Public Intelligence Blog – Page 2823 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

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Interactive: Map: US bases encircle Iran

Dozens of US and allied forces' military installations dot the region, from Oman, UAE and Kuwait to Turkey and Israel.

Doha, Qatar – US military bases continue to form a strategic envelope around Iran, although the American withdrawal from Iraq at the end of 2011 may have changed the regional balance somewhat towards Iran's favour. While US forces are scaling back in many parts of the globe due to budget cuts – and have begun a gradual depature from Afghanistan to be completed by 2014 – their international presence remains vast.

From an active-duty force of 1.4 million soldiers, the US has deployed some 350,000 troops to at least 130 foreign countries around the world. Some are at Cold War-era installations, but many are in or near combat zones in the Middle East. At more than 750 bases internationally, private contractors and third-country nationals also form a large percentage of the staff, in addition to military reservists and civilian employees of the Pentagon.

US military installations in the Middle East serve to keep an eye on Iran, but their regional footprint was significantly expanded well before Iran became the most publicly cited foreign “threat”.

There were three reasons why the US sought a presence across the Middle East, says Mehran Kamrava, Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar:

“Securing oil resources, guaranteeing the security of the state of Israel and combating threats to American interests” were the initial priorities of US military activity in the region prior to the first Gulf War, Kamrava says.

“Subsequently, direct military presence wasn't in the form of impositions, but the [security umbrella] was a conscious policy decision on the part of the Persian Gulf states.”

See Interactive Map

Earlier Version with Black Dots: Graphic: US Bases (44) Surrounding Iran

2012/05/02

Reference: US Military Information Operations in Afghanistan

IO Deeds of War, Monographs

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U.S. Military Information Operations in Afghanistan

Effectiveness of Psychological Operations 2001-2010

The U.S. Marine Corps, which has long recognized the importance of influencing the civilian population in a counterinsurgency environment, requested an evaluation of the effectiveness of the psychological operations (PSYOP) element of U.S. military information operations in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2010 based on how well messages and themes were tailored to target audiences. This monograph responds to that request. It summarizes the diverse PSYOP initiatives undertaken, evaluates their effectiveness, identifies strengths and weaknesses, and describes the way forward, including making certain specific recommendations for improvements. Special attention is paid to how well PSYOP initiatives were tailored to target audiences, primarily the Pashtuns who are the dominant population in the conflictive areas and the main support of the Taliban insurgency. It contains reports of specific operations that were successful in achieving objectives, as well as examples of operations that did not resonate with target audiences and even some that had counterproductive effects. The biggest PSYOP successes were in face-to-face communication and the emphasis on meetings with jirgas (local councils of elders), key-leader engagements, and establishing individual relationships with members of the Afghan media. In addition, the concept of every infantryman as a PSYOP officer proved very effective. The most notable shortcoming was the inability to sufficiently counter the Taliban propaganda campaign against U.S. and coalition forces on the theme of civilian casualties, both domestically and internationally.

Key Findings

Recommendations

Reference Home Page

Phi Beta Iota: RAND misses the obvious, with deliberation. Don't go to war for a dishonest government that lies to its own public; don't put your troops in harm's way on the basis of lies that cannot be sustained in the public eye. No matter how good the Marine Corps might be at the tactical level, that cannot overcome impeachable acts of treason at the strategic level. This is why Congress has its Article 1 responsibilities, and this is why Congress of the time (and yet today) is impeachable along with the Bush I, Bush II, and Bush III Administrations.

2012/05/02

DefDog: Leaving Afghanistan – As Ignorant As When We Invaded

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Government

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What an IO goldmine for the Taliban……ending a war takes two just as a Tango does. By saying we are done it provides an opponent with victory. There is no other way to spin it. Now the questioning begins (as it should have. Lack of intelligence on Pashtu culture is the root cause of this war. If we had understood Pashtunwalli and the meaning of sanctuary we would have understood Omar's obligation to bin Laden. We didn't because it is not found in the classified enclaves of the intelligence
community….it is found on the many websites regarding Pashtuns and Afghanistan though.)

In Afghanistan, President Obama signals end to the war

WASHINGTON — Speaking to a war-weary nation from the epicenter of the fight against terrorism, President Obama signaled the end of what he called “a decade under the dark cloud of war.”

“This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end,” Obama said before a backdrop of armored military vehicles and a draped U.S. flag at the Bagram air base.

