Sic Semper Tyrannis

Someone should tell Larry Derfner that he is an Anti-Semite.

"Victims? Lambs to the slaughter? Us?

No, this has gone beyond embarrassing; this is out-and-out shameful.

And, despite our excuses, it's not that we're "traumatized" by the past into believing that we're still weak, still the frightened, powerless Jews about to be led to the gas chambers. Many Holocaust survivors still believe this, and to some very limited extent, this vestigial fear still takes up space in the Israeli mind.

But by now, 64 years after the Holocaust, 42 years after seeing in the Six Day War how strong we'd become, we know, whether we admit it to ourselves or not, that we aren't the victims anymore. We know we aren't a continuation of the 6 million but rather a deliberate and stark departure from them.

THE REASON we tell ourselves and the world that we are victims is because we know, whether we admit it to ourselves or not, that victimhood is power. Victimhood is freedom. A victim can't be told to restrain himself. A victim fighting for survival can't be accused of abusing his power because, after all, his back is to the wall, he's desperate.

On the facts, it's very hard to convince ourselves, let alone the world, that Gaza and its Kassams have pushed Fortress Israel's back to the wall, that we're desperate, that we're struggling to survive. So, to convince ourselves and the world that this really is so, we do two things.

One, we refuse to acknowledge any facts that mar this image of ourselves as victims, and instead go over and over and over only the facts that fit the picture. "  Derfner in the JP

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope the Israelis can find their way out of the dark forest of nationalism.  pl

 

More Nozette Court papers

30 October 2009

Here are some more documents from the court files in the new attempted espionage case against Stewart Nozette and in the older, pending case against him for conspiracy to commit fraud and tax evasion.

I. The attempted espionage case.

There was a detention hearing yesterday, 29 October 2009, before a magistrate, and Nozette was ordered held before trial without bail. I doubt he will appeal the detention order to the district judge in the trial court.

1. Motion to reassign the case as a related case.

Since the earlier case was in a different court than that of Judge Reggie Walton, the government asked that the new case be transferred to the other court, Judge James Robertson presiding. Filed 28 October 2009.

2. Government's memorandum in support of detention pending trial. Filed 10-28-2009.

This lays out some proposed facts and legal argument in support of detaining Nozette without bail pending trial.

The memo notes that he was given $10,000 by the undercover informant during the last meeting, and then went into the bathroom and put it in the toilet tank. Also, it asserts that Nozette has numerous residential properties including a home in Chevy Chase, Maryland which was given a tax assessment value of $1,959,999.00, and a vacation home on Merritt Island, Florida with a claimed value of $550,000.00.

Those are some pretty nice cribs.

3. Exhibit "A" in support of the request for pretrial detention.

This is a bad copy of what appears to be his release order in the pending fraud and tax evasion case, in which he was released on his own signature ("personal recognizance"), and did not have to post bail.

Exhibit "B" is not included because it is the complaint and supporting affidavit in the espionage case and they have been posted previously.

Exhibit "C" is not included because it is described as an early transcript of some more taped conversations. It is noted as being "restricted" and does not appear to be a public document at this time.

4. Defendant's opposition to motion for pretrial detention.

Filed 10-28-2009.

II. The earlier pending case for fraud and tax evasion.

This case is one of those in which the defendant knows a charge is coming, and he and his lawyers go in early and make a deal before an arrest takes place. He waived his right to be formally charged by a grand jury indictment, and pled guilty on 30 January 2009. Sentencing was postponed.

On 23 April 2009 attorney Bradford Berenson entered an appearance for Nozette, and then the lawyers who had been representing him withdrew. Berenson had a White House job during the first term of Bush jr.

Nozette's sentencing in the earlier case was reset to

18 November 2009, but will probably be postponed again.

His new lawyer, Berenson, filed today a motion to continue his sentencing in light of the new case.

The government did not agree to reset the sentencing.

Since he picked up a new case, there is an issue of whether the government will try to cancel the plea agreement, but since it wants to proceed with sentencing, the plea agreement may stay in place.

5. Plea agreement in the fraud and tax evasion case.

6. Statement of the offense.

This is the "factual basis" to support the plea of guilty in the earlier case.

7. Motion to continue sentencing. Filed 30 October 2009.

Robert Willmann, Jr.

 

Download Nozette_def_reply_govt_reqdetain.pdf

Download Nozette_govt_memosupport_exhA.pdf

Download Nozette_govt_memosupport_reqdetain.pdf

Download Nozette_govt_reqtrans_newjudge.pdf

Download Nozette_othercase_plea_agreement.pdf

Download Nozette_othercase_plea_factbasis.pdf

Download Nozette_othercase_req_resetsentencing

NYU Conference on Counterinsurgency - 20 November, 2009

Download Save the Date! November 20 Conference

"Cautious Progress in Iran" Adam L. Silverman

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held its first scheduled inspections of Iran’s recently disclosed nuclear facility at Qom.  This is a sign of cautious progress in regards to Iran’s nuclear energy program, as well as dealings with the US and other concerned actors.  While many have indicated that its clear that the Obama Administration’s diplomacy has achieved more in one day of negotiations than was achieved by the belligerent posturing of the previous eight years[1], things are clearly not so easily resolved.  For instance, COL (ret) Lang recently wrote that the internal Iranian deliberations over shipping nuclear material to Russia for processing into fuel and storage seem to have bogged down and while that is troubling,[2] there are a few Iranian realities that I think bear keeping in mind.  While a top ten list of things that most Americans do not know about Iran has recently been published by Professor Cole[3], I think that three items need to be focused on.

1)    Mahmud Ahmedinijad has very little power or authority.  Iranian President Mahmud Ahmedinijad, given to making hyperbolic, grandiose, and often belligerently disturbing statements has almost no power or authority.  While it is true that he is closely tied to elements of the Islamic Revolution because of his participation in that event, he is, for all intents and purposes, the mayor of Tehran.  The real power in Iran lies with Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali al Khameini and his fellow clerics.  Essentially Iran has two governmental systems: the real one led and controlled by the clerics that is non-representative and non-democratic and an essentially pretend system of semi-liberal democracy that allows for the election of a president and a parliamentary body.  It is semi-liberal because the elected executive and legislative branches have no real ability to effect change, who can and can not run is controlled by the religious authorities, and these authorities also control law enforcement, the courts, and the military.  As a result of this reality, it is necessary to essentially ignore Ahmedinijad’s antics and pay close attention to what is going in the shadows behind him; actions and activities led by the religious authorities and controlled by Ayatullah Khameini.

