Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 22:03:13 +0200
Subject: Re: Grassy Knoll redux


ha indeed greg you are right on that one: it is LIKE the x-files. But the x-files is a tv-series: we all know it's fake. What is happening here is a complete de-meaning of what is fake (and not). And what's even worse: it doesn't even matter anymore what is fake or not. The Berg-video (which i - as roger, and many others - refuse to watch) does not find its sense in its reality-factor, but it's the stories bubbling up around it that create its meaning.

what are ordinary people as ourself left with  ?

it's a lie ?
it's not a lie ?

well let's just disagree gently on that

and whilst disagreeing another part of the little power that we had is being taken away

+++intermezzo begin+++
some of the less young amongst you probably remember when 1984 came and it didn't look at all as predicted by this Blair guy (the good one). Ha ha ha were we a happy bunch.
+++intermezzo end+++

one of the most frustrating things in my life was/is : since my (grand)parents didn't stop the rise of fascism when they had the chance to, how come we make the same mistakes ? (grammatical inconsistencies are sincerely voluntary)

Erik

At 17:50 -0700 15-05-2004, g'reg wrote:
>all i have to say is wow. wow.i knew these bastards
>were corrupt but my god. this is like the x-files.
>
>greg
>
>
>
>--- Ali Kazmi <thekazmis2001-AT-yahoo.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > you make a good point regarding a possible
>> > shortcoming of the
>> > methodology.  if i could rephrase it, you're
>> saying
>> > that a simple lie
>> > might trump a complext truth.  our pal, Occum, was
>>
>> Or a simple lie could trump a simple truth. If the
>> data is corrupt, then what.
>>
>> > starting from the
>> > proposition that the government is lying and has
>> > much to hide is
>> > always wise.  and i would LOVE to be able to hang
>> a
>> > huge new scandal
>> > on these fuckers.  but i don't want to get ahead
>> of
>> > the facts.
>>
>> Grin. Read the attached New Yorker article. Guess
>> out
>> of all of us, Mark had it right. hmmm. maybe Shrub
>> Sr.
>> was on the grassy knoll that day.
>>
>>
>> THE GRAY ZONE
>> by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
>> How a secret Pentagon program came to Abu Ghraib.
>> Issue of 2004-05-24
>> Posted 2004-05-15
>> The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not
>> in
>> the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists
>> but
>> in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of
>> Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a highly secret
>> operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for
>> Al
>> Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq.
>> Rumsfeldís decision embittered the American
>> intelligence community, damaged the effectiveness of
>> Èlite combat units, and hurt Americaís prospects in
>> the war on terror.
>>
>> According to interviews with several past and
>> present
>> American intelligence officials, the Pentagonís
>> operation, known inside the intelligence community
>> by
>> several code words, including Copper Green,
>> encouraged
>> physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi
>> prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence
>> about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior
>> C.I.A.
>> official, in confirming the details of this account
>> last week, said that the operation stemmed from
>> Rumsfeldís long-standing desire to wrest control of
>> Americaís clandestine and paramilitary operations
>> from
>> the C.I.A.
>>
>> Rumsfeld, during appearances last week before
>> Congress
>> to testify about Abu Ghraib, was precluded by law
>> from
>> explicitly mentioning highly secret matters in an
>> unclassified session. But he conveyed the message
>> that
>> he was telling the public all that he knew about the
>> story. He said, ìAny suggestion that there is not a
>> full, deep awareness of what has happened, and the
>> damage it has done, I think, would be a
>> misunderstanding.î The senior C.I.A. official, asked
>> about Rumsfeldís testimony and that of Stephen
>> Cambone, his Under-Secretary for Intelligence, said,
> > ìSome people think you can bullshit anyone.î
>>
>> The Abu Ghraib story began, in a sense, just weeks
>> after the September 11, 2001, attacks, with the
>> American bombing of Afghanistan. Almost from the
>> start, the Administrationís search for Al Qaeda
>> members in the war zone, and its worldwide search
>> for
>> terrorists, came up against major
>> command-and-control
>> problems. For example, combat forces that had Al
>> Qaeda
>> targets in sight had to obtain legal clearance
>> before
>> firing on them. On October 7th, the night the
>> bombing
>> began, an unmanned Predator aircraft tracked an
