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Friday, May 14, 2004

Human Intelligence and The New York Times 
The New York Times has absolutely lost it.
Here are some of their helpful "suggestions" for fixing the Abu Ghraib problem:

1. Order Mr. Rumsfeld to get military intelligence personnel out of the business of overseeing the detention and interrogation of Iraqi prisoners; an overwhelming majority of the prisoners have no intelligence value.

Hey, New York Times--don't make me slap you. If military intelligence personnel don't interrogate Iraqi prisoners, then who will? Oh, maybe generator mechanics will do a better job.

Except as soon as they are given responsibility for collecting HUMINT, they will by definition become military intelligence personnel. Except without the training. You want to see abuses? REAL abuses? Then pull the trained interrogators out of the process.

It is flatly stunning to me, so soon after the 9/11 hearings, to see the New York Times actually advocating that military intelligence STOP exploiting detainees for Human Intelligence.

That is just off the wall stupid.

But wait, there's more.

2. Ban private contractors from American military prisons.

Hey, dumbasses...where do you think our linguists come from? Most of them come from the Triton Corporation. Others are contracted locally by local commanders.

You want to see real abuses?? Let's start by removing the very people who allow us to communicate with the detainees. And who allow them to communicate with us. Yeah. That will help humanize them.


Take all of the available trained military prison guards and send them to Iraq to relieve the exhausted troops who are doing work for which they were never prepared.

I'm having a V-8 moment here. Gee. We never thought of that. Rotating people home!

As if we have a whole Brigade's worth of "trained military prison guards."
And if we send them all, then who's going to run the military prisons?

And where do they think trained military prison guards come from?

Here's a hint: They're MP units, too, with the same MOS training and the same field manuals and ARTEP manuals as the 372nd Military Police Company in Baghdad.

But the New York Times, who apparently recruits its editorial staff out of a Quaker village in upstate New York, doesn't have the specific knowledge of military affairs to even realize how stupid they make themselves sound.

Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld should also stop trying to dump the blame on the shoulders of America's enlisted men and women. The entire chain of command in Iraq must be part of the investigation.

Duh. That's why the platoon leader, company commander, and a general officer have all already been thumped, and may yet face more charges.

There is a problem with intelligence, alright. It's the shortage of it at the New York Times.

Splash, out

Jason

P.S. Cori Dauber has some similar objections, too.


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