2)    The 2009 Elections Demonstrated the Cracks in the Rule of the Clerics.  The badly handled elections and post-election demonstrations have shown that the divisions among the clerics that originally existed at the time of the Islamic Revolution have not gone away.  While the late Ayatullah Khomeini’s version of Velyati al Fiqh, rule according to Islamic Jurisprudence, or more accurately Velyati al Ulama, rule according to the Islamic Clerics, ultimately carried the day in 1979, there were competing versions that were less extreme.  While none of the competing variants could be called liberal, in the classic use of the term, several of them were much more moderate in comparison to Ayatullah Khomeini’s undertaking.  This summer’s election was in some ways really about whether to continue solidly on the reactionary path that is the result of Ayatullah Khomeini’s version of Velyati al Fiqh, or adjust to what would still be a very conservative and controlling form of government, but one which would be more moderate and accommodating by comparison.  It is quite likely that the delay in the decision over sending nuclear material to Russia is partially the result of debate between different factions of the clerical elite who hold different views on the nature of how the Islamic Revolution should move forward.

3)    This Second Nuclear Facility was Built at Qom for a Reason.  Qom was not chosen at random for the site of this second Iranian nuclear enrichment facility.  Qom houses the most important Twelver Shia academy and center of learning in Iran and it is second in importance only to Najaf in Iraq.  It is important to remember that when Ayatullah Khomeini was exiled by the Shah he went from Qom to the centers of Shia learning at Najaf and described this with colorful language that what was buried at Qom had burrowed down and now reemerged in Najaf.  Qom was chosen as a site for a strategic reason: attacking it will likely cause damage to the religious academy and shrines at Qom, which would in turn mobilize every Twelver Shia in Iran, Iraq, the Gulf States, and Levant against the US and its interests and objectives – not just in the Middle East, but everywhere.  It is also likely to rally other Shia – the Seveners and the Fivers, as well as many Sunnis to the Iranian cause.  The longstanding, and largely unrealistic, fear that Iran will export its Islamic Revolution becomes more plausible if Qom is targeted.

The reality of dealing with Iran and its nuclear ambitions is difficult, even more so than just acknowledging these three often unmentioned realities.  While the cracks in the experiment that is the Islamic Revolution have been clearly showing for several months now, the US and its allies need to tread very carefully in dealing with Iran.  The location of the nuclear facilities, as well as the subterranean and hardened nature of their construction, makes a successful attack on them very difficult.  Moreover, while positively encouraging the more moderate Iranian political, social, and religious movements is a good thing, anything seen as meddling in Iranian politics, let alone a military attack on Iran, will mobilize Iranians around their national identity and lead to an increase of anti-American, anti-Western, and reactionarily isolationist sentiment.  Given that there are not any really good military options for dealing with Iran that will not make our endeavors in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere much more difficult, the approach of cautious diplomacy is the best course of action to take.  The key isn’t to do something radical and drag Iran and Iranians kicking and screaming to where we want them to be all at once, rather it is to encourage them to move themselves to that point and to show them it is in their best interest to end their semi-isolation.  If military options become the priority the Iran problem set will become insoluble; once you attack Iran you can not unattack them.  This is the real lesson of Iraq: once you drop the bombs and start fighting there is no way to successfully unwind events if you do not achieve the results you were seeking.

Adam l. Silverman

---

[1] http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/2009/10/a-good-beginning-with-iran.html, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/76369.html

[2] http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2009/10/next-week-is-important-for-iran.html

[3] http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/10/01/cole/

Adam L. Silverman, PhD was the Field Social Scientist and Team Lead for Human Terrain Team Iraq 6 (HTT IZ6) assigned to the 2BCT/1AD in 2008.  Upon his redeployment from Iraq he served as the Strategic Communication Advisor for the US Army's Human Terrain System.  The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the 2BCT/1AD, HTT IZ6, the US Army Human Terrain System, or the US Army."  

Nozette wanted $2 million for his secrets.

Nozette will have a hearing in federal court soon on the issue of bail.  He should not be given bail.  He stated to a colleague" that he would flee if faced with imprisonment over his earlier coviction for false billing of the US government in contracts that his "not for profit" business had obtained.  He also had cached $50,000 worth of gold coins in a California safe deposit bank against an "emergency."  He will run if given a chance. 

It is clear that the FBI and the Justice Department are serious about this case.  Nozette had been feeding the "Israel Aerospace Industries" company information for many years.  He was a consultant for them.  They paid him about a quarter million dollars for his "advice." This was at the same time that he held very high US security clearances for the US defense work that he was doing.  There has been an obvious effort to portray this man as a harmless "Mr. Wizard" or "Bill Nye, the Science Guy" type who mumbled on about water ice on the moon.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  He knows a lot about US Defense technology.

From the Israeli point of view (or for that matter the Indian point of view) the chief concern has to be what will come out in court...

The FBI has built many, many "shovel ready" cases that are ready or almost ready for prosecution in similar matters.  In this instance the administration "green lighted" this case for action.  Why is that?

Think it over.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102805055.html

Not a bad solution.

"President Obama’s advisers are focusing on a strategy for Afghanistan aimed at protecting about 10 top population centers, administration officials said Tuesday, describing an approach that would stop short of an all-out assault on the Taliban while still seeking to nurture long-term stability.

Mr. Obama has yet to make a decision and has other options available to him, but as officials described it, the debate is no longer over whether to send more troops, but how many more will be needed. The question of how much of the country should fall under the direct protection of American and NATO forces will be central to deciding how many troops will be sent.

At the moment, the administration is looking at protecting Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz, Herat, Jalalabad and a few other village clusters, officials said. The first of any new troops sent to Afghanistan would be assigned to Kandahar, the Taliban’s spiritual capital, seen as a center of gravity in pushing back insurgent advances.

