Posted on 11/13/2004 8:19:10 PM PST by kralcmot
I am still scratching my head wondering why Bush waited four years to clean house.
Bipartisanship: what losers scream hysterically when they find themselves powerless. Also, the appeal to the infantile mind.
ok, and i do respectfully disagree. i think the Pakistan government would not withstand the presence of a large contingency of American troops conducting combat operations against the entrenched and indigenous and essentially autonomous tribal/warloard groups in northern Pakistan that the current Pak government has not been able to control. If we go for OBL with a direct invasion of Pakistan or with the assent of the current government, it would be a huge mistake. the more prudent course is to broker a deal between India and Pakistan to shore up the current government and relieve some of the tensions and passions and then let Mussarasharif get OBL who is a serious threat to him as well.
Agree.
That reminds me...
Is Sandy Berger in Jail Yet?
Among other things of late, my biggest disappointment has been learning that Nixon refused to prosecute a clear traitor, for the girly-man excuse of not wanting to make a martyr out of John Kerrey.
My estimation of Nixon was reduced several notches.
I hope W has more [censored] than that!
Give it a rest. This clearly is in that area between being "yes" men and closer to the other extreme: treason. There is never an excuse for that. None.
A State puke roughed up a flight attendant?
Time to remind those clowns that they are the least useful bureaucracy given the current state of world affairs.
And 'Newsday' has 8"x10" glossies to prove it. To the folks that brought us Travelgate and The FBI file scandal (Guess who?) I say piffle!!!
I grudgingly admit to lacking the patience, sometimes, to appreciate the subtleties between tactical and stragegic planning...
I believe your post reveals the truth. The Agency's human intelligence mission was essentially destroyed by Carter/Turner (with the enthusiastic help of the infamous Church committee). Since then it's been layered with Far Left political appointees and bureaucrats whose agenda is anything but pro-American.
The tragedy of 9-11 revealed the extent of the rot. So did the coordinated barrage of partisan anti-Administration politicking emanating from Langley. This was clearly one of the items the President had in mind when he announced after the election he'd earned some political capital and planned to spend it.
Absolutely, next the State Department.
I worked for a software company that owned its segment of the market for over a decade. The engineers were in opposition to the CEO, the entire team was laid off, new, more compliant engineers brought in, and the software developed as directed by the CEO. THE SOFTWARE DID NOT WORK! Three years later, the corporation was gone.
You've laid out the most intelligent argument I've heard yet for not going into NW Pakistan.
I'm not defensive of the Soviets, I'm defensive of the CIA's soviet analysis. You seem to have bought into the left's Michael Moore-type distortions of CIA failure vis-a-vis the downfall of the Soviet Union. It was not a failure -- it was a success. The analysis was correct.
Read this: At Cold War's End: US Intelligence on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1989-1991
Here's a summary:
An objective reading of the [CIA-produced National Intelligence Esitmeates] and other documents ... refutes the allegation that readers of the intelligence assessments at the time of their publication would have come away misinformed about the direction of events and shape of policies in the Soviet Union. They also reject the idea that the Intelligence Community ignored the impending collapse of communism and breakup of the Soviet Union. In fact, the community was probably ahead of most analysis on this issue.
That is a great book!
Not at all, I really have little respect for the "vaunted Soviet military", I feel they were way overrated as a military force. Granted their nuclear capabilities were very dangerous, but the Soviet Union was corrupt, and this corruption eroded the capabilities of it's military.
Except, of course, for the Elite units, but the great "socialist state" always treated some more equal than others.
The "lesser units" were given lesser materials, and these were the troops dying in Afghanistan; then there's the Soviet submarine force: how many have died of radiation poisoning?
My estimation of the CIA effectiveness IS based more on news reports than anything else, but MY analysis is based on observation and research as well.
Basically, it's my opinion, and I do respect your opinion. This has been a fun thread, nice chatting with you.
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