The Private Outsourcing of US Intelligence Services 256
mrbluze writes "It appears that more and more of the data collection sanctioned by the US government is passed through the hands of private enterprise, Salon reports. 'Because of the cloak of secrecy thrown over the intelligence budgets, there is no way for the American public, or even much of Congress, to know how those contractors are getting the money, what they are doing with it, or how effectively they are using it. The explosion in outsourcing has taken place against a backdrop of intelligence failures for which the Bush administration has been hammered by critics, from Saddam Hussein's fictional weapons of mass destruction to abusive interrogations that have involved employees of private contractors operating in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Aftergood and other experts also warn that the lack of transparency creates conditions ripe for corruption.'"
Makes sense, doesn't it? (Score:5, Funny)
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Power without control, begs to be abused... (Score:5, Insightful)
The demographics, an aging baby boom generation who grow more conservative as they age, favor the increasingly protofascist elements of our political system. As we boomers age, we will tend to favor the group of politicians who will promise us old age benefits. The Republican Party has always been out front for looting the public taxes to buy votes from the old. That's just how the system works; one party or the other was going to do it. But now that the political system has been gamed, we need to respond.
Combine the mono-culture fundamentalist christians (no, not cap C), big oil/big money, the one-issue gun lobby, and the demographics, and you have the recipe for an unbreakable control of our government. And the current crop of villains who had control of our government is just the most recent example of what will become the norm; the abuse of power by those who are best able to manipulate the system.
The proto fascists will continue to grow a secret police organization, a private (outsourced) police. Eisenhower's prediction about the military-industrial complex came true long ago. But what disheartens me is the knowledge that we will abide this ongoing decay in the values and standards that were hoped for by the founders of our nation. There was no outcry when the Patriot Act was passed. There seems to be no outrage about the Justice Department's (Gonzales, and Card, with assistance from Bush) violations of the law WRT wiretaps. (Think about that. The federal Justice Department breaking the law.)
We can expect this 'outsourcing' of covert activities to continue because it serves to concentrate power in one branch of our government.
I named Republicans as a guilty party, but it could just have easily been the Democratic Party. Events in 1964 changed where the balance of power in the Republican Party lay. The names of political parties is not as important as the names of the actors involved and who they serve. I don't think the future of our government is well served by this large secret police organization. Democracy thrives in the open air.
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Unbreakable? First, the Democrats won the last round of elections. Second, the Democrats can modify their platform to appeal to any of these groups. If 90% of the customers want vanilla, which your competitor is selling, and you're selling chocolate, does the competitor have an "unbreakable" control of th
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There's a simple way to take this, at least, out of Republican hands. Stop trying to ban guns.
There's no evidence that crime goes down; in fact, there's oodles of evidence that crime goes up after a gun ban. Gun free bastions like Washington DC, for instance, don't exactly prove the "less guns==less crime" hypothosis.
So if a Democrat wanted to take at least that part of the Republican voting block away, seeking and getting the endorsement of the NRA might be a good step. Public sta
You offend and insult me sir! (Score:2)
Grow the fuck up kid we are all in this sinking ship together newborn, young, and old, also every German, Russian, Arab, Israeli, Japanese
The only difference being that delusional dogmatist think they will survive or be saved by a god/satan/money. Who is killing your babies tomorrow depends on everyone, not just you or me. Politicians/corporatist/televangelist/... are plutocrats w
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Actually, when it comes to "intelligence", when was it ever any different?
You don't need to see the (mostly secret, of course) intelligence reports to understand how bad they have been all along. Just look at US government foreign policy at any time in the past, and you'll quickly get a good feeling for just how badly they misunderstood most of the people they were dealing with in the rest of the world. If the intelligence
Glad I live in America (Score:5, Funny)
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My country good or bad, but my country.
The nice thing is, we're about to hit a peak for this round of government incompetence and it's going to sour peoples stomachs on this style of governance for a long time to come. I think we're about to enter the clean up period, if we aren't already in the early stages of it now.
