I think there is a lot going on behind the scenes that the public doesn't know about. When you think about it, we are one of the most technically advanced countries in the world. The way that our technology has evolved over the past 10 years is staggering. No one but the most extreme inside military people knows what intelligence methods we are using today, but you can bet they are using stuff that is advanced way beyond public knowledge.
***I would agree with this statement in terms of military capabilities. No question that the US military is by far the surerior world power with no nation even remotely close. However, in terms of the intelligence operations in this country, this is one of the most ineffective, bloated bureacracies in modern times. Time and time again the intelligecne community has FAILED the American people. Even worse, there has been NO ACCOUNTABILITY for these failures. No, it's not Clinton's fault. This is a bi-partisan issue. Between the NSA, the CIA, DIA, and the fat, lazy-assed bureacracies that call themselves "the intelligence community" for the most part these agencies have floped and failed over and over. If HUD were wasting this kind of money and we were getting so little in return, fiscal conservatives would be up in arms. Instead, we increase the intelligecne budget every year above and beyond the incremental expasnion levels of government. I'll tell you what those agencies have for the most part -- lazy, coffee drinking bureacrats who write reports and memos to each other on the labor situation in Chile. CNN and academia are doing the same thing, providing the same services at a fraction of the cost. It's a shame.
With that being said, I think our intelligence groups have a pretty good idea of what is going on over there. I mean, we already watch every move they make from that big eye in the sky, and that is old technology.
***I strongly disagree. Our lack of real HUMAN intelligence is mind-boggling. Sure, we have photos of mountains and can track movemetns, but the REAL value of intelligecne comes in ANTICPATING the adversarial actions of your enemy. HUMAN intelligence, not technical superiority is what we sorely need. This point is essentially undisputeable, as even memeber sof the intelligecne community have complained about our lack of reliable on-the-ground resources and contacts. Which leads me to ask -- WHAT THE FAWK HAVE THESE IDIOTS BEEN DOING EVERY YEAR WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS (60-70 billioin annually)? Sure, spending money on satellites is fine. But how about hiring a couple of Arab speaking spies to infiltrate Al Queda? Too damn busy paying $85,000 a year to "analysists" writing those fascinating labor reports on Chile, I supppose.
And another thing, a lot of people here act like (or it seems like that to me) the president is calling all the shots with Iraq. He has all kinds of analysts and advisors who are making most of these decisions.
***I agree with this point.
I'm sure he has ample input into the decisions that are made, but he is by no means "calling all the shots". Therefore, why should we be placing all the blame on our presidents shoulders for our military actions? :shrug:
***I'm not blaming the President, although I do NOT support this Adminstration. I blame a woefully ineffective system that has continuinlly failed us time and time again. These "experts" in the intelligence field completely missed the boat on the fall of Communism ten years ago. They were sititng in their offices on their fat asses watching the fall of the Berlin wall on CNN along with the rest of us (I woked for the State Department at the time -- goddamn I want to write a book about what I saw from our diplomatic corps....and by the way I was a very low level amployee who had just started out in Adminstration so I had no sayso about these critical issues). They were huslting off memos to each other "informing" each department about the latest developments, when all you had to do was turn on the fawking TV set! Nicolae Ceasescu was overthrown and the jerks at the Embassy in Bucharest were all on the second floor waiting for a calbe from Washington on what to do. These small incidents are played out hundreds of times across the board in all countries. The situation in Washington is even worse. Intelligence had no idea where Al Queda was, nor could they track Bin Laden. They still don't even know if the leader is alive. The INS is cutting back staff -- meanwhile the intelligence community gets every dollar they ask for (their budget is SECRET by the way -- what I estimated earlier was just the figure according to speculation). Those billion dollar spy satellites sure are doing us a lot of good. -- Nolan
