Torture - An Analysis of the Issue

George Rebane

STRATFOR, the globally respected geopolitical intelligence and analysis company, just published 'Torture and the US Intelligence Failure' by George Friedman.  RR readers are familiar with the insightful and prescient material that is the work product of this firm.  With express permission this report is made available to non-subscribers and it can be accessed here as a pdf.  Given the partisan politics that has already clouded the torture issue in the media, I recommend reading this piece by Friedman for some light on thinking about the subject.  Friedman asks us to interpret the issue within the obligations and events which framed the use of torture, and how we should look at its possible use in the future.

Comments

[Russ Steele]

George,

Thanks for sharing the Stratfor Report. Friedman is most insightful and I have to agree with his assessment. It was a massive intelligence failure. We had an opportunity to stay connected in Afghanistan after we helped them defeat the Russian's, but there was no political will and we walked away. The al Qaeda filled the political vacuum we left behind when we withdrew our support. Clinton knew that al Qaeda was behind the fist World Trade Center attack He knew that al Qaeda was behind the Embassy Bombings, yet we did not crank up our mid-east HUMINT. What the hell was the intelligence community doing. Oh, wait I know they we developing satellite systems, they had been banned from collecting human intelligence from "bad people." If we really wanted to look for the blame for the intelligence failure, we have to go back to the Carter Administration and his efforts to reign in the intelligence community. They refocused the intelligent community toward technical means, and away from HUMINT. And, then we have the issue of the firewall between foreign intelligence and domestic tracking or terrorist in the US by the FBI, put in place by the Clinton Administration. Buch inherited the busted intelligence systems, and systems that is still not the robust systems that we really need to survive. I am not sure BO has a clue what to do, and he will listen to his lefty advisors for an action plan. Standby for more intelligence disasters. The amateurs are in charge!