Re:Glad I live in America (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Glad I live in America (Score:5, Insightful)
On one hand, this makes perfect sense: shouldn't everybody's opportunities depend on their merit instead of where they were born? On the other hand, why would somebody fight and die to protect what amounts to a big corporation which isn't loyal in return?
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At the moment, for me, in my situation? Yes.
I'm an American that lives in China.
Never had any problems over here.
-I have a nice job that I like.
-I walk 15 minutes to work.
-I stop at the street vendor to buy a few beers on my way home.
-I'm learning a language most Westerners don't know
-I'm living in a country most Westerners will never see
-I see movies on DVD before most Americans see them in the theater.
Re:Glad I live in America (Score:4, Informative)
My country good or bad, but my country.
Except, that's not the whole story. The actual quotation is really:
"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."
--Carl Schurz [bartleby.com]
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The ability to take the best from an infinite number of cultures and removing the worst, while intergrating those people seamlessly into our society, is just one of the things that makes America great that the right is trying to destroy, along with jury trials, a classless society, and the moral high ground.
Oh, and, apparently, a functioning military and intelligence community. What's going to happen when we say 'Okay, we're going to attack X' and all these private companies say 'No.'?
Spies 'r Us (Score:3, Funny)
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Unfortunatly they have run out of money. Looks like it was all given to an Australian firm run by Terry Wrist and Al Kyder.
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No "intelligence failure" for the spy boys in Iraq (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No "intelligence failure" for the spy boys in I (Score:5, Insightful)
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France tried to warn us in January 2001.
ASA veteran 65-69 4th USASAFS 66-69
Wrong! Spy boys/girls in the field never fail US! (Score:2)
Our Warriors have never and will never fail US, but politicized DOD policy/tactics
and political GOs failed US, and caused catastrophic results for US, which would not
have been possible without "content-spin-lies" by some political GOs, Bush, Chaney,
Rice, Rumsfeld
Content-spin is continuing as if creating a plausible denial history of information
for posterity and the legacy of failure. Cri
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I have just as much right to express my ire as anyone else. It's called democracy and free speech. You don't like democracy and free speech? Then *YOU* get the hell out, you stinking fascist.
And, BTW, about your sig...
The civil war ended over 140 years ago. Talk about needing to "get over your loss". I guess you're still upset that you are not allowed to own slaves.
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I assume by "moving on" you mean forsake accountability and accept purposeful wrongdoings as proper?
What makes me sick is that there are people like you urging others to "move on" while our soldiers are dying for these same mistakes almost every day.
War is a grave burden, and a wrongful war is a truly horrible one. As far as I am concerned whoever pushed their own agenda to start this war should go to jail.
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"We should have nuked the country ..." (Score:3, Insightful)
And what did the Iraqi people do to deserve being nuked?
We "won" the war when we took over the Iraqi government. Years ago.
Again, specifically, which of those agreements was worth the 3,400+ of our troops that have died over there? Or the uncounted number of Iraqi civilians who have died?
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I am willing to accept that perhaps it was all just a scam on his part to make people believe he had something he didnt, to try to pretend he had some power and taunt the world commu
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Yes all those those people who lived under a man that was propped up by US/UK commercial interests for the last 30 years deserved to die when he became no longer useful. That should teach the next dictator put into place by the same interests a big lesson.
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You should read more this web site [strategypage.com]
While I admit that it is probably a right-wing publication, I have the impression that they are fairly balanced. I think you can see it mainly in the reporting about the Arab world, there is no rhetorics in the articles.
Now about the people that he wanted to believe he had something, it was mainly the Arab world. The reason is its neighbor Iran. Iran/Persia dominated the Arab probably for almost 3 millennia. The Arabs fear and loathe the Persians, and Saddam was the only
Re:No "intelligence failure" for the spy boys in I (Score:5, Insightful)
The 2006 estimate was that 26,783,383 people live in that country - did they deserve to have THEIR country leveled too ?
Prick !
