or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
October 13, 2007
Fixing The Intelligence, Circa 1989
Cheney, Rumsfeld, Libby & co. didn't start fixing the intelligence around the policy in 2002. That's been their MO their entire careers. What they did regarding Iraq was completely predictable, and in fact was predicted by people who knew their history.
The best known pre-Iraq example is the "Team B" affair from the mid-seventies, where they made up lots of stories about how the Soviet Union was just about to overwhelm the US with their overwhelming overwhelmingness. Shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union collapsed. Whoops!
Then there are the episodes almost no one knows about. One is the effort by Cheney and others in the eighties to cover up Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons, as well as the way we and the Saudis were helping. (They couldn't let the truth get out because Pakistan was helping us with our proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, which of course turned out to be a giant success in its own right.) In order to do this, they had to crush a government nuclear analyst named Richard Barlow who was loudly warning about what Pakistan was up to.
Today the Guardian is running an excellent story about Barlow—what they did to him, what's happened to him since, and the chance he may receive a small measure of justice. It provides a real glimpse into how the US government truly works, which is why it appears in a foreign publication. I encourage you to read it all.
Posted at October 13, 2007 05:43 PM | TrackBackAin't that a bitch!
Posted by: Mike Meyer at October 13, 2007 07:46 PM"Then there are the episodes almost no one knows about. One is the effort by Cheney and others in the eighties to cover up Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons, as well as the way we and the Saudis were helping."
It is a little better known thanks to the book Charlie Wilson's War. The only problem is that the author, a reporter for that great liberal icon 60 Minutes, thought it was just dandy. The book may get even more popular thanks to the forthcoming movie version, written by that great liberal idol Aaron Sorkin, who probably also thinks it was just dandy.
Posted by: Chris E. at October 13, 2007 09:06 PMWhen I think about what those fvckers have done, how much damage they've wreaked...
{sigh} I should think of a blue lotus instead.
Posted by: Nell at October 14, 2007 01:01 AMThe story appeared in an American publication as well--a minor provincial newspaper called The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR2007070602127.html
Apparently it failed to spark any outcry. Not revelatory enough I guess. Just another example of business as usual in American government.
Posted by: Jean at October 14, 2007 02:05 PM
