intel official quits - and rings the alarm bell
June 16, 2003 9:05 AM   Subscribe

the administration is "underestimating the enemy." It has failed to address the root causes of terror, he said. "The difficult, long-term issues both at home and abroad have been avoided, neglected or shortchanged and generally underfunded." Would we prefer to have this man providing intelligence information to our president more than a woman who has an oil tanker named after her?
posted by specialk420 (33 comments total)
 
> "The difficult, long-term issues both at home and abroad
> have been avoided, neglected or shortchanged and
> generally underfunded."

Won't be finding out who this deep thinker is unless someone tells me, since I never read sites that require registration or even bother to dig up a fake reg, but he/she is officially as of this morning the ten quadrillionth person to say this about [insert _topic_here].

What we need is more cleverness about fixing things without addressing underlying root causes. Root causes have root causes too, y'know, and they have to be fixed, and it all goes back to a deeply flawed Big Bang. The Root Cause crowd can start there at the first instant of time and work forward, because starting at any subsequent point is arbitrary and superficial and basically Republican.

posted by jfuller at 9:26 AM on June 16, 2003


> since I never read sites that require registration

ceci n'est pas un site.
posted by jfuller at 9:29 AM on June 16, 2003


It's a great article, it's an important subject. If anyone hasn't registered for the Washington Post's site yet, this article makes registering worthwhile.
posted by VulcanMike at 9:37 AM on June 16, 2003


Won't be finding out who this deep thinker is unless someone tells me, since I never read sites that require registration or even bother to dig up a fake reg,

but here's my preformatted opinion.
posted by y2karl at 9:50 AM on June 16, 2003


Und zo? It's a preformatted insight we've heard uncounted times before. Naturally one doesn't approach it with freshness and zest.
posted by jfuller at 10:03 AM on June 16, 2003


Would we prefer to have this man providing intelligence information to our president more than a woman who has an oil tanker named after her?

What an accurate characterization of Condoleeza Rice! She's significant because she has an oil tanker named after her!

Herewith, for purposes of completeness only, some of Dr. Rice's qualifications:
  • Born November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama, she earned her bachelor's degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974; her master's from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981.
  • At Stanford, she has been a member of the Center for International Security and Arms Control, a Senior Fellow of the Institute for International Studies, and a Fellow (by courtesy) of the Hoover Institution. Her books include Germany Unified and Europe Transformed (1995) with Philip Zelikow, The Gorbachev Era (1986) with Alexander Dallin, and Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984). She also has written numerous articles on Soviet and East European foreign and defense policy, and has addressed audiences in settings ranging from the U.S. Ambassador's Residence in Moscow to the Commonwealth Club to the 1992 and 2000 Republican National Conventions.
  • From 1989 through March 1991, the period of German reunification and the final days of the Soviet Union, she served in the Bush Administration as Director, and then Senior Director, of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council, and a Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In 1986, while an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, she served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1997, she served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender -- Integrated Training in the Military.
And, of course, she has an oil tanker named after her.
posted by pardonyou? at 10:24 AM on June 16, 2003


I never read sites that require registration or even bother to dig up a fake reg

or get up off the couch - turn off the tube... and go for a walk down to the local newstand - or library.
posted by specialk420 at 10:25 AM on June 16, 2003


It's a preformatted insight

How so? The man was a security advisor to President Bush. I really haven't heard many of them say that the way security is being approached is a big mistake. In fact, I haven't heard many mainstream intel people leak these kinds of ideas.

Hmm, I wonder if the fact the guy has joined Sen. Kerry's presidential campaign has anything to do with it? Perhaps Kerry is going to make homeland security his main issue?
posted by cell divide at 10:31 AM on June 16, 2003


Hey, don't you mean "misunderestimating the enemy"?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 10:31 AM on June 16, 2003


Dr. Rice's qualifications

She was a member of the boards of directors for the Chevron Corporation

convienently left out of your post pardonyou?.
posted by specialk420 at 10:31 AM on June 16, 2003


I had had this URL sentme. I register--requires but 3 brief things. and the article very worth reading. Unfortunately, as I wrote my friend, the guy making the statementsis in great positiin to know a ton of material but since he is now coming out of the closet as a Democrat (!) he will be quickly dismissed by those protective of the president. Should be read rather than dismissed.
posted by Postroad at 10:42 AM on June 16, 2003


Dr. Rice's qualifications:

She is part of the most corrupt, incompetent, dishonest, bloodthirsty American administrations in living memory. Therefore, she is as tainted as the rest of them.