What goes around, comes around, so you had better start making amends for Bush's global interference, otherwise someone might decide to level the U.S. !
I find it funny that if a surgical strike had taken out saddam and a few of his commanders, then the whole countrys infrastructure would still be intact, and the US wouldn't be mired in the deep shit they are now. And the actual people who fucking live there would be better off. (which was the whole cooked up premise, wasn't it ?)
But that was never the real intention was it ? The people of Iraq were the last reason for invading, it was all down to backroom agreements between the commander in chief and his military-industrial buddies.
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His country ? HIS COUNTRY !?
The 2006 estimate was that 26,783,383 people live in that country - did they deserve to have THEIR country leveled too ?
Prick !
You know what's funny? That sentiment is 10% neocon doctrine. The citizens of the country are responsible for their leaders. It was the German people's fault Hitler had power, it was the Iraqi people's fault Saddam was there. Just imagine their bleatings of consternation if someone turned around and said they were just as guilty for supporting Bush. "But Bush is no Hitler!" they would shriek. Yeah, they're right at that: Hitler actually served his country in time of war.
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Sure, that would have worked if it was possible. But it wasnt or we would have done it. So, a large scale melting of the area is appropriate, would have saved countless American lives and served as a warning in the future.
Making amends? for what? You cant compare our so called 'interference' with Saddams actions. So try again.
All we were saying, was "give peace a chance" (Score:2)
If i dont let you peek into my home its beacuse i didnt agree to it as a condition of surrender.. Saddam did agree to this. When he started playing games its logical to asume shady activity was going on. Letting inspectors into specially 'cleansed' areas does not qualify as 'opening the doors' in my opinion. ( and many others )
Your opinion is worth diddly squat. The inspectors themselves had valid opinions that run contrary to your uninformed ramblings.
He still deserved to have his country leveled in either case.
Fuck you [reuters.com].
About three hundred thousand people killed. What did THEY do to deserve being murdered?
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Wrong! not flamebait (Score:2)
Re:Right! that was very fun flamebait and truth. (Score:2)
Damn, more flamebait fun.
Patrick Henry said it best (Score:5, Insightful)
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Given this administrations penchant for (Score:5, Funny)
Mr. Bush, Iran is responsible for all the problems in the world, and invading will cause no problems whatsoever. This report will cost you a billion dollars, thank you!
Re:Given this administrations penchant for (Score:5, Insightful)
The nail is Saudi Arabia but the royals are personal friends and business associates of the Bush family.
Photo of Bush holding hands with Abdullah (Score:3)
More than just personal friends, physically affectionate friends [cbsnews.com]
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Spying (Score:5, Insightful)
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For instance, the outrage over the Total Information Awareness program put the kibosh on the government doing it. But, convicted felon Poindexter is starting it up in the private sector... notice all those databases that keep getting broken into? Notice the ho-hum reaction of the gov
All these stories regarding the abuse.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Hiding money (Score:2)
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Domestic spying restrictions (Score:2, Insightful)
Would a private contractor be subject to any of these restrictions?
AT&T says "Not" (Score:2)
You guys need a new word. (Score:4, Funny)
Really, we simply can not stop ridiculing you when you have words that sounds like a joke to the rest of the world.
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Stay tuned for President Turnbull - he wants to run the best government money can buy.
Corruption (Score:5, Insightful)
Is the problem that in school you have it drummed into you how great the USA is, and so don't see the problems? (Sorry I realise this post is a bit trollish, but it is a genuine question).
Re:Corruption (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Corruption (Score:5, Interesting)
Which is still complete bullshit. At the end of his term Haliburton will be paying Mr. Cheney plenty for speaking engagements or as a advisory. He's done what he can to defuse the direct appearance of corruption but still makes numerous choices to benefit this one organization at the expense of US tax payers and US future interests. Why were so many no bid contracts awarded to a company he had an association with? Both the president and the vice were major parts of this company. Why is so much money flowing in that direction. You basically have 2 Amoral corporate agents posing as your head of state and alternate.
