Time for a new breed

Who are the "terrorism experts" that constantly grace our screens? What are their backgrounds, qualifications and experience in the field? According to Lebanon's Daily Star columnist Rami G. Khouri, the West, and especially America, is being treated to "bravado, entertainment, 'kicking ass,' feel-good sentimentality, flag-waving patriotism, and "aw-shucks" amazement at the consistent capacity of foreigners, especially in the Arab and Islamic world, to behave according to the atavistic violence that defines them and their politics, history, religion and culture." (This also sounds like some contributors to this blog, mouthing clueless anti-Islam and blindly pro-Western propaganda.)

The key point: "Their guesswork is ideologically defined by the prevalent White House script of the day." And we can include Downing Street or Canberra, too. Are we receiving the information we want to hear or intelligence that offers uncomfortable positions on Western foreign policy decisions?