But military planners are also pressing for enough troops to safeguard major agricultural areas, like the hotly contested Helmand River valley, as well as regional highways essential to the economy — tasks that would require significantly more reinforcements beyond the 21,000 deployed by Mr. Obama this year."  NY Times

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This strategy would avoid the trap of unrealistic goals designed to secure the whole country and population.  A strategy of that scope would logically have demanded a limitless number of soldiers in order to protect that population against attacks and threats that could easily be sized and paced by the Taliban confederation for the purpose of drawing more and more allied troops into the country.  The number of troops needed and the vast sea of money involved would "soon" exhaust the patience of the american people.

The strategy described in this article will satisfy both the passion of the counterinsurgent for people-protection and provide the bases needed for the continuation of a strategy aimed at disrupting Al-Qa'ida and other zealot forces that might become a danger to the US and NATO allies.

Realistically, this strategy should not require more than 35,000 foreign soldiers, but the politics of the decision process will probably demand more than that, at least for a while...

The famously effective but little honored methods that led to success in Iraq;  use of indigenous irregular groups, HUMINT penetration of hostile groups using the base cities as operating space, and use of these cities as springboards for targeted operations will produce the same results in Afghanistan.  It should be understood that such methods do not lead to permanent solutions, but they do lead to accomplishment of our goals.

Let us not forget that the same kind of enemies who attacked us here can be found around the world.  To deal with them we must find methods that do not demand limitless numbers of troops,  and seas of money.  pl

How it is that Bob McDonnell will be the next Va. governor.

"...an improvement for Deeds in the critical Northern Virginia region, where he now holds a 56 to 43 percent lead in the left-leaning Washington suburbs. But that lead is swamped by significant and growing deficits in every other region of the state.

McDonnell appears to be in a particularly dominant position in the state's rural west, an area the Democrat had labeled "Deeds Country" because it includes his Bath County home. Although Deeds has devoted considerable resources to the region, he trails there 63 to 36 percent.

Obama's approval rating is at its low point in that part of the state: 46 percent of registered voters in the western areas give him positive marks. And opposition to the proposed changes to the nation's health-care system peaks at 58 percent.

Statewide, 53 percent oppose the efforts at health-care reform; 43 percent are supportive. "   Washpost

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The data on page A-18 of today's Washington Post says to me that Virginia remains much as it has been.  McDonnell is way ahead everywhere in the commonwealth except for the Democratic Party dominated enclave along the Potomac River.  Alexandria city and Arlington County are his only real areas of strength and that is not enough.

The state still prefers conservative governance.  Deeds, by no means a liberal in the Northern sense, is trailing McDonnell even in Bath County, his home.  Deeds is ahead in the riverine zone here, but even that support is not as enthusiastic as it have been expected to be.

The last general election (2008) was strongly affected by revulsion against the Bush Administration and the novelty of Obama's candidacy.  Both of those phenomena are past and the groups that turned out to vote against Bush's ghost and for Obama have lapsed into the passivity that characterizes them politically.

To compound the Demcrats' problem, Bob McDonnell reads well all over the state, (including up here in Alexandria and Arlington) as an authentic Virginian, something important to a region (dare I say a people?) where identity still matters.

Both the Democrats and Republicans have failed in the past to understand Virginia.  They still do.  The Republicans just got lucky this time in their choice of candidate.

The Democrats should take comfort in the probability that McDonnell wold have beaten Terry McAuliffe even  more severely.  pl

 

Update on Sunday's Baghdad bombings.

"As the floodwater from broken water mains and sewers drained away, workers continued to hunt for victims amid the wreckage from Sunday’s bomb blasts, recovering still more bodies on Monday as the death toll climbed to as much as 155 — including an uncertain number of children — with more than 500 wounded." 

"Elsewhere in Iraq on Monday, a suicide car bomber struck a checkpoint outside Karbala in the afternoon, killing four civilians, according to Sattar Ardawi, chief of the Karbala provincial council’s security committee.

In Babel Province, south of Baghdad, three beheaded bodies were found at an abandoned farm about 25 miles north of Hilla, one that of an Iraqi soldier, according to a security source in the provincial government. In Mosul, in northern Iraq, four people died in three separate attacks."  NY Times

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predictably, the place is coming apart again. 

The neocons and their media supporters have immediately raised the prospect of a halt to withdrawal.  That merits discussoin here.  pl

PS - I remember St. George's Anglican church well from my visits to Baghdad in the 80s. 

A New Surge in Iraq

 
"Twin car bombs targeted two government buildings in downtown Baghdad Sunday, wrecking pillars of the state's authority and cutting like a scythe through snarled traffic during the morning rush hour. The government said at least 132 people were killed and 520 wounded in one of the worst attacks in Baghdad.

The first bomb struck an intersection near the Justice Ministry and the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works at around 10:15 a.m. on the first day of the Iraqi work week, when streets are always more crowded. Less than a minute later, a second blast targeted the Baghdad provincial headquarters, draped in a sign heralding its renovation.

The bombings bore the hallmarks of an attack Aug. 19 that targeted the Finance and Foreign Ministries, also killing more than 100 people. Unlike the carnage unleashed by attacks in crowded mosques, restaurants and markets, aimed at igniting sectarian strife, these blasts appeared to rely on a distinct political calculus, designed to undermine faith in the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has staked his political future on restoring a semblance of security to the war-wrecked country.

"This is part of the struggle over power in Iraq, and Iraqis will have to sacrifice themselves for it," said Mohammed al-Rubai, an opponent of Maliki who serves as a member of the Baghdad provincial council. "Everyone in charge shares responsibility." "  Shadid

---------------------------------------------------------

Homage to those who have bled for this piece of s--t.  Homage to those who soldier on there. 

The "Surge" + the "rent an Iraqi sheikh" program + an acceptance of the intra-shia struggle for political power, these were the ingredients in reducing the level of violence in Iraq.  None of that soved the essential political problem in the country.

That situation could have continued indefinitely but American naivete and belief in the nonsense of nation-state building have led us to walk away from our Sunni clients and now they are angry at what they see as betrayal.  Are the abna al-'iraq (Sons of Iraq) directly involved or are they just sitting on their hands?  Does it matter?  pl  

Next week is important for Iran.

