Month: October 2005

by Larry C. Johnson

The CIA field commander for the agency’s Jawbreaker team at Tora Bora, Gary Berntsen, has finally got approval to publish his book, which will hit the streets on December 27, 2005.

The CIA has sat on the book for more than a year and tried to stop its publication. Although the book is not intended as a criticism of President Bush, it will land another body blow to the beleaguered Bush Presidency.

Bernsten’s key point in the book is his testimonty that he and other U.S. commanders did know that bin Laden was among the hundreds of fleeing Qaeda and Taliban members.

According to NEWSWEEK, “Berntsen says he had definitive intelligence that bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora–intelligence operatives had tracked him–and could have been caught. He was there.”

Look for General Tommy Franks image as the great commander to be further tarnished.

This book will have the unintended effect of reminding all Americans that George Bush did not finish the job of tracking down Bin Laden. Instead, he shifted key military and intelligence resources and started a war of choice in Iraq.

At the current fatality rate more than 2100 Americans will have died in Iraq when this book is available in bookstores. Put on your list for belated Christmas and Hanukkah shopping.

Happy Holidays.

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Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details.

Larry C. Johnson
Personal Blog: No Quarter || Bio
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Most of us arrived here at Booman Tribune in about the same way – as refugees at one time or the other from the Big Orange Place(tm). Some of you found a link to BT at another blog. Maybe you heard about this place from a friend, family member or co-worker. Some of you ended up here quite by accident.

It’s that last bunch that interests me, so I’ve been collecting search terms via the SiteMeter monitor that we have on the site. (Look waaay down on the right-hand side).

It’s not like I don’t have anything better to do – there’s much goofing off to be had when I’m not writing or reading stuff here. It’s just that I am inherently snoopy, or as I prefer to call it – “curious”.

What initially sparked my curiousity was when Booman let us know that some surfers (disappointed, no doubt) had visited BT after they’d typed “muff shots” into Google. (Try it. You’ll see why BT appeared in the list.)

Anyway, I’ve found some pretty interesting things that have shown up on the site stats, causing people to visit from far and wide.

by Pat Lang

“Bush said he called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in the day and instructed her to call upon the United Nations to convene a session “as quickly as possible to deal with this very serious matter.”

Bush was not specific about what steps the international community should take to make sure Syria is held accountable. He said the United States has started talking with U.N. officials and with Arab governments about what steps to take.

“Today a serious report came out that requires the world to look at very carefully and respond accordingly,” Bush said. Associated Press

Col. Patrick W. Lang (Ret.), a highly decorated retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces, served as “Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, South Asia and Terrorism” for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and was later the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. Col. Lang was the first Professor of the Arabic Language at the United States Military Academy at West Point. For his service in the DIA, he was awarded the “Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive.” He is a frequent commentator on television and radio, including PBS’s Newshour, and most recently on MSNBC’s Hardball and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

His CV and blog are linked below the fold.

Somewhere along the “dusty trail” a wise man told me that one should never threaten to do what can not be done, nor should one issue an order that is likely to be disobeyed. To do either of these things is to risk a loss of “gravitas.” In other words, people will stop listening to you if you do not perform after making rhetorical demands.

SYRIA and the Mehlis report are a case in point.

President Bush and his administration understandably take the ominous but not very conclusive outcome of the UN investigation quite seriously. The report is, in my opinion, overly dependent on single witnesses to events, but, it nevertheless points to high level Syrian involvement in the Hariri murder.

President Bush is calling for ACTION! I am puzzled as to what kind of action he is thinking of.

The Syrian government has a long established and time tested methodology for dealing with external demands placed upon it. It ignores them. The late Hafez al-Assad (papa of Bashar) refined this technique over many years in office. He was the master of “refusenikism.” He may have brought this form of “international relations” to a high point unlikely to be surpassed for a long time. .. continued below BIO:

The old man even demonstrated his devotion to the method in interviews with visiting “firemen.” … Continued BELOW:

by Larry C. Johnson

This happened one month ago and word of it is just now leaking out. Yep, things sure are going well over there in Iraq. The heats and mind thing is certainly progressing. The image of children piling straw on a living man who is on fire and dying certainly captures the “progress” we’ve made. – LJ

Larry C. Johnson
Personal Blog: No Quarter || Bio
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