Quote Originally Posted by JMA View Post
Well as your own Daniel Patrick Moynihan has articulated so well that the intelligence community has done little more than disappoint in all respects.

Where he got it wrong (IMHO) was to promote the absorption of the CIA into the State Department. That would have been catastrophic as it has now finally been confirmed (thank you Wikileaks) that the State Department is even more incompetent than the CIA (if that is possible).

I would love to hear of any list of CIA successes since their inception in 1947... should I hold my breath?
Did anyone predict what happened in Egypt? Not that I'm aware of. Emergent phenomena cannot be predicted except through guesswork.

And yes, intelligence comes with a lot of opportunity for failure and it is (or should be) a humbling profession.

I personally have never much liked the CIA, but I won't deny them their successes. If you aren't aware of any, then I suggest you read any of Jeffrey Richelson's books on the agency and intelligence community.


Well, was not the Al Qaeda/Saddam connection one of the rationales for starting that war? Used a lot of impressive war machinery in that one.

Then I seem to remember the whole Afghanistan thing started because Al Qaeda was allowed safe haven there. More impressive stuff used there and lots of troops.

So there we have Iraq and Afghanistan... and how come chose to ignore that?
As I recall, Iraq and Afghanistan didn't exactly turn out as expected and, given the state of the USA, I doubt the American people will support similar invasions elsewhere - even if one believes such invasions are necessary and appropriate given the threat posed by AQ. Maybe it's different where you live, but here I think the idea that invading countries with large conventional forces to rout out terrorist organizations is pretty much bankrupt.