Sunni, Shia & Israeli Links ...
Hat tip to Ms. Pirie - and to the preservation of her cover right up to the end.
Quote:
(from Julia Pirie's obit)
Until her death on September 2 Julia Pirie continued to receive her pension from the Communist Party, paid monthly into her account from a bank in Italy. ....
One hopes that MI5 was as or more generous to her retirement account.
Her bio does illustrate one facet of the Middle East (broadly construed geographically):
Quote:
.... Julia Pirie once travelled to Barcelona, renting a flat immediately below one occupied by IRA officials. The flat, rented by members of the Catalan terrorist group Terra Lliure, was being used by the IRA as a safe house and a temporary store for shipments of gold bullion supplied by the Libyan President Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
What a diverse collection of groups. "The enemies of my enemies are my friends."
Having no Sunni, Shia & Israeli links, I tend to look at the attempts to link up this or that group, think tank, research institute, etc., as being something of a gigantic carnival hall of mirrors. Entering that hall of mirrors is more likely to generate bad analysis than anything else.
No doubt that the Middle East generates a good deal of flaming between proponents of the Sunni, Shia & Israeli positions (none of which is monolithic in itself) - and, the emotional intensity leads to nasty ad hominem attacks that may or may not be justified - and, which are immaterial (in most cases) to the arguments that are being made.
All that illustrates another facet of the Middle East:: "You steal my cow. I will burn down your barn - with all of your extended family within it."
Getting embroiled in the back and forth attacks will not be helpful in developing the future of the US intelligence community (communities, to be more accurate). As I read Ishmael Jones, Gary Berntsen and Bob Baer, all are genuinely committed to US interests. Each of them has a different slant on what should be done to further those interests.
My own reading on Islam covers the spectrum from Karen Armstrong to Robert Spencer, with people like John Esposito, Bernard Lewis and A.J. Arberry in the middle - and with the Qur'an as the ultimate source (since I am not an Arabist, I have to make do with M.H. Shakir's translation).
I guess my final point is that it helps to be a bit eclectic - and open-minded - in considering the different poiints of view before reaching a black & white conclusion.
PS: For those not acquainted with Arberry (expertise in both Arabic and Persian studies; dead since 1969), his Wiki bio is here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._Arberry
Operation Hotel California
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jmm99
Getting embroiled in the back and forth attacks will not be helpful in developing the future of the US intelligence community (communities, to be more accurate). As I read Ishmael Jones, Gary Berntsen and Bob Baer, all are genuinely committed to US interests. Each of them has a different slant on what should be done to further those interests.
My own reading on Islam covers the spectrum from Karen Armstrong to Robert Spencer, with people like John Esposito, Bernard Lewis and A.J. Arberry in the middle - and with the Qur'an as the ultimate source (since I am not an Arabist, I have to make do with M.H. Shakir's translation).
I guess my final point is that it helps to be a bit eclectic - and open-minded - in considering the different points of view before reaching a black & white conclusion.
thanks for all the feedback, gents... and i agree whole heartedly with this post, jmm99 (thanks for the hint).
not as widely read as most in this forum, i'm not really contributing much as far as analysis goes, but definitely learning a great deal from everyone here (i appreciate the slight nudge away from mediocre thinking or conclusions).
as far as black/white, us/them, i do have my bias against the stuff coming out of arabia. thanks for the book/author recommendations.
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just finished reading 'operation hotel california' by faddis. it's pretty much on the same line as jones, baer, berntsen--HQ sucks ass and is run by a bunch of pansies. but then half way through the book, faddis sets his sites on one individual--col. waltemeyer, 10th SF group.
faddis paints him as the biggest Ahole ever to walk the earth (a complete opposite from linda robinson's portrait of the guy, in her book 'masters of chaos', but then again she wrote everyone up like heroes in romance novels).
according to faddis, waltemeyer, by simply being an Ahole lost the surrender of saddam's northern command, the 5th corps. the surrender of the 5th corps would've led to other such official surrenders throughout iraq, thus preserving the security apparatus needed to maintain peace and order, after the invasion.
is this possible? can one man actually screw up an armistice or formal surrender by just simply being an Ahole? i thought the checks and balances within the chain of command was designed to prevent such occurences (if it did happened as faddis described)-- this is the reason there are XOs, adjutants, officers w/ law degrees and even senior NCOs.
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thought this was a good documentary: www.torturingdemocracy.org