Stephen Hayes:See No Evil, Hear No Evil(What the 9/11 Commission narrative left out: Iraqis)

The Weekly Standard ^ | September 5 / September 12, 2005 | Stephen F. Hayes

[My2Cents]

I was thinking the same thing, and he's also done more on the Iraq-terrorists connection than the entire MSM put together.

[Fruit of the Spirit]

"The determination of these officials to write out of the history any Iraqi involvement in terrorism against America has contributed mightily to public misperceptions about the former Iraqi regime and the war on terror."

Oh, that's where the slogan, "Keep it simple, stupid" came from.

http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/1998/feb98/focus.html
Education Reform: Dumbing Down or Emasculation?

Outcome- Based Education (OBE). The OBE system stresses "the social, emotional, and psychological growth" of children over academic knowledge. This "new paradigm" has radically changed the thrust of the educational process in several ways. For example, instead of basic academic knowledge, education's primary purpose has become to instill in children learning attitudes that deemphasize facts and emphasize politically correct social, psychological, and globalist thinking.

[fantom]

new tone. this WH refuses to defend itself. they allow the misunderstandings bad info and outright lies to flourish. well bully for them with their new tone! it makes life difficult for the rest of us who try to defend US actions. i hold them responsible for much of the division we now face. it is their fault that otherwise reasonable people on both sides fight over details. the new tone brought us together alright . i may be a supporter but i am not blind. also in this remarkable time of political revelation it would be a good time for the WH to catch up.

[Ann Archy]

I don't think Shaffer ever said that he told the staffers about Atta by name.....I think he told them about AL QUEDA!

[Ann Archy]

President Job is a most patient man.

[BARLF]

mark

[sono]

"You said there were WMDs in Iraq and that Saddam had friends in al Qaeda. . . . Blah, blah, pants on fire."
Christopher Hitchens speaking of the Bush lied meme.

[jwpjr]

re: They were busy being the nice guys and good citizens that the left has come to depend upon for their ill deeds to succeed!

[jd777]

This administration will never go after Clinton. In any way.

PRES BUSH GAVE CLITON'S CIA MAN, TENET, A MEDAL!

IF THEY WANTED TO GET CLINTON... THEY COULD HAVE GONE AFTER HIM ON THE MARC RICH PARDON.

they didn't do nothing...

[rdb3]

IF THEY WANTED TO GET CLINTON... THEY COULD HAVE GONE AFTER HIM ON THE MARC RICH PARDON.

Okay, but what has that to do with the 9/11 Commission, which is what the thread is actually about?

[Valin]

Preventing Surprise Attacks: Intelligence Reform in the Wake of 9/11
Author: Richard A. Posner
Product Code: 4947-X
ISBN: 0-7425-4947-X
Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
Pages: 214


This book is published by Rowman & Littlefield, and may be purchased at their site www.rowmanlittlefield.com or by calling National Book Network, 1-800-462-6420.

Richard A. Posner, in the first full-length study of the post-9/11 movement for intelligence reform, argues that the 9/11 Commission's analysis, on which Congress relied heavily in enacting the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, was superficial and its organizational proposals unsound. The Commission, followed by Congress, exaggerated the benefits of centralizing control over intelligence; neglected the relevant scholarship dealing with surprise attacks, organization theory,and the principles of intelligence, and the experience of foreign nations—some of which have a longer history of fighting terrorism than the United States; and as a result ignored the psychological, economic, historical, sociological, and comparative dimensions of the issue of intelligence reform.

Posner explains, however, that a ray of hope remains: The reorganization provisions of the new Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act are so vague—as a result of intense politicking—that the actual shape of the reorganized system will depend critically on decisions made by the President in implementing the Act. In a searing critique, Posner exposes the pitfalls created by the new legislation, identifies the issues overlooked by the 9/11 Commission and Congress, and suggests directions for real reform.

