talkpolitics | Feeling the Pulse of the Intellectual Void

sophia-sadek.livejournal.com posting in

During my years in college I toyed with the idea of working for the CIA in order to spy on the organization for the benefit of the American public. It was a tempting mission, but I decided against it. Some of my friends pointed out how I would not fit in anyway. Since then many insider accounts of the plight of CIA employees has convinced me that I made the correct decision. There is something about an organization where you have to check your brain at the door that does not sit well with me.

In his memoir of his time working at State with the Afghan Muhajeddin, Peter Tomsen recounts many actions on the part of the CIA that he felt showed a poverty of judgment. One of the smaller ones was the desire for the CIA to send ISI (the Pakistani equivalent to the CIA) representatives on a mission to buy back stinger missiles from the Muj. Tomsen opposed the presence of the ISI people on the grounds that it would send the wrong message to the Afghanis. Tomsen says that the CIA replied that they would not include ISI personnel, but Tomsen could not confirm whether they followed his recommendation or not.

Tomsen includes quite a bit of material that ties ISI to terrorism in the Muslim quarters of Central and South Asia. Their initials could easily stand for Islamists Supplying Insurgents. (This game of renaming organizations has come up with gems such as Fuck-ups, Boneheads, and Incompetents.) The involvement of ISI in terrorism is probably why they were admired so much by people like Reagan and Bush.

In our school we held a discussion of why dummies thrive in organizations like the CIA. One of our students pointed out that the admissions requirements tend to deter intelligent people. It is as if you have to kowtow to the flag in order to get in the front door. One of our guys said it was like the Masonic entrance requirement to express belief in the material Creator. Those who know better are simply turned away from the git-go.

Could you see yourself working for an organization with as many publicly documented disasters as has the CIA?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

htpcl.livejournal.com

> The involvement of ISI in terrorism is probably why they were admired so much by people like Reagan and Bush.

Here we go again.

From:

underlankers.livejournal.com

Eh, it wouldn't be the first time that a society created enemies for itself or that spies propped up terrorists. If one cannot find an enemy, one can always make one. Albeit as Kaiser Wilhelm II and the German leaders up to 1991 might tell you that doesn't tend to work very well as humans aren't abstractions and one cannot control things like that when one starts.

Or alternately one could just ask Israel the same damn thing (people never fucking learn):

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123275572295011847.html

From:

sophia-sadek.livejournal.com

It reminds me of someone who is sinking in quicksand. Struggling only makes things worse.

From:

underlankers.livejournal.com

Precisely. The most epic failure of all like this must be the attempt by the Germans to turn a minority of the Russian Social Revolutionary Party into a Win the War Quick scheme. It produced a little chaos and a little something known as the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union which had some importance in the 20th Century.

Re: Good article.

From:

sophia-sadek.livejournal.com - Date: 21/9/11 00:31 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Good article.

From:

underlankers.livejournal.com - Date: 21/9/11 00:35 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Good article.

From:

sophia-sadek.livejournal.com - Date: 21/9/11 15:27 (UTC) - Expand

From:

devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com

I have family members who work for the CIA. They are very intelligent. While they are loyal Americans, I doubt they had to "kowtow" to any flags or profess their religious beliefs to join.

From:

sophia-sadek.livejournal.com

... accounts of a number of intelligent people who have worked at the CIA. They have described a tendency to marginalize people who do not play the game. I am sure your family members are perfectly happy with their roles, but I seriously doubt that they did not kowtow to the flag.

From:

soliloquy76.livejournal.com

They are not rational because they believe in god. They're holding on to ideas deeply ingrained into their psyche since birth. That kind of brainwashing is hard to break away from for some people, including PhDs.

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Feeling the Pulse of the Intellectual Void

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