"Overstating Our Fears": Terror Threat Overblown Says CIA Analyst in Wash. Post

"Overstating Our Fears": Terror Threat Overblown Says CIA Analyst in Wash. Post

www.washingtonpost.com

I spent 23 years in the CIA. I drafted or was involved in many of the government's most senior assessments of the threats facing our country. I have devoted years to understanding and combating the jihadist threat...

Why are these views so starkly at odds with what the Bush administration has said since the beginning of the "Global War on Terror"? This administration has heard what it has wished to hear, pressured the intelligence community to verify preconceptions, undermined or sidetracked opposing voices, and both instituted and been victim of procedures that guaranteed that the slightest terrorist threat reporting would receive disproportionate weight -- thereby comforting the administration's preconceptions and policy inclinations.

We must not delude ourselves about the nature of the terrorist threat to our country. We must not take fright at the specter our leaders have exaggerated. In fact, we must see jihadists for the small, lethal, disjointed and miserable opponents that they are.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well, out of the proverbial horse's mouth: the GWOT is a crock, fabricated by the Neocons to scare your pants off.

Breaking news, indeed.

www.washingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Starring and flagging this motha...

The CIA, unbeknownst to the general population has admitted for quite some time that this "war on terror" is a total farce, with "created boogeymen"...Look at this documentary:

www.abovetopsecret.com...


Good stuff gottago! There are quite a few people here still drinking the kool-aid and buying into the gov's fear campaign, which has a dual-fold purpose:

1.Keeping the war-profiteering machine chugging along perpetually.

2.Keeping the citizens in a perpetual state of fear so they WILLINGLY cede their constitutional rights and civil liberties in exchange for "protections from the evil terrorists"...





[edit on 15-7-2008 by DimensionalDetective]

The CIA for the most part, I have argued, are the good guys. With the article cited in this thread it displays what I believe has been common knowledge among anybody remotely involved with the CIA.

They may have some black marks in thier history but so does everybody involved in any North American goverment. Human nature.

Thank you for posting this.

It lends itself toward balance of a worldview view of the USA and its agencies.

S&F!!!
Yes I wish more alphabet agency employees would step forward.

A recent example of the use of fear to further profit motives is the Iran attack sabre rattling and oil speculation. The money being made on the manipulation of fear is obscene.

reply to post by whiteraven


I can't say that the CIA are the white hats--some "classified" shade of grey, as in all things--but this man certainly wears one. It took enormous courage to speak out as he has done, concisely and eloquently. He's spoken plainly and pulled away the veil of manipulation and propaganda surrounding the GWOT, and you can hear the voice of conscience in his words.

Other people in the agency have made hints, but none so forthrightly. Hopefully, more will follow his lead. It's people like this that must come forward, inside and outside, to speak the truth and to make a difference.

little off topic but,Assuming that there is a New World order, how much do you think the CIA in general knows about it,if anything. or if approached with a question concerning the NWO, i wonder what their expressions would be (if they are considered the good guys)? I know they probably wouldn't say #, but i'd like to see a point of view on the nwo from the NSA , DIA, CIA, what their answers would be? Has Anyone asked a question like this or what about to bush in a press conference? if anyone has a link or anything id like to see, pardon my off topicness

I just watched the video of Secrets of three CIA's and it said that there was so more to the role of the CIA's. They made it sound like the one thing they want to leave behind but their dreams or nightmares continue on.

I assumed that this being such a phoney war in the first place made them very docile. Thank you Bush

Timely information seeing as how Iran supposedly funding terrorism in Iraq is being set up as one of the reasons to go to war with them. I have a hunch that this man will largely be ignored by most people, and people will continue to believe the administrations lies as to the threat f terrorism, but hopefully I'm wrong.

Good find...What the PTB don't realize that there are a few people at least who don't give in to such blatant propaganda to incite fear in the public, but it's good to see (FINALLY) someone step forward & actually say it.

I've thought about the whole situation like this: There have been "terrorists" in the Middle East quite probably since the dawn of human civilization (if not longer...It's hard to track down historical records about groups of people who like to remain "anonymous"). National rulers have always had to deal with "terrorists" of one form or another (even if it was their own people rebelling, they'll still call them "terrorists") throughout history. A standard practice of oppressive governments has been: Create a Problem, Wait for Public Reaction, Propose a Solution, Take the Advantage to Oppress More...It's how they maintain their own "job security," because these rulers know that they'll no longer exist unless they create the means for self-continuation.
"I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master."--Thomas Jefferson.
This, then, is the whole purpose of these "Elite Rulers" is to pervert the system & ensure that People will always want & need such Masters.

What of all of the years through two World Wars & the following Cold War that the USA never really had much problem with terrorists...The methods employed for National Security have been quite sufficient before the CIA & US Military started mucking around in the Middle East & creating more terrorists...And providing them with even more motivation to start attacking the US. As one example, it was the CIA who trained & equipped Osama bin Laden in terrorist tactics, ostensibly to help repel the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan during the Cold War Era...Yet all that time, US Foreign Policy had also been messing around with their society/economy/political structure. So, when the PTB in the USA need another "boogeyman" to scare the People with, they pick someone convenient to make their justification for them. With ObL in the news so much years ago, did any of the US MSM actually try to find out why the Middle Eastern "terrorists" wanted to attack us?--At least, beyond our government's excuse that they hate our freedoms? Well, one thing you wouldn't have learned from MSM is the proverbial "word from the horse's mouth.".

