Does anyone see the repeat of Clinton's mistakes here? Clinton never wanted a single report from the CIA...he only accepted from the WH advisors or the state department. Only the chief of the CIA was ever allowed in to brief Clinton, and it was typically a 20 minute session. One wonders if Schroeder has the same type situation with the BND.
Based on the military ministers comments of the past month (Stuck?)...it would appear he rarely gets any time with Schroeder either. There have been at least a dozen mis-steps between the two that I can count. Is Schroeder just locking himself in the girlfriend's place and playing footsie with her. Or is she coloring his hair?
If he is simply accepting his 'special advisors' then? And so, who are they? I think Bild ought to look for that answer. Obviously, someone has a inside connection to the dimwit.
I had Deutsche Welle radio on a little early, waiting to listen to the Bundesliga games. Someone was on talking about the germ warfare, smallpox danger. In an inimitable, intellectual, analytical style the speaker basically blew off the terrorism threat by saying it didn't exist. The smallpox scare was blown out of proportion, which may be true, but this guy didn't think it existed.
Basically the theory was that terrorists couldn't get enough material to kill large masses of people unless they had some national government connection, which means other governments would know about it. It also came through that isolated attacks may kill a few hundred or so, but nothing that should cause such widespread hysteria. Bush only heightened the hysteria by ordering the stockpiles of smallpox vaccinations. The moderator asked how to remedy that. The answer: politicians can solve it.
That intellectual assuredness is hard to defend against. It allows these people to self-righteously continue their discussions around the Stammtisch about how the CIA staged 9/11, without, of course, the pangs of conscience associated with the concern for the safety of your loved ones and fellow citizens, or, how to secure that safety.
longjack