IAEA inspectors will have a look at the Qom enrichment site this weekend.  Good.  The surrepticious construction of this site badly undermined the position of those in the West who wish to find some way other than war to deal with Iran's nuclear program.  The site is the wrong size to be useful in enriching fuel for an electricity program.  It was hardened and placed inside a defended military base of the IRGC.  The simplest explanation for all that is that it part of a system for acquisition of weapons grade uranium.

At the same time the Iranian government seems to be struggling with an internal decision as to whether or not to ship its present stock of low enrichment uranium to some foreign country for fabrication into fuel rods for electric plants.  Why is there an internal struggle?  Is it because there are two parties; 1- The party that wants eventually to produce nuclear weapons and 2- The party that wants cheap electric power and better relations with the rest of the world (us).

The clock is running.  All options are still on the table.  This is not about justice.  It is about life and death for many.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102303757.html?wpisrc=newsletter

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102301853.html?sid=ST2009102400101

A Spy Unearthed - part 3

22 October 2009

Here are some documents from the court's file in the Stewart Nozette espionage (attempted, for purposes of the charges) case.

1. The complaint, filed under seal on 10-16-2009. (1 page).

It starts the proceedings and is a placeholder keeping the case in the system until an indictment. It is filed unilaterally by the Justice Dept. or U.S. Attorney.

2. The affidavit supporting the complaint by an FBI agent.

This is to justify the issuance of a warrant of arrest and to support the complaint, which tracks the statute. (17 pages).

3. A paper attached to the complaint more specifically stating charges relating to the complaint prior to indictment.

(1 page).

4. The indictment. He was formally indicted by the grand jury yesterday and the case is now officially in the federal district court. (7 pages). It looks as if Reggie Walton, who presided over the Irving Lewis "Scooter"

Libby trial is going to be handling this one.

Robert Willmann, Jr.

Download Nozette_complaint.pdf

Download Nozette_complaint_aff.pdf

Download Nozette_complaint_counts.pdf

Download Nozette_indictment

A Spy Unearthed - Part 2

"The government filed a one-count indictment against Nozette late Wednesday afternoon, court records show. He has a detention hearing scheduled for Oct. 29 in the District's federal court."  Washpost

"That included details about U.S. satellites, early warning systems and defense strategy, the FBI wrote in court papers. The meetings with the FBI agent were taped. At one point, Nozette said he knew how to handle the Israeli's cash.

"You buy consumables," he told the agent, according to a partial transcript of the conversation in a District hotel suite Sept. 4. "Cash is good for anything." "  Washpost

"From 1989 through 2008, Nozette worked as a consultant for an aerospace firm owned by the Israeli government. He accepted $225,000 for that work, the FBI has said. "  Washpost

--------------------------------------------------------------

The government is moving fast on this.  The indictment is a major step forward towards prosecution.  I am told by competent authority that his case is in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia because the offense as described in the indictment took place there.

The "aerospace firm" for which Nozette worked for 19 years while also working for DARPA, Livermore, the Naval Reserch Labs., etc is "Israel Aerospace Industries" the wholly Israeli government owned para-statal manufacturer that builds Israeli military equipment and space vehicles such as their reconnaissance satellites.

It should be obvious that the US government believes that Nozette was spying for the Israelis through that connection.  He said that he believed that to be the case in the taped conversation with his FBI "recruiter.

He will probably not be granted bail as he is a self stated flight risk. 

Most of the sycophantic and/or intimidated MSM is avoiding this story like the plague.pl

"Mind War" Aquino and Vallely

I keep running into people who ought to know better but who think that this kind of thing is acceptable in a domestic US setting. pl

Download Mindwar

Download 2004-09-Strategic_Communication

There will be no January referendum.

"The American forces are already leaving," he said. "Why spend hundreds of millions of dollars to hold a referendum and send them home a few months early?" LA Times

----------------------------------------------------------------------

That seems logical.  pl

A spy unearthed

"Prosecutors said he was contacted Sept. 3 by an undercover FBI agent pretending to be an Israeli intelligence officer. That day, Nozette met the agent and discussed his willingness to give Israel classified material. He said he would turn over such information in exchange for money, prosecutors said.

At another meeting, Nozette told the agent he no longer had legal access to classified material but could recall such information. They agreed to communicate through a drop site -- a post office box in the District, prosecutors said.

The FBI twice left envelopes in the post office box filled with a total of $11,000 in cash and a list of questions for Nozette to answer. He picked up the envelopes and returned with other envelopes that contained classified information about the country's satellites, early warning systems and its ability to retaliate against a large-scale attack, prosecutors said. "  Washpost

---------------------------------------------------------------

He should be hanged for espionage.  "pendu dans ses propres tripes"  "pour encourager les autres" pl

"Show Time" for the Pakistan Army

"Taliban spokesman Azam Tari said the guerrillas had inflicted “heavy casualties” on the army, the Associated Press reported yesterday. “We will defend our land till our last man and our last drop of our blood,” the agency quoted him as saying. “This is a war bound to end in the defeat of the Pakistan army.”

The army has said it expects to complete the offensive in six to eight weeks, though today Abbas said he could not say how long it would last.

“This fight could be longer and harder than any the army has taken on so far,” said Ashraf Ali, director of the FATA Research Center, an Islamabad think-tank that studies the tribal areas, including Waziristan.

“The Waziristan terrain is much tougher for the army and better for guerrilla-style fighters,” Ali said. He added that the Taliban targeted in the campaign “are more experienced and trained than the ones in Swat,” the northern valley the army recaptured in a 10-week battle that ended in July.

Even a determined offensive may not crush the Mehsud faction or its allies.

The Taliban will “split into small groups and harass the strangers in a terrain which the Mehsuds know well,” said Bahukutumbi Raman at the Chennai, India-based Institute for Topical Studies. Pakistan is likely to face a new round of terrorist attacks in cities far from the fighting, he said. "  Bloomberg

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is to be feared in this situation is that the Pashtun tribesmen in South Waziristan might fight the Pakistan army to a standstill.  This could happen.  These men are fighting on their own terrain, under their own traditional leaders, for their own homes.  The terrain is very tough for a conventional army designed to fight India in maneuver warfare down on the plains to the east.

An army failure to dominate the situation would strengthen the Islamic zealots in the general Pakistan population and threaten the stability of the government. 

