We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Whose sarin?

Click here to access article by Seymour Hersh from London Review of Books.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." This French aphorism is once again manifested in the Obama administration's position regarding the manipulation of intelligence in Syria. This recent incident, of course, follows most recently the pattern established under Bush Sr. to justify the attack on Iraq during the first Gulf War (1990-1991). But, of course, it follows the pattern of all imperialist regimes who feel the need to rally their populations behind their war crimes while pursuing their aims of plunder, conquest, and even world domination.

Hersh enjoys access to many former and current intelligence figures and others inside the governing establishment, and brings us up to date--this time not in the New Yorker, but in a British publication--on what he has learned about what happened to Obama administration's plans to attack Syria over the chemical weapons allegations.
... in recent interviews with intelligence and military officers and consultants past and present, I found intense concern, and on occasion anger, over what was repeatedly seen as the deliberate manipulation of intelligence.  
You might also be interested in the keen observations of Bernhard at his blog Moon of Alabama in relation to this important article.