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British spies haunted by blunders By George Jones, Political Editor Last Updated: 2:13am GMT 20/02/2007 The James Bond image of Britain's spies took a knock yesterday when an official report disclosed they were making an "unacceptably high" level of blunders. Mistakes included tapping the wrong telephone numbers and continuing to collect post from an address after its target had moved on. The most common mistake was wrongly entering a telephone number on a tapping warrant - usually a simple transposition of numbers. Sir Swinton Thomas, the outgoing Interception of Communications Commissioner, disclosed that dozens of similar errors were reported to...

America scored one clear success in the War on Terror last week with the killing of Abu Musab al-Zar qawi, the longtime leader of al Qaeda in Iraq - but also a clear failure, with the taking of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, by Islamist militias. The contrast between the two covert operations is telling - for the details teach an abject lesson in the difference between a "learning organization" and one that closes itself to outside influences while insisting that it can perform functions far beyond its core competence. Supremely well-coordinated intelligence is vital to any successful special operation. Zarqawi was...

BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST It is said only in hushed tones and not by anybody of prominence, but a few brave souls in the Bush administration admit it. President Bush's Medicare drug benefit that went into effect Jan. 1 looks like a political blunder of far-reaching consequences. Furthermore, these critics assign major responsibility to Karl Rove.

It is said only in hushed tones and not by anybody of prominence, but a few brave souls in the Bush administration admit it. President Bush's Medicare drug benefit that went into effect Jan. 1 looks like a political blunder of far-reaching consequences. Furthermore, these critics assign major responsibility to Karl Rove. The hideous complexity of the scheme, which has the effect of discouraging seniors from signing up, is only the beginning of difficulties it entails for the president and his party. It will further swell the budget deficit without commensurate political benefits. On the contrary, the drug plan may...

Liberally-biased press ignores Democratic blunders October 12th, 2005 Dan Hemp, regular columnist Over the past weeks, the media’s judgment of what stories deserve front page news coverage has been controversial to say the least. One such story takes place in Austin, Texas. The district attorney for that area, a hopelessly partisan Democrat named Ronnie Earle, indicted House Majority Leader Tom Delay for conspiring to break Texas election laws with little or no evidence to make his case. Once he realized that he had no chance in court, he re-indicted Delay with the new and more serious charge of money laundering....

Defense Department black eye, showcasing violence, a corporate scrooge, and unexpected prime-time sex highlight this year's 10th anniversary list of public relations blunders compiled annually by San Francisco's Fineman PR. The list is a collection of some of the year's worst public relations gaffes. The "winners" for 2004:

Reprinted from NewsMax.com Saturday, July 24, 2004 12:35 p.m. EDTClinton Signed Off on Berger Bin Laden Blunders Documents uncovered by the 9/11 Commission suggest that disgraced former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger vetoed several attacks planned in 1999 and 2000 on Osama bin Laden's Afghanistan hideouts. But while Berger may have advised against attacking bin Laden, remarks by President Clinton two years ago indicate he personally quashed the plans. As first detailed by the New York Sun on Friday, the 9/11 Commission report cites a document detailing a June 1999 plan to launch cruise missiles into a bin Laden encampment...

Elite forces attack intelligence blunder By Francis Elliott, Deputy Political Editor (Filed: 09/11/2003) The leaders of Britain's special forces have criticised the quality of the intelligence they received during the war in Iraq. At a confidential briefing attended by Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, and members of the House of Commons Defence Committee, special forces commanders said "inaccurate or inadequate" information received during the conflict had almost cost lives. As evidence, the officers, disclosed details of a mission, launched in the final days before the invasion of Iraq, which had to be aborted after an ambush. The MPs were told...

Politicians were insufficiently informed, and failed to understand the information they did have on the eve of the Yom Kippur War, said Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, on Sunday as he released secret committee transcripts from the eve of the Yom Kippur War. The transcripts, kept from the public until now for security reasons, were released as required by law after 30 years — save for two sections, which may be released later, said Steinitz at a press conference in the state archives in Jerusalem. Some of the information failure arose from questions politicians...

The Captains Crazy of Middle-earthI caught part of a promo on the History Channel recently for a series called "Military Blunders". It sounded interesting but as much channel surfing as I do, I don't watch much television. Nonetheless, being a student of history, I'm familiar with many wartime blunders, such as when General Lee's battle plans ended up wrapped around a bundle of cigars that a Yankee soldier found. Or when General Gates took his Continental soldiers up against the British in an open battle and got his pants blown off by the world's best soldiers.Well, if real history is...

I just read the Landrieu "educaton" thread and realized that neither the GOP nor the Dems seem to want to win control of the Senate. Let's look at each side:The GOP: Shoo-in Phil Gramm unexpectedly retiresShoo-in Fred Thompson unexpectedly retiresShoo-in Jesse Helms retires (but he and Strom have certainly earned their rest)Bob Smith decides to run as a write-in to spite the man who beat him in the primaries, and possibly costing the party the SenateTim Hutchison, AR shoo-in, decides to dump his wife for his hottie just before election time, turning a sure-thing into a real race The Democrats:...