One thing that pisses me off a lot regarding the American public’s reaction to September 11th is the nonstop vitriol (primarily coming from various “Blame-America-First” crowds) about the “failure of the CIA.” They scream and whine about why the CIA didn’t do more to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden BEFORE September 11th- all the while also decrying the CIA/Military/”Bush Co.”/Halliburton (cause they are all one big conspiracy, you know) for any and all covert/clandestine/illegal/non-multilateral-UN-sanctioned actions. These people somehow are able to criticize the CIA for not stopping Bin Laden, while simultaneously criticizing the very idea that any agency would act unilaterally to stop a foreign entity housed in a nation literally on the other side of the world.
Let’s be very clear about one thing. When Osama Bin Laden touched down in sunny Afghanistan in May 1996 on his private Ariana Afghan Jet (and they want to call Bush a spoiled rich boy living off his Dad’s wealth…) he was already being worried over by elements in the CIA. He was moving to Afghanistan because his previous sanctuary- Sudan- had thrown him out, in major part due to the political maneuvering of the CIA, who had a team of people watching him around the clock. While he had originally been labeled as only a financier of terrorism, he was increasingly viewed as a rising threat. From the day Bin Laden landed in Afghanistan to that day in September that finally woke America up, there were contingents in the CIA that had worked tirelessly to put an end to him. And why had they failed? Because of people JUST LIKE the ignorant douche bags that are bitching about the “CIA’s failure” now. People who want to save now, pay later. People who want to saddle other people with the responsibility and then complain when something goes wrtong. Despite notions to the contrary, the CIA is NOT some shadowy organization that works in the dark to mastermind world affairs. Are there elements in the CIA that are like that? Yes. But the CIA itself is, first and foremost, a government entity burdened with harsh bureaucracy and often-ridiculous amounts of oversight in many affairs. Most people don’t realize that there is a very strong contingent of “liberal” thought within the CIA. People who want to minimize the activity and influence the CIA has.
Before 9/11, for every person screaming from the rooftops that, “This Bin Laden guy is a danger to America. We need to take him out,” there was some peace-mongering, Utopian-visioned, lazy ass liberal fuck sitting in charge saying, “That is ridiculous. We aren’t some death squad like people think! The Cold War is over. War is a thing of the past. We can’t use taxpayer dollars to organize an assassination of some fanatic in some other country.” They said this as Bin Laden rallied the fanatical Muslim community to war on America. They said this as Bin Laden clearly stated intent to attack America. They said this as he demonstrated capability, time and again (USS Cole, anyone…)
And now, people bitch. They wonder why the CIA wasn’t able to stop Bin Laden. The drivel pours from their mouth without the slightest understanding that people like them, with and sentimentality like theirs, are exactly why 9/11 was able to happen. They cry about the CIA being able to stop Bin Laden, and in the same breath complain about CIA black prisons, extreme renditions, torture, and assassinations. When they talk about the CIA “stopping Bin Laden”, what is it they mean? The CIA dropping in illegally- remember, this would have to be “unannounced” as they would never have gotten permission from Afghanistan or Pakistan- to arrest Bin Laden and then charge him as a common criminal and then throw him in prison? Yeah, right. That’s the way it works…
Someone once asked me, rhetorically of course, “do you really want some government organization kidnapping people, interrogating people, killing people, in your name?”
Fuck YES I do. I need to know someone has my back. I need to know there is some force that will deal appropriately with those who would do me or my nation harm. And yes- assassinations and kidnapping are often appropriate. We aren’t talking the comfortable United States of America with set laws and rules, trials and lawyers, prisons and parole. This is world politics- the global theater. If you open your mouth and say something stupid- someone smashes you. You threaten the lion and the lion takes you out. Right, wrong- that’s not important. It’s the way of the world. This is big boy rules.
I have no use for a man who hasn’t read Mark Twain.
I use the quote I posted below to get me out of bed in the morning to go run. Or, to be more accurate, I used to use it. Now I don’t need the help. I’ve learned to love my nature and what it demands of me.
At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work—as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for—the things which I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?’
—But it’s nicer here…
So you were born to feel “nice?” Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?
—But we have to sleep sometime…
Agreed. But nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota. You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash and eat.
— Marcus Aurelius - The Meditations
The difference between a beginner’s understanding and an expert’s is only 3 or 4 “why’s” deep.
