I take exception to this. Self-criticism was an integral element of the Communist Party practice, especially in Russia and China. OTOH, what you (accurately) dubbed a caricature of leftist positions in the US engaged in "blaming-the-outsiders criticism" which is quite typical of the US political discourse in general.
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Very briefly, because I must fly.
Wojtek, we are talking about two very different things.
Notice how my focus is on actual counter-terrorism: how is it done now? How might it be improved? What is real counter-terrorism and what show business thinly veiled as counter-terrorism?
In short, my concerns are with how the state's limited resources might best be used to effectively deal with the ongoing threat of terrorism (leaving aside, for just a moment, the question of causes).
Now, when officials in London and Washington claim that this plot they say they've uncovered would have been, had they not intervened, one of the worst disasters in history and other astounding tales and when a variety of people who make it their business to evaluate these sorts of things - and no, not left-of-center or left leaning or even necessarily left handed people - find official statements to be far less than plausible I'm going to take those criticisms, those TECHNICAL criticisms to heart.
This has less than zero to do with the tradition of self-criticism you inexplicably bring up. Indeed, I find it very, very strange that you seem to assume the only people who have anything unflattering to say on these matters are lefties grinding the usual axes.
Come to think of it, this is an almost precise replay of what happened during the London shooting of Charles de Menezes in July of 2005 - I mentioned specific operational problems, you merrily went down an odd road talking about the Left.
Quite strange, really.
.d.
I never liked you Rusty...you were always a smart alec, a sass mouth and a bit of a giggle puss.
Dr. Impossible
...................... http://monroelab.net/blog/