Congratulations on the rapidly declining dollar. A direct consequence of people like you who ignore the big picture and dwell on simple PR talking points and who feel overly invested in a political position that has not worked in your interest for a long time now. You international political and economic influence is waning and you continue to make decision in both government and corporately to expedite the fall of the American empire.
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Sounds like we outsourced our presidency and vice-presidency to Haliburton from your description.
As a member of our military I am all for outsourcing of duties. It is just like corporate America, if you can completely define a subtask, lighten your load by outsourcing it. I would rather pay a little more now for someone to happily complete my task ontime than to give it to a government/military employee that will get bored, take forever, and eventually retire with an expensive pension.
However, I feel
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Thats an interesting way to put it. I might agree with that assessment of my comment.
As a member of our military I am all for outsourcing of duties. It is just like corporate America, if you can completely define a subtask, lighten your load by outsourcing it. I would rather pay a little more now for someone to happily complete my task ontime than to give it to a government/military employee that will get bored,
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Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
Double dipping (Score:2)
You're right -- it's trollish, mainly because it's wrong. Go to fact check here [factcheck.org] for the actual truth. Cheney has received some deferred compensation and turned over a bunch of his stock options to charity. Apart from that, he has no continuing interest.
He's working for Haliburton [cbsnews.com] while getting paid by the taxpayers.
How many no-bid contracts will it take to get that through your +1 Cursed Shield Of Mental Delusions? How many overcharging and tainted food scandals before you accept reality in place of your rosy fantasy?
Note: (Score:2)
Therefor, I believe, we speak of TREASON by at least a
vice-president and maybe a few others, but Bush was just
a puppet in all this. For Bush, I can only support life
in prison. For Chaney, Rice, Rumsfeld, and others it could
be much worse for them, but truly much better for US.
No, I am not silly enough to ever expect impeachment and
TREASON investigation in a plutocrat Corporatist society.
In a Democratic Society, it would be different.
Always vote politici
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As indicated by a couple of the replies to your post, one problem seems to be willful ignorance. Some people are willing to put absolute trust and faith in Cheney. They think it's just a spectacular coincidence that the administration is pouring vast amounts of our money into Halliburton. These are the people who believe that the Commander-in-Chief has military authority over all the population, and should never be disobeyed.
We need the education to ensure that these people are always in the minority, and
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The vast majority of Americans are too busy paying for their refinanced second and third mortgages, taking their kids to baby yoga, and watching American Idol to even notice what is going on, i.e. they might as well be zombies. Seriously. Of the percentage who even have an opinion, the majority simply parrot whatever their commentator of choice has to say on the subject, be it O'Reilly or Olbermann. The remaining fraction who have the ability to see the trut
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Yep. Both sides use this, though I am more offended by the oft-repeated initial claims that the US knew where the Iraqi WMDs and WMD development equipment were when they are nowhere to be found, eventually Bush had to admit that nothing has been found to back his claims. There were other reasons to invade, but no one thought that those other reasons were worth the weighty risk being taken.
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In the phrase, "Too much of a good thing", 'much' is functioning as a noun; this is why 'of' is needed to glue together the nouns 'much' and 'thing'.
In almost all other phrases similar to this, 'much' is the only word after the 'too' that functions as a noun; other words are all adjectives. eg. "Too loud a noise", "Too small a quantity", "Too big a problem". Adjectives directly describe a noun (e
Outsourcing is for secrecy, which means corruption (Score:2, Interesting)
A secret government is a corrupt government.
The present intensification of secrecy began in the late 40's with establishment of the idea that the government could secretly manipulate governments and kill people to protect the profits of U.S. companies, particularly oil companies.
With enough secrecy, a government becomes a dictatorship.
Both Cheney [futurepower.org] and Junior [futurepower.org] are alcoholics, with typical alcoholi
Re:Outsourcing is for secrecy, which means corrupt (Score:2)
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outsourced (Score:5, Funny)
Re:outsourced (Score:4, Funny)
Tech: Your security clearance is not high for me to divulge that information to you.
