Sic Semper Tyrannis

Meditations on 31 January 2010

"It would be easy to think that Matthews is just one Scotch away from becoming Ron Burgundy."

That was Jon Stewart a couple of nights ago on the subject of the egregious Christopher Matthews.  This bon mot was called forth by Matthews' idiotic statement after the State of the Union address that for an hour he didn't "see" the president as "black."  Racist?  No, just a reflection of an attitude so patronizing and paternalistic toward African-Americans that it has become reflexive.  Matthews says that the radical Republicans of 150 years ago are his heroes.  I believe that.  I also believe that he is just as narrow minded and hostile towards anyone who disagrees with him as they were.

Lately, I have been having a good deal of interaction with various parts of the executive branch of the federal government.  The most interestig thing that I have noticed in these dealings is the manner in which people in the assorted circles of interest and activity have adapted to the idea of unending war as a mode of existence.  To that end giant structures of expenditure have been built.  This is largely evidence of the human tendency to believe that whatever is, will continue indefinitely.  It is not really a plutocratic plot.  I know that is an unsatisfactory answer to many of you, but..... 

I have seen this adaptive behavior before.  The Vietnam adventure lasted 12 or 13 years depending on how you calculate.  After the first 5 or 6 years much the same thing happened.  People came to believe that the war in Southeast Asia would go on forever.  I remember many discussions with colleagues, both military and civilian in which it was argued that the war would last 25 years (meaning forever).  Various reasons were cited;  profits, graft, promotion, ideology, etc.  All of that was wrong.  In the end, the American people were convinced by skilled propaganda and political operations that the war could not be won.  When that happened, all the rest that happened was just a "summing up."  Sorry, that's the way I see it.

Now, the giant, ponderous, slow moving governmental, business and academic structures that have been grown to support "the long war" are self aware mature bureaucracies.  Self defense is their first imperative.

Some of the more intelligent among the denizens of those worlds can conceive of a time when the takfiri jihadis will be largely killed by JSOC and the like and the inchoate mass of Muslims who give the terrorists a modicum of support will have decided that they can wait for what they think of as "justice." 

Against that day some thought is being given to alternative "threats."  pl

Governor's Island is the place to try KSM.

This island in New York Harbor was an army post (Ft. Jay) until 1966 as the administrative headquarters for army activity in the northeastern United States.  The decision to give the island away was yet another manifestation of McNamara's genius.

There are no bridges.  The island is reached by a special ferry from the battery at the southern end of Manhattan.  The island now belongs to New York State.

If the symbolism of trial(s) near the site of the twin towers is wanted what could be better than this place?  pl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor%27s_Island

McChrystal's Change of Heart?

What's going on with the good soldier Stanley?  His recent statements to the press indicate that he thinks that his "surge" will bring the hard core Taliban to the negotiating table to decide on a political future for the de facto confederation that the state of Afghanistan has always been.  This is radically different from the COINista babbling that has characterized his utterances before.  That line of talk has been all about CNAS dreams of construction of a nation state.

I invite discussion of this subject.  pl

Giraldi on Israeli spying in the US

"A 1996 Defense Investigative Service report noted that Israel has great success stealing technology by exploiting the numerous co-production projects that it has with the Pentagon. "Placing Israeli nationals in key industries …is a technique utilized with great success." A General Accounting Office (GAO) examination of espionage directed against American defense and security industries described how Israeli citizens residing in the US had stolen sensitive technology to manufacture artillery gun tubes, obtained classified plans for a reconnaissance system, and passed sensitive aerospace designs to unauthorized users. An Israeli company was caught monitoring a Department of Defense telecommunications system to obtain classified information, while other Israeli entities targeted avionics, missile telemetry, aircraft communications, software systems, and advanced materials and coatings used in missile re-entry. The GAO concluded that Israel "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any US ally." In June 2006, a Pentagon administrative judge overruled an appeal by an Israeli who had been denied a security clearance, stating, "The Israeli government is actively engaged in military and industrial espionage in the United States. An Israeli citizen working in the US who has access to proprietary information is likely to be a target of such espionage."  More recently, FBI counter intelligence officer John Cole has reported how many cases of Israeli espionage are dropped under orders from the Justice Department.  He provides a "conservative estimate" of 125 worthwhile investigations into Israeli espionage involving both American citizens and Israelis that were stopped due to political pressure from above. "  Giraldi

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Israel has been conducting espionage against the United States for a very long time.  Anyone who thinks that they stopped after the Pollard affair is naive.  they issued a phony policy statement, changed the names of the activities doing the spying and continued with their work.

Do I hold that against them?  No.  They have no sense of us an ally, any more than do any of the Arab states.  We are merely a large and vulnerable turkey available for the plucking.  People should read Giraldi's article carefully.  It is packed with information.

David Brooks is particularly insidious.  His surface affability and "reasnableness" masks on of the more effective zionist agents of influence in the United States.  pl

http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2010/01/27/stealing-success-tel-aviv-style/

Out of Town

Today and tomorrow.  pa

Stewart Nozette story in Ha'aretz

"New documents presented in federal court in Washington, D.C. reveal deep ties (more than was known) between Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Dr. Stewart David Nozette, an American astronomer accused of spying for Israel.

The media here covered his arrest on October 19, 2009 and then interest waned, though the American media are still monitoring the case.

