The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Ahmed Rashid REF A — 12 Years of Lessons Learned in Time for 2014, October 13, 2013 This is an extraordinary book that required a great deal of time, not in the reading, but in the reflection. This will be a longer review than usual, even for me, because this book contains all of the …
Continue reading “Review: Pakistan on the Brink–The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan”
TO FIX U.S. INTELLIGENCE, SHRINK IT? Criticism of U.S. intelligence takes many forms: Intelligence agencies are too secretive, or they are too leaky. They over-collect, or they under-perform. Or all of these, and more besides. Many of the criticisms can be reduced to a single argument: The U.S. intelligence community has become too large to …
Continue reading “Steve Aftergood: To Fix US Intelligence, Shrink It”
CIA’s Deadly Cultural Ignorance Fear of officers “going native” keeps our intelligence agencies ill-informed about Somalia, Syria, and other hotspots. When the British ran an empire they did it the right way, if one is into imperial management. They created an entire bureaucracy, the Colonial Service, which was manned by officers who were expected to …
The author is one of the best journalists in the Middle East. Israel Still Angling for Attacks on Syria and Iran Jonathan Cook Counterpunch:, 2013-09-18 Nazareth. President Barack Obama may have drawn his seemingly regretted “red line” around Syria’s chemical weapons, but it was neither he nor the international community that turned the spotlight on …
Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Israel Still Angling for Attacks on Syria and Iran”
My friend Bill Polk, a well-known historian with extensive experience in the Middle East and Central Asia and author of many books on these areas, has written a backgrounder on how to make sense out of the Syrian chemical weapons issue. He has given me permission to distribute it. Herewith is his most interesting primer on …
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American Generals Stand between War and Peace The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, General Martin Dempsey, backed by his Joint Staff generals and admirals, stood between a hasty and knee-jerk President Obama who was intent on launching a military attack on Syria and a tenuous peace in the Middle …
Middle East Quarterly (Fall 2007) pp. 23-32. by Andrew Garfield Defeat of the insurgency and terrorism in Iraq requires not only a military approach but also a political component. Although the “surge” may stabilize parts of Iraq and reduce the level of violence while the additional troops remain in place, long-term stability requires a more …
Continue reading “Andrew Garfield: War and T/Error: The U.S. Counter-propaganda Failure in Iraq”
