{"id":27966,"date":"2013-02-13T16:41:32","date_gmt":"2013-02-13T15:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/Truthdig\/~3\/TV4UG9cctpg\/"},"modified":"2013-02-13T16:41:32","modified_gmt":"2013-02-13T15:41:32","slug":"dumb-and-dumber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/dumb-and-dumber\/","title":{"rendered":"Dumb and Dumber"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dumb and Dumber<\/h2>\n
\"Email Email<\/span> \u00a0 \"Print Print<\/a> \u00a0 \"Share Share<\/span><\/div>\n
Posted on Feb\u00a013,\u00a02013<\/h6>\n\n\n\n\n
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:mrMark:<\/a> (CC BY 2.0)<\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch<\/p>\n

This piece first appeared at TomDispatch<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

You could, of course, sit there, slack-jawed, thinking about how mindlessly repetitive American foreign and military policy is these days. Or you could wield all sorts of fancy analytic words to explain it. Or you could just settle for a few simple, all-American ones. Like dumb. Stupid. Dimwitted. Thick-headed. Or you could speak about the second administration in a row that wanted to leave no child behind, but was itself incapable of learning, or reasonably assessing its situation in the world.<\/p>\n

Or you could simply wonder what\u2019s in Washington\u2019s water supply. Last week, after all, there was a perfect drone storm of a story, only a year or so late\u2013and no, it wasn\u2019t that leaked<\/a> \u201cwhite paper\u201d justifying the White House-directed assassination of an American citizen; and no, it wasn\u2019t the two secret Justice Department \u201clegal\u201d memos on the same subject that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee were allowed to \u201cview,\u201d<\/a> but in such secrecy that they couldn\u2019t even ask John O. Brennan, the president\u2019s counterterrorism tsar and choice for CIA director, questions about them at his public nomination hearings; and no, it wasn\u2019t anything that Brennan, the man who oversaw the White House \u201ckill list<\/a>\u201d and those presidentially chosen<\/a> drone strikes, said at the hearings. And here\u2019s the most striking thing: it should have set everyone\u2019s teeth on edge, yet next to nobody even noticed.<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday, the Washington Post<\/em> published a piece by Greg Miller and Karen DeYoung about a reportorial discovery which that paper, along with other news outlets (including<\/a> the New York Times<\/em><\/a>), had by \u201can informal arrangement\u201d agreed to suppress<\/a> (and not even very well<\/a>) at the request of the Obama administration. More than a year later, and only because the Times<\/em> was breaking the story on the same day (buried in a long investigative piece<\/a> on drone strikes), the Post<\/em> finally put the news on record. It was half-buried in a piece about the then-upcoming Brennan hearings. Until that moment, its editors had done their patriotic duty, urged on by the CIA and the White House, and kept the news from the public. Never mind, that the project was so outright loony, given our history, that they should have felt the obligation to publish it instantly with screaming front-page headlines and a lead editorial demanding an explanation.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, you can understand just why the Obama administration and the CIA preferred that the story not come out. Among other things, it had the possibility of making them look like so many horses\u2019 asses and, again based on a historical record that any numbskull or government bureaucrat or intelligence analyst should recall, it couldn\u2019t have been a more dangerous thing to do. It\u2019s just the sort of Washington project that brings the word \u201cblowback\u201d instantly and chillingly to mind. It\u2019s just the sort of story that should make Americans wonder why we pay billions of dollars to the CIA to think up ideas so lame that you have to wonder what the last two CIA directors, Leon Panetta and David Petraeus, were thinking. (Or if anyone was thinking at all.)<\/p>\n

\u201cAgitated Muslims\u201d and the \u201c100 Hour War\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

In case you hadn\u2019t noticed, I have yet to mention what that suppressed story was, and given the way it disappeared from sight, the odds are that you don\u2019t know, so here goes. The somewhat less than riveting headline on the Post<\/em> piece<\/a> was: \u201cBrennan Nomination Exposes Criticism on Targeted Killings and Secret Saudi Base.\u201d The base story was obviously tacked on at the last second. (There had actually been no \u201ccriticism\u201d of that base, since next to nothing was known about it.) It, too, was buried, making its first real appearance only in the 10th paragraph of the piece.<\/p>\n

According to the Post<\/em>, approximately two years ago, the CIA got permission from the Saudi government to build one of its growing empire<\/a> of drone bases in a distant desert region of that kingdom. The purpose was to pursue an already ongoing air war in neighboring Yemen against al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula.<\/p>\n