Two attorneys in the counterespionage unit of the U.S. Department's of Justice National Security division, Deborah Curtis and Heather Schmidt, presented documents found on the scientist's computer. One document, titled "Proposed Operations for 2005-2006," referred to the need to carry out "a penetration of NASA," the U.S. space agency.

Another document, according to the prosecution, shows Nozette attempted to obtain highly confidential material by using his high-level security clearance and infiltrating other people's computers. "  Ha'aretz

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And now for something different...

The hearing referred to in the Ha'aretz story above occurred on 22 January 2010.  This case is still a live issue and will go to trial sometime in the next few months if the case is not somehow suppressed by political action.

I am particularly struck by the fact that Nozette traveled several times to Israel without reporting this to his security officer.  pl

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144093.html

"Team of Hustlers" - Dr. Michael Brenner

TEAM OF HUSTLERS

 

 

 

The hustler is a special type.  An American original.  He may crave success, fame, money or power.  The real thrill, though, comes from playing the game and winning.  For some hustlers, it’s the game itself that counts above all else – gratification comes from beating the system even more that beating others.

 

Open Thread - 24 January 2010

This seems to be a slow news day.  Let's have an open thread.  pl 

2006 redux?

""The world had failed in its dealing with Hezbollah, allowing the organization to accumulate more weapons that he had in his possession in 2006," Peled said, referring to the Second Lebanon War, adding that while he agreed the war had been a military failure for Israel it "could not be pinned on any one man."

"Lebanon is the only country in the world which has a military organization, Hezbollah, that operates independently of the government and is supported by two foreign countries, while being part of the cabinet," the Likud minister added, referring to the Lebanese militia's backing from Iran and Syria.

The United Nations envoy to Lebanon, Michael Williams, was set to visit Israel on Sunday, and meet with Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and senior Israeli intelligence and military officials. The meetings were to center around discussions between Israel and the UN on Israel's possible withdrawal from the divided town of Ghajar, situated on the border between Israel and Lebanon.

Ayalon was also expected to broach the subject of Israel's concern over violations of UN resolution 1701, which effectively ended the Second Lebanon War, which forbids Hezbollah from arming itself in southern Lebanon. Israel is especially concerned over the smuggling of weapons from Syria into southern Lebanon. "  Ha'aretz

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I was asked what will happen if the 2006 Lebanon War gets a re-run:

"The IDF Air Force will once again attempt to justify air power advocates’ belief that countries can be bombed into surrender.  That means that they will bomb the length and breadth of the country against infrastructure targets.  The Hizbulah will shoot as deep into Israel as they can manage for as long as they can manage.  They, will, of course shoot for Israeli population centers.

On the ground the IDF will encounter fortified centers associated with towns arranged in patterns that use the terrain to canalize armored movement.  There will be lots of anti-tank guided missiles and mines.  Individual HB fighters will wear body armor and have night vision gear.  There will be a major effort against IDF aircraft.

After ’06 the HB will be testing to see if the IDF’s infantry is willing to “close” with them.

I don’t see a lot involvement for other countries except in re-supply roles.  pl" 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144513.html

Habakkuk on Iraq

Adam Silverman,Thanks for that most interesting and helpful clarification of the current state of play in Iraq.This may be a stupid question, but if the 'diasporan movements' don't have 'indigenous support bases' why do the 'indigenous movements' have so little power? And is this a stable situation over the longer term? Can the 'powers that are' permanently capture 'huge chunks of the Iraqi Security Forces' in such a situation? And can they hope to prevail over the 'traditional and/or tribal Sunnis and Shi'a' and the Sadrists?JohnH"That is certainly not part of any US end state I've ever heard of." Me neither! And that all by itself would lead one to be skeptical that it could actually be happening."The problem is not simply that, as the Colonel says, the ability of the United States to control history is far too limited for one to be able to infer from a given outcome either that the USG wanted it, or from the fact that the USG did not want it that it could not have happened.When one actor has overwhelming power, the name of the strategic game for many other actors will be to find ways of getting this power to act in their interests. Allying with it is one way.Others include using superior guile to outwit the overwhelming powerful actor, and make its own power work against it. One way of doing is a classic insurgency technique -- manoeuvre the security forces into a situation where they have to tread a narrow line between not responding and appearing weak, and responding in ways that make them the insurgents' recruiting sergeants -- very easy to do, particularly if you let yourself be baited into letting anger get control of you. Another is manipulating the overwhelmingly powerful actor into using its strength in one's own interests.The attacks on the World Trade Center are an interesting variant of the former approach -- although fortunately the sectarianism and cruelty of the jihadists, among other things, have limited their ability to capitalise on the success of their ploy to inveigle the United States into ruinous involvements in Muslim lands.Although definitive evidence is lacking, little that has happened recently has served to dispel suspicions that the Iranian exploitation of Ahmed Chalabi's ties to the neocons was one of the classic displays of the latter tactic of all time.To avoid being the victims of either tactic, it is necessary that the United States - and also my own country, Britain -- wise up. One central part of this is precisely grasping the limitations of one's ability of to influence outcomes in other societies. Another is shedding the deeply ingrained delusion that we 'modern', 'scientific' and 'rational' people understand the world, while others less fortunate do not. Where the kinds of understanding required to play Machiavellian games are at issue, this is commonly the precise reverse of the truth. The 'informational advantage' lies not with us, but with them.  David Habakkuk