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Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Unclassified Executive Summary

SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE Unclassified Executive Summary of the Committee Report on the Attempted Terrorist Attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 May 18, 2010 The SSCI report identifies fourteen specific points of failure-a series of human errors, technical problems, systemic obstacles, analytical misjudgments, and competing priorities-which resulted in Abdulmutallab being able to travel to …

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Journal: The Arrogance of Ignorance in Afghanista (inter alia)

A Roadmap to Folly in Afghanistan The Arrogance of Ignorance By FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY Counterpunch http://www.counterpunch.org/spinney05172010.html Nisos Kos, Greece A report by Jonathan Landay and Dion Nissenbaum for McClatchy Newspapers provides important insights into our rapidly diminishing prospects for success in Afghanistan, some direct, others inferential: First, the direct: the Qandahar operation that General McChrystal …

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Journal: Bound to Fail–The Inevitable Collapse of McChrystal’s Afghan War Plan

The Inevitable Collapse of McChrystal’s Afghan War Plan Bound to Fail By FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY Nisos Kos, Greece In the 11 May issue of CounterPunch, apparently based on White House and Pentagon sources, Gareth Porter, one of the most able journalists covering the Afghan debacle, reported that General McChrystal’s war plan is in the early …

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Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan & Her Actions to Protect Saudi Royal Family from 9/11 Lawsuits

(from Rawstory.com citing NY Times 2009 article) Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama’s latest nominee to the Supreme Court, helped protect the Saudi royal family from lawsuits that sought to hold al Qaeda financiers responsible in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The suits were filed by thousands family members and others affected by …

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Journal: The Legal And Moral Issues Of Drone Use

March 30, 2010 The use of unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida has increased sharply. The State Department’s top lawyer, Harold Koh, has issued legal justification for targeted killings using drone strikes. But some civil liberties groups are critical of the decision.

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Journal: Pentagon Strategy & Policy Oxymoron Squared?

Phi Beta Iota: We don’t make this stuff up.  The Pentagon has no strategy because the U.S. Government has no strategy.  The National Security Council is managed by a General who emphasized getting along with the Chief of Naval Operation, never-mind leaving Marines wounded on the battlefield for lack of Naval Gunfire Support (NFS). Join …

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