RICHARD A. POSNER is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago and senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He is author of hundreds of articles and nearly four dozen books, including An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton (1999); Breaking the Deadlock: The 2000 Election, the Constitution, and the Courts (2001); Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline (2002); and Catastrophe: Risk and Response (2004).

---

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/074254947X/002-3591591-9103239?v=glance

Richard Posner's book will be of great interest to anyone concerned about the rapid changes now taking place in the US intelligence community. This book is a must for anyone who wants to understand the function and organization of intelligence. Posner's arguments are so clear and compelling that you will find yourself saying "Ah-ha!" after almost every chapter.

Specifically, Posner takes on the "The 9/11 Commission Report," for offering an organizational solution for a managerial failure. He shows how the Commission's organizational line and block solution led to the enactment of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. He shows how this happened with little or no debate about the Commission's recommendations.

Posner explains why surprise attacks happen, and how little the organization of an intelligence apparatus has to do with it. For example, the Arab nations surprised Israel in the Yom Kipur War. An Israel commission determined, after the fact, that the reason for the surprise was lack of decentralization in its intelligence services. The 9/11 Commission, on the other hand, determine the surprise of 9/11 was due to not enough centralization. The fact that there are divergent views on this matter is not surprising. What is surprising is that the 9/11 Commission failed to even investigate them.

As Posner explains, surprise attacks happen, because the adversary does something that is essentially stupid and self-defeating. Often, the surprise attack is a miscalculation, not just for the attacked, but for the attacker as well. This makes anticipation of such attacks particularly challenging. As result, the Commission's hindsight was not 20/20, but altogether distorted by its focus on what had already happened, and not on the full range of possible future surprise attacks.

The range of such attacks is nearly infinite. According to Posner, the desire of the Commission to create an "Intelligence Czar" will not enhance the US intelligence community's ability to foretell these events. It will have the opposite effect of limiting the scope of vision and the diversity of analysis that will make any accurate and timely prediction possible. An Intelligence Czar will be much more prone to political influence, and he will function well above the horizon of subtle surprise attack indicators. He will also be much more likely to spend his time focusing on the "threat de jure" instead of genuine threats.

Posner, however, is not simply beating a dead horse here. While it is true that the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act has been signed into law, the ambiguity of that law still allows for a less destructive interpretation and execution of the law. Under the new law, the Director of National Intelligence may become the "Intelligence Czar," acting as the CEO of the intelligence community. Hopefully, however, he will take on a more constructive role - facilitator of greater coordination, acting as the chairman of the board of the intelligence community. This still remains an open debate.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Bookmark.

[MamaLucci]

The determination of these officials to write out of the history any Iraqi involvement in terrorism against America has contributed mightily to public misperceptions about the former Iraqi regime and the war on terror.

And even more shameful.....it was by design.

[popdonnelly]

I suspect that Shakir was Iraq's contact with Al Qaeda, and particularly with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and what are known as the "planes" conspirators. Shakir could have communicated to Mohammed Iraq's desire to have Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague attacked. The likely person to carry out such an attack was the 9/11 conspirator who couldn't get a visa to the United States, Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Bin al-Shibh was reportedly in Yemen at the time of the U.S.S. Cole bombing, and was suspected of taking part in it. Perhaps the expulsion of the Iraqi, al-Ani, from Prague put an end to the RFE/Radio Liberty plot.

[Luigi Vasellini]

bttt

[knews_hound]

bbttt

[FlashBack]

Damn-straight on your remarks!
Why the continued whitewashing of this from the top down??
It is very frustrating to those of us that read the evidence at every turn..and very dangerous to ALL of us.
Hayes's book "The Connection" is very on-the-mark as are his articles featured on The Weekly Standard...WHY IS THERE NO COVERGE of this type of news on the 24 hour news-channels!!!!

[doug from upland]

Haynes has just been an incredible patriot in his reporting.

[justshutupandtakeit]

If we had something other than the Traitor Media he would win an Pulitzer rather than the writer of "Transexual Lesbians and their Fight for Equality."