The first drone mission<\/a> from that base seems to have taken off on September 30, 2011, and killed American citizen and al-Qaeda supporter Anwar al-Awlaki. Many more lethal missions have evidently been flown from it since, most or all directed at Yemen in a campaign that notoriously<\/a> seems to be creating<\/a> more angry Yemenis and terror recruits than it\u2019s killing. So that\u2019s the story you waited an extra year to hear from our watchdog press (though for news jockeys, the existence of the base was indeed mentioned<\/a> in the interim by numerous media outlets).<\/p>\n


<\/a><\/p>\n

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Dumb and Dumber<\/h2>\n
\n\"Email Email<\/span>    \"Print Print<\/a>    \"Share Share<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Posted on Feb 13, 2013<\/h6>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
:mrMark:<\/a> (CC BY 2.0)<\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch<\/p>\n

This piece first appeared at TomDispatch<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

You could, of course, sit there, slack-jawed, thinking about how mindlessly repetitive American foreign and military policy is these days. Or you could wield all sorts of fancy analytic words to explain it.  Or you could just settle for a few simple, all-American ones.  Like dumb. Stupid. Dimwitted. Thick-headed. Or you could speak about the second administration in a row that wanted to leave no child behind, but was itself incapable of learning, or reasonably assessing its situation in the world.<\/p>\n

Or you could simply wonder what’s in Washington’s water supply. Last week, after all, there was a perfect drone storm of a story, only a year or so late—and no, it wasn’t that leaked<\/a> “white paper” justifying the White House-directed assassination of an American citizen; and no, it wasn’t the two secret Justice Department “legal” memos on the same subject that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee were allowed to “view,”<\/a> but in such secrecy that they couldn’t even ask John O. Brennan, the president’s counterterrorism tsar and choice for CIA director, questions about them at his public nomination hearings; and no, it wasn’t anything that Brennan, the man who oversaw the White House “kill list<\/a>” and those presidentially chosen<\/a> drone strikes, said at the hearings. And here’s the most striking thing: it should have set everyone’s teeth on edge, yet next to nobody even noticed.<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday, the Washington Post<\/em> published a piece by Greg Miller and Karen DeYoung about a reportorial discovery which that paper,  along with other news outlets (including<\/a> the New York Times<\/em><\/a>), had by “an informal arrangement” agreed to suppress<\/a> (and not even very well<\/a>) at the request of the Obama administration. More than a year later, and only because the Times<\/em> was breaking the story on the same day (buried in a long investigative piece<\/a> on drone strikes), the Post<\/em> finally put the news on record.  It was half-buried in a piece about the then-upcoming Brennan hearings. Until that moment, its editors had done their patriotic duty, urged on by the CIA and the White House, and kept the news from the public. Never mind, that the project was so outright loony, given our history, that they should have felt the obligation to publish it instantly with screaming front-page headlines and a lead editorial demanding an explanation.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, you can understand just why the Obama administration and the CIA preferred that the story not come out. Among other things, it had the possibility of making them look like so many horses’ asses and, again based on a historical record that any numbskull or government bureaucrat or intelligence analyst should recall, it couldn’t have been a more dangerous thing to do. It’s just the sort of Washington project that brings the word “blowback” instantly and chillingly to mind.  It’s just the sort of story that should make Americans wonder why we pay billions of dollars to the CIA to think up ideas so lame that you have to wonder what the last two CIA directors,  Leon Panetta and David Petraeus, were thinking. (Or if anyone was thinking at all.)<\/p>\n

“Agitated Muslims” and the “100 Hour War”<\/strong><\/p>\n

In case you hadn’t noticed, I have yet to mention what that suppressed story was, and given the way it disappeared from sight, the odds are that you don’t know, so here goes. The somewhat less than riveting headline on the Post<\/em> piece<\/a> was: “Brennan Nomination Exposes Criticism on Targeted Killings and Secret Saudi Base.” The base story was obviously tacked on at the last second. (There had actually been no “criticism” of that base, since next to nothing was known about it.)  It, too, was buried, making its first real appearance only in the 10th paragraph of the piece.<\/p>\n

According to the Post<\/em>, approximately two years ago, the CIA got permission from the Saudi government to build one of its growing empire<\/a> of drone bases in a distant desert region of that kingdom. The purpose was to pursue an already ongoing air war in neighboring Yemen against al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula.<\/p>\n

The first drone mission<\/a> from that base seems to have taken off on September 30, 2011, and killed American citizen and al-Qaeda supporter Anwar al-Awlaki. Many more lethal missions have evidently been flown from it since, most or all directed at Yemen in a campaign that notoriously<\/a> seems to be creating<\/a> more angry Yemenis and terror recruits than it’s killing. So that’s the story you waited an extra year to hear from our watchdog press (though for news jockeys, the existence of the base was indeed mentioned<\/a> in the interim by numerous media outlets).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

New and Improved Comments<\/h2>\n

If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page<\/a>. Still having problems? Let us know<\/a>. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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