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This is how the CIA botched Iraq post-9/11: Bob Gates, careerist sycophancy, and the real history of the Deep State
A veteran CIA officer explains to Salon exactly where the agency has gone wrong for decades — and the consequences

In a lengthy exchange with Ray McGovern, or when you listen to him speak, a lot comes at you. This is a former C.I.A. officer who, as branch chief in the analysis section, counted daily White House briefings among his tasks. Given his years out in Langley, Virginia—from the early Kennedy days until he retired in 1990—he was witness to the agency’s collapse into a factory producing politically and ideologically motivated “intelligence.” Long before the end, Langley had turned into a building full of “prostitutes”—McGovern’s word “not too strong.”

McGovern can get very granular as he describes what he saw. Elsewhere in the News, a discriminating new website that searches out material you ought to see but may miss, just posted this remarkable radio interview, in which McGovern analyzes the fate of the 2002 intelligence report advising the Bush II administration there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. More than a million deaths and one Islamic State later, McGovern tells us what this kind of corruption looks like from the inside and how it felt to watch it.

We explore such things in this, Part 2 of the lengthy interview I conducted with McGovern when we found ourselves at a conference in Moscow last December. But two other things struck me as I prepared the transcript.

End NATO Now

The continuation of NATO, after its counterpart the Warsaw Pact ended in 1991, is an insanity that’s driving the world inexorably toward World War III.

The trigger for that war is now being set by NATO member Turkey, which wants to invade neighboring Syria, and which has the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council (including the  world’s biggest buyer of U.S. weapons, Saudi Arabia) who are massing troops and weapons on Syria’s northern border, in preparation for an invasion southward into Syria.

Once they invade Syria from Turkish territory, it won’t be enough for the Syrian army and its Russian ally to wage war against them inside Syrian territory, because the invaders will then need to be counter-attacked in order to be defeated, and so there will be an invasion of NATO-member Turkey — a counter-invasion, in defence against Syria’s invaders — a counter-invasion which, however morally necessary it will be, will trigger nuclear war, for this reason:

The NATO Treaty in its Article Five, “Collective Defence,” asserts (as summarized by NATO): “Collective defence means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies.” In other words, when Syria and Russia respond to Turkey’s aggression by counter-invading Turkey, the entire NATO alliance are automatically Treaty-obligated to ‘defend’ Turkey from that justified  invasion of Turkey by Syria and by Syria’s Russian ally.

NATO’s Provocative Anti-Russian Moves

Twenty-seven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO is back flexing its muscles as if nothing had changed since the days of the Soviet Union. Defense ministers from the enlarged, 28-member organization agreed recently to strengthen the alliance’s “forward presence” in Eastern Europe. If their new policy is endorsed at a summit in Poland this summer, NATO will begin deploying thousands of troops in Poland and the Baltic states, right up against Russia’s borders.

In other words, the Western alliance will redouble its military commitment to a Polish government whose right-wing, anti-Russian, and autocratic policies are so egregious that even the stanchly neo-conservative editorial page of the Washington Post saw fit to condemn the new leaders’ encroachments on democracy and the rule of law.

Worse yet, NATO’s provocative commitment will include a potential threat to start World War III on behalf of that government. Most Americans are unaware that NATO’s policies — reaffirmed by the Obama administration — view nuclear weapons as a “core component” of the alliance’s capacity to repel even a conventional attack on one of its member states.

America's Love Affair With Nuclear & Radioactive Weapons

The United States would have the world believe that it is in mortal danger should nations like Iran or North Korea obtain operationally effective nuclear weapons. We are told that there is a grave risk of these weapons being used against another nation and that the US (with the support of the "international community") must confront these governments, and if possible undermine and overthrow them. Why?

Since a nation has already used nuclear weapons against another state, ironically enough that nation being the United States itself, we already know the devastating effects of nuclear weapons. Besides the immense, indiscriminate initial blast, nuclear weapons also produce a persistent radioactive threat amid the fallout afterwards.

