Threats – Page 660 – Public Intelligence Blog

Witnesses in Defense Department Report Suggest Cover-Up of 9/11 Findings. A document obtained and witnesses interviewed by Fox News raise new questions over whether there was an effort by the Defense Department to cover up a pre-9/11 military intelligence program known as “Able Danger.”

At least five witnesses questioned by the Defense Department's Inspector General told Fox News that their statements were distorted by investigators in the final IG's report – or it left out key information, backing up assertions that lead hijacker Mohammed Atta was identified a year before 9/11.

Atta is believed to have been the ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers who piloted American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center. Claims about how early Atta first tripped the radar of the Department of Defense date back to 2005, but those claims never made it into the Inspector General's report. The report was completed in 2006 and, until now, has been available only in a version with the names of virtually all of the witnesses blacked out.

Fox News, as part of an ongoing investigation, exclusively obtained a clean copy of the report and spoke to several principal witnesses, including an intelligence and data collector who asked that she not be named.

911 pentagon — No Plane, No Seats, No Bodies, No Luggage....Go Figure...

IBD: Did We Know About Mohamed Atta? Why would the Pentagon buy and destroy copies of a book by a former Army intelligence officer? Could it be perhaps because it contained information on how the 9/11 attacks might have been prevented?

The impulse to dismiss this as just another conspiracy theory is overwhelming. Yet the fact is that the Pentagon bought and destroyed 10,000 copies of a book, “Operation Dark Heart,” written by Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, a Bronze Star recipient and career Army intelligence officer, that contained a chapter on a pre-9/11 intelligence operation, Able Danger.

Tip of the Hat to the Association for Intelligence Officers (AFIO)

Phi Beta Iota: The precision hit allegedly wiped out all the computers holding all the forensic evidence on the missing $2.3. trillion that Rumsfeld was being grilled on the day before, 10 September, by Cynthia McKinney. One day, between this and the $240 billion “settled” without record, this will be known as the Mother of All Atrocities.

Review: Operation Dark Heart–Spycraft and Special Ops on the Frontlines of Afghanistan — and the Path to Victory

9-11 Truth Books & DVDs (29)

2010/10/122010/10/12

Worth a Look: Between Threats and War

07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, Military & Pentagon Power, Power (Pathologies & Utilization), Terrorism & Jihad, Threats (Emerging & Perennial), Worth A Look

berto small — Berto Jongman Recommends...

When confronted with a persistent foreign policy problem that threatens U.S. interests, and that cannot be adequately addressed through economic or political pressure, American policymakers and opinion formers have increasingly resorted to recommending the use of limited military force: that is, enough force to attempt to resolve the problem while minimizing U.S. military deaths, local civilian casualties, and collateral damage.

These recommendations have ranged from the bizarre—such as a Predator missile strike to kill Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, or the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez—to the unwise—the preemptive bombing of North Korean ballistic missile sites—to the demonstrably practical—air raids into Bosnia and Somalia, and drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.

However, even though they have been a regular feature of America's uses of military force through four successive administrations, the efficacy of these “Discrete Military Operations” (DMOs) remains largely unanalyzed, leaving unanswered the important question of whether or not they have succeeded in achieving their intended military and political objectives.

In response, Micah Zenko examines the thirty-six DMOs undertaken by the US over the past 20 years, in order to discern why they were used, if they achieved their objectives, and what determined their success or failure. In the process, he both evaluates U.S. policy choices and recommends ways in which limited military force can be better used in the future. The insights and recommendations made by Zenko will be increasingly relevant to making decisions and predictions about the development of American grand strategy and future military policy.

Phi Beta Iota: An extraordinary flaw in the discussion around this book is the assumption that the US resorts to such actions because diplomatic and economic means will not suffice. The reality is that the US “way of war” has nothing to do with strategic analytics, whole of government competency (non-existent), moral contexts, or public interest objectives. We do these things for the same reason Bill Clinton let an intern cost the US taxpayer $50 million–“because we can.” We can also put a bullet in our head, that does not mean we should–but it is the virtual outcome of what Washington is doing now.

