Quotes...don't you just love them? With a quote, you can simply offer up another person's thoughts and you take no blame if it isn't well received! They said it...not you. You're just an intermediary. Here is a quote I received just a minute ago from a friend. Now remember, I didn't say it...
"...when a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental -- men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost. All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre -- the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956) writing in the Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Monday, November 29, 2004
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
More about Dr. Paul
What I found out about Dr. Paul was interesting and now I wonder why I hadn’t looked up his website before…I’ve seen his name posted here and there, but I had never read anything by him before. Or maybe I have and simply forgot it. Hey! I’m 64 and I can’t be expected to remember everything!
Here is a link to his website and a selection of short articles. I can tell you that I agree with a lot of what he writes and I also disagree with some key points of his. He is anti-tax and I am pro-tax.
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/welcome.htm
I believe that we, a people, a nation, a world, have an obligation to each other. God put us here to care for one another. (Obviously we don’t do that very well.) I want to pay taxes to help care for each of us. But what I don’t want is for someone, someone I should trust, to use my tax moneys for purposes other than the public good.
In short; Dr. Paul believes in a direct approach; remove the money from the grasp of the crooks. This view hurts more than it helps. I want to remove the crooks from the money. This view is less effective, but it doesn’t hurt the innocent as much as the former view does.
Here is a link to his website and a selection of short articles. I can tell you that I agree with a lot of what he writes and I also disagree with some key points of his. He is anti-tax and I am pro-tax.
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/welcome.htm
I believe that we, a people, a nation, a world, have an obligation to each other. God put us here to care for one another. (Obviously we don’t do that very well.) I want to pay taxes to help care for each of us. But what I don’t want is for someone, someone I should trust, to use my tax moneys for purposes other than the public good.
In short; Dr. Paul believes in a direct approach; remove the money from the grasp of the crooks. This view hurts more than it helps. I want to remove the crooks from the money. This view is less effective, but it doesn’t hurt the innocent as much as the former view does.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
The Bush-DeLay-Indian Casinos Trail of Mirrors Campaign Money Laundering Operation
The Bush-DeLay-Indian Casinos Trail of Mirrors Campaign Money Laundering Operation
I was watching NOW on PBS last night and they had a good show on this subject. Of course it's timely, as "the Hammer" is in some small amount of trouble these days. And this story illustrates what kind of people DeLay and Bush associate themselves with...
I guess it's too much to ask a politician to stop being a politician and become more "presidential". The last time that happened, the president in question was also named George W... as in Washington. And he was successful.
I was watching NOW on PBS last night and they had a good show on this subject. Of course it's timely, as "the Hammer" is in some small amount of trouble these days. And this story illustrates what kind of people DeLay and Bush associate themselves with...
I guess it's too much to ask a politician to stop being a politician and become more "presidential". The last time that happened, the president in question was also named George W... as in Washington. And he was successful.
Afghanistan
Economist.com | Afghanistan
And some more...all worth reading if you wish to be informed about the situation in Afghanistan.
And some more...all worth reading if you wish to be informed about the situation in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan
Economist.com | Afghanistan
A good story...complete with details of how the world community has failed in it's obligations to Afghanistan.
A good story...complete with details of how the world community has failed in it's obligations to Afghanistan.
Friday, November 19, 2004
F.D.A. Failing in Drug Safety
The New York Times > Business > F.D.A. Failing in Drug Safety, Official Asserts
Boy! That is hard to believe...a government agency that has failed us. (Somebody should warn the Canadians and the Mexicans)
Boy! That is hard to believe...a government agency that has failed us. (Somebody should warn the Canadians and the Mexicans)
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Life on the farm II
Yahoo! News - Afghan Opium Cultivation Reaches Record High-UN
Absolutely amazing! Isn't democracy a wonderful thing? At the cost of many lives and many millions of dollars, we have restored the agricultural economy that feeds this nation. (I wonder who buys all that heroin?)
Mission accomplished...for sure.
Absolutely amazing! Isn't democracy a wonderful thing? At the cost of many lives and many millions of dollars, we have restored the agricultural economy that feeds this nation. (I wonder who buys all that heroin?)
Mission accomplished...for sure.
The battle looms
Another day has begun and I have read the early news...that's probably not a good thing to do.
The first thing I noted was a press release from the new "owner" of the combined Sears/Kmart operation, Edward S. Lampert. He vowed to have "a very low cost structure to compete effectively" What could that mean? He's going to take a cut in pay?
With Wal-Mart driving both economies, China's and the U.S.'s, I don't know how he expects to compete unless he goes to the battleground...and that is China.
On another note; according to Secretary of State Colin Powell, the United States has some intelligence indicating Iran is trying to fit missiles to carry nuclear weapons. Powell said there is no evidence to suggest that Iran has developed the technology to make a nuclear weapon. Right! Although...Iran received a supply of enriched uranium from the former head of Pakistan's nuclear development. That's the same Pakistan that is currently one of our "trusted" allies in our war on terror.
And speaking of terrorism, those darn French are at it again, spreading rumors..."I am not at all sure that one can say the world is safer," Chirac said in a BBC interview. "There is no doubt that there has been an increase in terrorism."
Sometimes it just doesn't pay to wake up early.
The first thing I noted was a press release from the new "owner" of the combined Sears/Kmart operation, Edward S. Lampert. He vowed to have "a very low cost structure to compete effectively" What could that mean? He's going to take a cut in pay?
With Wal-Mart driving both economies, China's and the U.S.'s, I don't know how he expects to compete unless he goes to the battleground...and that is China.