If the United States has played a significant role in pressuring Pakistan into this operation we may have future reason to regret our actions.  pl

 

 

It's Halloween on The Athenaeum

    


Maureen has put up some lovely Halloween things on TA.  pl

 


 
 

"Terrorist" Baluch attacks on the IRGC

"The coordinated attacks appeared to mark an escalation in hostilities between Iran’s leadership and one of the nation’s many disgruntled ethnic and religious minorities, in this case the Baluchis. The southeast region, Sistan-Baluchistan, has been the scene of terrorist attacks in the past, and in April the government put the elite Guards Corps in control of security there to try to stop the escalating violence.

Iranian officials have accused foreign enemies of supporting the terrorist insurgents and repeated that charge Sunday. By midday, official news reports from Iran said that 31 people were killed and at least 28 injured."  NY Times

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, the New York Times believes that Sunni Baluch tribesmen fighting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are terrorists?  Perhaps the Times missed the event last year in which the US Government labelled the "Al Quds Force" of the IRGC a terrorist organization.  The IRGC now embodies the power of the Shia Persian theocracy in Teheran. 

Does the Times now believe that armed resistance to a government, any government is by definition "terrorism?"  By that standard was George Washington a terrorist?  Were the Machabees terrorists?  How about Simon Bolivar, was he a terrorist?  Was Emilio Aguinaldo a terrorist? 

Have we become so much a status quo country that rebellion has lost its charm for us?  "De Oppresso Liber?"  I guess that is gone, gone with this ...

"...it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.."

pl

Open Thread - 16 October 2009

Just for inspiration-----  pl

Dr. Kiracofe and the trolls

"Per NS Saloman, haven't followed his postings with the same attention as those of the late "ms." NSS some time back claimed he lived in Europe, Portugal I think it was. I recall he claimed to be a US citizen as well at one point. His last comment alone on another thread being prickly/defensive about his use of English and insolent in tone could indicate you have "him"/"them" pinned. As I recall he has been rather consistent in promoting a defeatist line with respect to the US. His disagreeable insolence I should think would disqualify him from SST presence. MS got increasingly insolent as "he" began to melt down. For all the software available out there -- spell checks, translators, and the like -- these hackers still present clumsy posts. The attempts at using US slang and dialect as ms did, for example...very shoddy. "Highlander" was a more skilled poseur/hacker. "MS" would pick up on something like your use of the term "sub rosa." Then, he would google to check the meaning of this term, then shoot something (incoherent) back to attempt to establish some knowledge. I noticed he did this when Sidney Smith mentioned Tony Rice. Ms googled to find Tony Rice and some musical composition of his and then came back with the line that it was "gut-wrenching" to live in Europe and not be able to hear Tony Rice and how he longed for home in the US...blah blah blah. He did this with my mention of Cafe Deux Magots in Paris and botched that. The hackers work to ingratiate themselves into the discussion group, build up a presence, then work toward introducing disinformation and propaganda. Also I note attempts at provocation. From this they sometimes move toward more open disruption of the targeted website as ms did. They could also introduce some coded signals to others working with them and monitoring the targeted site. Perhaps an SST reader who has some professional knowledge of these types of foreign directed cyber operations could give us some leads to open source articles on this threat. "  Clifford Kiracofe

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Cliff has this just right.  He understands the methodology.  The infiltration activities of propagandists are not really a problem but they are a nuisance.  The use of such targeted disinformation and disruption is a growing phenomenon on the part of governments and para-governmental support groups.  The Middle East is an obvious focal point for much of this activity but there are other concentrations of trollish behavior as well.

Be advised that comments will be examined closely for indications of information operations.  pl

LTC Daniel L. Davis on Afghanistan Strategy

"In a 63-page paper representing his personal views, but reflecting conversations with other officers who have served in Afghanistan,Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis argues that it is already too late for U.S. forces to defeat the insurgency.

"Many experts in and from Afghanistan warn that our presence over the past eight years has already hardened a meaningful percentage of the population into viewing the United States as an army of occupation which should be opposed and resisted," writes Davis.

Providing the additional 40,000 troops that Gen. McChrystal has reportedly requested "is almost certain to further exacerbate" that problem, he warns.

Davis was a liaison officer between the Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan (CFC-A) and the Central Command in 2005, just as the Afghan insurgency was becoming a significant problem for the U.S. military. In that assignment he both consulted with the top U.S. officers and staff of the CFC-A and traveled widely throughout Afghanistan visiting U.S. and NATO combat units.

He also commanded a U.S. military transition team on the Iraqi border with Iran in 2008-09. "  Gareth Porter

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I find Lt Colonel Davis' views on the subject to be a beneficial contribution to the present debate although I  am not willing to accept a long term commitment quite as large as that which he finds necessary  and I would not have used
"Jack Bauer" as an example for anything.  pl

Download Go Deep (14 OCT 09)

(Word version)

Download Go Deep _14 OCT 09_

(.pdf)

 

 

 

Increased Violence in Iraq - Adam Silverman

The recent increase in violence in Anbar Province is not an aberration and will likely continue.

 

Three quick caveats: 1) I've been home from Iraq since end of last OCT and 2) I was stationed and worked to the South and East of Baghdad, not to its West, and 3) I spent enough time with both tribal Sunnis and Shia, including the elites leading the local equivalent of the Sawha/Awakening, to have a properly informed understanding of the dynamic at play.  

The increase in violence in Anbar Province can be attributed to four things:

1) The Awakening folks, and their supporters generally described as the tribal or traditional Sunnis, did not capture a majority of seats in the provincial government during the last round of elections despite what was supposed to be record turnout (ie no boycott).  The turnout, in fact, was actually less than during the boycotted 2005 elections,[1] which itself raises questions about the ability of the various political parties and movements to mobilize their supporters.  Initially the results indicated that the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is the local version of the Muslim Brothers and has no real indigenous constituency, maintained their majority and control of the provincial government.  While these results were eventually changed as a result of protests and investigations of fraud allegations,[2] the final result only gave the Awakening Movement two more seats than its main rival in the IIP.[3]  This is a major deprivation issue: the belief that one is entitled to something that has been withheld.  In fact it led to immediate threats of violence[4], which are what ultimately led to the official reconsideration of the electoral outcome.  These muddled and confused outcomes are partially the result of the Iraqi High Electoral Committee and the US being rolled on the manner and format of the provincial election laws (open list/proportional representation), which meant that even if you got more of the vote, if you ran alone you could still loose to someone on a party list.  Since this type of electoral format is opaque, hard to follow, and has a demonstrated track record of not working well, it should be no surprise that it led to problems and that the confused Iraqis would be upset by them.  And just a note here: it wasn't just the Iraqi's confused by this system, some of the really sharp PRT personnel I worked with didn't understand this system either.