Me: What you mean you cant tell if this is the Dell help desk or not?
Tech: Well I could tell you but then I would have to kill you.
Me: FFS is this the Dell help desk or not
Tech: Yes.
Me: OK Good. I am having a probem with my laptop... wait a sec, why has it just started ticking? auto destruct in 5...4... WTF?
More than just the intelligence services (Score:5, Interesting)
It's happening all through government. Military and GS people flipping over to contractors literally overnight. Same people doing the exact same job. Khaki on Friday, shirt and tie on Monday. Somehow they appear to have waived the conflict of interest clauses in military service that were supposed to keep that from happening.
I don't have that many contacts in the intelligence services but I wouldn't be surprised to find the same trend there. I'm betting a lot of the intelligence contracting were government people one day, private contractors the next.
Either way this is a bad trend. There are some things we want the government to do, even though you can argue it costs more and is less efficient. That's okay. Some services have considerations that need to go beyond the bottom line. Aside from that there appears to be little accountability in contract awards these days and many seem to have political overtones. High level positions going to people whose chief qualification seems to be that they graduated from Oral Roberts University.
If there's an encouraging sign it's that we're...finally...starting to see some outrage from those calling themselves conservatives. Better late than never I guess.
pay and job security (Score:3, Insightful)
In the government, nobody can fire the differently abled buddhist afro-american transsexual. It can slack off all it wants, generally fuck things up, etc. Competent people aren't all willing to stomach having to deal with that in a coworker, boss, or underling.
Lots of competent people don't wish to pee in a
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Lots of competent people don't wish to pee in a cup. A few may be light drug users that would still manage to do good work. The rest are just insulted that anybody would suggest that drugs might be in use.
Sadly, the case is actually the reverse.
All the big government contractors require their regular employees to pee in a cup as a condition of employment, just as do most large employers in any business sector in the USA. However, the government itself does not require drug testing for a secret clearance, even higher level clearances just require that you be willing to take a test if questions arise and if you refuse the test, your clearance is revoked. Said questions only arise under exceptional circumsta
Fictional WMDs (Score:5, Insightful)
They were all hell-bent on starting a quick war, perhaps in the hopes of cleaning up in the polls and making themselves look good (which, they should know by now, is impossible in the eyes of the American people and perhaps the world).
It was not just our President who was convinced, but Congress was as well, even the notoriously liberal (in all the wrong ways) Kennedy, who said, and I quote here:
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002
and one from Mr. "I invented the Interwebs":
"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
Whether we went in looking for nukes or bacteria is moot, we are there now, but those that saw the war take an unfavourable turn (and apparently know nothing of history, the losses we have incurred there are miniscule compared to, say WW2 island hopping losses) have hardly admitted their mistake in being for it.
The hypocrasy surrounding the entire Iraq was is astounding.
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Whey are y
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WMDs were the excuse, chosen by the President and his cronies, to drum up enough support for
This is more old (yes, very old) funny news .... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you have core business requirements/products, which you contract out to others, then expect eventually to be filling for bankruptcy and begging forgiveness of the Board and Shareholders for giving the business away. If management is incompetent (true for US, decades), making bad or criminal decisions, it does not matter how hard the rank&file Warriors and Citizens work and sacrifice, the enterprise is going out of business.
Our present political, military (checkout NPR General stories), and civil-service is weighted with management that says GetItDone, has super socializing skills, takes credit for GettingThingsDone, and nepotisticly distributes blame for FailingToDo to any opposition/lamb, and across the rank&file Warriors' and Citizens' who do the work and sacrifice. I expect to hear years from now that Bush, Chaney
Congress will never impeach Bush/Chaney and DoD (Do or Die) Rumsfeld's bobble-head selected military leaders will perpetuate a politicized and socially approved career path to the four-star level. Military/Intelligence performance is blamed on everything and everyone, except for the (new-spin) Politically-Correct and socially acceptable [[no Warriors, Planners, Commanders, fags, or atheist need apply]]. Warriors, Planners, Commanders... are to be relegated to the tactical level only where they are needed, which will allow General Managers (as in business) to market themselves and maybe eventually become president/CEO (retirement by bankruptcy).