Even so, "terrorist attacks" on US soil were still rare, few & far between...Yet the PTB in the US decided to open our borders to illegal aliens & incite the public to fear "invasions" of any kind, even though it's quite possible (& likely) that they either willingly & knowingly allowed the WTC to be attacked or even went to far as to engineer the attack. All the better to use MSM to incite panic & fear in the People.

This is what governments do & it's how they achieve their own growth...Even my grandfather (on my mother's side), who immigrated legally from Germany shortly before Hitler came to Power, used to tell me, "government's too big."
Even the US Founding Forefathers knew that big government is bad government--"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." &"History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is." (by Thomas Jefferson).

I'm just glad to see the "whistleblowers" coming out more often...

Damnit! People with common sense have been saying this for years! Why does it take a former CIA asset before it's taken seriously?

The average American is much, much more likely to die from a bad reaction to prescription pills, or aspirin, than terrorism. Those are the facts.

Why don't we have a war on drug companies?

Alcohol kills more people than crack, heroin, and coc aine combined, but we wage a war on the latter, and advertise for the former during the superbowl.

It doesn't make even a little bit of sense...

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Damnit! People with common sense have been saying this for years!

Exactly, WO--the ratio of S&F to responses is quite telling; it's a bit like someone came out and said the sky is blue. Hard to debate that.

Here is another point of view that will be overlooked by most people. We like to blame the MSM for helping fuel the fears that our government places on us, but recently I am convinced that some people WANT to be afraid. It would be easy to think the government controls them, but it seems the MSM is giving them what they want, IMHO.

With all the recent talk of the WOT, it seems the noise level has risen and I think something is going to happen soon, most likely an attack on Iran. It's good to see articles like this to counter the bombardment. Just yesterday, I received a rather disturbing e-mail titled "I'll stand for her" (maybe you've seen it) that in my opinion does nothing but spread hate and fear under the veil of supporting our troops. It's like everywhere you turn we are being reminded of 9/11 and the WOT.

reply to post by gottago


There is no way you can ever prove you are who you are, none
the less.

"Overblown", that has to be the Understatement of the Century.
The true reason, who, what, when, where for the "War on Terror"
will never be known. There is a lot of Hatred for the US now, should
the truth with proof being audio/visual or signed documents. I just
can't Imagine how the rest of the world would react, but it won't be
pretty. If there was any such evidence, it would have burned a long
time ago.

reply to post by WyrdeOne


I agree. I have taken this stance and have argued over and over that there is NO WAR ON TERROR! The real war is one of psychology that has been fine tuned by certain branches of government. They know how to push people's buttons and thus use FEAR to obtain their own goals. Usually it has to do with power and money.

I'm just waiting now for someone like 'slightlyabovepar' to come out with his normal "anyone can create a name and state their credentials. This guy is a figment of your imagination. He is a phantom and doesn't exist."

Granted, I can't verify his status as truly being in the CIA for 23 years but he is saying things that I, along with many others have believed for a LONG time now.

Yet there will still be the fanatics that will say that we are safe because of Bush. Excuse me? Answer this then. Why haven't we been attacked again? Seriously. Our security is NOT that much better. This has been proven many times over. Yet we have not been attacked again. Makes no sense if there truly was a group of terrorists bent on the destruction of this nation.

Originally posted by dariousg
Yet there will still be the fanatics that will say that we are safe because of Bush. Excuse me? Answer this then. Why haven't we been attacked again? Seriously. Our security is NOT that much better. This has been proven many times over. Yet we have not been attacked again. Makes no sense if there truly was a group of terrorists bent on the destruction of this nation.

You do realize how horrible your reasoning is there right?

Although I am NOT a big believer in the GWOT, I certainly DO think our actions and heightened security ARE part of the reason we have not been "attacked" again since 9/11. (That and a concentration of "them" in certain places)

I can understand how you feel but your logic is severely flawed or at the very least not very deep.

"Security" isn't just them making you take your shoes off at the airport and I feel that is what you are basing your analysis on.. that kind of "security" right? If so, you are not really seeing the whole picture.

Originally posted by gormly



Although I am NOT a big believer in the GWOT, I certainly DO think our actions and heightened security ARE part of the reason we have not been "attacked" again since 9/11. (That and a concentration of "them" in certain places)

I disagree. Our actions have created a much stronger threat. The analysts that support my opinion outnumber the analysts that support your opinion. Logic tends to support my opinon. But you could be right, as logic has been thrown out the window decades ago.

reply to post by earthman4


Not quite sure I agree with your claims that many more experts agree with your view on the GWOT but since I don't have data to refute the claim intelligently, I won't argue the point.

Even if our action served to enhance the various terror groups recruitment programs that's not a good thing but you do have to keep in mind that we have not been attacked since 9/11 and who among us thought we would not have suffered another attack since then?

I would argue that the Bush administration did dilute the GWOT effort by allowing themselves to be sidetracked into Iraq. Had we continued on the course we started out on after 9/11, I highly doubt that AQ would have reconstituted itself so quickly. We didn't do that because the administration thought it more important to settle an old score than to act n the best interest of this nation's security.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Damnit! People with common sense have been saying this for years! Why does it take a former CIA asset before it's taken seriously?

My thoughts exactly.

I have been saying for years war in Iran comes after war in Iraq. Only recently I don't get such funny looks...

reply to post by gottago


I also find the star and flag to post ratio in this topic to be upsetting. Good topics I see usually get 1 flag for every 3 replies, but when the star and flag count is greater than the reply count, I usually try to stay away.

Seriously though, I thought this "Terror Threat Overblown" thing was common knowledge by now.

[edit on 7/16/2008 by SonicInfinity]