The number of idiots who think the Kurds are US allies in some way, don’t know anything about the history of the Kurds, and the number of times that they have been screwed over by the US. They are not going to take chances on our behalf, having been burned too many times believing our promises. They tolerate the US at the moment because it is to their advantage.

These people have no real loyalties, so they don’t understand the concept of honor, which is very important in South Asia and the Middle East. They deal with us the way we deal with them, which is a very ad hoc situation, and nothing to use as a base for long term policy.

Riding into Kabul with the Uzbeks and Tajiks of the Northern Alliance may have been cheap and easy, but it ignored a number of realities and cost us at Tora Bora. We needed Pashtuns and didn’t get connected until later. Even then people failed to understand the importance of tribes, which also screwed up a lot of things in Iraq.

Sometimes you just have to wonder at the monumental stupidity of the so-called developed world.

Many of us from *back then* predicted much of what is happening now (not in detail of course). We knew what the breakdown in the *way things are done* and the massive politicization of the Intel services (and even commercialization to some extent) would compromise effectiveness, accuracy etc, and destroy any remaining honor and trust.

Bending reality to fit political agenda’s is now a global problem sadly. It is going to really hurt when it all blows up eventually. The writing is on the wall, and it’s not fading with time.

Afghanistan is going to really hurt the USA and all associated with that debacle (like Aus). The Russians are still paying for that. They have very long memories and don’t forgive or forget. They are patient, strong, cunning and enormously proud. They will have their retribution one day. They may even allow the USA the illusion of *winning* (though Afghan pride might not allow that, still… there are some signs) because they know the USA has a very short attention span and can pay them back in a relatively short time. When the camel dung hits the big ol’ fan… ducking for cover won’t help. 🙂

Before these clowns took over no one talked about NSA. It wasn’t that its existence was secret, there were signs directing you to HQ and to the Annex. My parking sticker said I worked at the Annex. The thing was that the people didn’t go to parties and hang out with people from “the Village”. You did your job and didn’t talk about it. It was a military outfit.

We had people from different agencies on our aircraft and we didn’t share a lot of information, not because it was prohibited, but because we had different interests. When something came up that was of interest to someone else, you told them about it, but you didn’t share “war stories” that went beyond the shared experience.

Interaction with other groups usually involved equipment and definitely not sources and methods. Processed information was shared through established channels, the raw data almost never was until Reagan came in and made it a practice of using raw data to back up claims about people he didn’t like.

In intel and law enforcement, you never give up sources. You can’t keep sources if they don’t believe you will protect them. It’s a matter of trust, and if you violate trust once, you’ll never get it back. That is the real cost of the Valerie Plame episode – trust was violated to score cheap political points. We lost a network because the people at the top had a fit of pique. You can’t trust Republicans with secrets, it’s that simple. You don’t tell them anything you don’t want on the front page of newspapers.

The Mossad were OK before it became a path to political power, the same with the Italians. After that happened, the switch from policy to politics, neither was worth spit.

The basic problem is that the politicians don’t understand the need to see the world as it is, they want the world to be presented as they believe it to be. They don’t want to know that the Soviets shot down a Korean airliner because Soviet bureaucrats lied about the operational readiness of their radar net, it has to be because the Soviets are evil.

The politicians don’t want to be told that the Soviets have deployed a new aircraft type, because another agency guaranteed that it wouldn’t be ready for two years and you should ignore what is flying off your starboard wing.

Politics should be formulated around reality. Lately, the Hedgemony has been trying to bend reality to fit their politics.

Everyone needs insurance in case of an accident.

It really pissed me off the level of ignorance all around about *how things were done*. My ex *friends* (LOL) in Canberra made sure my life was as difficult as possible for years after. But, I have a lot of patience, and made sure I discovered some ghosts and skeletons (with help of people who owed me) and ensured the info would become pubic in the event of any sudden accidents. 🙂 I had learned a lot from my Russian & Arab friends. 🙂 They even offered to pay me handsomely to work for them. LOL At least they respected my decision to stay out of the game, so long as I *really* did stay out! 😉

And no, I am not at all worried about airing this on a public forum. *shrug* I really stopped caring some time ago, and the guilty have either retired, died, or gone AWOL by now (I keep tabs on things).

You know, I trust the Russians & Arabs that I dealt with far more than the Aussies, Brit’s, Yanks, French, Israeli’s I had to deal with. They at least can think into the distant future. *Our side* couldn’t see past next month.The Mossad & Shabak can’t be trusted to tell you the time (or to be accurate if they do), MI5 & 6 will make you and any proof you existed evaporate if it’s easier for them than dealing with you any other way (same for DGSE & DST), the CIA (and most US services) are too incompetent and unreliable to trust (as are our ASIO), our DSD and DIO can be dangerous if they decide you pose a threat, etc. The Russians will hit you if you pose any kind of threat and are of no possible value in the future to them, same with the Arabs. But, if they think you may be of real use in the future… They will keep their end of a bargain (usually). 😉 the Community is nothing if not fluid and dynamic. LOL It’s always curious to me that when people mention ‘Intel community’ or ‘Intel services’, especially in the *dirty games* category… They generally leave out the French (and to a lesser extent, Italians). Perhaps because the French are very good at it. LOL I have greater *respect* for DGSE than Mossad for example.

Well, this is longer and more detailed than I planned. 😉 Maybe I’ll use it in some form as the intro to my *book* (one day, when I know I have six months to live). 😉 LOL

Well, this should annoy a few people. That makes my day! LOL

Two years at DIA shouldn’t have warped his mind too badly. They generally tended to their “knitting”, and didn’t get pushy. Different focus than the “Company”, so it isn’t directly transferable experience.

All my time with NSA only qualified me to know I wouldn’t want to work in the CIA.

If he does nothing more than clean up their organizational structure and budgeting process, it will be a huge leap forward and probably be an immense relief to the guys in the field. My impression was there didn’t exist any strong differentiation between administrative staff and operational positions.

This is about the first choice I’ve heard that Obama has made that is at least somewhat agreeable. *sigh* Of course, what the press (and blogs) say and what actually happens may well be two quite different things. 🙂

– Badtux the Intelligent Penguin

Steve Bates´s last blog post..One Rude Son Of A Bar

What’s next: the Taco Bell chihuahua to head Commerce?

OT: there’s supposed to be a way, Steve. I’ll check on it.