(Larry) Johnson (kook ex-spook who hates Pres. Bush) points out that he coauthored a piece in 2000 with Milt Beardon that looked specifically at the threat posed by al-Qaeda rather that at terrorism trends in general.
May 12: Milt Beardon and James Risen, "The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB"
Milt Beardon, Director of Operations in Afghanistan (for CIA) during the Soviet occupation said that the CIA planted stories in Newsweek about the Soviet's making bombs that looked like toys. In fact, he said this was "simply the name of the game" in their "disinformation war" with the Soviets.
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Veterans of intelligence, military planning and diplomacy such as Richard Clarke, Joseph Wilson, Robert Baer, Scott Ritter and Milt Bearden have come forward to condemn a rush to judgment that left America more vulnerable to terrorism while plunging Iraq and the Middle East into chaos.
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James Risen, "Iraq Said to Have Tried to Reach Last-Minute Deal to Avert War," New York Times, 6 November 2003
WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 — As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March and diplomats argued about war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal.
Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct a search. The businessman said in an interview that the Iraqis also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 who was being held in Baghdad. At one point, he said, the Iraqis pledged to hold elections.
http://tinyurl.com/9tnt3
Milt Beardon's been heard form before- remember that lefty film "Uncovered : The War in Iraq?":
Not much to uncover
[http://washingtontimes.com/entertainment/20040819-111607-7931r.htm]- Washington Times - The movie ["Uncovered: The War on Iraq"] boils down to: "Containment was working." That position, of course, is the default worldview of folks at the State Department (former Ambassador Joe Wilson sure gets around) and the CIA, whom Mr. Greenwald relies on almost exclusively.
One can argue about the wisdom of their Kissingerian, balance-of-power, don't-rock-the-boat school of foreign policy. I laughed out loud when Milt Bearden, an ex-CIA honcho, said such thinking has served the world pretty well since the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia (the end of the Thirty Years' War). Mr. Bearden must have slept through the 20th century.
Also, I thought Robert Baer, another CIA dude, bordered on anti-Semitism with his snide little remark about how the neocons have never set foot in the Middle East, save for Tel Aviv — meaning they're all Jews. 8 posted on 08/20/2004 4:44:32 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe | To 4