This, of Course, WAS Bush's Fault

[....although of course Obama would like this kind of fault]

About as reassuring as hearing, in 1942, that the head of the OSS was a convert to National Socialism who looked forward to its implementation in this nation but found Adolf's methods excessive and counterproductive to the aims of the creed.

The House of Bush was fatally compromised, from the start, with this "wot". It's friendship and personal/political/financial alliance with the House of Saud [and this included a strong friendship with members of the House of Bin Laden] has blinded, has misled, may well have directly sabotaged, our efforts, and most importantly so at the start, when it was essential to convey to this nation who it was who attacked us and what system of thought compelled that attack: Islam.
Islam openly expresses its goal to be the imposition of Islam over everyone, and to extirpate from the face of the Earth the ways of the Infidel. And, yes, this to be extirpated includes our founding vision of a Free Republic and its radical notion of the Rights of Man, and of the freedom to pursue individual happiness untrammeled by the dictates of Lords of Versailles [be they dressed with secular or clerical finery].
After 9/11 the goal was expressed via the clear spelling out of its religious justification for the attack on Dar al Harb. This was led by the central clerics of the two major lines of Islam, Sunni and Shia, and by the direct support of their mosques for material and propagandistic action, but also by "Secular" Islam's embrace of that justification, and its engagement in support in these attacks.

Why, even within the House of Saud, Ever Our Friends and Allies, you might have had some quiet little subtle,hard to discern, "read carefully the tea leaves of WaPo" support for elements of the Jihad against us.........

And our "Top Guy", appointed by the House of Bush, turns out to be the Louis Ciphre of this age....and for us there will be Hell to pay.

Taking on Pepe's heartthrobs

The Coanda drone hard at work.

The Day of the Jackal

Turns out that the bomber who killed those CIA people in Afghanistan was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 36-year old doctor from Zarqa, Jordan (the hometown of Zarky, remember him?), an AQ guy supposedly recruited by Jordanian intelligence, but, in fact, a double agent. Question 1 (I ask it again): why not frisk him before letting him in (as SOP requires)? Question 2: why everybody and his brother bunched up around this guy, instead of just one or two talking to him (as SOP requires)?

Latest: He was not searched because his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, who is also a member of the Jordanian royal family, identified him as an agent Hmmm... Somehow, I don't think James Bond would have fallen for this trick. By the way, it is now thought that he was sent on his suicide mission by Mr al-Zawahiri himself.

As I was saying

here and here, this ain't good. Now I'm being channeled: Some former officers have been critical of the practice. One said allowing informants onto a CIA base was poor spy tradecraft and that officers should meet informants off-base. "In a war zone, they don't follow standard tradecraft," the former official said. "If you don't follow tradecraft rules, this is what happens."

The beat goes on

Eight US civilians killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. A "civilian surge" was one of the three core elements of the new US strategy for Afghanistan announced by US President Barack Obama at the beginning of the month. How is this supposed to help eradicate AQ?

Update. Further update: the bomber was being courted as an informant and was not frisked as he entered the base. Why not? Not. Rocket. Science.

Another update: Here is a pic of Jalaluddin Haqqani. The CIA helped him in the 1980s resist the Soviets. Now he's blowing up our boys. And we're fighting by Marquess of Queensberry rules. Of course.

Inspector Clouseau is alive and well

U.S. officials now, almost to a man, are becoming increasingly more convinced that Anwar Al-Awlaki is more than a radical cleric. Duhhh. Maybe in a year or two, they'll become even more convinced. Figuring this out takes a lot of time.

Update: Federal investigators monitoring Mr. Awlaki came across multiple communications from Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man charged with the shooting spree which killed 13 people. But they dismissed the contacts as routine and didn't delve further. You don't say.

Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy

They were "experienced frontline officers and their knowledge and expertise will be sorely missed" and not easily regenerated. Terrible, just terrible. RiP. But, but. Don't they teach newbies at The Farm anymore that one needs to frisk "informants" coming in? Sounds like a rookie mistake to me--just about at the same level as letting Abdul board the plane with a bomb in his undies, after being forewarned by his father. No?

Dazed and Confused: Guvament Intellygennts and Other Tales of Da Oxymoron.

Betcha Yer Life On It.

Ah, the CIA and the Computer. Like putting a really nifty calculator into the hands of really moronic algebra students. It's a Radiant Future, alright.