Old Cedar Bridge Funding
Saturday, January 27th, 2007Our legislature is going to consider funding to repair/replace the bridge, an important link in local cycling routes. If you’re not familiar with it…
Archive for January 27th, 2007
Secret History of the CIA
Saturday, January 27th, 2007WifERob and I saw The Good Shepherd a few weeks back. While I’m not so doctrinaire in my reading habits as Smithers, I do enjoy my history studies and this movie rekindled my interest in our clandestine service, CIA.
I did some research on the screenplay (original, by Eric Roth), and its historical basis is largely two books: a biography of James Jesus Angleton, longtime CIA director of counter-intelligence, and The Secret History of the CIA by Joseph Trento. The latter is a compelling narrative compiled from some interviews of agency, mi6 and kgb alums (esp Angleton), and information from press accounts and declassified documents.
I sent off Smithers with this book for the long flight to France. I know he’ll enjoy the read.
This book really made me angry, exposing CIA’s impatience, ignorance of other cultures and overreaching arrogance. Great attributes for Hollywood drama or Greek tragedy, lousy for spycraft. Good way to get ass-humped by the competition, which is every country in the spy game. The result was an abject failure by our spy service, an organization full of careerists punctuated all too often by double agents and moles.
Secret History also exposes how the CIA leadership was able to leverage Red paranoia and dirty secrets about politicos into unknown/unauthorized covert missions, funding largesse and a cultural narrative that omitted or overlooked most of their excesses and failures.
It left me wondering which I like least: the loose-cannon CIA of the Cold War:
NSC 10/2 directed CIA to conduct “covert” rather than merely “psychological” operations, defining them as all activities “which are conducted or sponsored by this Government against hostile foreign states or groups or in support of friendly foreign states or groups but which are so planned and executed that any US Government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorized persons and that if uncovered the US Government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them.”
Carte blanche through deniability, More here…
or the CIA of recent memory that gets rolled by Feith and the OSP:
But Drumheller says many CIA analysts were skeptical. “Most people came to the opinion that there was something questionable about it,” he says.
Questionable? Then wouldn’t it be the agency’s duty to America (which I love, Jim) to stand up and call bullshit on the neo-con plans for Iraq?! ”No, let’s see what these nutjobs want to do and strand a Rummy-lean fighting force in multi-vector urban combat hell for years.” Our national shame, condemning our brothers and sisters to the twilight of Reason. March on, WifERob!!!!!
Other nice tidbits: you’ll find out that the paper of record was complicit in many CIA failures (which makes this horseshit NY Times review of Good Shepherd, parroting the official Agency line on Angleton, doubly ironic, as in meta-metacritique rendered as Sulzberger valentine: ”I *heart* my access to power.” sorry, I digress); also a pretty compelling theory of JFK’s assassination involving Kremlin intrigues and a justifiably grumpy Castro, so Byzantine it rings exactly true given the Agency’s Secret History.
Something not seen everyday
Saturday, January 27th, 2007
Something not seen everyday
Originally uploaded by smithersmpls.
We visited Benard Hinault’s personal mechanic from back in the Gitane/Renault and La Vie Claire days. He took us down in the basement to show us something we might have found interesting.
From the floor, behind a pile of ski stuff he pulled out a trophy. We read the inscription on the trophy:
“Benard Hinault – 1985 Giro d’Italia”
It was the victors trophy that Hinault was given on the podium of the final stage of the ‘85 Giro after winning the overall race.
An amazing piece of history stored in some dudes basement in Lyon France.
(sent wireless via Treo 650)
Old Lyon main street
Saturday, January 27th, 2007
Old Lyon main street
Originally uploaded by smithersmpls.
(sent wireless via Treo 650)
