Content by AcademicElephant
Posted at 10:35am on Jun. 22, 2008 The New York Times Names Names
A newspaper's "credibility" trumps a CIA agent's safety
By AcademicElephant
The lead article in the Sunday New York Times is "Inside a 9/11 Mastermind's Interrogation" by Scott Shane. The article is full of the standard boilerplate--Iraq has caused more terrorist plots against us (of course they haven't been actually carried out, but that's hardly the point), "torture" inflicted by CIA interrogators has destroyed our international reputation, and the terrorist detainees really aren't so very bad (they write poetry and drink Ensure, just like many readers of the Times). This may seem just another piece in the emerging narrative in which Iraq is a dirty war. It doesn't matter if we win because the very conflict is illegitimate--and what could be worse than victory without honor? It really would be better to have just lost, as many have been arguing for the last five years.
Hang on, there's more here. Through conduits he chooses not to elucidate, Mr. Shane had access to substantial documentation of the capture and interrogation of several high-value targets. And in the Hallowed Times Tradition, the paper decided its dedication to journalistic integrity was more important national security interests, and a deliberate editorial decision was made to reveal the identity of KSM's chief interrogator--his name, his employer, and his current involvement with the Agency.
Read on...
Posted in new york times | outing CIA agents | terrorist interrogations | War — Comments (32)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:28am on Jun. 19, 2008 Three cheers for Iraq!
now president bush should declare venezuela state sponsor of terrorism
By AcademicElephant
Two major news items from yesterday may seem unrelated, but both have serious ramifications for the intertwined issues of terrorism and energy. On the one hand, we had the excellent news that western oil companies are preparing to go back into Iraq after 38 years. On the other hand, we had the very very bad news that the Treasury Department has established economic ties between Venezuela and Hezbollah.
Read on to connect the dots...
Posted in Foreign Affairs | Hugo Chavez | Iraq | NO BLOOD FOR OIL | Saddam Hussein | Venezuela — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:53pm on May 31, 2008 NYTimes to Uribe: You've almost won! Now give up!
By AcademicElephant
The message from the NYTimes editorial board to Colombian President Alviro Uribe is, "You've got the FARC terrorists who have caused untold misery to your country on the ropes. You're on the verge of finishing off this scourge. Now is the moment to...capitulate?"
Points should be awarded to the Times for consistency, I suppose, but I hope Mr. Uribe and his advisors are made of sterner stuff.
Posted at 8:01am on May 27, 2008 Way to go, Boris Johnson
By AcademicElephant
Posted at 10:26am on May 26, 2008 23 out of 825 = 2%
By AcademicElephant
According to Stanley Fish, 2% is a perfectly acceptable percentage of Republicans to have on a major university faculty. What on earth is all the fuss about?
Posted at 9:50am on May 20, 2008 Terror sanctions against Venezuela
By AcademicElephant
Time magazine (h/t California Yankee) has an article about the pickle the US finds itself in regarding the recently recovered evidence of Venezuelan complicity with FARC terrorist operations in Colombia. One would think that said evidence would be cause to start some serious sanctioning of Caracas, and even enough to put the regime on the list of state sponsors of terror. But according to Time, rather than a "slam dunk", the laptops that contain the damning information are suspect because Hugo Chavez says they might be (despite an INTERPOL stamp of authenticity) and the raid that captured them might be--gasp--in violation of international law. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, our main ally in the region, Colombia, might not be enthusiastic because "Venezuela is still its chief trading partner — bilateral commerce shot up 25% last year — and neither nation can afford to compromise it."
Posted at 8:55am on May 7, 2008 The Tragedy of Nargis
By AcademicElephant
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With all the hoopla surrounding yesterday's primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, most in our country have been distracted from the tragedy unfolding across the globe.
Cyclone Nargis struck Burma on Saturday, causing at least 22,000 deaths. The situation has been made worse by the criminal inaction of the ruling junta, which did nothing to warn the population about the approaching storm, and has done its best to stall or refuse international aid in its wake. It's not clear to me if the government is trying to avoid external scrutiny, is trying to get access to unfettered relief funds for its own purposes, or is simply incompetent--or is motivated by an unsavory combination of all three.
It hardly matters at this point as the slow moving train wreck that has gone on for the last three days could claim many, many more lives. Some 40,000 people are still unaccounted for. Millions of Burmese live in the disaster zone, now cut off from essential services. The wounded, displaced and vulnerable are waiting for help, but they cannot wait for long and the clock is ticking.
The tragedy is that these people do not have to die. Response to the 2004 tsunami demonstrated that rapid, targeted relief can make an enormous difference in the aftermath of a disaster. Yet such help is being denied to the people of Burma by their own government, which is accountable to no one and so has no incentive to act.
It is to be hoped that the United Nations can stir itself to take some action both to help the Burmese and to condemn the disgraceful behavior of this junta, which may well prove far more deadly to the country than Cyclone Nargis.
If you would like to donate, these two charities may be able to get some aid into Burma. [UPDATE: The Salvation Army is also on the ground, if you would like to help them.]
Posted in burma | cyclone nargis | Foreign Affairs | myanmar — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 8:22am on Apr. 29, 2008 Cyberjamming
By AcademicElephant
This story may slip under the radar, but I think we might take note of anything containing the sentence "Welcome to the front lines of the 21st century's information wars."
Posted at 9:50am on Apr. 24, 2008 Will the Euphrates run yellow?
By AcademicElephant
Well, it won't now thanks to the Israeli military intervention last September.
Two questions: How do those who claim we get nothing from our relationship with Israel respond to this revelation? And what on earth is the State Department thinking in terms of its policy towards North Korea?