This article really ought to make people sit up and take notice. This isn't just any old civil servant quitting his job. This is the President's security advisor actively joining a rival's campaign in order to put his former boss out of work. When did that last happen?
posted by salmacis at 10:44 AM on June 16, 2003


And the oil tanker naming is important how?
posted by alumshubby at 10:48 AM on June 16, 2003


She was a member of the boards of directors for the Chevron Corporation

Good for her, and publicly known as well. It should be stressed, within this context, that C. Rice wrote extensively on foreign affairs and reads russian.

She is part of the most corrupt, incompetent, dishonest, bloodthirsty American administrations in living memory.

Please substantiate your claims.
posted by 111 at 10:48 AM on June 16, 2003


convienently left out of your post pardonyou?.

Actually, not convenient at all -- I didn't reference any of the boards she served on because I didn't think they would be relevant to her national security abilities. I also didn't note that she was a concert pianist and figure skater for the same reasons.

My point was that the "oil tanker" reference was a disingenuous cheap shot. And if we're talking about convenient omissions, I'm wondering why didn't you point out that Rand Beers is a registered Democrat who has agreed to advise the Kerry campaign?
posted by pardonyou? at 10:57 AM on June 16, 2003


She is part of the most corrupt, incompetent, dishonest, bloodthirsty American administrations in living memory. Therefore, she is as tainted as the rest of them.

**Breathes deep**

Damn, I love the smell of caustic liberal outrage in the morning! Lets you know you're alive.
posted by insomnyuk at 11:00 AM on June 16, 2003


I'm missing something here. This guy is so pissed at the administration--granted, a militaristic, right wing, neocon, republican administration--for not being *tough* enough, so he is going to join the camp of a squishy, wishy-washy pacifist New England liberal?

What? Does he think that this weeble has more spine than the others? Or is he just a sorehead.
posted by kablam at 11:08 AM on June 16, 2003


disingenuous cheap shot

one might ask if this adminstrations close ties to the oil industry (the ss condi rice seems to be a fairly enormous clue as to just how close) and vis a vis saudia arabia has hampered the "war on terror" and where the real threats lie ... numerous intelligence officials are beginning to blow the whistle - you would think red blooded america loving conservative republicans would be as well - and applauding this mans actions while they are at it.
posted by specialk420 at 11:20 AM on June 16, 2003


Ok 420, what should the admin be doing viz Saudi that they aren't doing because of the pernicious influence of big oil?
posted by ednopantz at 11:27 AM on June 16, 2003


Dr. Rice's qualifications

Former Republican babe of the week
posted by cip at 11:28 AM on June 16, 2003


what should the admin be doing viz Saudi that they aren't doing because of the pernicious influence of big oil?

perhaps reducing the amount of oil we purchase from that country daily... through some small amount of leadership on energy conservation here at home would be a start.

pakistan seems to be able to cough up an al queda guy now and then... where are the arrests in saudi arabia?
posted by specialk420 at 11:40 AM on June 16, 2003


where are the arrests in saudi arabia?

you mean, other than yesterday's shootout in Mecca?
posted by ednopantz at 11:58 AM on June 16, 2003


Just to clear something up the tanker was renamed a while back:

When asked whether the president should call the CEO of Chevron and say, “Take the name off the tanker,” McLellan said, “I think the issue has been addressed.” “We made the change to eliminate unnecessary attention caused by the vessel’s original name,” says Chevron spokesperson Fred Gorell.

Asked whether the White House had asked for the name change, Gorell told the San Francisco Chronicle “that’s not for me to discuss.”

In April, when the controversy was brewing, a spokesperson for Chevron said that the company would not rename the Condi Rice tanker. “If you remember, Carla Hills was on our board, and went off the board to take a role in the administration, and we did not rename the tanker,” the spokesperson said at the time.

posted by euphorb at 12:41 PM on June 16, 2003


Best paragraph of the article is is this:

Part of that stemmed from his frustration with the culture of the White House. He was loath to discuss it. His wife, Bonnie, a school administrator, was not: "It's a very closed, small, controlled group. This is an administration that determines what it thinks and then sets about to prove it. There's almost a religious kind of certainty. There's no curiosity about opposing points of view. It's very scary. There's kind of a ghost agenda."

