pages of this website.
About this year’s Washington Whistleblower Assembly
Workshops, panels, CLEs, and Expression Session registration information
Capitol Hill Advocacy Day information
Save the Date and registration
Sponsors and donors
Tip of the Hat to Mario Profaca for the pointer.
This essay discusses how the USA's security clearance process (mainly related to ensuring secrecy) may have a counter-productive negative effect on the USA's national security by reducing “cognitive diversity” among security professionals. Background refs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Scott Page wrote an insightful book about the value of “cognitive diversity” in making effective groups, called The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. From a review:
“Rather than ponder moral questions like, ‘Why can't we all get along?' Dr. Page asks practical ones like, ‘How can we all be more productive together?' The answer, he suggests, is in messy, creative organizations and environments with individuals from vastly different backgrounds and life experiences.”
Ralph J. Perro (a pseudonym) wrote an essay called: “Interviewing With An Intelligence Agency (or, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Fort Meade)”. From the document:
“After the process was over, I was talking to one of my references – a veteran Silicon Valley software executive, and former manager of mine. My reference commented on what transpired “That’s disappointing. If they can’t hire you, I have no idea who they can hire. That process seems to be designed to retain only the most bland.” The ‘bland’ comment might be a bit severe, however, considering the 1999 External Management report it would appear that the agency would appear to need creative thinkers & problem-solvers more than ever.”
What happens if you think about both of these together and consider the implications for US national security?
What Has Been the Cost of the Post-9/11 Wars?
Email from Winslow Wheeler
This week, as the media runs its displays on America ten years after the 9/11 attacks, there will be references to the dollar costs. A figure some will use is the one trillion dollars President Obama cited as for the war in Iraq. That figure is a gross underestimate.
The war in Iraq and its costs are inseparable from the wars in Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia and elsewhere. Indeed, when the Defense Department seeks appropriations for them, it does not distinguish the costs by location; nor does Congress in appropriations bills.
Moreover, the DOD costs are hardly the whole story: add costs in the State Department budget for aid to the governments (such as they are) of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.
Add also the costs to care for the US veterans of these wars. That would include the care already extended and the care now obligated for the duration of these men's and women's lives.
Add to that the expanded costs of domestic security against terrorism.
Add also the interest we annually pay for the deficit spending that has financed the wars.
Continue reading “Winslow Wheeler: True Cost of Post-9/11 Wars $5T+”
Mark Lane has been a member of the bar for half a century and is the author of nine books including the New York Times bestselling Plausible Denial and Rush to Judgment. He was a member of the New York State legislature, and is the best-known researcher on the JFK assassination. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Robert K. Tanenbaum has been homicide bureau chief for the New York District Attorney’s Office and from 1976 to 1978 he served as a Deputy Chief Counsel for the House Select Committee on Assassinations to investigate the John F. Kennedy assassination and the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination. He teaches Advanced Criminal Procedure at the University of California at Berkeley, where he resides.
See Also:
Trillions and trillions wasted on wars, a fiscal catastrophe, a weaker America.
By Joseph E. Stiglitz
Slate, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011
The Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks by al-Qaida were meant to harm the United States, and they did, but in ways that Osama Bin Laden probably never imagined. President George W. Bush's response to the attacks compromised America's basic principles, undermined its economy, and weakened its security.
The attack on Afghanistan that followed the 9/11 attacks was understandable, but the subsequent invasion of Iraq was entirely unconnected to al-Qaida—as much as Bush tried to establish a link. That war of choice quickly became very expensive—orders of magnitude beyond the $60 billion claimed at the beginning—as colossal incompetence met dishonest misrepresentation.
Indeed, when Linda Bilmes and I calculated America's war costs three years ago, the conservative tally was $3 trillion to $5 trillion. Since then, the costs have mounted further. With almost 50 percent of returning troops eligible to receive some level of disability payment, and more than 600,000 treated so far in veterans' medical facilities, we now estimate that future disability payments and health care costs will total $600 billion to $900 billion. The social costs, reflected in veteran suicides (which have topped 18 per day in recent years) and family breakups, are incalculable.
See Also:
The Worst Mistake America Made After 9/11
How focusing too much on the war on terror undermined our economy and global power.
By Anne Applebaum Slate, 4 September 2011