DOD/Intelligence needs to be freed from oppression of politics, not further politicized by promoting fart-eating, shit-sucking, ass-kissing, bullshitters in the GO and SES community as vapor-success performers. Rank&File Warriors and Citizens do the jobs, politicized management personnel are bottom-feeders and scavengers of the USA workplace (Business, Religion, Government, Military).
Ignorance and the Death of the Truth (Score:4, Insightful)
Remarks by the President in Address to the United Nations General Assembly
New York, New York
10:39 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President, distinguished delegates, and ladies and gentlemen: We meet one year and one day after a terrorist attack brought grief to my country, and brought grief to many citizens of our world. Yesterday, we remembered the innocent lives taken that terrible morning. Today, we turn to the urgent duty of protecting other lives, without illusion and without fear. [slashdot.org]
We've accomplished much in the last year -- in Afghanistan and beyond. We have much yet to do -- in Afghanistan and beyond. Many nations represented here have joined in the fight against global terror, and the people of the United States are grateful.
The United Nations was born in the hope that survived a world war -- the hope of a world moving toward justice, escaping old patterns of conflict and fear. The founding members resolved that the peace of the world must never again be destroyed by the will and wickedness of any man. We created the United Nations Security Council, so that, unlike the League of Nations, our deliberations would be more than talk, our resolutions would be more than wishes. After generations of deceitful dictators and broken treaties and squandered lives, we dedicated ourselves to standards of human dignity shared by all, and to a system of security defended by all.
Today, these standards, and this security, are challenged. Our commitment to human dignity is challenged by persistent poverty and raging disease. The suffering is great, and our responsibilities are clear. The United States is joining with the world to supply aid where it reaches people and lifts up lives, to extend trade and the prosperity it brings, and to bring medical care where it is desperately needed.
As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will return to UNESCO. (Applause.) This organization has been reformed and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning.
Our common security is challenged by regional conflicts -- ethnic and religious strife that is ancient, but not inevitable. In the Middle East, there can be no peace for either side without freedom for both sides. America stands committed to an independent and democratic Palestine, living side by side with Israel in peace and security. Like all other people, Palestinians deserve a government that serves their interests and listens to their voices. My nation will continue to encourage all parties to step up to their responsibilities as we seek a just and comprehensive settlement to the conflict.
[slashdot.org] Above all, our principles and our security are challenged today by outlaw groups and regimes that accept no law of morality and have no limit to their violent ambitions. In the attacks on America a year ago, we saw the destructive intentions of our enemies. This threat hides within many nations, including my own. In cells and camps, terrorists are plotting further destruction, and building new bases for their war against civilization. And our greatest fear is that terrorists will find a shortcut to their mad ambitions when an outlaw regime supplies them with the technologies to kill on a massive scale.
In one place -- in one regime -- we find all these dangers, in their most lethal and aggressive forms, exactly the kind of aggressive threat the United Nations was born to confront.
Twelve years ago, Iraq invaded Kuwait without provocation. And the regime's forces were poised to co
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I dare you to read the full speech that Bush made to the UN prior to the second Iraq war. You just may realize that the press has been lying to you, or at least obfuscating the truth.
I can't figure out your point. I read a speech where Bush makes deliberately misleading statements about Iraq's WMD capabilities and activities. Are you trying to say that the press has been covering up the level of his prevarications? Or are you naive enough to believe that whatever a politician says is the god's honest truth with not even a hint of dissembly?
BTW, for anyone wondering where that speech came from: It's here. [whitehouse.gov]
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Now, what proof do you offer? Are you crazy? Are you hallucinating some other text? Virtually every other assertion is credited to UN reports. BTW, I worked in the intelligence field at the time he made this speech so I know the "facts" even though the Democrats in Congress pretend otherwise. At the time they saw the same
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I worked in the intelligence field at the time he made this speech so I know the "facts"
Baloney. Don't try to pull a false appeal to authority on me. You had no need to know, you were not cleared for access, the best you might have known were no more than rumors one step above what the public hears. And if you *had* been cleared, you would not be talking about the details on slashdot.
