Sanity Squad podcast: killer confessions
Here’s the latest from Dr. Sanity, Shrink, Siggy, and me. Tune in for the Squad’s exploration of the strange reactions of some to the news of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s confessions.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
They had better have tortured him. Or at the least, beat the crap out of him. I’d settle for killing him, but short of that…
My position on torture is like my position on tax the rich people. Depends upon the individual being taxed/tortured.
There’s a reason why pre-9/11 barriers between FBI, NSA, CIA, and Military Intel existed. And this is one of the reasons why (latest Bookworm CIA domestic insurgency story). Nobody wanted to give info to another branch, and then have it leaked for somebody’s personal purposes. Keep it in the family, was the go. But the CIA’s been like this (thorn and rusted nails) ever since they lost their purpose for being, which was always human intel. The military branch always could do SigInt better, given their attempts to break military codes in WWII. So the CIA had to be definitive source for recruiting foreign spies and turncoats. When that purpose got yanked from them… what could they do except decay?
I have to disagree with Siggy that it is just all about power and turf wars. One reason why these spy orgs are compartamentalized is that they can’t maintain the security of people they don’t have access to. So it just brings up an interesting question. Did breaking down the walls between the intel orgs after 9/11, allolw leakers to get more material to leak?
I do think it was a failure of imagination, because imagination is a useful tool for an intel analyst. It gives him the ability to visualize, analyze, and predict enemy actions. If he has a blindspot over something and just literally cannot believe such a thing will occur, he won’t ask the hard questions, and the people in his command chain won’t ask the hard questions. This ends up with the President not being told the dangers, because people don’t know their own blindspots. By definition, it is something you are blind to.
As for whether this could be solved by inter-agency cross checks, I don’t know. I’m reasonably certain they would just get into each other’s way and start arguing over turf, really. Every branch has their own jurisdiction. Its own purpose. Military Intel is for the military when planning ops against enemy targets. CIA is for… foreign nations? NSA and FBi, domestic stuff and domestic stuff about foreigners.
Breaking the walls down would also break down the jurisdictions, right? So I’m not sure how much clarity you can get without confusion reburying it.
Seriously, Neo, do you really think the military Special Forces branch is unwilling to give information to the FBI and CIA because they are afraid of losing their power? That might be some of it, but primarily it is what that power is used for, which is to protect lives, the lives of operators and Americans and civilians. Spy orgs are there to shut their damn mouth and keep secrets, if they are “yapping” to each other, then all kinds of security leaks will occur… if they haven’t already. The military branch is still the most loyal, most secret, and most disciplined branch for collecting intel. NSA/FBI probably ranks second/third place.
Most spies, traitors, saboteurs, terrorists, and pirates weren’t executed summarily. They had a tribunal, and then they were hung. Legal, right.
I liked that prison victim reference, Neo. It makes more sense out of say… when the Left says “we have to catch Bin Laden”. A good counter to that is “so you can treat him like all the other terrorists, by giving him a free from jail card”. I don’t believe they ever said “we have to kill Bin Laden”. Maybe they did, but they were probably lying.
It does matter if he is tried in a civilian court. You’d setup an interesting precedence. Blow up as many Americans as you wish, we’ll entangle ourselves in trying to prove you guilty… as if all the hundreds and thousands dead didn’t already do that.
Just ahead and do that, and we’ll be like France sooner rather than later. Do you want lawyers to fight against Jihadists or do you trust the US military, soldiers and warriors, to defeat terrorists?
I mean come on, it just comes down to that. Civilian vs military. Who do you trust to sustain law and order, safety and conscience? Do you trust the civilian authority in Katrina (bad) or the National Guard military leadership (Good)?
One’s effective, other isn’t. What’s so difficult? Of course there will be problems with the civilian courts.
He’s not a criminal, he’s a dead guy walking Neo, Dead Guy Walking.
Well what was the whole purpose of protecting the Constitutional rights of people? It was to prevent the government from ABUSING their power by getting rid of people they don’t like via fake show trials.
Is the freaking government going to be getting rid of innocents and non-terrorists? Well, no, if you think America is going good, and yes if you think America is the source of a lot of evil in the world. So when you look at it like that, the government by protecting the human rights of terrorists, are abusing their power, given to the govmint to protect the people and the Constitution. How are you going to keep the Constitution when millions die and people elect a dictator for life as a security measure? Eh? The government has to kill terrorists, to protect innocents, they HAVE to do their duty and uphold their responsibilities. Otherwise they might as well just start making up gulags and putting you and me into them for crimes against anti-Neocons. It would be about ethically equal for the government to be protecting the Constitutional rights of terrorists, so called in all cases.
But the problem with Siggy’s “we lock criminals” up is that the terrorist and their buddies will be killing people left and right until the “prisoners” are “released” through an exchange with “American hostages”. You think the lawyers and Leftists who put the terrorists in jail, assuming they could do so for more than 5 years, will be saying “keep the terrorist in jail, throw away the hostage’s life”? Heck, no, it won’t be their decision to make, but they will probably talk about how we should “exchange”.
I’m telling you, they are just waiting for an excuse. They’re not waiting for an excuse to kill somebody, no no, they are waiting for something they can make into a propaganda in order to make their killings of Americans and Iraqis More Glorious. More reported by the Media.
10 die in suicide bombing, one thing. 10 dead in order to free the imprisoned martyr suffering under American injustice… well that is a media day isn’t it.
You know it won’t end with civilian lockups, assuming you get them. You have Ramsey Clark and ACLU… remember Tookie? Yes, him, did they say “ya, we locked him up and he’s going to die by law”. No. And No.
You think they are going to treat terrorists harsher and more effective then they tried to dismantle the legal system with Tookie? There’s more than one Tookie here, people. More than one, by my records.
Don’t give the enemy more propaganda tools. Getting terrorists under civilian courts, when they weren’t even caught inside the US… is like giving terrorists more powerful IEDs to kill Americans. Just videotape it, for 10 more years, Neo, and watch the “will” bleed off.
The more the enemy has propaganda tools, the more American will and spirit bleeds off.
I got a solution. Bush can call their bluff. He can say he will release the terrorists into the American population and allow the courts to handle them. If they don’t come up with a guilty sentence of death, they get released as a free man.
Call their bluff. See what they do, Neo. See what they do.
Part of the reason why there is no end in sight is cause the enemy plays the US like fools.
Course the military system is better. But it is getting blocked… because of the civilian courts. Well, maybe no longer because of the new law passed by Congress, but there is still no precedence under military courts/tribunals for terrorists. It hasn’t been tried. Why? Because people have been blocking it, they don’t want to give them a chance.
So call their fracking bluff. Dump all the terrorists in GitMo, the lower echelons perhaps, into the civilian courts, at once. And then just tell people they’re going to get released when found innocent. Then tell the federal prosecutors, no plea bargains, no punishment other than death or life.
The terrorists are good at psychological warfare. But the power that a US President can hold, is even more usable as a psychological weapon, Neo. Against all enemies, foreign or domestic. He just has to use them, right.
I updated on iTunes but this time your podcast (“killer confessions”) doesn’t show up on iTunes. Maybe you can update it on iTunes, too? Thanks in advance 🙂