Re: [OPE] CIA's Analysis of The Soviet Union

From: Allin Cottrell <cottrell@wfu.edu>
Date: Sun Apr 19 2009 - 21:01:36 EDT

On Sun, 19 Apr 2009, Jurriaan Bendien wrote:

> Well, secret services may be a necessary evil up to a point, but
> little of scientific merit can be learnt from them, because they
> are professional liars...
>
> We saw this clearly in the lead-up to war against Iraq and
> Afghanistan - it was all a pack of lies, a fraud, and the
> politicians were also talking a pack of lies.

"Also"? Is it not fairly clear that the politicians (i.e.
Cheney) were running the show, commanding the CIA to say what they
wanted to hear? Under "normal" circumstances one might expect
rational politicians to value objective analysis from their
intelligence agencies, even if they choose to keep that analysis
secret and tell the public something else.

Admittedly, what intelligence agencies consider "objective
analysis" may be quite strongly conditioned by their ideological
formation, but that is to be distinguished from whatever happens
to be convenient for their masters to hear in the given
conjuncture.

Allin Cottrell
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Received on Sun Apr 19 21:03:47 2009

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