If anybody understands groupthink and fiefdom-building, trust me, it's a school administrator -- Mrs. Alums is one. If Bonnie turns out to be a regular on MeFi, I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
posted by alumshubby at 12:58 PM on June 16, 2003


She is part of the most corrupt, incompetent, dishonest, bloodthirsty American administrations in living memory.

Please substantiate your claims.


I hate to butt in, however...
posted by mcsweetie at 2:03 PM on June 16, 2003


I'm missing something here. This guy is so pissed at the administration--granted, a militaristic, right wing, neocon, republican administration--for not being *tough* enough, so he is going to join the camp of a squishy, wishy-washy pacifist New England liberal?


I felt that Beers left the administration because he felt their "toughness" was misdirected. Instead of doing the real work of coalition building, accumulating accurate intelligence, crafting thoughtful foreign policy and (yes jfuller) addressing the underpinnings of terrorism, the Bush White House just goes to war. Making actual changes to ensure American security would require a great vision and a great deal more work then the administration appears to have at its disposal. War, in a counter-intuitive way, is easier since it creates an environment were policies aren't questioned or even examined. Instead of doing the hard work of pointing out the errors of 50+ years of misguided foreign policy, Bush opts for the easy job of bombing 3rd world countries and demanding blind patriotism from his subjects the American public.
posted by elwoodwiles at 2:52 PM on June 16, 2003


on condoleeza rice - and what happened to her the brains she apparently had as she was growing up:


"She left them in grad school when she realized power comes with the old
white boys...

And she wanted to get herself some.

Power, that is."


from a former long time employee.
posted by specialk420 at 4:56 PM on June 16, 2003


Let me also add,

Of the Democratic candidates, Kerry offered the greatest expertise in foreign affairs and security issues, he decided. Like Beers, Kerry had served in Vietnam. As a civil servant, Beers liked Kerry's emphasis on national service.

So really Beers is entering the camp of a "squishy, wishy-washy pacifist" who actually did his duty by serving his country. It's kind of ironic that Kerry was a solider while Bush was off partying on his families connections, yet GDub is considered "tough."

/back to talking about Condoleeza Rice for reasons I can't quite figure out.
posted by elwoodwiles at 5:29 PM on June 16, 2003


Jesus did anybody in this thread even read the damn article?
posted by filchyboy at 5:30 PM on June 16, 2003


filchyboy, too bad the article got derailed by the Condi Rice debate and the issue of site registration. I agree with elwoodwiles assessment.

BTW, this was also posted at warfilter, and here is the thread.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:21 PM on June 16, 2003


Power, that is."

And up from the ground came a-bubblin' crude....

So, um, what do they call the tanker now?
posted by y2karl at 8:27 PM on June 16, 2003


Christ, filchyboy, I only quoted the damn thing, y'know?

If Kerry wants to challenge W on the national-security front, it'll certainly help having a "ringer" from W's own camp to point out where the mistakes have been made.

I've been pondering the FPP's initial remark, and while underestimating an enemy is nothing new, I don't think W & Co. are naive or mechanistic enough to think they can simply pacify a southwest Asian nation or two and suddenly the terrorists will be knocked permanently on their asses. In fact, the White House seems oblivious to the idea that their two military campaigns could prove counterproductive in the short run, enraging and emboldening a whole new crop of terrorists to attack US interests.
posted by alumshubby at 9:23 PM on June 16, 2003


In fact, the White House seems oblivious to the idea that their two military campaigns could prove counterproductive in the short run, enraging and emboldening a whole new crop of terrorists to attack US interests.

Exactly alumshubby! And that is what Beers (err...his wife) said too:

"It's a very closed, small, controlled group. This is an administration that determines what it thinks and then sets about to prove it. There's almost a religious kind of certainty. There's no curiosity about opposing points of view. It's very scary. There's kind of a ghost agenda."

And that is very scary.

posted by nofundy at 4:39 AM on June 17, 2003


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