It’s late, I’m watching Colbert and it occurs to me that neither of the following two news items surprises me in the least:
* Despite a massive, overwhelming “surge” totaling 20% more troops the violence in Iraq has moved from Baghdad to other provinces without decreasing at all. Of course Baghdad remains plenty violent. Unless we scoot the goalposts all the way back to the line of scrimmage and declare our “surge” a success as long as we don’t lose yards, someone needs to put a fork in this war and get the troops out.
* When you take away oversight and grant law enforcement officers a vague, open-ended set of new powers, they will overstep the law. In this way FBI agents are like every other group of people on the planet.
It ought to depress the hell out of me that our army is bleeding to death in the mideast without accomplishing a thing while the FBI has started getting cozy with its J. Edgar Hoover roots. We live in the crazy black helicopter land that used to exist only in Tim McVeigh’s fevered imagination, but with extra incompetence abroad. Governmentally speaking it’s like living in some parody of a Michael Bay disaster movie where sixteen existential crises happen all at once. And the whole time I get to enjoy the sight of Joe Klein and David Broder tut tutting about the terrible unseemliness of the Democrats if they make too big a deal about that asteroid thing. It’s surreal.
Jon H
Cheney has that Hoover vibe, doesn’t he?
jake
But Tim, Gen. Petraeus is saying the “Full Surge” hasn’t kicked in yet. They’re still in the rapid re-positioning of goal posts phase of operations. Give it another Friedman or three, an additional number of soldiers we don’t have and he’ll be ready to give a full and complete analysis of the situation.
Gag.
From the article: “Case agents are now told that they must identify mistakenly produced information and isolate it from investigative files.”
Isolate? So they have it, they know they shouldn’t have it but they’re going to keep it. Sure guys, we trust you. And I’m sure you’ll make “isolating” that info. a top priority. Once you figure out where it is and what you have and whether or not it’s really relevant because that’s what this is all about, right? Keeping us safe, stopping the bad guys, right? Because you know that even if you gather private information on every person in the US that just means you have a lot of data, right? You guys aren’t just grabbing what you can so that when the next bad thing happens you can say “Look! We had the data, we just hadn’t analyzed it yet” are you?
Sure. We trust you.
raff
Seriously, did any intellectually honest people actually expect the “surge” to accomplish anything? Other than more violence, that is.
Zifnab
That depends on how good he looks in a dress.
Jake
No.
SA2SQ Vol. XVII
A serious question: How does intellectual honesty differ from regular honesty? Does the former imply a person who is too stupid to know he’s wrong?
You just HAD to go there, didn’t you? Pass the mind bleach please.
And fer Christsakes please don’t tell us that compared to Gonezo, Cheney is a hottie.
Tsulagi
Continuing FUBAR=continuing success. If one increases, so does the other. It’s known math.
Cris
Tim-you get your news from Colbert? LOL You are either some sort of socialist propagandist or a major league dumbass. Maybe both; they are not mutually exclusive.
Alex Scott
Oh lord, you had to mention Michael Bay. Now I’m having visions of a Fox News debate about how Optimus Prime is a liberal coward, and torture is necessary to combat the Decepticon threat.
Tim F.
Um, neither news item came up on Colbert. Someone who is able to blog while watching tv probably can also check his RSS news feed. Try it sometime, but wait until Hannity breaks to commercials so you don’t hurt yourself.
Rome Again
Only the wingnuts did. Support the Troops wasn’t just a fervent wish, it was a Jiminy Cricket dream come true, don’t you know. They will say we failed because half the country wasn’t believing in it and bringing it to fruition hard enough. It’s that purpose driven life thing. See the goal, actualize the goal… of course, it doesn’t really work that way, but, shhhh, don’t tell them right when they’re about to lose a major election.
Rome Again
LMAO, good one Tim.
Dreggas
Anyone watch Lil’ Bush? Funny Shit.
On topic though, Maybe the creators of the X-Files were ahead of the times with the black helicopters and Mulder’s paranoia?
Jake
Damn! I forgot. OK, I zonked out in the library shortly after nightfall and only woke up hours later because one cat started pawing at my face and the weight of the one perched on my legs cut off blood flow to my feet.
So I wasn’t awake to remember, but if I had been awake I likely would’ve forgotten.
Or somethin’.
Rome Again
Prescience isn’t isolated to just the creators of the X-Files… you have Orwell and others expressing that sort of thing much earlier. If you think about it, even our Founding Fathers had fears of the sort that relate well to the crap that we’re dealing with today.
Tsulagi
Not going to happen. During commercial breaks one of their hands is too busy.
Jake
In other words, throughout history there have been megalomaniacs who shouldn’t be allowed power over a goldfish, much less other human beings.
When they do get it, watch out.
Citizen Deux
Let’s make sure we define the measure of success for the “surge”. Was it to reduce overall violence? How do attacks compare against this same period last year? Would Iraq devolve into the Gaza strip if we left (my guess is yes)?
You bet the military operation is crticially flawed. Mostly because the in bred tribal violence and lack of participation by DoS and others has made this a one team show.
PS – Law enforcement has always “bent the rules” in their work. It comes from having to deal with people who routinely flout them and then play the rules of the system against its enforcers…sort of like the situation on the ground in Iraq.
ThymeZone
We knew what you meant. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, comapdre.
Jake
I was telling them about the power and majesty of Jesus (NYYM) and we were so tired afterwards we fell asleep! [/Lonnie Latham Defense]
tBone
Yes, let’s!
Well, let’s see (note: figures are from that notorious moonbat enclave, the Pentagon, so take with a grain of salt):
Civilian casualties have approximately doubled. Weekly attacks (75% of which are aimed at our troops)have increased from 600 to 1,000. Looking on the bright side, violence in Baghdad did decrease slightly. Oh, but violence is on the rise outside of the capitol. And al-Queda maintains the ability to conduct “”high-profile, mass-casualty attacks” in Baghdad. Hmm. That doesn’t sound too good.
Still, I think the message is clear: we just need to give the surge more time!
And only 28% of the people in the stands are standing up to cheer for that team! Disgraceful.
Jake
Lame ass crap like this almost makes me miss the D-man.
timeisart
The FBI’s culture of deception and lawbreaking is a source of snickers and chortles to FBI insiders. Hoover invaded our privacy at will. He spied on the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. Mueller is a lying bitch who now has a multi-million dollar Gulstream VIII to fly around the country because he told Congress it would be used for special agent infiltration into Iraq, or some such nonsense. Why not? Bush has lowered the bar so everyone is piling on the lies that fly, deny til you die bandwagon.
timeisart
The FBI’s culture of deception and lawbreaking is a source of snickers and chortles to FBI insiders. Hoover invaded our privacy at will. He spied on the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. Mueller is a lying bitch who now has a multi-million dollar Gulstream VIII to fly around the country because he told Congress it would be used for special agent infiltration into Iraq, or some such nonsense. Why not? Bush has lowered the bar so everyone is piling on the lies that fly, deny til you die bandwagon.
timeisart
The FBI’s culture of deception and lawbreaking is a source of snickers and chortles to FBI insiders. Hoover invaded our privacy at will. He spied on the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. Mueller is a lying bitch who now has a multi-million dollar Gulstream VIII to fly around the country because he told Congress it would be used for special agent infiltration into Iraq, or some such nonsense. Why not? Bush has lowered the bar so everyone is piling on the lies that fly, deny til you die bandwagon.