2010/10/12

Journal: China the Adult, US Barely Out of Diapers

02 China, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Security, Cultural Intelligence, Military, Peace Intelligence

China-US-Vietnam: Defense Minister Liang Guanglie held talks with US Defense Secretary Gates in Hanoi on Monday on the sidelines of the 1st ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) on bilateral military ties.

Defense Minister Liang invited Gates to visit China early next year, a Chinese official said. Gates accepted the invitation, according to the deputy head of external relations in the Chinese Defense Ministry.

The meeting in which the Chinese made the offer is the first meeting between the two senior defense officials in a year.

NIGHTWATCH Comment: The Chinese characterization of US ties bears attention. Liang said Sino-U.S. relations have maintained momentum of stable development in recent years as China and the United States have agreed to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship for the 21st century. China-U.S. relations are of increasing global influence, he added.

Liang said military relations constitute an important part of bilateral ties. Currently, the two countries are facing some obstacles in developing military relations, with the U.S. arm sales to Taiwan being the main reason.

NIGHTWATCH Comment: This part of Liang's remarks glosses over the brittleness of the “obstacles” involving Taiwan. The opening part of the comment minimizes the extent of US concern about China's lack of opacity and unwillingness to cooperate. The Chinese definition of a “positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship” does not match the US definition. In the US definition, a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship does not yet exist. To try to develop such a relationship is the reason for Gates' persistence in soliciting an invitation.

NIGHTWATCH Comment on perception management: The US media has made clear that the US is the supplicant seeking a Chinese invitation for the US Secretary, after several Chinese rejections, most sensationally in Singapore by a low ranking Chinese general. Ties were set back by a US decision to sell Taiwan $6.4 billion in defensive arms, to which the Chinese objected strongly and froze defense contacts.

The imagery in Asia is that the rulers of the Central Kingdom finally granted the request for an audience from a recalcitrant supplicant because of his persistence. This is a scenario out of Chinese folklore. The folklore imagery and analogy suggest the Secretary should expect little because he is a player in a modern version of an old folk tale whose primary purpose was to showcase the superiority of the Central KIngdom.

The US is prone to interpret an invitation as a small political breakthrough. That might be an exaggeration. The Chinese are more likely to interpret it as their politicial victory that requires kneeling, head knockings (the imperial kowtow ritual was 3 kneelings and nine knocking of the head) and gifts.

Regarding Southeast Asia, Defense Minister Liang played to the audience and was his most unctuous. His purpose was to reassure China's Southeast Asian neighbors about China' s peaceful intentions. A quick look at Chinese territorial sea claims in the South China Sea puts the lie to China's peaceful intentions, but the Southeast Asian memory of resisting Chinese hegemony is long and fresh.

NIGHTWATCH KGS Home

Phi Beta Iota: China is a perfect and worthy counter-part for thinking about Whole of Government and 21st Century Leadership, both of which escape the US Government and its two-party political monopoly. Strategic analytics is not something that CIA is capable of, nor is it something that the White House or Congress “compute” as essential to their still-imperial view of hegemony by right and ideological fantasy. Beyond Chna lie Brazil, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, and Wild Cards such as Turkey. The incapacity of the US Government to get its act together is brutally obvious and viscerally troubling.

2010/10/112010/10/12

Worth a Look: Hugely Inflamatory Slam on US Muslim Tax-Deductible Fund-Raising for Hamas and Hezbollah

08 Wild Cards, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Civil Society, Non-Governmental

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius Recommends

Ladies and Gentlemen:

1. Invite your attention the video at the YouTube link in the message below.

2. Just to be clear:

a. I cannot tell you precisely who made the video.

b. I cannot tell definitively whether or not it is true in whole or in part..

c. To me, it looks like it ((COULD)) be a product of selective editing with individual items extracted from multiple source and reassembled, without context, to suggest conclusions supporting somebody's predetermined viewpoint. But that does not necessarily mean that it is not wholly or partially true.

d. Invite your special attention to the credits at the very end — about 13:06 and beyond. If Steven Emerson and the Investigativer Project are involved with this video, that would increase its credibility in my eyes.

e. All foregoing said, I am inclined to believe video and message are more true than not.