On another note; according to Secretary of State Colin Powell, the United States has some intelligence indicating Iran is trying to fit missiles to carry nuclear weapons. Powell said there is no evidence to suggest that Iran has developed the technology to make a nuclear weapon. Right! Although...Iran received a supply of enriched uranium from the former head of Pakistan's nuclear development. That's the same Pakistan that is currently one of our "trusted" allies in our war on terror.
And speaking of terrorism, those darn French are at it again, spreading rumors..."I am not at all sure that one can say the world is safer," Chirac said in a BBC interview. "There is no doubt that there has been an increase in terrorism."
Sometimes it just doesn't pay to wake up early.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Truth be told
Just more of what we can expect to see as the Bush administration gives a new meaning to the word, "truth".
Nov. 16 - Porter J. Goss, the new intelligence chief, has told Central Intelligence Agency employees that their job is to "support the administration and its policies in our work,'' a copy of an internal memorandum shows.
What is wrong with this picture? Just the fact that the CIA is supposed to work for the American people and not the current administration...
Nov. 16 - Porter J. Goss, the new intelligence chief, has told Central Intelligence Agency employees that their job is to "support the administration and its policies in our work,'' a copy of an internal memorandum shows.
What is wrong with this picture? Just the fact that the CIA is supposed to work for the American people and not the current administration...
Headlines
Headlines for today…
CHICAGO - The discount retailer Kmart Holding Corp. is combining with one of the most venerable names in U.S. retailing, Sears, Roebuck & Co., in an $11 billion deal that will create the nation's third largest retailer. And that means what, to you and I?
It means our trade deficit with China will grow even larger and more jobs will be lost in our country. I can say that after watching Frontline last night and their special “Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” Sears will now aggressively pursue Wal-Mart and that means an increase in Sears’s purchases of Chinese goods as well as an increase in Wal-Mart’s, as they strive to maintain their lead.
If you didn’t see Frontline last night, you should visit the website and read some of the articles there.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/
As one economist said, “you can’t have the lowest prices without paying the lowest wages…” Seems elementary to me…
CHICAGO - The discount retailer Kmart Holding Corp. is combining with one of the most venerable names in U.S. retailing, Sears, Roebuck & Co., in an $11 billion deal that will create the nation's third largest retailer. And that means what, to you and I?
It means our trade deficit with China will grow even larger and more jobs will be lost in our country. I can say that after watching Frontline last night and their special “Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” Sears will now aggressively pursue Wal-Mart and that means an increase in Sears’s purchases of Chinese goods as well as an increase in Wal-Mart’s, as they strive to maintain their lead.
If you didn’t see Frontline last night, you should visit the website and read some of the articles there.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/
As one economist said, “you can’t have the lowest prices without paying the lowest wages…” Seems elementary to me…
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
More Fall
It has been a bad week. Although it coincided with the election and the dismal results, my severe cold was not political in any way. I think the worst is over now...(physically - certainly not politically)
And speaking of politics...I read the other day that C. Powell has resigned his position as Secretary of State. That will allow him to retire and enjoy the millions that son Michael so graciously arranged for him. Back in 2002, When AOL and TimeWarner were seeking FCC approval for a merger, Michael did not recuse himself from voting, insisting that there was only a "fuzzy" connection btween himself and AOL. That "fuzzy" connection was his father's seat on the board of AOL and his father's options on $13 plus million in AOL stock. "If I let people lightly connect us, where I know there is no connection, I might as well get out of government," said Michael. Oddly enough, Michael voted for the merger.
Now that I'm ambulatory, I will be busy this week with the chore of burning leaves. It is simply amazing how many leaves have fallen. And continue to fall...I posted a photo of our front yard a few weeks ago and now I will post one taken last week.
And speaking of politics...I read the other day that C. Powell has resigned his position as Secretary of State. That will allow him to retire and enjoy the millions that son Michael so graciously arranged for him. Back in 2002, When AOL and TimeWarner were seeking FCC approval for a merger, Michael did not recuse himself from voting, insisting that there was only a "fuzzy" connection btween himself and AOL. That "fuzzy" connection was his father's seat on the board of AOL and his father's options on $13 plus million in AOL stock. "If I let people lightly connect us, where I know there is no connection, I might as well get out of government," said Michael. Oddly enough, Michael voted for the merger.
Now that I'm ambulatory, I will be busy this week with the chore of burning leaves. It is simply amazing how many leaves have fallen. And continue to fall...I posted a photo of our front yard a few weeks ago and now I will post one taken last week.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
.jpg)
Love/hate
Lately, I have had a love/hate relationship with Dell’s customer service. I love the fact that they act very fast when shipping an item to you and they never quibble about the cost of a replacement part. And I hate the fact that I have to try so very hard to understand the people who staff their Help Desk. These are very bright people and I have often been surprised at the depth of knowledge they have about all of the Dell products. But we don’t speak the same language. They are located somewhere in Bangalore, India and have been trained to understand American idiom, but we, the customers, have had no training in how to understand them.
So it was with great anxiety that I approached the task of securing a new hard drive for Laurae’s laptop. It was still under warranty so I knew that I wouldn’t have to argue about the replacement cost, but I was still faced with the fact that I would have to endure a few hours of phone time with someone who was going to try my patience.
Then I remembered that with Dell, you could bypass the phone lines. They offer e-mail technical service. A software program “reads” your e-mail and determines what it thinks is your problem. If you agree, a technician is assigned to your case and the e-mails begin to flow. It took about 12 hours, but part of that was because I go to bed at 10 and the technician was having his first cup of coffee in the morning, somewhere in India. The best part is the fact that the language/idiom barrier was gone. We typed away with never a thought of not being understood.
