I remember some discussions here on the UT (or perhaps it was someplace else) about the terrible GWBush and the practice of extraordinary rendition. GWBush is guilty of a lot, but beginning the practice of extraordinary rendition is not one of them. It finally became public knowledge that (legal) rendition really took off during the Clinton years. I was happy to see that be put out there in the public realm. Now, if only (they) would acknowledge when it really started, where it occurs, when it occurs, et al... Most people don't realize that it has been occurring for as long as we have had the ability to do so and that the legality must be signed off on by each president. It didn't start with George Bush and it didn't start with Bill Clinton. That is one of the things that bother me about the sources of information on the internet taken as gospel. Better than nothing though in most cases. Ah, perhaps one day...

Somehow this part got chopped off: I did read the article, his last paragraph the most telling. Your statement: something going on at region desk and station levels that has a lot of people upset - that happens every few years on a large scale (as opposed to a regional scale) but not to this extent as a rule. The last time such an uproar existed, well you know...


>The interesting thing is Gregg's credentials as a hard-guy cold-warrior are pretty untouchable. Nobody can accuse him of being a 7th floor REMF or Stansfield Turner. And he fell on the grenade for Bush in Iran/Contra. ( or at least was able to command enough respect to get guys like Singlaub and Secord to do it - and those two were the real deal )
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>I'd give a lot to be in a room when he and GHWBush talked candidly about Porter Goss. More to the point, there is obviously something going on at region desk and station levels that has a lot of people upset, but that is such inside baseball that I don't think anyone outside the tent will ever know what this is really all about. My best guess, though, is that it is ops, not analysis this time and that is what makes it particularly juicy. ( knew you'd get the Juvenal quote - you've probably seen it hanging on a wall <s> )
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>>I'm looking forward to reading it and am going to when I can take my time (later). As to your comment, we used to ask ourselves that (as I know you did) and the answer was typically 'no one' or it was followed by silence. I once imagined all of my reports going into a big black hole until one of my peers was called in over a report he wrote. Typically, if anyone was watching, it was someone who shouldn't be.
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>>>Fascinating piece by Donald Gregg in the Washington Post titled "George Smiley's War"
>>>
>>>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123002236.html
>>>
>>>The bio at the bottom doesn't give you the real flavor of it. Gregg worked for Shackley - the Ghost - in covert ops in Burma in the 60s and ran a good deal of Phoenix in Vietnam. He was the prime mover in the support of the Contras. He ran Felix Rodriguez - "Max", the guy who got Che ... He is one of George Bush senior's closest confidants in the intelligence world. If Scocroft speaks for Poppy on foreign policy, Gregg speaks for the Bush who ran CIA.
>>>
>>>If you know how to read between the lines on this one, it is a very big deal and I guarantee you there are folks from Langley to Baghdad to Islamabad to Seoul reading it like tea leaves.
>>>
>>>Tracy, you're probably the only one who'll realy get this, but I didn't want you to miss it <s>
>>>
>>>Sed Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
>>>
>>>Happy New Year.