Obama's address to the nation capped a surprise visit that coincided with the anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, a mission that has become an unexpected focal point in his campaign for reelection.

PHOTOS: Obama makes unannounced visit to Afghanistan

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: What DefDog forgets is that the Taliban offered to give up Bin Laden, but the Bush-Cheney regime refused that offer. Below are a few headlines to that effect. In retrospect, we now realize that the Taliban's demand for proof was one that Cheney could not accept because Cheney knew with precision that 9/11 was a controlled false flag operation for which Bin Laden was a patsy. Who would have thought we would one day consider the Taliban more honorable (at the time) than our own Administration? The core point is valid: the US went into Afghanistan ignorant, and leaves Afghanistan just as ignorant. The same was true of Viet-Nam. The ideologues in policy dismissed the educated views of the intelligence community in both instances. What we consider important is that between AF-IQ and Libya, this may well be the last tolerated invasion of any country by the US acting unilaterally. Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela — and many others, are now not only in a position to slam down on US acting up, but highly motivated to do so. The era of US carpetbagging is coming to an end, but the USG will be the last to realize this, and will destroy is domestic economy as a final desperate action.

Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over

US Refusal of 2001 Taliban Offer Gave bin Laden a Free Pass

Book Reviews:

9-11 Truth Books & DVDs (38)

Empire, Sorrows, Hubris, Blowback (226)

Impeachment & Treason (123)

2012/05/01

Winslow Wheeler: Pentagon Aviation Plan Over-Budget Lacking Both Intelligence and Integrity

Corruption, Government, Military

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WinslowWheeler Cropped — Winslow Wheeler

My analysis of DOD's latest “30 year” (not really) Aviation Plan is running at Time's Battleland Blog at http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/05/01/the-pentagons-million-dollar-aviation-plan/, and below. In my judgment, the overriding revelation in this document is of the incompetence and disingenuousness of the bureaucracy in DOD that wrote it. If you think documents like this, costing over $1 million to produce, add anything to oversight and understanding our defense problems, I hope to convince you otherwise.<

Readers who get to the very end of this e-mail will note a change in my signature block. The change is also announced in a new press release from POGO at http://www.pogo.org/press-room/winslow-wheeler.html.

Battleland.Blogs.Time.com
May 1, 2012

PROCUREMENT

The Pentagon's Million-Dollar Aviation Plan

By WINSLOW WHEELER

The Pentagon’s new, high-flying 30-year aircraft-buying blueprint – the Annual Aviation Inventory and Funding Plan Fiscal Years (FY) 2013-2042 – makes for depressing reading.

No, not because it predicts the loss of U.S. air superiority — its verbiage on that score is blithely reassuring—but because it evidences the Defense Department’s persistent refusal to acknowledge the overriding and fundamental air power issues. Bottom line — America’s combat aviation inventory and our air combat capability are:

– Decaying.

– Growing smaller and older.

– Becoming ever more costly.

The document starts out with wonkish assurances that the 30-year plan is fully consistent with the latest “strategic guidance” from the White House and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and it works hard to convince readers that all is well.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: We cannot say it any plainer: any flag officer, any senior executive service officer now serving and putting up with all this fraud, waste, and abuse, LACKS INTEGRITY. From the Secretary of Defense to the Service Chiefs to the various “leaders” (more like over-promoted clerks), the Department of Defense sets the gold standard for fraud, waste, and abuse. They do no favors to those who die for their country–the infantry–both Army and Marine Corps–just 4% of the force–takes 80% of the casualties and receives 1% of the total budget. Hence, we must conclude that the persistence of this lack of integrity across the board among the Pentagon seniors is DESIRED by a Congress and a White House that themselves LACK INTEGRITY. It may be time to re-do Title 50 and Title 150–but first we have to find an honest Congress and an honest President. If General Flynn keeps his integrity as D/DIA, and perhaps finds a wing-man or two, then the first thing DIA could do is scrub the entire Pentagon budget in relation to the “strategic generalizations” first developed by the Marine Corps Intelligence Center (soon lost, as the Marines fell prey to the money wagon and lost their integrity as well).