 

NPR link for the IQ2 debate on Afghanistan

I understand that you can listen to it here in wither unedited or broadcast forms.  pl

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113735039

So, what's the goal in Afghanistan, Mr. Obama?

In descending order of importance and precedence these are the steps involved in planning for war.

- National purpose (what are we about?)

- National goals (what do we want?)

- National policy (what will we do about that?)

- Grand Strategy (civil and military action)

- Strategy (over-all military action)

- Resourcing the strategy (how much, how many to accomplish the strategy?)

- Tactics (fighting)

Each succeeding step is supposed to proceed from the previous step. That's the way you are supposed to plan, folks.  That's what they teach you at a War College.  War Colleges are typically the most senior service school of any armed force.  Lieutenant colonels and colonels are carefully selected to attend such schools. 

The idea contained in the array of terms above is that military strategy and campaign plans are the product of goal setting by echelons of government above the military.

In the case of US actions in Afghanistan, there seems to be a chaos of voices confusing this logical and orderly process of planning.

The basic contest over policy in Afghanistan is between those who insist that to reduce the Islamist danger to the USA, Afghanistan must be made into something fundamentally different than what it has been (the counterinsurgents) and those others who think (like Biden) that something less ambitious will accomplish the same thing.

What is the goal, Mr Obama?  What is the goal?  pl

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/world/14biden.html?_r=1&hp

We have lost a friend- Leila Abu-Saba

I regret to inform the SST community that Leila Abu-Saba has left us all after reaching the end of her long struggle with cancer.

Requiescat in pace.  pl

http://mondoweiss.net/2009/10/goodbye-to-leila-abu-saba.html

"The Boredom of Jabber" Richard Sale

There has occurred a basic collapse of intellect on the 24 hour news channels and the Sunday morning talk shows: it’s there for all to see. The guest experts do not ever stray from the beaten path nor do they ever leave their established character portrayals or say anything insightful, original or unexpected. They use the topics,  not to inform or  provide helpful background that will place the item in a cultural or historical context, but merely as a pretext for self-display. The old idea of the analyst or reporter, who presented a set of events, acts, principles or policies while holding in check his own reaction and his views in abeyance has apparently gone for good. Today, the expert guest is the agent and promoter of one side of an issue, his or her purpose is not to explain the origin of the opinion, the principles involved, its successes or failures in history  but simply to wield some bludgeon of his or her  preferred personal set of values and view points  that is meant to intimidate or  confer on them the dominance of  superiority and shuts the door on further thought.

    This is not only deeply immoral, it is deeply useless. What we need is sound information and a better, wider  knowledge. “Where is the knowledge lost in information?” asked a wistful Eliot.

   On Sundays there is no knowledge, only noise. Week after week, Sunday after Sunday, we are presented with the same set of stuffed mannequins who week after week say basically the same things in the most untalented, stale and hackneyed language. And in spite of all the hours spent by us -- the credulous and expectant listeners  – at no time do we hear an actual idea or a  single reference to a first rate book on the subject under discussion or an unexpected insight or deft reference to an historical analogy or even a sharply imaged personal impression.

The  economist/philosopher Hayek says that dogmatists for democracy always say that discussion  is the main way by which people learn. The Sunday talk shows surely prove this to be completely wrong. Hayek denounces the flattery of the mob by saying that discussion   “.is not the main process by which people learn.” He adds, “Unless some people know more than the rest and are in a better position to convince the rest, there would be little progress in opinion.”

    To listen to discussions in this country is to have clear proof that the bulk of the people is always inert and unthinking. Advances do not come from the dreary mass of the majority mind.   It is always the most qualified among the minority who act in new and more thoughtful ways that end by helping the majority to be more intelligent. Hayek says that if the majority directed affairs, as they think they do, the result would be stagnation. He is right, and I would say that the dullness results because the majority thinks in unison and is hostile to anything it does not already know or has not already heard. Let the novel come near, and they bridle with hostile distrust.

   Exchanging opinion in America is not about acquainting oneself with  unfamiliar views; it’s about a yearning for power and dominance. It is about getting the better of those that don’t agree with you. Discussion in America is designed to humiliate, injure, chastise, ruin, discredit and destroy, not inform.

    This is increasingly sinister because the general public knows less and less about anything of real value, and it understands less and less of the subjects and topics worth knowing because knowledge is not the product of an urge to self-assertion, but of hard, incessant work.  Instead of knowledge, half-baked reckless opinion, driven by a completely undeserved sense of self importance and an irrepressible desire to be heard whether or not one deserves to be, has taken over. 

In America, opinion is the opium of the people. “To be able to sound off is proof that I exist. I blab, therefore I am.”

   It is truly a tragedy that such a great a country as ours harbors within it such a profound and ineradicable dislike of intelligence.

  

No more "Sons of Iraq?"

"At least 25 people were killed and dozens wounded in a triple bombing in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, on Sunday. The bombings occurred during a reconciliation meeting, sparking fears of a resurgence of violence in an area that was the epicenter of the insurgency until local tribal leaders allied with the US to drive out insurgents in late 2007."  CSmonitor

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The neocons and their auxiliaries (the COINista  generals, McCain, Joe Lieberman, etc.) like to cite Iraq as the great success story.  A success which they maintain was caused by THE SURGE.  What they mean by that seems to be deliberately unclear.  I suspect that what they really believe is that history finally went the way they think it should have in Iraq after many fits and starts and that what they need is for the US to tinker with one more Muslim society as a trigger for a general "modernizing" social revolution in the Islamic World.  Motive?  Ah, well...