OK. I have a new hard drive coming and when it arrives, that is when the real work begins. I will have to re-install all of those Microsoft programs with their complex “key” codes. And then I will have to explain to Microsoft that I’m just re-installing, not stealing. What a chore!
By the way; I did have a backup of sorts. I had copied all of Laurae’s documents to our shared Iomega drive…so she only lost about a weeks worth of documents. Not many at all. But, in the future I will mirror her drive onto an Iomega drive of her own.
So it was with great anxiety that I approached the task of securing a new hard drive for Laurae’s laptop. It was still under warranty so I knew that I wouldn’t have to argue about the replacement cost, but I was still faced with the fact that I would have to endure a few hours of phone time with someone who was going to try my patience.
Then I remembered that with Dell, you could bypass the phone lines. They offer e-mail technical service. A software program “reads” your e-mail and determines what it thinks is your problem. If you agree, a technician is assigned to your case and the e-mails begin to flow. It took about 12 hours, but part of that was because I go to bed at 10 and the technician was having his first cup of coffee in the morning, somewhere in India. The best part is the fact that the language/idiom barrier was gone. We typed away with never a thought of not being understood.
OK. I have a new hard drive coming and when it arrives, that is when the real work begins. I will have to re-install all of those Microsoft programs with their complex “key” codes. And then I will have to explain to Microsoft that I’m just re-installing, not stealing. What a chore!
By the way; I did have a backup of sorts. I had copied all of Laurae’s documents to our shared Iomega drive…so she only lost about a weeks worth of documents. Not many at all. But, in the future I will mirror her drive onto an Iomega drive of her own.
There, don't you feel better now?
"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." JOHN ASHCROFT, the attorney general, in his resignation letter.
No, I didn't make that up...he really said it.
No, I didn't make that up...he really said it.
Monday, November 8, 2004
Bang
The other night, at our Bible study, I mentioned that reading the book, The Elegant Universe, had strengthened my faith. The book is definitely a secular book, with only a brief mention of God. But I would challenge you to read it and not come to the same conclusion that I did; that only God could have made such a fascinating universe.
Here is a link to the PBS website for more information.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/
Here is a link to the PBS website for more information.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/
Survey says...
I ran across an interesting website this morning. It’s the Program on International Policy Attitudes. http://www.pipa.org/ A brief mission statement follows…The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) carries out research on public opinion on foreign policy and international issues by conducting nationwide polls, focus groups and comprehensive reviews of polling conducted by other organizations.
PIPA is, apparently, a joint project of COPA, (Center On Policy Attitudes http://www.policyattitudes.org/) and the University of Maryland. If you’re at all interested in how the researchers have sliced and diced us, take a look at these websites.
Unfortunately, the latest information on these websites seems to be dated in late October...I will be back in a few weeks to see what they have added.
PIPA is, apparently, a joint project of COPA, (Center On Policy Attitudes http://www.policyattitudes.org/) and the University of Maryland. If you’re at all interested in how the researchers have sliced and diced us, take a look at these websites.
Unfortunately, the latest information on these websites seems to be dated in late October...I will be back in a few weeks to see what they have added.
Saturday, November 6, 2004
Something different
Saturday morning and I am sick…I don’t know what it is, a bad cold or the flu. The symptoms started appearing on Thursday night and I hoped that it was just temporary, but by Friday afternoon I had no doubts. Hmm? I wonder if pomegranate molasses will cure a cold?
I just went to get the paper, even before I had my first cup of coffee. The sky was a magnificent color and I wished that I had brought my camera along to capture the beauty of the morning.
No problem. I slipped a memory card into the camera and went back outside to see if the sky was that same blue/silver as it was a few moments ago. Of course it had changed, but I shot anyway and it didn’t turn out too bad.
It looks like it will be a beautiful day and I’m stuck at home with this bad cold. We have 3 possible soccer games this morning and afternoon and I won’t be able to attend any of them. In fact, I would guess that everyone is awake in the Kelly house right now as Meghan has a game at 8:30.
I suppose you can’t help but notice the fact that my blogs are a little more temperate these days…No, I haven’t changed my mind, I have changed my style. I think a more reasoned approach to all things political is called for. Whenever I post on something political I will just bring you the facts and you can do your own investigating. For instance…please consider this piece from the Atlantic Monthly.
Verbatim
During the recent Senate confirmation hearings for Porter J. Goss, the new CIA director, Senator Dianne Feinstein read a provocative paragraph from a letter that had been sent to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The gist of the letter was that key pre-9/11 intelligence failings were the result not primarily of budgetary, structural, or organizational problems (as suggested by the official 9/11 Commission Report) but, rather, of bad decisions by individuals—"unelected, unaccountable officials who made an art of outlasting their elected superiors." What made the letter particularly notable was its author: a twenty-two-year CIA veteran named Michael Scheuer—now better known as Anonymous, the author of the books Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror (2004) and Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America (2002)—who headed the Agency's bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999.
The full text of the letter, which for the first time lays out ten crucial and specific failures by the intelligence community in the run-up to 9/11, has never appeared in print. The Atlantic has acquired a copy, key sections of which are reproduced below.
TO: THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE ...
I will briefly summarize ten instances since 1996, picked from dozens of others to protect classified data, in which the decisions of senior Intelligence Community bureaucrats—not legal "walls", organizational structure, or inadequate budgets—have been at the core of our failure against Bin Laden. All of the following information has been passed in testimony, in documents, or in both by myself and other CIA officers to one or more of the four panels investigating the 11 September attacks: two internal CIA investigations, the congress's Joint Commission, and the Kean Commission. None of these panels, to my knowledge, have yet focused on the reality that, while the 11 September attacks probably were unstoppable, it was decisions by human beings—featuring arrogance, bad judgment, disdain for expertise, and bureaucratic cowardice—that made sure the Intelligence Community did not operate optimally to defend America.
