It doesn't seem to matter how many billions the U.S. throws at spook-istic operations, our preening enthnocentricity guarantees we will either misinterpret or totally ignore whatever facts we do find.
There was an oped in today's Wall Street Journal by former CIA Director R. James Woolsey that contained a particularly breathtaking example of this. The title of the piece is "Why We Spy on Our Allies," and Woolsey -- commenting on "the recent flap regarding Echelon and U.S. spying on European industries" -- states the only reason for this snooping is to uncover evidence of bribery. Here's the beauty part. States Woolsey: "The European Parliament's recent report on Echelon, written by British journalist Duncan Campbell, has sparked angry accusations from continental Europe that U.S. intelligence is stealing advanced technology from European companies so that we can -- get this -- give it to American companies and help them compete. My European friends, get real. True, in a handful of areas European technology surpasses American, but, to say this as gently as I can, the number of such areas is very, very, very small. Most European technology just isn't worth our stealing."
If this is the way the CIA talks about America's *allies*, I'd be interested in seeing what sort of contemptuous language they reserve for enemies.
Carl ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com