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IP: When intelligence fails from Online Asia Times
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2001 05:47:08 -0400
When intelligence failsThe terrorists who committed the heinous acts that destroyed the New York World Trade Center and a wing of the Pentagon at large loss of life will be "hunted down and punished", said US President George W Bush in his first reaction. They should be. Whether the US$30 billion a year US intelligence community, which so utterly failed to counter this unprecedented attack on the US and has failed on several occasions over the past several years to prevent terrorist acts against US citizens, installations and assets, will be able to carry out what Bush has asked is another matter entirely.
The term "intelligence" when applied to those outfits has more often than not appeared to be an oxymoron. Are we to believe that the very agencies that seemingly had no clue, no specific advance warning of and certainly no ability to prevent the September 11 "act of war" against the US will now, in short order, be able to reliably identify the attackers, their backers and organized networks and - along with the US military - exact retribution aggrieved Americans and citizens of civilized nations everywhere can consider just and effective?
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