Book review: ‘The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth’

[xchrom]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/book-review-the-way-of-the-knife-the-cia-a-secret-army-and-a-war-at-the-ends-of-the-earth-by-mark-mazzetti/2013/04/05/88e07306-9af8-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_story.html?hpid=z3

Book review: ‘The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth’ By Mark Mazzetti

The Penguin Press) - “The Way Of The Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth” by Mark Mazzetti

On May 1, 2011, CIA Director Leon Panetta was in command of the single most important U.S. military operation since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001: the Navy SEAL Team 6 assault on a mysterious compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was suspected to be hiding. The SEALs were sneaking into Pakistan without the permission of its government on a covert “deniable” mission in a country that was supposedly allied to the United States. Because U.S. law forbids the military to do this kind of work, the SEALs were turned over to the control of the CIA and were “sheep-dipped” to become, in effect, spies under Panetta’s nominal control.

Yet isn’t the CIA’s real job to steal other countries’ secrets, rather than to carry out targeted killings?

A few years before the bin Laden operation, Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, then the head of Joint Special Operations Command, had turned the Army’s Delta Force and Navy SEAL Team 6 into a fighting machine in Iraq and Afghanistan that increasingly mounted operations to gather intelligence — what McChrystal termed “a fight for knowledge.”

Yet aren’t Special Operations forces the “door kickers” whom you send in to kill or capture terrorists rather than the guys who collect intelligence?

[cantbeserious]

1. One Would Hope That If Americans Knew What Has Been Done In Their Names ...

eom

[leveymg]

2. When done by the President & political party they support, many applaud it.

Something like 70% of all Republicans still believe that the Iraq War was a good idea. One can also see that same phenomenon, right here.

[cantbeserious]

3. Hmm ... Do Americans Truly Know What Has Been Done Other Than Endless Cheerleading?

eom

[leveymg]

4. When they find out - e.g., Iraq WMD deception - a large percentage do nothing and will continue to

support virtually any military misadventure the national leadership decides to jump into.

Many people know what they know, and know what they want to know. That isn't all Fox News effect.

[cantbeserious]

5. Yes - The Filters Of The Oligarchs Are Well Established - However, The Question Still Stands

eom

[leveymg]

6. They know what's going on, and so long as they believe they benefit from it, and there is no real

alternative, a large percentage -- a hard core, perhaps 30 percent --supports practically anything that the national leadership does. Even when it's obviously against most of their own self-interest, such as cuts to Social Security. The captive corporate press is a force-multiplier, and can make that 30 percent look like 60 percent within 48 hours and 90 percent if given six months to "prep the battlefield."

But, it all comes down to the hard core 30 percent -- 5 percent conservative rich people running this system protected by the 25 percent flag waiving, heavily-armed true-believers -- the fact that the majority who don't agree with this system do nothing to directly challenge it is understandable, because it can get you fired, it can get you killed.

[cantbeserious]

7. So, 70% Of The Rest Of Americans Are Being Controlled By 25% Of American Flag Wavers

Good Odds By Vegas Standards

[siligut]

8. In general that 25% is better armed, prepared and protected than the 75%

There is a reason RWers tend to run in packs, like religions and the Aryan Brotherhood. And I don't believe that I am paranoid in believing many of our military leaders are RW.