Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

roachboy · 02-15-2006, 07:46 AM

there are structural problems with the way in which u.s. intelligence is split amongst different institutions--exacerbated by inter-agency rivalries that are, more often than not, political in nature. i am trying to remember the author and/or title of the book published in the mid 1980s by thye former head os savak under the shah of iran that outlines the fundamental role played by interagency rivalries in creating and exacerbating the "hostage crisis" of the late 1970s---i'll post it if i can find the information (no time at the moment)--but yes: from what i remember, the claim was that th cia was far to the right of carter and so filtered information in ways that resulted in damage to him--but there were other agencies that were, in the main, not so inclined and so filtered information using other criteria--the result was, apparently, mutually exclusive readings of the same situation. this basic scenario did not change once regan came into power--the polarity of rivalires simply switched. and the account of the incompetence of the reagan people in this crisis situation is quite something.

it seems that the bushpeople recognized something of this when they created the heimat security department (a repulsive name), but it seems to have been as ineptly designed as almost every other action they have undertaken.

on the other hand, this particular article--sourcing a far right congressman's press conference--appears to have other ambitions: to relativize the particular incompetence of the bush administration by resorting to the old conservative canard--well, clinton did x too, so.... at some point, the right has to admit that the ineptness of the bushpeople is special--for example, while there may have been fuck ups around the cole thing, clinton did not react to them by getting the united states involved in a war under false pretenses--so obviously there are distinctions to be made. it is not surprising that miltiants on the extreme right would prefer that these distinctions be talked away--but it is a bit surprising that anyone takes the expressions rooted in this preference seriously.

02-15-2006, 07:46 AM	#4 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	there are structural problems with the way in which u.s. intelligence is split amongst different institutions--exacerbated by inter-agency rivalries that are, more often than not, political in nature. i am trying to remember the author and/or title of the book published in the mid 1980s by thye former head os savak under the shah of iran that outlines the fundamental role played by interagency rivalries in creating and exacerbating the "hostage crisis" of the late 1970s---i'll post it if i can find the information (no time at the moment)--but yes: from what i remember, the claim was that th cia was far to the right of carter and so filtered information in ways that resulted in damage to him--but there were other agencies that were, in the main, not so inclined and so filtered information using other criteria--the result was, apparently, mutually exclusive readings of the same situation. this basic scenario did not change once regan came into power--the polarity of rivalires simply switched. and the account of the incompetence of the reagan people in this crisis situation is quite something. it seems that the bushpeople recognized something of this when they created the heimat security department (a repulsive name), but it seems to have been as ineptly designed as almost every other action they have undertaken. on the other hand, this particular article--sourcing a far right congressman's press conference--appears to have other ambitions: to relativize the particular incompetence of the bush administration by resorting to the old conservative canard--well, clinton did x too, so.... at some point, the right has to admit that the ineptness of the bushpeople is special--for example, while there may have been fuck ups around the cole thing, clinton did not react to them by getting the united states involved in a war under false pretenses--so obviously there are distinctions to be made. it is not surprising that miltiants on the extreme right would prefer that these distinctions be talked away--but it is a bit surprising that anyone takes the expressions rooted in this preference seriously. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 02-15-2006 at 07:49 AM..