| Jackson50 said: What worries me is that the CIA and the other intelligence agencies have considerably damaged their credibility. How do we know if they have thoroughly vetted their source? Can they be trusted if they base a significant claim on one source? It reminds me of the dramatic shift in our assessment of Iran's ambitions. When the NIE came out in late 2007 that was markedly different from previous estimates, it was clear that it was based mostly on Asgari's information. Yes, Asgari is a more credible source than Alwan, but it still creates doubt. |
Fortunately from what I have seen the CIA, the FBI, and the other intelligence branches really feel embarassed that they failed so badly on intelligence, and have taken a lot of steps to change the way they handle intelligence.
And I say that as a person who was incredibly skeptical of these organizations after it turned out that the Iraq intelligence was a bunch of crap.
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