In the entire speech there is only one questionable statement "buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium...".
More baloney. For example, the entire bit about anthrax was pure deception. The referenced defector, Hussein Kamal, revealed a program that had existed prior to 1991 and was (at the time in 1994) long defun
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As far as the anthrax info, without going into specific classified information, here is a contemporary DOD report [defendamerica.mil] that was released to the public.
The Whitehouse is a
Transparency? (Score:2, Interesting)
Interesting twist (Score:3)
For the the most interesting idea to come of this is that the government may be limited legally (increasingly not, admittedly) in the actions they can take directly, but may not be so limited if they hire someone to do it for them. For example, even if Congress gathers finds within themselves a bit of responsibility, ethics and manages to remember the constitution and the american people, and manages to restore Habeas Corpus and prohibit torture, the administration will probably just hire it out to "independent contractors" who, by being just that, independent, will not be subject to such laws. Make it all happen in another country (or a ship outside american waters) and Hey Presto! legal torture.
Similarly, one can imagine contracting out censorship. The government itself may not be able to censor anything, but surely they could use black budgets to hire people (for example, the recently featured warriors for innocence) to do it for them, or even, one might imagine, paying CNN and Fox news to carefully pass over the kind of story that would give the government a black eye. And every time someone cried out "Censorship" people (you see it all the time here on /.) would say : "It isn't censorship if the government isn't doing it."
And it wouldn't be the government, at least not directly.
Even local governments or police departments might manage this. I don't think they can do it directly, but a bit of under the table funding for photographers catching people doing stuff that the local city administrators might find annoying (or even persuading some local rich person/company with the same kinds of interest to pay for the same thing) could go a very long ways.
And no, this is not necessarily the kinds of actions I can only imagine a Republican administration doing. The Democrats are equally in love with power. And the libertarians would probably start with such actions - just cuz they fit in with their general philosophy.
Decisions and revisions which a minute will revers (Score:2)
Damn, meant to hit Preview, but hit submit instead. Lets see if I can post a (slightly cleaned up) revision to that.
For me the the most interesting idea to come of this is that the government may be limited legally in the actions they can take directly, but may not be so limited if they hire someone to do it for them. For example, even if Congress finds within themselves their proper share of courage, independence, responsibility and ethics and manages to remember the constitution and that the ameri
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You need my Social Security Number for other than legally required tax reporting purposes? Sure, no problem. I've got a whole list of them. Pick one.
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Old news (Score:3, Interesting)
Cheers,
Dave
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I could hijack a potentially popular first post to get my own unrelated comment higher up on the page than it would normally get, but instead I'll use the opportunity to open discussion on this recently encroaching phenomenon.... oh wait.
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I tested the page in lynx and it worked fine, dunno if it's using heuristics or something but the cookie is only the tip of the iceberg. This is the page I get in firefox [salon.com] - I have javascript disabled.
It's a more general problem, it's not just most web developers that are utterly clueless. Every industry is full of clueless people with no interest in what they're doing other than the paycheck at the end of the m
cookies can go away when you shut your browser (Score:2)
Doesn't your browser support throwing away all cookies when you close it? If so, why isn't that good enough?
I could ask for throwing them away when the site passes from your history in all tabs and windows, but geez... browser shutdown is pretty good.
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My fiancee works for the US Gov and her and I have had many talks about just that subject. I've swung my opinion to somewhere between where I was when I met her and where she sits. I'll explain:
There are (in our opinions) certain LIMITED reasons for the government to withhold sensitive information. For the record, "sensitive information" would include things such as tro
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These days, it's the same thing, people just don't come together and protest _anything_ - it's a feeling of being powerless. I don't know whe