Sarah wrote: > There's also an excellent piece in the latest issue of Vanity Fair on > how the CIA opposes the spread of democracy in Iraq and the Middle > East generally (as does the British intelligence community). The > article also claims that it's the CIA that is suppressing information > on the pre-September 11 links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin > Laden - because the intelligence is coming from the Iraqi National > Congress (INC) in London, which the CIA doesn't like because the INC > is a pro-democracy group.
I quoted part of the article here last week. I've lent the magazine out and don't have it handy, but my interpretation was that the INC alleged it was treated duplicitiously by the CIA in the 90s - sometimes supported and sometimes hung out to dry. The article stressed that the current CIA is now re-evaluating and re-analyzing the 100 + reports going back to 1992 which documented cooperation between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. I am as clueless as most as to why the CIA suppressed so much intelligence in the 90s - though there is speculation that the Clinton administration did not want to get embroiled in a war while everything was going along relatively rosy during the 90s. It was also alleged in the article that first Bush administration gave the impression it would help the INC and then left them hanging when they tried to overthrow Hussein after the Gulf War. I had an interesting chat recently with a friend who used to be in Naval intelligence. He has a very interesting perspective having served all over the mid-east and mediterranean for several years in the 80s and early 90s. I told him that I had always assumed my entire life that the U.S. was completely protected from attacks such as those of 9/11. If an airplane is going erratically off course, then it would be immediately intercepted in some way. If terrorist cells were plotting an attack, it would be known and thwarted behind the scenes. He told me that I was right to assume that prior to the end of the Cold War. He said that after the Cold War ended, the U.S. cut back enormously on military support and personnel around the world because it was thought to no longer be needed once the Soviet Union and its satellites fell. The catch is that all of those military personnel were involved in collecting intelligence on a daily basis all over the world and feeding it to the CIA and other agencies. When the military was cut back, the CIA lost a huge part of its intelligence arm. As for U.S. support of Israel, someone should hunt down the information on the billions in money, aid and military support the U.S. gives to other/Muslim countries in the middle east. I've seen this data, but am too lazy to put it together right now. I think it should be part of the discussion, however. Also, I've read that the European Union has given hundreds of millions to the PLO over the years to ostensibly help the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, most of it has allegedly (apparently) gone into weapons, funding terrorism and Arafat's Swiss bank accounts. All of these aspects need to be part of the equation, too. I want peace, love and understanding, too, but I think before we can get there, we need to really learn a whole lot more about the situation that we've sort of ignored for many years, thinking it was not our problem or business. Part of me would still like to think that way, but I feel now that many are being forced to look at it and find some real solutions. With knowledge comes understanding. Kakki
