Is our Middle East intellgence as bad as 9/11/2001?

After 9/11 happened, we were told one of the first things to be fixed were the weaknesses in our Mideast intelligence. We were told that lack of information sharing and lack of human intelligence had allowed Osama Bin Laden to operate freely, and large below the radar. Thus was born the "Department of Homeland Security". Ten years later, reasonable people are asking if anything has really changed, since all of the Jasmine Revolutions took us by surprise.

Did we have adequate intelligence of what was about to happen? The obvious answer is "no," across the board. The ensuing debate about why we were caught so flatfooted will undoubtedly reverberate over the next several months. We are not looking for predictions, but for more information for policy makers and less reliance on foreign intelligence services. Our dearth of human sources in the Middle East has been a problem for decades during many administrations. And what we need now are more resources and operations, not fewer.

If it turns out that after 10 years and multiple billions of dollars have been spent that we have no better understanding of the Middle East, then we have been deceived and a special prosecutor may be needed. At the very least, the Bush Administration needs to be called out for not delivering an effective intelligence apparatus to President Obama.

Calling a spade, a spade

This blog had been largely supportive of President George W. Bush during his years in office. While not all of us supported either the Iraq War or the policies around it, I generally have the president the benefit of the doubt in dealing with a difficult world after 9/11. Most of the pundit class felt free to begin tearing him down as soon as 9/12 was past, and I saw that as disingenuous and naive.

But now, it is time to speak plainly. I condemn the torture policies enacted by President Bush in the wake of 9/11, as shown by recent declassified memos. We knew "something" was going on in Gitmo, but assumed that it was not nearly as bad as what the Left speculated. Instead, it is pretty much exactly as bad as GWB's critics claimed. Regular, intensive, sadistic weatherboarding. Use of subject phobias in methods eerily similar to scenes from 1984. Methods that simply can not be rationalized away as NOT torture. Even in the panicky days after 9/11. And these methods appear to have continued up to a few months before the end of the administration. We have stained the American spirit with these actions in a way comparable to the Japanese internment camps of World War 2. The ends can never justify the means. By meeting evil with evil, you merely increase the darkness and terror in our land.

Being MOD-blog, we try to see both sides. And we have spoken for both sides on this issue. But now it is time to speak plainly, now that all the facts are known. This was a mistake, and a sin of our nation. I challenge anyone who has read the memos to tell me differently. And "You had to be there" is not a sufficient defense.

George W Bush's Farewell Address

Since George Washington printed a letter in the papers as his "Farewell Address" after 8 years of governance, it has become somewhat of a tradition for presidents to give some sort of presentation of their parting thoughts. Last night, George W Bush gave his. I will admit that I did not watch it live, but used the linked text of the speech to review his farewell. I would argue the key paragraph is this...

As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before Nine-Eleven. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our Nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.

This is the Bush presidency, at its worst and best, in a single sentence. Every unexplained decision, every failure of philosophy, every frustration for liberals and conservatives alike is explained by this. For GWB, 9/11 was the defining moment for everything that came after.

It will be interesting to see what a post-9/11 president looks like in Obama. Or if he will be eventually pressed into the same mold.

Pausing... to reflect

What the "Shoe Throwing Incident" really means

Much is being made of an incident over the weekend where an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President George W. Bush. The touching of the soles of ones shoes to a person is considered a great insult in the Iraqi culture, and the journalist intended to condemn the poor job Bush has done in the war and the suggestion that Americans could be in the country for many years to come.'

The incident is being viewed by many as a repudiation of Bush and a major international incident. But it should be seen as what it truly is. A sign of a slowly maturing democracy, where people are confident enough in the protection of their freedom that they can protest without fear of reprisal. Do we think in the culture of Sadaam Hussein's Iraq that such a thing could happen without someone dying? Do we think it is even possible today in nearby friendly countries like Saudi Arabia? Nope. This is a sign that Iraqis - while upset at the situation in many ways - are confident that they have freedoms and that they will be protected. This is a good thing.

Rhetorical Question: What do you do?

So, you're greatest political fumble of all time is a little thing called "Katrina." In this debacle, your chosen man failed to get aid to people in a time of emergency and left them hungry and living in squalor. (Say what you will about local authorities dropping the ball, the public perception is the failure was all FEMA's.) This event was a flood, due to a failed levee. And this one event can easily be seen as the turning point when you lost the faith of the American people.

Now, a levee has failed in Iowa and the city is flooded. Nearly an identical situation, from a high-level. So, what do you do?

Apparently, you go for photo ops at tea parties in Europe.

Sigh. Can someone please call up the President and tell him unless he comes home immediately to tour the area, he has extinguished ANY hope for the Republican party to even maintain its numbers in the fall?

Strangely Hypnotic

A physics-based Flash game showing people falling endlessly. You can click the figures with the mouse to move them if they get stuck.

For Conservatives, we have falling Hillary.

For Liberals, we have falling George W Bush.

I wonder if we'll get a falling Obama if he wins both Texas and Ohio this week?