U.S. Spies Called Ignorant

Not so good.Could the news coming out of Afghanistan really get any worse? I mean, they are ranked nearly the lowest in the entire world as far as corruption (179 out of 180- yes, I love that statistic), have pushed their parliamentary elections out as far as is legally possible because the election system there is so corrupt and untrustworthy, and now it seems that the U.S. can’t even get spying- something we are SUPPOSED to be good at by now- right.

The intelligence chief for the U.S. military in Afghanistan “sharply criticized” spy agency work in Afghanistan, according to Reuters. Ouch! That should be a pretty clear signal to al Qaeda and the Taliban that they have nothing to worry about over there- or maybe it’s just a trap and things are going better than ever… hmmm.

The chief said that they were ignorant and out of touch with the Afghan people. Wow. While I can only imagine that is true, is that really the kind of thing you air in the public media? It does come from a think tank, though, and they don’t have the considerations of being a full-on government organization, and in fact it seems to be their role to pretty much say what they feel, tell it like it is.

It’s been 8 years now that we have been in Afghanistan, and decades before that that we were involved there and in surrounding countries- how could we be ignorant and without any kind of understanding? To be specific, he described the U.S. as

"ignorant of local economics and landowners, hazy about who the powerbrokers are and how they might be influenced ... and disengaged from people in the best position to find answers."

Well imagine that.

The report even quoted an operations officer as calling the U.S. "clueless,” as in we lack any worthwhile intelligence about the country. So it’s true- we have all been listening to a biased media when they tell us things are going alright. No surprise.

Well, I’m sure things are much better in the military sense- we have never been very good at understanding anyone, much less how to gain their trust. Money and bombs are pretty much the way- we have elevated bullying to an art form, and it works- as long as you remain the biggest and the toughest on the block, right?

This report comes on the heels of the news that seven CIA officers were killed by a suicide bomber double-agent at a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan. Couple that with the unpopular and questionably effective drone attacks now being carried out by the CIA, and you have a complete lack of effectiveness on the part of the department that claims to be the Central Intelligence. "Eight years into the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. intelligence community is only marginally relevant to the overall strategy," wrote officers in the report.

And at this point, well, how can you become more relevant, you know? What’s the alternative? Everyone we want to catch is hiding or occupying some territory. It seems that the central intelligence will be to watch and learn.

Photo Credit: lintmachine (via Flickr under CCL)