1. Mid-to-Late 1996: CIA's Bin Laden unit acquired detailed information about the careful, professional manner in which al-Qaeda was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons ... there could be no doubt after this date that al-Qaeda was in deadly earnest in seeking nuclear weapons. The report was initially suppressed within CIA, and then published in a drastically shortened form. Three officers of the Agency's Bin Laden cadre protested this decision in writing, and forced an internal review. It was only after this review that this report was provided in full to Community leaders, analysts, and policymakers ...
2. December 1996: From a CIA officer detailed to another Intelligence Community (IC) agency and serving overseas, the Bin Laden unit learned of the availability of a communications conduit used by Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. The other IC agency refused to exploit the conduit and threatened legal action against the Agency officer who advised of its existence. This officer bravely continued to supply the information; and I asked senior Agency officers to intervene with the other IC agency. There ensued a desultory interagency discussion without resolution. The CIA was forced to devise its own ability to exploit the communications conduit and secured about half of the available material. The other IC agency was able to secure the other half, but refused to share it. This capability was later lost because of an August 1998 leak to the media by the U.S. military.
3. December 1996-June 1999: The CIA's Bin Laden unit repeatedly and formally requested assistance from the U.S. military to help plan operations against Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. We needed and asked for special operations officers. After pressing for eighteen months, we were sent two non-special operations individuals who had experience only on Iran. The Bin Laden unit received no support from senior Agency officials vis-Ã -vis the U.S. military.
4. February 1996-May 1998: The Bin Laden unit and several other senior CIA officers requested transcripts rather than summaries of electronic collection against al-Qaeda ... [V]erbatim transcripts are operationally useful, summaries are much less so, and they are usually not timely. The answer to these requests in every case was no. At one point the senior operations officer for an Intelligence Community component said that the National Security Act of 1947 gave her agency control of "raw" signals intelligence, and that she would not pass such material to CIA.
5. August-September 1997: For most of a year the Bin Laden unit prepared for an operation in a foreign city that was set to come to fruition in late-summer 1997. The unit's lead U.S.-based officer on this operation was an extraordinarily able analyst from another IC component; she knew the issue cold. Days before the operation occurred the IC component ordered her back to its headquarters. She protested, but was told that she would not be promoted if she balked at returning. I protested to my superiors and to the three most senior officers of the IC component who were then in charge of terrorism. All refused to intervene. The operation was much less well exploited because of the loss of this officer. A year later, al-Qaeda destroyed U.S. facilities in the area near the foreign city of the under-exploited operation.
6. April-May 1998: The Agency's Bin Laden unit was ordered disbanded and reduced to a small branch. This was done, so far as I know, without the knowledge of the DCI [Director of Central Intelligence] ... When DCI found out about this plan, he intervened in mid-May 1998. By doing so, the DCI preserved the unit and dodged the bullet of having to explain to the American people why the Agency thought Bin Laden was so little of a threat that it had destroyed the Bin Laden unit weeks before two U.S. embassies were demolished. Needless to say, the on-again, off-again signals about the unit's future status made for confusion, distraction, and much job-hunting in the last few weeks before al-Qaeda's August 1998 attacks in East Africa.
7. May 1998-May 1999: The CIA officers working Bin Laden at Headquarters and in the field gave the U.S. government about ten chances to capture Bin Laden or kill him with military means. In all instances, the decision was made that the "intelligence was not good enough." This assertion cannot be debated publicly without compromising sources and methods. What can be said, however, is that in all these cases there was more concern expressed by senior bureaucrats and policymakers about how international opinion would react to a U.S. action than there was concern about what might happen to Americans if they failed to act. Indeed, on one occasion these senior leaders decided it was more important to avoid hitting a structure near Bin Laden's location with shrapnel, than it was to protect Americans. Two other points: the truth has not been fully told about the chance to militarily attack Bin Laden at a desert hunting camp being used by wealthy Gulf royals; and our best chance to capture Bin Laden—an operation which showed no U.S. hand, risked no U.S. lives, and was endorsed by senior commanders of the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg—was cancelled because senior officials from the Agency, the Executive Branch, and other Intelligence Community components decided to accept assurances from an Islamic country that it could acquire Bin Laden from the Taleban. U.S. officials accepted these assurances despite the well-documented record of that country withholding help—indeed, it was a record of deceit and obstruction—regarding all issues pertaining to Bin Laden between December 1996 and May 1998. The makers of this decision ignored the extensive documentary record that showed nothing but uncooperativeness from this Islamic country.
8. August 1998: After the bombing of two U.S.-based embassies in East Africa, the senior CIA managers asked what the Bin Laden unit needed most to enhance the attack against al-Qaeda. I again raised our dire need for verbatim reports derived from electronic collection. These senior managers ordered this to be arranged. After receiving less than a dozen such transcripts the process stopped. Despite repeated requests, I failed to get the flow of data restored. Also, tragically, no member of the Bin Laden unit was asked to testify before the State Department's accountability boards for the 1998 embassy bombings. This exclusion ensured that the systemic problems embedded in the Intelligence Community—which had become overwhelmingly clear before the 1998 al-Qaeda attacks—were not raised before the only pre-9/11 panel that might have been able to initiate remedial action.
