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Name: Antony Loewenstein
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Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Look elsewhere

It seems like a few issues were missed in the rush to war in Iraq:

"A new book on the government's secret anti-terrorism operations describes how the CIA recruited an Iraqi-American anesthesiologist in 2002 to obtain information from her brother, who was a figure in Saddam Hussein's nuclear program.

"Dr. Sawsan Alhaddad of Cleveland made the dangerous trip to Iraq on the CIA's behalf. The book said her brother was stunned by her questions about the nuclear program because — he said — it had been dead for a decade."

This book appears to confirm that Western intelligence services are hopelessly inept and politically compromised in the years since September 11. The American people are increasingly waking up to this fact.

1 Comments:

Blogger Pete said...

CIA issues aside Australia's own intelligence efforts are largely ignored.

Politically compromised? Yes. Particularly at the analysis end. For example when the PM asks ONA to provide material for his speeches the ONA's secret analytical reports then have to be consistent with the propaganda in his speeches. This process is detailed in "Axis of Deceit" by Andrew Wilkie.

Hopelessly inept? Not at the collection end. The arrest of suspected terrorists in Melbourne and Sydney appeared to go smoothly and at the right time.

The relative lack of followup violence in Sydney through well timed arrests of Lebanese and right wing Anglo extremists may owe something to good intelligence.

Basically intelligence agencies don't advertise their good works (except when politicians want Brownie points). Only their failures get the spotlight.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006 2:44:00 pm  

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