IP: When intelligence fails from Online Asia Times

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

When intelligence fails

The terrorists who committed the heinous acts that destroyed the New York 
World Trade Center and a wing of the Pentagon at large loss of life will be 
"hunted down and punished", said US President George W Bush in his first 
reaction. They should be. Whether the US$30 billion a year US intelligence 
community, which so utterly failed to counter this unprecedented attack on 
the US and has failed on several occasions over the past several years to 
prevent terrorist acts against US citizens, installations and assets, will 
be able to carry out what Bush has asked is another matter entirely.

The term "intelligence" when applied to those outfits has more often than 
not appeared to be an oxymoron. Are we to believe that the very agencies 
that seemingly had no clue, no specific advance warning of and certainly no 
ability to prevent the September 11 "act of war" against the US will now, 
in short order, be able to reliably identify the attackers, their backers 
and organized networks and - along with the US military - exact retribution 
aggrieved Americans and citizens of civilized nations everywhere can 
consider just and effective?

<snip>

http://www.atimes.com/editor/CI14Ba01.html



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