3. For some of you addees, I think this is relatively local for if I understand east Florida geography.

Busted – Orlando Mosque Finances Hamas Fundraiser

Phi Beta Iota: The above YouTube is just under 14 minutes and well-worth watching. We offer several observations:

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Hugely Inflamatory Slam on US Muslim Tax-Deductible Fund-Raising for Hamas and Hezbollah”

2010/10/112010/10/14

Journal: Five Myths Debunked–Treasury Run by Crooks

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth

editor spinney time — Chuck Spinney Recommends

I asked my good friend Marshall Auerback, an investment advisor and lawyer by training and a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, to evaluate Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s claim that TARP has been a stunning success. Geithner made this claim in a 10 October op-ed in the Washington Post, entitled, “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tackles five myths about TARP,” which is contained below as Attachment 2 beneath Auerback’s critique [Attachment 1]. To those of you who would sanitize these loose ends as a lingering “moral hazard,” I would urge you to think again.

Chuck Spinney
Carloforte, Sardinia
——–[Attachment 1]——–

The Auerback Critque:Four Realities Debunk Geithner’s Five Myths

Marshall Auerback

We have left frauds in charge of failed banks and covered up their losses.
Continue reading “Journal: Five Myths Debunked–Treasury Run by Crooks”

2010/10/102010/10/10

Worth a Look: Robert Young Pelton Goes Fishing…

08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Transnational Crime, Law Enforcement, Media, Military, Peace Intelligence

pelton in colombia — DuckDuckGo Update on RYP

Robert Young Pelton, along with Stephen E. Arnold, was the only “repeat” speaker year after year at the multinational open source intelligence event that ran from 1992-2006. Here is a photo of RYP that just came to our attention while discussing how to fish for drug dealers crossing border lakes.

Review: Licensed to Kill–Hired Guns in the War on Terror (Hardcover)

Review: Robert Young Pelton’s The World’s Most Dangerous Places: 5th Edition

2006 Pelton (US) Recommends The Changing Face of Global Violence

2004 Pelton (US) Value-added Citizen Blogs, Forums, and Wars

2003 Pelton (US) World’s Most Dangerous Places

2010/10/10

Journal: US Terrorism Outside, CEO High Crimes Inside

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 10 Transnational Crime, Commerce, Corruption, Military

Surprise — The Very Dark Side of U.S. History

Many Americans view their country and its soldiers as the “good guys” spreading “democracy” and “liberty” around the world. It just ain't so.

October 8, 2010

Peter Dale Scott, Robert Parry / Consortium News

Alter.Net Editor's Note: Many Americans view their country and its soldiers as the “good guys” spreading “democracy” and “liberty” around the world. When the United States inflicts unnecessary death and destruction, it's viewed as a mistake or an aberration.

In the following article Peter Dale Scott and Robert Parry examine the long history of these acts of brutality, a record that suggests they are neither a “mistake” nor an “aberration” but rather conscious counterinsurgency doctrine on the “dark side.”

Full Story Online

The Great Transformation

America's Third World Economy

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Counterpunch

For a number of years I reported on the monthly nonfarm payroll jobs data. The data did not support the praises economists were singing to the “New Economy.” The “New Economy” consisted, allegedly, of financial services, innovation, and high-tech services.

This economy was taking the place of the old “dirty fingernail” economy of industry and manufacturing. Education would retrain the workforce, and we would move on to a higher level of prosperity.

Time after time I reported that there was no sign of the “New Economy” jobs, but that the old economy jobs were disappearing. The only net new jobs were in lowly paid domestic services such as waitresses and bartenders, retail clerks, health care and social assistance (mainly ambulatory health care services), and, before the bubble burst, construction.

The facts, issued monthly by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, had no impact on the ”New Economy” propaganda. Economists continued to wax eloquently about how globalism was a boon for our future.

. . . . . .

The wage and salary cost savings obtained by giving Americans’ jobs to Chinese and Indians have enriched corporate CEOs, shareholders, and Wall Street at the expense of the middle class and America’s consumer economy.

Paul Craig Roberts was an editor of the Wall Street Journal and an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. His latest book, HOW THE ECONOMY WAS LOST, has just been published by CounterPunch/AK Press.