>> automobile convoy that, American intelligence
>> believed, contained Mullah Muhammad Omar, the
>> Taliban
>> leader. A lawyer on duty at the United States
>> Central
>> Command headquarters, in Tampa, Florida, refused to
>> authorize a strike. By the time an attack was
>> approved, the target was out of reach. Rumsfeld was
>> apoplectic over what he saw as a self-defeating
>> hesitation to attack that was due to political
>> correctness. One officer described him to me that
>> fall
>> as ìkicking a lot of glass and breaking doors.î In
>> November, the Washington Post reported that, as many
>> as ten times since early October, Air Force pilots
>> believed theyíd had senior Al Qaeda and Taliban
>> members in their sights but had been unable to act
>> in
>> time because of legalistic hurdles. There were
>> similar
>> problems throughout the world, as American Special
>> Forces units seeking to move quickly against
>> suspected
>> terrorist cells were compelled to get prior approval
>> from local American ambassadors and brief their
>> superiors in the chain of command.
>>
>> Rumsfeld reacted in his usual direct fashion: he
>> authorized the establishment of a highly secret
>> program that was given blanket advance approval to
>> kill or capture and, if possible, interrogate ìhigh
>> valueî targets in the Bush Administrationís war on
>> terror. A special-access program, or sapósubject to
>> the Defense Departmentís most stringent level of
>> securityówas set up, with an office in a secure area
>> of the Pentagon. The program would recruit
>> operatives
>> and acquire the necessary equipment, including
>> aircraft, and would keep its activities under wraps.
>> Americaís most successful intelligence operations
>> during the Cold War had been saps, including the
>> Navyís submarine penetration of underwater cables
>> used
>> by the Soviet high command and construction of the
>> Air
>> Forceís stealth bomber. All the so-called ìblackî
>> programs had one element in common: the Secretary of
>> Defense, or his deputy, had to conclude that the
>> normal military classification restraints did not
>> provide enough security.
>>
>> ìRumsfeldís goal was to get a capability in place to
>> take on a high-value targetóa standup group to hit
>> quickly,î a former high-level intelligence official
>> told me. ìHe got all the agencies togetheróthe
>> C.I.A.
>> and the N.S.A.óto get pre-approval in place. Just
>> say
>> the code word and go.î The operation had
>> across-the-board approval from Rumsfeld and from
>> Condoleezza Rice, the national-security adviser.
>> President Bush was informed of the existence of the
>> program, the former intelligence official said.
>>
>>
>>
>> The people assigned to the program worked by the
>> book,
>> the former intelligence official told me. They
>> created
>> code words, and recruited, after careful screening,
>> highly trained commandos and operatives from
>> Americaís
>> Èlite forcesóNavy seals, the Armyís Delta Force, and
>> the C.I.A.ís paramilitary experts. They also asked
>> some basic questions: ìDo the people working the
>> problem have to use aliases? Yes. Do we need dead
>> drops for the mail? Yes. No traceability and no
>> budget. And some special-access programs are never
>> fully briefed to Congress.î
>>
>> In theory, the operation enabled the Bush
>> Administration to respond immediately to
>> time-sensitive intelligence: commandos crossed
>> borders
>> without visas and could interrogate terrorism
>> suspects
>> deemed too important for transfer to the militaryís
>> facilities at Guant·namo, Cuba. They carried out
> > instant interrogationsóusing force if necessaryóat
>> secret C.I.A. detention centers scattered around the
>> world. The intelligence would be relayed to the sap
>> command center in the Pentagon in real time, and
>> sifted for those pieces of information critical to
>> the
>> ìwhite,î or overt, world.
>>
>> Fewer than two hundred operatives and officials,
>> including Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers,
>> chairman
>> of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were ìcompletely read
>> into the program,î the former intelligence official
>> said. The goal was to keep the operation protected.
>> ìWeíre not going to read more people than necessary
>> into our heart of darkness,î he said. ìThe rules are
>>
>=== message truncated ==>
>
>====>'the naked need of the control addicts must be decently covered by an arbitrary and intricate bureaucracy so that the subject cannot contact his enemy direct.'
>-william s burroughs
>
>
>	
>		
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-- 

===========================================================================Ze Sprout  <anarchie-AT-buelinckx.net>
amour & anarchie & amour & anarchie
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