Chuck Spinney: Hardware Über Alles in the Spendagon — Paneta Pumps Corporate Profits While Veterans Commit Suicide + Meta-RECAP

Richard Wright: General Flynn to Head DIA – Exile or Reward? PLUS Comments by BG Bubba Boo, Ralph Peters, and Airborne Ranger

Journal: Reflections on Integrity UPDATED + Integrity RECAP

2012/05/012012/05/01

Marcus Aurelius: Polish Lid Comes Off Global Rendition-Torture Pot

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, Ethics, Government, Law Enforcement

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Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

March 27, 2012

Polish Ex-Official Charged With Aiding C.I.A.

By JOANNA BERENDT and NICHOLAS KULISH

WARSAW — The former head of Poland’s intelligence service has been charged with aiding the Central Intelligence Agency in setting up a secret prison to detain suspected members of Al Qaeda, a leading newspaper here reported on Tuesday, the first high-profile case in which a former senior official of any government has been prosecuted in connection with the agency’s program.

The daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the former intelligence chief, Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, told the paper that he faced charges of violating international law by “unlawfully depriving prisoners of their liberty,” in connection with the secret C.I.A. prison where Qaeda suspects were subjected to brutal interrogation methods.

When President Obama took office in 2009, he said he wanted to “look forward, as opposed to looking backward” and rejected calls for a broad investigation of C.I.A. interrogations and other Bush administration counterterrorism programs. In sharp contrast, the Poles see the case as a crucial test for rule of law and the investigation by prosecutors here has reached the highest levels of Polish politics.

One of Poland’s prime ministers during the period when terrorism suspects were alleged to have been subjected to torture in Poland, Leszek Miller, could be charged before Poland’s State Tribunal, the newspaper said.

“We try to treat our Constitution seriously and try not to forget the fact that there was a manifest violation of the Polish Constitution within the country’s borders,” said Adam Bodnar, vice president of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, based in Warsaw.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: There is nothing honorable, patriotic, or even intelligent about rendition and torture (or the drone program managed by CIA) All those US citizens who can be identified by foreign governments as participants in the rendition and torture programs or the drone programs would be well advised to avoid any foreign travel lest they be arrested and charged for crimes against humanity. Poland–like Iceland against financial terrorism–is on the right path.

Bin Laden Show 59: Waterboarding for Morons Part II–Senator John McCain Gets Explicit “NO–N, O”

Bin Laden Show 55: Waterboarding for Morons

Journal: Chuck Spinney Sends–On Torture–While Obama Signs Law Blocking Release of Torture Photos

Former CIA Director, Former CIA Counterterrorism Director, 31 Other Intelligence Experts Announce Support for McCain Anti-Torture Amendment to Defense Bill

2012/05/012012/05/01

Gordon Duff: Nuclear Theft / Threat from Germany or Donation to Israel for Use Against Iran, Others?

08 Proliferation, 08 Wild Cards

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Raw Reports, Nuclear Threat from Germany

6 Decades of Deception

By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

I will keep this short as possible. A single nuclear weapon has “gone missing” as of last week, one of four missing but this one “more missing” than the others.

. . . . . .

Now, to put this is American English.

A nuclear weapon that wasn’t supposed to exist, a single 500 kiloton hydrogen bomb, one of four being tracked, was seen being loaded at the German port of Bemerhaven, Germany.

The groups assisting in what we were informed was a counter-terrorism surveillance operation were the American NSA, British MI 6, the Office of Naval Intelligence and the British Royal Navy. The “device” was loaded onto a Germany built “Dolphin” submarine and left the harbour doing 7.5 knots.

The submarine disappeared while being tracked by every sophisticated device NATO seems to be able to own or borrow.

At least one of those from among the listed agencies was arrested by the local police force in Oxford, their electronic surveillance gear siezed, were confined for 12 hours despite being above arrest and detention as a senior NATO intelligence officer.

Attempts to track the sub in the busy harbour were in vain and it is unknown what the nationality of the crew were or the destination, whether the UK, the US or some place in the Middle East.

What we do know is that Germany and other NATO nations, in a highly disputed exception to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, had held 182 such weapons until all had supposedly been given back to the United States in 2005.

We now know this to be untrue. There are several possible scenarios:

Germany is a nuclear power in violation of international treaties and both Germany and the US are lying
The German government is in violation of international treaties and is selling or transfering nuclear weapons to unknown third parties
Terrorists have stolen a nuclear weapon that Germany was holding illegally
Germany is involved in a terror plot aimed at a third party, Iran, the United Kingdom or the United States
The submarine in question may or may not be one Germany is giving to Israel, this one with a “special enhancement” which, as we had questioned earlier, might be used against Iran, the United Kingdom or United States.