OF THE
TIMES
"We have been subjected to meticulous, daily torture," he said. "We were helpless...on an isolated island, surrounded by weapons."He praised the Sudanese government and human rights organizations for working to secure the release of prisoners at Gitmo, which has been called "the GULAG of our times" by Amnesty International. Closed-door military tribunals, for example, have been riddled with problems, including courtroom speakers that have a mysterious tendency for being blocked during key testimony.
"These troops will remain in South Sudan until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed."Watch this space, as US AFRICOM's first major set piece in the new Africa - the partitioning of Sudan and South Sudan - begins heating up this month.
From President to Ambassador, Cabinet Officer to Commanding General, and from Senator to executive assistant -- all these men have their sources of information and guidance. Most of this information and guidance is the result of carefully laid schemes and ploys of pressure groups. In this influential coterie one of the most interesting and effective roles is that played by the behind the scenes, faceless, nameless, ubiquitous briefing officer.
He is the man who sees the President, the Secretary, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff almost daily, and who carries with him the most skillfully detailed information. He is trained by years of experience in the precise way to present that information to assure its effectiveness. He comes away day after day knowing more and more about the man he has been briefing and about what it is that the truly influential pressure groups at the center of power and authority are really trying to tell these key decision makers. In Washington, where such decisions shape and shake the world, the role of the regular briefing officer is critical...
The role of the briefing officer is quiet, effective, and most influential; and, in the CIA, specialized in the high art of top level indoctrination.
Comment: Back in 2001, the then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that the Pentagon had lost 2.3 trillion dollars in transactions. No one bothered to follow up on his jaw-dropping remarks because, well, he chose the 10th of September of that year to make the announcement.
We have to wonder, what sort of 'defense' programs require trillions of funding while remaining in total secrecy?