9. June 1999: On moving to a new position, I forwarded a long memorandum to the Agency's senior-most officers—some are still serving—describing an array of fixable problems that were plaguing America's attack on Bin Laden, ones that the Bin Laden unit had encountered but failed to remedy between and among Intelligence Community components ... The problems outlined in the memorandum stood in the way of attacking Bin Laden to the most effective extent possible; many remain today. Insufficient or no support from other Intelligence Community components were highlighted in the memo, as were the issues of the grossly insufficient number of experienced officers assigned to the Bin Laden unit and the at best mediocre performance of our intelligence allies—especially in Western Europe—in supporting U.S. efforts against Bin Laden. I never received a response to this memorandum.
10. September 2004: In the CIA's core, U.S.-based Bin Laden operational unit today there are fewer Directorate of Operations officers with substantive expertise on al-Qaeda than there were on 11 September 2001. There has been no systematic effort to groom al-Qaeda expertise among Directorate of Operations officers since 11 September ... The excellent management team now running operations against al-Qaeda has made repeated, detailed, and on-paper pleas for more officers to work against the al-Qaeda—and have done so for years, not weeks or months—but have been ignored ...
The deaths of three thousand Americans—and the many more destined to die at Bin Laden's hands—may well be attributable to the type of decisions noted above, the refusal of senior bureaucrats to listen to their subordinates, and, most of all, the unwillingness of senior leaders across the Intelligence Community to remedy fixable problems if it meant making decisions that disturbed the bureaucratic status quo, telling the truth about organizational and operational problems to the congressional oversight committees, or alarming political leaders who might ask the Community to take risks in defense of America ...
The pattern of decision-making I have witnessed ... seems to indicate a want of moral courage, an overwhelming concern for career advancement, or an abject inability to distinguish right from wrong. Before the Kean Commission's recommendations are implemented, and a vastly expensive and disruptive scheme is undertaken to overhaul an Intelligence Community weaker today than on 11 September 2001, it is worth reviewing the testimonies and documents the commissioners and the other 11 September panels have in hand, and reassessing where primary responsibility lies. Is it really small budgets, poor organization, and legal hurdles that stopped the Community from dealing with Bin Laden to the best of its ability? Or is it the results of decisions by human beings who refuse to do either what is in their power and patently necessary, or that which is asked for by their elected chiefs in Congress and the Executive ...
The URL for this document is… http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200412/anonymous.
I just went to get the paper, even before I had my first cup of coffee. The sky was a magnificent color and I wished that I had brought my camera along to capture the beauty of the morning.
No problem. I slipped a memory card into the camera and went back outside to see if the sky was that same blue/silver as it was a few moments ago. Of course it had changed, but I shot anyway and it didn’t turn out too bad.
It looks like it will be a beautiful day and I’m stuck at home with this bad cold. We have 3 possible soccer games this morning and afternoon and I won’t be able to attend any of them. In fact, I would guess that everyone is awake in the Kelly house right now as Meghan has a game at 8:30.
I suppose you can’t help but notice the fact that my blogs are a little more temperate these days…No, I haven’t changed my mind, I have changed my style. I think a more reasoned approach to all things political is called for. Whenever I post on something political I will just bring you the facts and you can do your own investigating. For instance…please consider this piece from the Atlantic Monthly.
Verbatim
How Not to Catch a Terrorist A ten-step program, from the files of the U.S. intelligence community
by Anonymous
.....
by Anonymous
.....
During the recent Senate confirmation hearings for Porter J. Goss, the new CIA director, Senator Dianne Feinstein read a provocative paragraph from a letter that had been sent to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The gist of the letter was that key pre-9/11 intelligence failings were the result not primarily of budgetary, structural, or organizational problems (as suggested by the official 9/11 Commission Report) but, rather, of bad decisions by individuals—"unelected, unaccountable officials who made an art of outlasting their elected superiors." What made the letter particularly notable was its author: a twenty-two-year CIA veteran named Michael Scheuer—now better known as Anonymous, the author of the books Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror (2004) and Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America (2002)—who headed the Agency's bin Laden unit from 1996 to 1999.
The full text of the letter, which for the first time lays out ten crucial and specific failures by the intelligence community in the run-up to 9/11, has never appeared in print. The Atlantic has acquired a copy, key sections of which are reproduced below.
TO: THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE ...
I will briefly summarize ten instances since 1996, picked from dozens of others to protect classified data, in which the decisions of senior Intelligence Community bureaucrats—not legal "walls", organizational structure, or inadequate budgets—have been at the core of our failure against Bin Laden. All of the following information has been passed in testimony, in documents, or in both by myself and other CIA officers to one or more of the four panels investigating the 11 September attacks: two internal CIA investigations, the congress's Joint Commission, and the Kean Commission. None of these panels, to my knowledge, have yet focused on the reality that, while the 11 September attacks probably were unstoppable, it was decisions by human beings—featuring arrogance, bad judgment, disdain for expertise, and bureaucratic cowardice—that made sure the Intelligence Community did not operate optimally to defend America.
1. Mid-to-Late 1996: CIA's Bin Laden unit acquired detailed information about the careful, professional manner in which al-Qaeda was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons ... there could be no doubt after this date that al-Qaeda was in deadly earnest in seeking nuclear weapons. The report was initially suppressed within CIA, and then published in a drastically shortened form. Three officers of the Agency's Bin Laden cadre protested this decision in writing, and forced an internal review. It was only after this review that this report was provided in full to Community leaders, analysts, and policymakers ...