If that is the case, the recent "backsliding" in levels of revolutionary consciousness in Iraq ought to be disturbing.  What is happening in Iraq is that the mindless, political science inspired belief in the historic inevitability and desirability of nation-states has re-asserted itself among American government people enough so that the US is willing to let the Shia government neglect our "friends" among the Sunni Arabs and other former insurgents.  The result is typical Middle Eastern style "signalling" that worse things will happen if the situation continues to degenerate from the Sunni Arab point of view.  Life is tough and often tougher than it need be if you are stupid.

Those who think we can abandon our former "friends" to the tender attention of the purple thumbed Maliki government are just foolish.

The same thing will happen in Afghanistan if we succeed in acquiring true "friends" there and then neglect them.

Has no one ever heard the expression sub rosa?  pl

PS I am the man in the middle.

 

The Nobel Committee and Obama

Oslo is a long way from the White House cabinet room, but the lack of compehension on the part of these five Norwegians is appalling.  Did they really think they were doing something nice for President Obama?  As someone has said, this was an early Christmas present for the Republicans.  Many Europeans never seem to understand that a lot of Americans do not think of themselves as naive provincials who should accept guidance from across the Atlantic.  Actually, the patronising tone that accompanies actions of this kind engenders a hostile reaction on both the left and right here. 

The president does not deserve this reward for any action he has taken.  He knows that.  He may some day deserve the award, but he does not deserve it now.

The Norwegian Nobel Commitee thinks that America should be rewarded for electing a Black man president? Listen, Norwegians!  We elected him, not you, not the Germans, and certainly not the British.  When Irish jokes stop being popular in England, that will be a pleasant development.  Let us see you Europeans (any of you) elect a Black person to be head of government and then you can begin to think of patronising us in this way! 

The Norwegian Nobel Committee thinks that America should be rewarded for a return to international multi-lateralism?  Well, what they have done is help in enabling those here who want the exact opposite of that.  They should have heard Liz Cheney say on Fox News Sunday today that their action was a reward for Obama for his supposed abandonment of the notions of American exceptionalism and "dominance."

Do you Norwegians hate Obama?  pl

Open Thread - 10 October, 2009

The Shape of Obama's Decision?

"Aides stress that the president's decision on specific troop levels and the other elements of a revamped approach is still at least two weeks away, and they say Obama has not tipped his hand in meetings that will continue at the White House on Friday.

But the thinking emerging from the strategy formulation portion of the debate offers a clue that Obama would be unlikely to favor a large military increase of the kind being advocated by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal. McChrystal's troop request is said to include a range of options, from adding as few as 10,000 combat troops to — the general's strong preference — as many as 40,000.

Obama's developing strategy on the Taliban will "not tolerate their return to power," the senior official said in an interview with The Associated Press. But the U.S. would fight only to keep the Taliban from retaking control of Afghanistan's central government — something it is now far from being capable of — and from giving renewed sanctuary in Afghanistan to al-Qaida, the official said."  Yahoonews

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is beginning to sound reasonable.  I suppose it will be necessary to keep present force levels in Afghanistan for a while.  This is likely to be a political necessity since the congressional Republican Party evidently wants to score points by backing a general against civilian leadership.   Added to that is the evident fact that present dispositions have created a lot of very small outposts that are vulnerable to defeat in detail.  Forces must be on hand to reinforce them until these exposed positions are eliminated. 

Let's hope the president's decision resembles something like this story line.  pl

 

Out of Town

NY today for the debate, back tomorrow.  pl

A Plague of Crooks and Fools - FB Ali

 

For the sins of its rulers Egypt was chastised with ten different plagues, but the United States is afflicted with just the one: an ongoing plague of Crooks and Fools. The Crooks run the country for their own benefit and that of their paymasters, both domestic and foreign (in simpler times this latter used to be called treason, but everyone is so sophisticated now). To help them in their work the Crooks need Fools, and there is no shortage of these, both high and low, big and small.

 

The Crooks of Wall Street recently robbed the country blind with the help of the Fool they had installed, the Delphic oracle Greenspan (he is probably stupid enough to still believe he is a financial wizard). The Crooks who own the mass media, and the hacks who serve them, have reduced the general population into a collective of mindless Fools, so that they don’t have a clue what is being done to them or their country. But the biggest Crooks are the ones in Washington. To succeed fully in their schemes they need a Fool in the White House. An old Russian proverb tells of the Summer Fool and the Winter Fool; Bush was obviously a Summer one, but it is looking increasingly likely that Obama is going to turn out to be a Winter Fool.

 

The battle at Wanat

"Brostrom's battalion commander, Lt. Col. William Ostlund, had concluded months before Kahler's death that keeping troops at the Bella outpost no longer made sense. Enemy fighters coming from Pakistan had long ago learned to maneuver around the base.

But Ostlund wasn't ready to give up the surrounding Waygal Valley, which was home to a largely illiterate and deeply religious population. The isolated valley offered an ideal haven for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "It was a population I really had a hard time understanding and did not respect," Ostlund said. "But I really did believe that they needed to be connected to the central government and that would be the first step to making them better people, less of a threat to themselves and Afghanistan."  Washpost

--------------------

Yesterday we had a couple more combat outposts shot up and assaulted in Nuristan with eight men killed.  Nuristan is a part of Afghanistan that is wild even for Afghanistan and largely uncontrolled by other than its inhabitants.  Nuristan was called "Kaffiristan" (land of the heathen) until the late 19th Century when the people there were forcibly converted to Islam.  Now the "Nuristanis" are among the most fanatic and ignorant of all the border peoples of the Pakistan/Afghanistan region.

Last year in July a rifle platoon was badly hurt at a village called Wanat in Nuristan.  According to the story in today's Washington Post, the incident has been much investigated and continues to be investigated.

The account of the planning and execution of the placement of the outpost at Wanat raises a number of key issues bearing on the army's conduct of the war in the mountain country of east Afghanistan.

