In all fairness, the U.S. intelligence communities intelligence failure about al-Qaeda was a series of blunders over time, to include my all time favorite, the Torricelli amendment that made recruiting people with ties to terrorist groups illegal without special approval - it seems some of these people are unsavory and criminals - gasp! And of course, I'll admit, many at the Agency had relegated Afghanistan to the far back shelf as yesterday's news.

Like any bureaucratic institution that gets caught-up in failure, as the CIA did, they turned to exceptional measures, with a regime of torture settled upon that became all too routine, administered by what was surely a lack of professionalism by a less than trained interrogatation cadre, and as a matter of course, replaced traditionally recognized interrogation methods.

The morality of torture aside, at some point, people had to know they had all the information they were going to get - why continue? Between the Bush White House and the CIA, these stupid asses just didn't know when to quit and that may be another failure.

Tyrtaios-rising:

In all fairness, the U.S. intelligence communities intelligence failure about al-Qaeda was a series of blunders over time, to include my all time favorite, the Torricelli amendment that made recruiting people with ties to terrorist groups illegal without special approval - it seems some of these people are unsavory and criminals - gasp!...

Of course were those same unsavory criminals to have been Wall Street executives who in addition to driving the economy into the ground were making substantial contributions to politicians like Torricelli, well then they would be OK. It is only the unsavory criminals who do not make political contributions who are to be eschewed.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.The real problem is the CIA historically keeps forgetting this and finding their ass in a crack - they never learn.

But what the hell? Like Groucho Marx stated: "Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others."

Tyrtaios-rising:

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.The real problem is the CIA historically keeps forgetting this and finding their ass in a crack - they never learn...

Actually politics is the art of making trouble and then cashing in on the fallout. That the CIA should be no more than the trouble making go-to-guy for our politicians is the real problem. If you actually do some analysis (I was a military intelligence analyst) you will be drummed out of the money making scam and end up declaring bankruptcy; just as I will be doing later this week. Torricelli was my Senator; he crashed and burned when a shady Korean businessman gave him a political contribution. Didn't we make some trouble in Korea once upon a time too? I served in Korea during the 50th anniversary of that conflict in 2003.

You were in MI and also had Torricelli as your state senator? You certainly have a checkered past wmccomninel. You may be guilty of crimes by association.

Someone once radioed me on a hill top long ago, telling me to cheer-up; that things could be worse. Sure enough, I cheered-up, and things definately got worse! : - )

Tyrtaios-rising:

...Someone once radioed me on a hill top long ago, telling me to cheer-up; that things could be worse. Sure enough, I cheered-up, and things definately got worse! : - )

Yeah, his name is Senator Lautenberg as seen in his proposed 2007 Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007, designed to close loopholes that permit weapons purchases by persons that the executive branch has classified as "dangerous terrorists". We all know since Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently informed us that veterans like me are the real threats to our national security. These lunatics have it all wrapped up.

And my all time favorite: Remove some of the (already too) few Arab speaking men in the US intelligence circles because they happen to be homosexual.

apropos1:

And my all time favorite: Remove some of the (already too) few Arab speaking men in the US intelligence circles because they happen to be homosexual.

I'm sure that eliminating homosexuals would make America more secure, it worked wonders for previous regimes who persecuted whomever they could stick a 'kick-me' post it on. Are you intentionally irrelevant or is it a congenital condition?

Anyway if it pisses off the Catholic Church it can't be all that bad so I would continue to practice strategic indifference regarding sexual orientation as is the current norm under 'don't ask, don't tell'. If you were to actually screen out all of the offenders of various stripes there would be no one left to run America. Why favor drug dealing thugs, money grabbers and sadistic torturers over other sociopaths when you are hiring intelligence personnel, or are you just being humorous?