2. December 1996: From a CIA officer detailed to another Intelligence Community (IC) agency and serving overseas, the Bin Laden unit learned of the availability of a communications conduit used by Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. The other IC agency refused to exploit the conduit and threatened legal action against the Agency officer who advised of its existence. This officer bravely continued to supply the information; and I asked senior Agency officers to intervene with the other IC agency. There ensued a desultory interagency discussion without resolution. The CIA was forced to devise its own ability to exploit the communications conduit and secured about half of the available material. The other IC agency was able to secure the other half, but refused to share it. This capability was later lost because of an August 1998 leak to the media by the U.S. military.
3. December 1996-June 1999: The CIA's Bin Laden unit repeatedly and formally requested assistance from the U.S. military to help plan operations against Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. We needed and asked for special operations officers. After pressing for eighteen months, we were sent two non-special operations individuals who had experience only on Iran. The Bin Laden unit received no support from senior Agency officials vis-Ã -vis the U.S. military.
4. February 1996-May 1998: The Bin Laden unit and several other senior CIA officers requested transcripts rather than summaries of electronic collection against al-Qaeda ... [V]erbatim transcripts are operationally useful, summaries are much less so, and they are usually not timely. The answer to these requests in every case was no. At one point the senior operations officer for an Intelligence Community component said that the National Security Act of 1947 gave her agency control of "raw" signals intelligence, and that she would not pass such material to CIA.
5. August-September 1997: For most of a year the Bin Laden unit prepared for an operation in a foreign city that was set to come to fruition in late-summer 1997. The unit's lead U.S.-based officer on this operation was an extraordinarily able analyst from another IC component; she knew the issue cold. Days before the operation occurred the IC component ordered her back to its headquarters. She protested, but was told that she would not be promoted if she balked at returning. I protested to my superiors and to the three most senior officers of the IC component who were then in charge of terrorism. All refused to intervene. The operation was much less well exploited because of the loss of this officer. A year later, al-Qaeda destroyed U.S. facilities in the area near the foreign city of the under-exploited operation.
6. April-May 1998: The Agency's Bin Laden unit was ordered disbanded and reduced to a small branch. This was done, so far as I know, without the knowledge of the DCI [Director of Central Intelligence] ... When DCI found out about this plan, he intervened in mid-May 1998. By doing so, the DCI preserved the unit and dodged the bullet of having to explain to the American people why the Agency thought Bin Laden was so little of a threat that it had destroyed the Bin Laden unit weeks before two U.S. embassies were demolished. Needless to say, the on-again, off-again signals about the unit's future status made for confusion, distraction, and much job-hunting in the last few weeks before al-Qaeda's August 1998 attacks in East Africa.
7. May 1998-May 1999: The CIA officers working Bin Laden at Headquarters and in the field gave the U.S. government about ten chances to capture Bin Laden or kill him with military means. In all instances, the decision was made that the "intelligence was not good enough." This assertion cannot be debated publicly without compromising sources and methods. What can be said, however, is that in all these cases there was more concern expressed by senior bureaucrats and policymakers about how international opinion would react to a U.S. action than there was concern about what might happen to Americans if they failed to act. Indeed, on one occasion these senior leaders decided it was more important to avoid hitting a structure near Bin Laden's location with shrapnel, than it was to protect Americans. Two other points: the truth has not been fully told about the chance to militarily attack Bin Laden at a desert hunting camp being used by wealthy Gulf royals; and our best chance to capture Bin Laden—an operation which showed no U.S. hand, risked no U.S. lives, and was endorsed by senior commanders of the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg—was cancelled because senior officials from the Agency, the Executive Branch, and other Intelligence Community components decided to accept assurances from an Islamic country that it could acquire Bin Laden from the Taleban. U.S. officials accepted these assurances despite the well-documented record of that country withholding help—indeed, it was a record of deceit and obstruction—regarding all issues pertaining to Bin Laden between December 1996 and May 1998. The makers of this decision ignored the extensive documentary record that showed nothing but uncooperativeness from this Islamic country.
8. August 1998: After the bombing of two U.S.-based embassies in East Africa, the senior CIA managers asked what the Bin Laden unit needed most to enhance the attack against al-Qaeda. I again raised our dire need for verbatim reports derived from electronic collection. These senior managers ordered this to be arranged. After receiving less than a dozen such transcripts the process stopped. Despite repeated requests, I failed to get the flow of data restored. Also, tragically, no member of the Bin Laden unit was asked to testify before the State Department's accountability boards for the 1998 embassy bombings. This exclusion ensured that the systemic problems embedded in the Intelligence Community—which had become overwhelmingly clear before the 1998 al-Qaeda attacks—were not raised before the only pre-9/11 panel that might have been able to initiate remedial action.
9. June 1999: On moving to a new position, I forwarded a long memorandum to the Agency's senior-most officers—some are still serving—describing an array of fixable problems that were plaguing America's attack on Bin Laden, ones that the Bin Laden unit had encountered but failed to remedy between and among Intelligence Community components ... The problems outlined in the memorandum stood in the way of attacking Bin Laden to the most effective extent possible; many remain today. Insufficient or no support from other Intelligence Community components were highlighted in the memo, as were the issues of the grossly insufficient number of experienced officers assigned to the Bin Laden unit and the at best mediocre performance of our intelligence allies—especially in Western Europe—in supporting U.S. efforts against Bin Laden. I never received a response to this memorandum.
10. September 2004: In the CIA's core, U.S.-based Bin Laden operational unit today there are fewer Directorate of Operations officers with substantive expertise on al-Qaeda than there were on 11 September 2001. There has been no systematic effort to groom al-Qaeda expertise among Directorate of Operations officers since 11 September ... The excellent management team now running operations against al-Qaeda has made repeated, detailed, and on-paper pleas for more officers to work against the al-Qaeda—and have done so for years, not weeks or months—but have been ignored ...