The fallout and the catastrophic effects it has on human health for years afterward make nuclear weapons particularly horrifying and abhorrent. The United States didn't drop only one nuclear bomb on another nation, Japan, it dropped two. The data collected in the aftermath of these attacks have helped form our collective fear of these weapons.

Ironically the US is using the fear its own nuclear warfare has created as leverage to wage still more war.

The U.S. Military Suffers from Affluenza

The word “affluenza” is much in vogue. Lately, it’s been linked to a Texas teenager, Ethan Couch, who in 2013 killed four people in a car accident while driving drunk. During the trial, a defense witness argued that Couch should not be held responsible for his destructive acts. His parents had showered him with so much money and praise that he was completely self-centered; he was, in other words, a victim of affluenza, overwhelmed by a sense of entitlement that rendered him incapable of distinguishing right from wrong. Indeed, the judge at his trial sentenced him only to probation, not jail, despite the deaths of those four innocents.

Experts quickly dismissed “affluenza” as a false diagnosis, a form of quackery, and indeed the condition is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. Yet the word caught on big time, perhaps because it speaks to something in the human condition, and it got me to thinking. During Ethan Couch’s destructive lifetime, has there been an American institution similarly showered with money and praise that has been responsible for the deaths of innocents and inadequately called to account? Is there one that suffers from the institutional version of affluenza (however fuzzy or imprecise that word may be) so much that it has had immense difficulty shouldering the blame for its failures and wrongdoing?

The answer is hidden in plain sight: the U.S. military. Unlike Couch, however, that military has never faced trial or probation; it hasn’t felt the need to abscond to Mexico or been forcibly returned to the homeland to face the music.

Bungling the New World Order

On the world scene, America is a declining power. This decline is in part domestic and self-inflicted, reflecting a certain weariness and neglect of our social order. No amount of huffing and puffing from politicians will significantly change this decline.

But the decline is also relative, relative to the rise of new world powers. China, India, Brazil, even the return of a more active Russia; all now severely affect America’s former ability to dominate the global scene.

Numerous historical examples abound of imperial exhaustion, loss of spirit and decline. Yet, with our ambitions more modestly set, there is no reason why America cannot comfortably live within the framework of the newly emerging world order. Indeed, President Obama, to his credit, (partially) does grasp the already serious costs of imperial overreach — even if his key strategists do not.

Deconstructing America’s ‘Deep State’

Just about everyone knows something is dangerously wrong with our nation’s political system. There is a growing awareness that the United States is drifting blindly into a state of greater inequality, stagnation, oligarchy and perpetual war, with a ruling establishment that neither responds to the will of the people nor to the problems our nation faces.

For evidence of this pervasive sense of unease, look no further than the 2016 presidential election, where a bombastic celebrity billionaire and a crusty grandfatherly democratic socialist are claiming the political system is rigged and are driving the scions of the status quo into the rubber room — at least for now.

In his most recent book, The Deep State, Mike Lofgren has written a timely exegesis of that status quo and its staying power. He makes it easier for any concerned citizen to understand the realities of the political and constitutional crises now facing the United States — and perhaps even improve the reader’s sense for the madness and anger that now characterizes 2016 presidential election.

How the United States' Two Major Parties Helped Destroy Democracy

A little over two decades ago, on December 2, 1993, the principle engineer of Colombia's infamous cocaine empire, Pablo Escobar, was killed while fleeing police on the barrio rooftops of his hometown, Medellin. Before he died he had amassed an organization of state-like power, challenging, in fact, the government of Columbia itself over the question of its extradition policies-and winning. Dubbed the Medellin drug cartel, his international cocaine operation grew to prominence functioning similarly to the corporations which dominate today's global economy. Escobar knew, by controlling every possible link in the drug chain from production to retail, he could corral suppliers under a single umbrella, dictate the price of his product, and severely limit any would-be competitors from challenging his power.

Escobar was not alone in learning from the strategies of corporate giants. If anything he was late. Few organizations have pervasively and durably monopolized a market as well as America's Republican and Democratic parties. The two dominant machines steering the U.S. electorate have consistently diminished the potential for a freer America. That's because the reality is, rather than arch rivals, liberals and conservatives are two factions of the same team. Both are capitalist. Both are imperialist. Both are white supremacist surrogates. And both are controlled by a plutocratic elite who have discovered what Escobar learned in his early twenties, that competition is best neutralized by eliminating all possible outliers. We merely perceive the two parties as markedly different because of the degree to which the spectrum of possibilities has been narrowed.

