08 Wild Cards – Page 220 – Public Intelligence Blog

The Detritus of Katrina and the Paralysis of Fear:
A Metaphor for Contemporary Politics

The vast Mississippi Delta in Louisiana is sinking as sea water from the Gulf of Mexico seeps in to destroy its fresh water marshlands. The Army's Corps of Engineers says it can not protect New Orleans from the inevitable storm surges caused by hurricanes (see the Guardian report attached below).

Some may dismiss this warning as alarmist hype, and the Army's Corps of Engineers certainly does not have an enviable track record in this regard. That said, the Corps' warning does make evident the political-economic detritus left over from Hurricane Katrina. Inferentially, the warning also highlights the hollowness in the scare tactics used by global warming advocates to raise money for their far more costly ambitions, not to mention the paralyzing political-economic consequences posed by the politics of fear practiced by the Pentagon.

The reality of the Delta thus becomes a metaphor for the larger emptiness that now pervades American politics.

Below the Fold: Balance of Spinney Comment, Full Article with Highlight, Books
Continue reading “Journal: Chuck Spinney Sends–Katrina & Fear”

2009/11/022009/11/02

Journal: True Cost–Israel and Palestine

04 Inter-State Conflict, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Ethics, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence, True Cost

Full Story Online

November 2, 2009

Clinton, Goldstone and true cost of the occupation

Hever: The Israeli government is hiding the true cost of the occupation even from itself

The Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported last Friday that at least 11 locations within settlement colonies in the West Bank are escalating construction in order to alter “facts on the ground.” In October, the joint Israeli-Palestinian organization, Alternative Information Center, organized a conference on the economy of the Israeli occupation in Bethlehem. The Real News' Lia Tarachansky attended and spoke to the AIC's Shir Hever about the real costs of maintaining Israel's occupation.

Cost estimated at US$9 billion to the governments of Israel and the USA, while profit is almost entirely privatized.

Continue reading “Journal: True Cost–Israel and Palestine”

2009/10/31

Journal: Black Spots–Ongoing Research

08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Academia, Peace Intelligence

Black Spot Program

To date we have identified over 80 and mapped 50 such Black Spots and begun to assess the types of interactions going on in these areas as well as the various kinds of insecurity that they are exporting and the directions in which it is or may be going. We continually scan the globe for other areas where conditions seem right for the presence of a Black Spot. Using published materials, news-scanning software, formal and informal interviews, and, where feasible, visits to the areas, we piece together a picture of the Global Black Spots, their nature, and their interactions with the outside world.

Continue reading “Journal: Black Spots–Ongoing Research”

2009/10/312009/10/31

Journal: Chuck Spinney Sends–the Chimera of Victory in Iraq

05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Military, Strategy

A good example of why learning from the past can be useful.

Full Story Online

October 31, 2009

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Chimera of Victory

By GIAN P. GENTILE

If history is a guide, then the recent suicide bombings in Baghdad show that the insurgency in Iraq is far from over. Contrary to much of what is written and said, victory is not near and the notion that the “surge” of troops was some great, decisive military action that set the stage for political reconciliation is a chimera.

It was a chimera for the French in Algeria that their bloody counterinsurgency there defeated Algerian nationalists. After the war, which lasted from 1956 to 1961, a myth started to build in the French Army and then found its way into American Army thinking, where it lives on today, that the French military operations defeated the insurgents.

Continue reading “Journal: Chuck Spinney Sends–the Chimera of Victory in Iraq”

2009/10/312009/10/31

Journal: True Cost of Afghanistan

03 Economy, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Civil Society, Ethics, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence, Threats, True Cost

Full Story Online

Paul Kawika Martin, Political and Policy Director for Peace Action, said:

I think the question should be: How much U.S. credit should we use on the war in Afghanistan? As it stands, the over $230 Billion we have already spent has mostly been borrowed money adding to the U.S. deficit. Of course, just like buying a car or home, sometimes it's good to do things on credit. But this isn't the true cost. As Noble Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes points out, that figure fails to include interest on debt, veterans benefits and other costs to society. They estimate the costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could top a staggering $5 trillion to $7 trillion.

Phi Beta Iota: Other “pundits” can be read within the full story. The cost is far more than the “tangible debt.” It includes the hollowing out of America–the loss of integrity, the failure of paradigms, the cheating culture, and on and on and on. We have in essence sacrified the Republic in the name of partisan politics and corporate greed, enabled by civitas minimus. America is less safe and less prosperous today than it was on 9/12.

2009/10/302009/12/13

Officers’ Call–Conversation About Iraq I

05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Ethics, Memoranda, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Strategy

One of the great things about being the touchstone for public intelligence is the contacts that are made by students, officers and enlisted personnel serving in the field, and so many others.

While we were in Denmark, an officer now serving in Iraq sent us some questions that we answered to the best of our ability. The questions alone are listed here. For the answers, click on the cover.

1. We never should have invaded Iraq. I have a less developed opinion on Afghanistan, but if I had to say one way or another, that was probably a mistake as well.

Do these mistakes fall solely on the Bush administration?

Was the administrating that incompetent or did they have an immoral and selfish reason such as fleecing the U.S.?

Was it shortsighted political gain objectives with an underestimation of the downside?

We will have at least double the amount of dead service members before these conflicts are over as were killed during the 9/11 attacks. I read somewhere that we have 75,000 amputees due to the two conflicts not to mention the amount of PTSD. Who has the blood on their hands? Certainly nobody is willing to admit mistakes.

I don't understand how Cheney can even think about spouting off after how the conflicts have gone. Where is the cost vs gain analysis?

2. Once we did invade, we didn't have a solid plan and we didn't bring nearly enough troops if we planned on staying. Was this mainly Rumsfeld's fault?

Continue reading “Officers’ Call–Conversation About Iraq I”

2009/10/302009/10/30

Journal: US Naivete In Afghanistan, Neglecting Iraq

05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Methods & Process, Military, Peace Intelligence, Policy, Strategy

AP IMPACT: Troops already outnumber Taliban 12-1

BRUSSELS – There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn't led to anything close to victory.

Transcripts Of Defeat

London — THE highly decorated general sat opposite his commander in chief and explained the problems his army faced fighting in the hills around Kabul: “There is no piece of land in Afghanistan that has not been occupied by one of our soldiers at some time or another,” he said. “Nevertheless much of the territory stays in the hands of the terrorists. We control the provincial centers, but we cannot maintain political control over the territory we seize.

Continue reading “Journal: US Naivete In Afghanistan, Neglecting Iraq”