COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us

For those so inclined.

This study explores the nature of the insurgency in Afghanistan, the key challenges and successes of the U.S.-led counterinsurgency campaign, and the capabilities necessary to wage effective counterinsurgency operations. By examining the key lessons from all insurgencies since World War II, it finds that most policymakers repeatedly underestimate the importance of indigenous actors to counterinsurgency efforts. The U.S. should focus its resources on helping improve the capacity of the indigenous government and indigenous security forces to wage counterinsurgency. It has not always done this well. The U.S. military-along with U.S. civilian agencies and other coalition partners-is more likely to be successful in counterinsurgency warfare the more capable and legitimate the indigenous security forces (especially the police), the better the governance capacity of the local state, and the less external support that insurgents receive.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Afghanistan, infantry, Intelligence, Warfighting

A long-time reader writes in:

Several very disturbing things have happened in the last few days, the aggregate of which will be to either disembowel or corrupt the output from our intelligence apparatus.

- First, there's the shameful release of a classified report that even Obama appointee CIA Director Leon Pannetta has eloquently argued against on the grounds it will undermine the foundation of trust between CIA patriots and their government. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8398902
- Second, there's AG Eric Holder's announcement that not only will he seek to prosecute intelligence employees for doing their jobs, but that he's selected a prosecutor to head that investigation that has already displayed a bias against the intelligence apparatus and its professionals in the past. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/24/AR2009082401743_pf.html Can you say "Witch Hunt"? I knew you could. Holder has displayed a preference for the rights of terrorists to get access to our court systems over the rights of Americans to continue to live.
- This leads to the third, disturbing occurrence, the WH creation of a unit that will supervise all high profile interrogations. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112169988 This is upsetting on multiple counts. First it displays unparalleled WH micro management of the intelligence process. Second, we now have an "Interrogation Czar". If this is under the WH auspices like all the other Czars, will they claim executive privilege in keeping out congressional oversight to a degree never imagined even by those who criticized the Bush administration? Finally, this office will work from the FBI, under the same Eric Holder who doesn't seem to care for our anti-terror fight, displays a preference for terrorists' rights over Americans' civil liberties, has displayed animus against intelligence professionals, and who thinks a law enforcement approach to countering threats to our nation is preferable to a military one even though that's the mindset that led to all the terrorist attacks under Clinton and to 9/11.

Ironically, what these things mean is that, intentionally or unintentionally, the White House is going to gain much greater influence over the intelligence that comes out of our agencies, in a way that vastly overshadows anything the Bush White House is alleged to have had, and that the left railed against. Remember the meme that the Bush WH was trying make the intelligence fit what they wanted to do? Can you imagine what will happen under this WH when the it is seen as being so intensely involved in management of the intelligence apparatus by those inside it?

One has to wonder whether these acts are to intentionally weaken our intelligence apparatus, intentionally control it, or unintentionally destroy it through liberal naivete.

I confess I hadn't thought of that last issue. But I think the reader makes an excellent point - when intelligence product is manufactured by the pols at the White House, and not by a separate agency of careerists that must answer as much to Congress as the Presidency, how can ANYONE trust that the product is free of political taint?

Labels: Intelligence, Obama, War on Terror, Warfighting

If you're considering the CIA as a career, I'd stop considering it for a while - at least until this wrecking ball of an administration is turned out of office.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has a reliable ally in this Administration. The guys we asked to get information out of him to save thousands of other lives? Better get a good lawyer.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: CIA, Intelligence, justice, law, Obama, War on Terror

When a liberal criticizes the Bush administration, 'dissent is the highest form of patriotism.'

When a conservative criticizes the Obama administration, the CIA chief calls it "dangerous politics."

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Cheney, CIA, Intelligence, Politics, Republicans, The Left, War on Terror

Hmmm. We're considering a surprise military strike against some possibly Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist training camps in Somalia.

You know the kind. The ones that take 10 minutes to evacuate.

I have an idea. While we're mulling over the decision, how about we leak the entire frigging debate to the Washington Post?

If you're going to do it, do it.

If you're not going to do it, but want to preserve your options later, and maintain your ability to collect intel on the sites, then shut the fuck up about it.

Senior Obama administration officials are debating how to address a potential terrorist threat to U.S. interests from a Somali extremist group, with some in the military advocating strikes against its training camps. But many officials maintain that uncertainty about the intentions of the al-Shabab organization dictates a more patient, nonmilitary approach.

Al-Shabab, whose fighters have battled Ethiopian occupiers and the tenuous Somali government, poses a dilemma for the administration, according to several senior national security officials who outlined the debate only on the condition of anonymity.

There's another OPSEC violation embedded in the story so grievous I won't even spell it out, except to say that the WaPo has exposed itself to some possible criminal liability, as have these anonymous officials.

But many on the national security team insist that it is their caution and willingness to consider all aspects of the situation that differentiate them from the overly aggressive posture of the Bush administration that they say exacerbated the terrorist threat.

These are the kinds of kids that used to get beat up in the parking lot in high school. What is it about these blue-falcon assholes that compells them to slam their predecessors at every turn? Must come from the top, I guess.

Utterly classless. Amateur night at the arena.

Think the 'players' involved in the debate can't figure out who these sources are?


Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Intelligence, Obama, stupid, War on Terror, Warfighting

Wow. Thank God we blocked this SOB, huh?

I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country.

It's the Jews.

Still, I am saddened by what the controversy and the manner in which the public vitriol of those who devoted themselves to sustaining it have revealed about the state of our civil society.

Yes. And "those who devoted themselves to sustaining it? **whisper** those would be the Jews.

The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired,

"Powerful lobby." Jews. 'Nuff said.

The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth

.

Did I mention they drink the blood of Christian babies in their Passover rituals?

The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors.

They also won't let me wear white after Rosh Hoshanah.

There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel.

Did I mention the Jooos?

I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States.

They are a cancer which must be eradicated. Joooooooooos!

The outrageous agitation that followed the leak of my pending appointment will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues. I regret that my willingness to serve the new administration has ended by casting doubt on its ability to consider, let alone decide what policies might best serve the interests of the United States rather than those of a Lobby intent on enforcing the will and interests of a foreign government.

JOOOOOOOOOOOOOS!!!!! Sehen Sie die Juden?

Honestly... the Obamatards were seriously considering this idiot? He's not even subtle. I can't believe this jerk even thought this was a remotely acceptable public statement. It reads like the work of a sociopath. I've known guys like this. They speak in code all the time... looking for people who will speak the same code back to them. Apparently, the Obamatards like what they hear.

We narrowly avoided this poisonous cur.

Splash, out

Jason

Labels: Althouse, Humor, Intelligence, Judaism, Obama, Politics

Slam drunk.

Labels: Bush, foreign policy, Intelligence, Judaism, Politics