- The Taliban (Nuristani) enemy's capabilities were badly underestimated by higher headquarters before the decision was made to place this outpost at Wanat.  This happened even though another combat outpost at Bella a few miles away in the same valley system had been repeatedly attacked by forces which showed real planning ability and which displayed numbers superior to those of the Bella outpost.  In spite of this, the same battalion decided to establish the small Wanat outpost with a 40 man platoon under a young officer who would be completely on his own out in this unfriendly place.  In the event of the Wanat attack, the enemy numbered over 200 and opened their assault by attacks by fire from dominant terrain that eliminated much of the platoon's available local fire support.   Either combat intelligence analysis failed badly or the command just ignored analysis that it did not want to hear.

- The Wanat outpost appears (from the Washpost drawing) to be badly situated.  It was overlooked by higher ground and surrounded by buildings taller than anything that the platoon had to shelter within.  The outpost appears to have been situated with priority given to the importance to locating it within the village so that there would be a maximum interaction with the local population rather than priority having been given to defense of the post.  This is a very basic mistake that bespeaks a lack of focus on the need to survive in combat as opposed to devotion to a theory that demands maximum exposure to the local population.  If counterinsurgency theory demands that kind of interaction, then the interaction must take place in a situation of enough physical security to enable the counterinsurgents to survive.  That did not happen at Wanat.

- The battalion commander's remarks about his lack of respect for the Nuristanis is probably revealing.  In the event they seem to have proven that they deserved a greater degree of respect as fighters than he had given them.  This officer further remarked to the reporter that he had decided that the resistance of the Nuristanis to his battalion's efforts was a challenge to "his will" and that this was a factor in his decision to create the Wanat outpost.  That is disturbing.

- Wanat was attacked 4 days after construction began.  Under normal circumstances, and in my experience, such an outpost would have been sized larger, situated on defensible ground, provided with dependable fire support and built by engineer troops protected by a sizable security force before being handed over to this unfortunate young lieutenant and his 40 men.  There are basic issues of competence  involved in the planning and execution of the Wanat venture.

It will be interesting to learn if anything was learned at Wanat and applied to yesterday's action.   pl   
 

"A General's Public Pressure" - Ackerman

"In a speech in London on Thursday, Gen. Stanley McChrystal publicly intervened in the debate over Afghanistan. Vice President Biden has suggested that we focus on fighting al-Qaeda and refrain from using our troops to prop up the government of President Hamid Karzai. But when this strategic option was raised at his presentation, McChrystal said it was a formula for "Chaos-istan." When asked whether he would support it, he said, "The short answer is: No."

As commanding general in Afghanistan, McChrystal has no business making such public pronouncements. Under law, he doesn't have the right to attend the National Security Council as it decides our strategy. To the contrary, the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986 explicitly names the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the National Security Council's exclusive military adviser. If the president wanted McChrystal's advice, he was perfectly free to ask him to accompany Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, when the council held its first meeting on Afghanistan this week.

But Obama did not extend the invitation, even though McChrystal was leaving Kabul and could have gone to Washington easily. Instead, Obama asked the general to report to the council via a brief teleconference." Bruce Ackerman

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will make a prediction.  If McChrystal does not learn to subordinate himself to something other than his vision of what is right and true, he is going to get fired.

MacArthur was a lot smarter man than McChrystal and yet he suffered the ignominy of relief for cause even though he had not "gone public" against national policy.  There should be a lesson in that.

IQ2 Debate Broadcast Schedule

The AfPak debate will be airing on Bloomberg on the following days:

 

October 14,15,16 at 9pm  (EDT)

Sat October 17 at 8am, 2pm, 7pm, 11pm

Sun October 18 at 2am, 7am, 5pm

 

pl

Not their kind of town, Chicago!

"In making his pitch, the president had said that a nation shaped by the people of the world "wants a chance to inspire it once more." Never before had a U.S. president made such an in-person appeal, and Obama's critics will doubtlessly see the vote as a sign of his political shortcomings.

"I urge you to choose Chicago," Obama told members of the International Olympics Committee, many of whom he later mingled with as some snapped photos of him on their cell phones.

"And if you do — if we walk this path together — then I promise you this: The city of Chicago and the United States of America will make the world proud," the president said." Yahoonews.

--------------------------------------------------------------

$50 million dollars in costs sunk seeking the games and a great deal of private money to be made if they had the games.  Those were the stakes.  For that possible gain, the prestige of an already diminished president was wagered, and lost.

What we have learned from this is that the president is not his own man.  His first inclination was to send his wife to appeal for the prize.  That would have been wise.

Now we know that the Chicago money that drove his campaign is still very much in the driver's seat.

That is bad news.  pl

Wikipedia as a tool of political warfare

I would draw your attention to the continued propaganda attacks on the article on me.  Push the "history" button at the top of the page. pl

 

"Who's Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?" Giraldi

"GIRALDI: And Grossman received money as a result. In one case, you said that a State Department colleague went to pick up a bag of money…

EDMONDS: $14,000

GIRALDI: What kind of information was Grossman giving to foreign countries? Did he give assistance to foreign individuals penetrating U.S. government labs and defense installations as has been reported? It’s also been reported that he was the conduit to a group of congressmen who become, in a sense, the targets to be recruited as “agents of influence.”

EDMONDS: Yes, that’s correct. Grossman assisted his Turkish and Israeli contacts directly, and he also facilitated access to members of Congress who might be inclined to help for reasons of their own or could be bribed into cooperation. The top person obtaining classified information was Congressman Tom Lantos. A Lantos associate, Alan Makovsky worked very closely with Dr. Sabri Sayari in Georgetown University, who is widely believed to be a Turkish spy. Lantos would give Makovsky highly classified policy-related documents obtained during defense briefings for passage to Israel because Makovsky was also working for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

GIRALDI: Makovsky is now working for the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy, a pro-Israeli think tank."  Giraldi

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

A remarkable interview.  Giraldi is a very respected retired CIA field man.

What emerges from the article is a picture of the Washington of the "K Street Project," the revolving door, consultants sold out to foreign governments, foreign national intelligence agencies doing their duty in seeking to learn American government secrets, foreign connected lobbies working hard to suborn the US Congress.  Hanging over the whole thing is a miasma of endless, meaningless, boring symposia, conferences, power lunches, etc.  I think it was probably ever thus.

I am disappointed to think that Scowcroft is really like this.

I always wondered what lay behind Grossman's supercilious arrogance.  There usually is something, something.  pl

Download The American Conservative -- Who’s Afraid of Sibel Edmonds