The deaths of three thousand Americans—and the many more destined to die at Bin Laden's hands—may well be attributable to the type of decisions noted above, the refusal of senior bureaucrats to listen to their subordinates, and, most of all, the unwillingness of senior leaders across the Intelligence Community to remedy fixable problems if it meant making decisions that disturbed the bureaucratic status quo, telling the truth about organizational and operational problems to the congressional oversight committees, or alarming political leaders who might ask the Community to take risks in defense of America ...
The pattern of decision-making I have witnessed ... seems to indicate a want of moral courage, an overwhelming concern for career advancement, or an abject inability to distinguish right from wrong. Before the Kean Commission's recommendations are implemented, and a vastly expensive and disruptive scheme is undertaken to overhaul an Intelligence Community weaker today than on 11 September 2001, it is worth reviewing the testimonies and documents the commissioners and the other 11 September panels have in hand, and reassessing where primary responsibility lies. Is it really small budgets, poor organization, and legal hurdles that stopped the Community from dealing with Bin Laden to the best of its ability? Or is it the results of decisions by human beings who refuse to do either what is in their power and patently necessary, or that which is asked for by their elected chiefs in Congress and the Executive ...
The URL for this document is… http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200412/anonymous.
Friday, November 5, 2004
Success!
I need to finish painting the office/study…or I should say go back over some of my work. As I sit here, facing the south wall, and with the sunlight streaming across it, I can see all sorts of “holidays” in the color. Now I hope I have enough of that color left to make the necessary repairs.
(Later) I have the wall painted once more and now I need to wait till tomorrow morning so that the sun’s angle will reveal any flaws. And while I painting, I was also cooking up my first batch of pomegranate molasses. It’s a slow process of simmering the juice until it is reduced by about two thirds. Of course I imagined all of the possibilities if this stuff turns out to be as good as I hope it will be. First, I will have to begin bottling and labeling it. I would have a small business at first, selling a couple hundred bottles (4 oz) a year. Since the going price is $2.50 per bottle I would have to figure out a way to increase demand before increasing the bottle price. I could do that by sponsoring molasses tasting events; where judges could make learned comments about the bouquet and the finish.
And I better think of a new name for the product; molasses is not exactly what people think of as an exciting product. (“Slow as molasses” comes to mind.) The problem I see when looking for an exciting name is the fact that both molasses and pomegranate have far too many letters in their names. “Wine” and “Beer” are perfect names, only four letters each, which, undoubtedly accounts for their popularity. Maybe I should get my Scrabble game out and see what I can come up with?
And after a year of intensive PR work, with the right product name, I could see the beginnings of great new industry. Orchards filled with pomegranate trees would stretch to the horizon and a vast bottling plant would churn out thousands of $5 bottles every hour.
Day dreams; don't you love them?
(Later) I have the wall painted once more and now I need to wait till tomorrow morning so that the sun’s angle will reveal any flaws. And while I painting, I was also cooking up my first batch of pomegranate molasses. It’s a slow process of simmering the juice until it is reduced by about two thirds. Of course I imagined all of the possibilities if this stuff turns out to be as good as I hope it will be. First, I will have to begin bottling and labeling it. I would have a small business at first, selling a couple hundred bottles (4 oz) a year. Since the going price is $2.50 per bottle I would have to figure out a way to increase demand before increasing the bottle price. I could do that by sponsoring molasses tasting events; where judges could make learned comments about the bouquet and the finish.
And I better think of a new name for the product; molasses is not exactly what people think of as an exciting product. (“Slow as molasses” comes to mind.) The problem I see when looking for an exciting name is the fact that both molasses and pomegranate have far too many letters in their names. “Wine” and “Beer” are perfect names, only four letters each, which, undoubtedly accounts for their popularity. Maybe I should get my Scrabble game out and see what I can come up with?
And after a year of intensive PR work, with the right product name, I could see the beginnings of great new industry. Orchards filled with pomegranate trees would stretch to the horizon and a vast bottling plant would churn out thousands of $5 bottles every hour.
Day dreams; don't you love them?
A joyful noise!
Last night we attended the CSUC Gospel Choir event at the university. It was definitely all high energy and high volume music. We had arrived early so we had center seats and about halfway up…just right! The choir has about 50 members, so there weren’t very many quiet numbers. I would show you some pictures of the choir but the UC server is down this morning. But if you Google “csuc gospel choir” later in the day, you can see the information and you can also see the schedule of coming events at Chico State…They are able to attract some pretty good talent! And the prices aren’t bad at all. Especially as I use my Senior status whenever possible.
Fall
As you can see, fall is upon us. And so are the chores. Leaf raking is supposed to be good cardio-vascular exercise and so I should welcome this time of year...
Thursday, November 4, 2004
Produce
Are those persimmons beautiful or what?
I have spent the morning seeding pomegranates and cutting up persimmons. The persimmons will become jam and the pomegranate juice will become Pomegranate Molasses...something I just found on the net. Google it...
I have spent the morning seeding pomegranates and cutting up persimmons. The persimmons will become jam and the pomegranate juice will become Pomegranate Molasses...something I just found on the net. Google it...
Here we go again
It is obvious that *bush won the election and now he is making the same conciliatory noises that he did four years ago. And four years ago, as soon as he had finished that little speech, he quietly went about the task of destroying any good faith he might have won. I expect the same. He is the same person he was 4 years ago and he still has the same handlers.
