Dumb Intel

On the Unintelligent Uses of Intelligence
Written by Chris Floyd
Friday, 02 October 2009

I urge you most strenuously to repair immediately to Arthur Silber's site, and there set yourself to school on the dangerously unintelligent uses of "intelligence" – not only by ever-deceitful regimes and their sycophantic courtiers, but also, most grievously, by staunch opponents of the imperial system as well: "Fools for Empire (II): The Inescapable Pervasiveness of the Ruling Class Paradigm."

The essay is eloquent, cogent, deeply informed, insightful – and important. In addition to his own unique insights, Silber mines wisdom from such trenchant observers as Chalmers Johnson, Ray McGovern, Barbara Tuchman and Gabriel Kolko to give the lie to the corrosive belief that any output from the "intelligence" agencies can or should be relied upon – and the accompanying lie that our leaders and their spies possess super-secret knowledge which we peons must defer to. As Silber notes, the historical facts demonstrate overwhelmingly and irrefutably that "intelligence" always has been – and, more importantly, cannot avoid being – manipulated, incompetent, corrupted and wrong. Thus his observation:

This is why I maintain that you must always argue the policy, and that you must never argue about the intelligence. To the extent you argue the intelligence, you are doing the ruling class's bidding. They can change the intelligence quickly enough when they think doing so is necessary, as they have done in the past and as they will again. If you grant the legitimacy and accuracy of intelligence assessments on even one occasion, and if you utilize those assessments in making your own arguments, you're making your own work that much harder, and your future arguments will be far less convincing than they would be otherwise.


But a brief excerpt risks doing the post an injustice. You should head over there now, and read the whole thing.

GR 05-19

101.9 FM 104.3 Cable 'cfuv.uvic.ca'

Monday September 28, 2009

5:00:00 3:00 Welcome to GR, etc. It's well known, empires and civilizations rise and fall. In between that inevitable ebb and flow, societies go through several identifiable stages. One of those stages, one near civilization's end, is the age of corruption, deceit, and treachery.

One of the hallmarks of the end days is tyranny; the rich pray upon the poor, government turns on the citizenry, and the armies of empire return home to practice the brutality perfected abroad on the people who sent them.

If any of this sounds like something limited to antiquity, you must have missed the footage of the police riots attending the G20 summit in Pittsburgh over the weekend.

If you think the age of tyranny is something limited to the United States, you missed the last eight years of Gordon Campbell's destructive reign in B.C. The latest outrage the B.C. Liberals plan for the hard-bitten citizens is the sudden adoption of the HST, an unrepresentative and regressive tax hike against all who spend money, coming at a time when there is markedly less money to spend.

Brad Slade is a long-time, Victoria-based labour activist who thought his skills could be useful mobilizing opposition to the HST. He's now the Victoria organizer for FightHST.com and played a principal role organizing last week's first Victoria protest against the proposed tax. Brad Slade in the first half.

And; what connects we here in out of the way Victoria with the police rioters in Pennsylvania, or the imperial guards of the garrisons in Afghanistan, and Iraq? What happens to us individually and collectively when we allow military conquest be the agency of our promised prosperity? The death of democracy in three short acts in the second half.

And Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour for a view of what's new on your city's streets. But first, Brad Slade and singing out of tune with Gordo and Stephen's harmonized tax grab.

5:03:00 22:00 Discussion w/ Brad Slade

"Welcome to the program, Brad; what is the HST?"

5:25:00 1:00 Cart(s)
5:26:00 11:00 Janine Bandcroft
5:37:00 5:00 Music (The Fire This Time) #4 Get Thee Behind Me
5:42:00 5:00 Diatribe (Fascist Attacks for Those Who Remain)

The world order George Bush the elder intoned after America's first military engagement with Saddam Hussein is not really new. In one form or another, the operatives of the rulers of the world have been with us forever. CUE Whether the brutish centurions of the latter day Roman empire, or the banal little grey men who merely followed orders, the mass of humanity has always been subject to the pathological impulse to power of a dedicated and ruthless minority. There can be no final victory over this evil, it is a part of us that cannot be removed, but we can resist. In Pittsburgh this weekend, a few people braved the Hydra headed beast, insisting democracy be saved.

5:47:00 5:15 Music (TFTT) #10 Church Bells
5:52:00 7:00 Music (Midival Punditz - repeat) #1 under Bill Quigley

It's been remarked before, the evils of empire always come home to roost. Over these last few years we've witnessed a hardening of attitudes by police and government against the people they profess to represent. We've witnessed police killings, both in custody and on the streets balloon, even as the arsenals of those serving and protecting us have swelled with exotic devices promised to spare unnecessarily fatal encounters with citizens.

We've witnessed an impunity after the fact of crimes and deadly actions committed by law enforcement, and an apparent immunity to criticism. There is now an impervious air about these fractured pillar institutions whose perverse function seemingly seeks first to only serve and protect its own.

American human rights lawyer, Bill Quigley has borne witness to the deterioration of his country's stated principles. He has reported on the human rights abuses of Canada, America, and the United Nations' mission in Haiti, and he was in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He writes of the police riots in Pittsburgh: Quigley piece at PFP.

5:59:00 1:00 Thanks to Brad Slade, J9; Bill Quigley; upcoming.
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