07 Other Atrocities – Page 444 – Public Intelligence Blog

The story continues to develop. This “house arrest” thing popped up when the US was beating on the Talibs to hand him over in Kandahar in 2001, then some faux intel from Brad Thor about Mullah Omar being under “house arrest” in Karachi and then now this. Sounds very familiar. Two fiction authors in the intel field being played for reasons unknown. My jury is out on how much I want to believe Raelynn. There are some holes you can drive a truck through in flaws in logic but some ideas could be untangled to pick up a few new truths. Kinda like the blind man and the elephant.

Bin Laden Turned in by Informant — Courier Was Cover Story

Forget the cover story of waterboarding-leads-to-courier-leads-to bin Laden (not to deny the effectiveness of waterboarding, but it’s just not applicable in this case.) Sources in the intelligence community tell me that after years of trying and one bureaucratically insane near-miss in Yemen, the US government killed OBL because a Pakistani intelligence officer came forward to collect the approximately $25 million reward from the State Department's Rewards for Justice program.

The informant was a walk-in. The ISI officer came forward to claim the substantial reward and to broker US citizenship for his family.

Marcus Aurelius: Al Qaeda Ricin, USG, Israel, Nuts

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 11 Society, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Intelligence (government), IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

From the underpants bomber to exploding print cartridges to ricin bombs…

Qaeda Trying to Harness Toxin for Bombs, U.S. Officials Fear

By ERIC SCHMITT and THOM SHANKER

The New York Times, August 12, 2011

WASHINGTON — American counterterrorism officials are increasingly concerned that the most dangerous regional arm of Al Qaeda is trying to produce the lethal poison ricin, to be packed around small explosives for attacks against the United States.

. . . . . .

But senior American officials say they are tracking the possibility of a threat very closely, given the Yemeni affiliate’s proven ability to devise plots, including some thwarted only at the last minute: a bomb sewn into the underwear of a Nigerian man aboard a commercial jetliner to Detroit in December 2009, and printer cartridges packed with powerful explosives in cargo bound for Chicago 10 months later.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: The insular insanity of the US Government continues. We note with interest that the NYT does not qualify either of the two preceeding plots, both of which are very likely to have been Israeli false flag operations to keep the “terror” myth alive, neither of which was properly investigated. We are right back in the 1970's, and repeat below what Daniel Elsberg said then to Henry Kissinger:

The danger is, you’ll become like a moron. You’ll become incapable of learning from most people in the world, no matter how much experience they have in their particular areas that may be much greater than yours” [because of your blind faith in the value of your narrow and often incorrect secret information].

2011/08/12

John Robb: Can Middle Class Be Saved? Too Late.

03 Economy, 06 Family, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence

Great article. Starts with Citigroup's Plutonomy report (the report has been ruthlessly removed from the Web by Citi's lawyers) — wherein they show that, in the US, the middle class doesn't really exist. In reality, there are only two groups, a small percentage of rich households (that drive all consumption and investment) and the rest (that live hand to mouth). The last time this happened (in the 1920s) a global depression was the inevitable result

Can the Middle Class Be Saved?

The Great Recession has accelerated the hollowing-out of the American middle class. And it has illuminated the widening divide between most of America and the super-rich. Both developments herald grave consequences. Here is how we can bridge the gap between us.

By Don Peck

The Atlantic, September 2011

Read article….

2011/08/102011/08/10

DefDog: Hard Truths from Afghanistan

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of Peace, IO Impotency, Military

I got hold of a few truths, and could not help remembering the Phi Beta Iota quote:

Fedor Dostoevsky: A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else.

Here are some facts:

1) Saydabad is one of the worst districts in Wardak

2) Chinook loss should be attributed to American hubris.

3) July reporting shows US patrols increasingly timid.

4) Current rate for Afghan Army defectors is 30,000 rupees, around US$650, which appears to include their bringing over their weapon and other gear.

5) Crash killed 38, including 22 members of the elite SEAL Team 6 and their support element. Seven were Afghans so we are at 29, there was a crew of three. So, did we send in 22 SEALS and a crew of three, plus the Afghans to rescue six Rangers? The numbers on the Chinook do not add up. There is something seriously fishy about the government story.

6) Sure feels like Viet-Nam deja vu, where the public could not trust the government or the media to report accurately on anything having to do with our presence therer.

2011/08/10

Steven Aftergood: When Secrecy Gets Out of Hand

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Government, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Media, Military

“WHEN SECRECY GETS OUT OF HAND“

The government's relentless pursuit of people suspected of mishandling or leaking classified information underscores the need to combat the misuse of classification authority, wrote J. William Leonard, the former director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times today.

“The Obama administration, which has criminally prosecuted more leakers of purportedly classified information than all previous administrations combined, needs to stop and assess the way the government classifies information in the first place.”

“Classifying information that should not be kept secret can be just as harmful to the national interest as unauthorized disclosures of appropriately classified information,” he wrote. See “When Secrecy Gets Out of Hand” by J. William Leonard, Los Angeles Times, August 10.

Mr. Leonard recently filed a complaint with the new ISOO director, John Fitzpatrick, based on his assessment that a document that served as a basis for criminal prosecution in the case of Thomas Drake should never have been classified at all.

2011/08/09

Reference: National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Final Report December 2010)

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Office of Management and Budget

Free PDF Online

Phi Beta Iota: This report, while responsible (unlike the current food fight a year later), does not go far enough. It allows the borrowing of one trillion a year to continue, while observing that interest on the debt could reach one trillion a year by 2020. The principle recommendations, all sound but insufficient, are listed in the Overview section.

2011/08/09

Penguin: Air Force to Spy on Commercial Aircraft

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, DoD, Intelligence (government), IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Military

This is the most absurd intelligence item so far this week.

Air Force Tackles New Intel Mission

Carlo Munoz

AOL Defense, 9 August 2011

Washington: The Pentagon's top intelligence official has ordered the Air Force to set up a new intelligence unit to analyze the behavior of foreign-based commercial aircraft and integrate intelligence from the combatant commanders as the planes move through American airspace.

Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Mike Vickers has tasked Air Force Secretary Michael Donley to hand pick a chief for the new intelligence cell.

While USD(I) will be the “focal point in DoD for intelligence on foreign civil aviation-related entities associated with illicit activities or posing a threat to the United States, its allies or its interests,” the Air Force will handle day-to-day operations through the Civil Aviation Intelligence Analysis Center, according to a July 29 memo from Vickers.