Listening to a speech for your information is worse than useless. Don’t listen to the speeches…he doesn’t write them anyway. Read, read, and read some more and then watch what he does. It’s his actions that will tell the tale and you need to read all you can, both pro and con, if you want to stay informed about his agenda. I’m convinced that it is because the majority of the electorate never read or investigated the stories behind the speeches that we have him as president once again.
Listening to a speech for your information is worse than useless. Don’t listen to the speeches…he doesn’t write them anyway. Read, read, and read some more and then watch what he does. It’s his actions that will tell the tale and you need to read all you can, both pro and con, if you want to stay informed about his agenda. I’m convinced that it is because the majority of the electorate never read or investigated the stories behind the speeches that we have him as president once again.
Chances are...slim to none
I was unable to post anything at all yesterday due to heavy traffic...so here is what I had hoped to post.
I wish I could say that I was happy about this morning’s news, but I’m not. “WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush's campaign declared victory over Democratic Sen. John Kerry and claimed re-election to a second term in the White House on Wednesday, but Kerry refused to concede until all ballots were counted in Ohio.” What a shame; the sheep have spoken once again. As I watched the numbers and projections on television last night, it was as if I were watching someone commit suicide and being unable to do anything to stop them. The lies of the Karl Rove puppet show have worked once again and now the re-writing of history will begin. Just watch. Remember, this is the same man who ordered the sealing of all past and future presidential papers within the first 30 days he was in office. Something to hide?
The chances of Kerry being able to pull this off are so slim that I can’t even consider the possibility. I’m not a Democrat and Kerry wasn’t my first choice…my choice was running as a vice presidential candidate for another party. (Peter Camejo was my preference.) I realize that my choice of candidate will never win, but I had hoped that the Democrats could rise above themselves and select someone that could win. It’s certainly going to be a long 4 years ahead for us. But, now it’s time to move on and focus on something else for awhile. And what will that be? Politics have so consumed us that I find it difficult to think of anything else. Hmm? That doesn’t sound healthy! Maybe I will recreate myself as country chef, curmudgeon and pundit; complete with recipes and photos.
I wish I could say that I was happy about this morning’s news, but I’m not. “WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush's campaign declared victory over Democratic Sen. John Kerry and claimed re-election to a second term in the White House on Wednesday, but Kerry refused to concede until all ballots were counted in Ohio.” What a shame; the sheep have spoken once again. As I watched the numbers and projections on television last night, it was as if I were watching someone commit suicide and being unable to do anything to stop them. The lies of the Karl Rove puppet show have worked once again and now the re-writing of history will begin. Just watch. Remember, this is the same man who ordered the sealing of all past and future presidential papers within the first 30 days he was in office. Something to hide?
The chances of Kerry being able to pull this off are so slim that I can’t even consider the possibility. I’m not a Democrat and Kerry wasn’t my first choice…my choice was running as a vice presidential candidate for another party. (Peter Camejo was my preference.) I realize that my choice of candidate will never win, but I had hoped that the Democrats could rise above themselves and select someone that could win. It’s certainly going to be a long 4 years ahead for us. But, now it’s time to move on and focus on something else for awhile. And what will that be? Politics have so consumed us that I find it difficult to think of anything else. Hmm? That doesn’t sound healthy! Maybe I will recreate myself as country chef, curmudgeon and pundit; complete with recipes and photos.
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
As usual
It has started...and just as I predicted, the Republicans are behind the effort to turn away voters.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has allowed Republicans to challenge voter qualifications at the polls in Ohio, a key battleground state that could determine the presidential election. Stevens acted on an emergency request shortly before polls opened in Ohio and across the nation. He refused to set aside a U.S. appeals court order that allowed political parties to send challengers to polling places across the state. Republicans have been planning to make major use of the challengers in what they call an effort to combat "voter fraud", which is in truth, a very real effort to intimidate black voters.
John Paul Stevens...A Nixon/Ford Republican.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has allowed Republicans to challenge voter qualifications at the polls in Ohio, a key battleground state that could determine the presidential election. Stevens acted on an emergency request shortly before polls opened in Ohio and across the nation. He refused to set aside a U.S. appeals court order that allowed political parties to send challengers to polling places across the state. Republicans have been planning to make major use of the challengers in what they call an effort to combat "voter fraud", which is in truth, a very real effort to intimidate black voters.
John Paul Stevens...A Nixon/Ford Republican.
Tired
Since this is Tuesday, it must be Election Day and that means the fight has just begun. The Republicans will be doing anything they can, both legal and illegal to steal the election once again.
I must admit that I am not optimistic about the outcome of this election…no matter who wins. This election has become an Impeachment by the Populace. Shall George Bush be removed from office or not? It has very little to do with Kerry and lots to do with Bush. And whoever wins has a divided country to govern. (Not that it matters to George!)
If you, the undecided voter, want a country that will be safer, you need to vote against Bush. If you’re tired of lies and more lies, vote against Bush. If you want to stop the madness of more tax cuts for the very wealthy and all the bleeding of red ink in our national debt, vote against Bush. I could go on forever with a list of good reasons to vote against Bush...but I'm tired.
I must admit that I am not optimistic about the outcome of this election…no matter who wins. This election has become an Impeachment by the Populace. Shall George Bush be removed from office or not? It has very little to do with Kerry and lots to do with Bush. And whoever wins has a divided country to govern. (Not that it matters to George!)
If you, the undecided voter, want a country that will be safer, you need to vote against Bush. If you’re tired of lies and more lies, vote against Bush. If you want to stop the madness of more tax cuts for the very wealthy and all the bleeding of red ink in our national debt, vote against Bush. I could go on forever with a list of good reasons to vote against Bush...but I'm tired.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)