American Cartel

Politics, at its barest, is a market characterized by power-and the struggle for how power will be distributed. As CrimethInc illustrated some time ago, in this market ideas function similar to currency. Delineated by ideas which can build capital enough for the acquisition of more power, and those which might unbind power, political parties are tethered to the same basic operating principles of any capitalist enterprise. They must solidify market share in the realm of ideas and grow, wherever and whenever possible, or go bankrupt. Incubated within this constant power play, self-preservation becomes the party's central priority; and it does not matter if the ideas which accomplish this outcome are beneficial to the electorate or detrimental, so long as it achieves the imperative to survive.

12-minute video: 5 stages of human awakening: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance; and why your leadership matters for the revolution just ahead

Those of us relatively awake have gone through some form of the five stages of grieving, and observe fellow humans mostly stuck in its first stage: denial.

As .01% Emperor’s New Clothes obvious crimes centering in war, money, and lies become more outrageous, more of us will choose integrity and courage to voice the obvious. The exposure and end of .01% criminal oligarchy will occur in a relative moment; and at that point our leadership on this journey will be essential for transition.

Our leadership isn’t much, we know, and our relative acceptance of the facts puts us in position for constructive vision to build a brighter future.

These Senior Citizens Are Destined to Die in Prison--For Marijuana
There are drug war excesses remaining to be rectified. Here are some of the most outrageous.

Marijuana is now legal in four states and the nation's capital, voters will likely legalize it in a half dozen more by year's end. Pot possession is decriminalized in a couple dozen more states. It seems to now be generally recognized that marijuana just isn't that big a deal. Yet, as hard as it is to imagine, there are still people who have been sentenced to die in prison for marijuana offenses.

That's right, sentenced to life without parole for non-violent marijuana offenses. The most famous marijuana lifer is Missourian Jeff Mirzansky, who walked out of state prison last year after a concerted public relations and political campaign by his family and supporters, but he is by no means the only one.

How many marijuana lifers there are is an open question. Only groups like Lifeforpot.com, started by Beth Curtis, the sister of a federal marijuana lifer, keep a tally, and that depends on someone reaching out to them. That's happened mostly with the federal system; how many people doing life for pot in state prisons is anybody's guess.

NOAA and NASA Team Up to Investigate Strong El Niño

America’s two leading climate science agencies are conducting an unprecedented survey via land, sea and air to investigate the current El Niño event and better understand its impact on weather systems that have brought both parched and soaking conditions to North America.

The project, which will conclude in March, will deploy resources from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA to analyze one of the strongest El Niños on record. El Niño is a periodic phenomenon in which parts of the eastern Pacific warm, causing a ripple effect for weather around the world.

NOAA’s Gulfstream IV research plane and its ship Ronald H Brown will collect data from the vast stretch of the Pacific ocean where El Niño climate events are spawned. NASA will deploy its Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, which is able to fly at 65,000ft for 30 hours at a time.

It is hoped that instruments dropped from aircraft, supported by weather balloons, will help improve weather forecasts and models that predict the longer-term impact of climate change. The scientists will coordinate with researchers based in Honolulu and the Pacific island of Kiribati, around 1,340 miles south of Hawaii.

Welcome to the End of the World — Everybody Dance
Extraordinary Documentary Takes a New Approach to Climate Change Disaster

Just before the Sundance Film Festival screening of his documentary about the coming end of the world, Josh Fox came on stage, and, oddly — did a marvelous little dance.

He’s an unusual fellow with a refreshingly startling approach, to be sure — and it is a pleasure to contemplate anything he produces. Including, notably, his new ode to what may be the final years of life on Earth.

We aren’t talking here about God’s Plan. We’re talking about the result, in large part, of our own stupidity, laziness and selfishness.

This is no simple matter, so perhaps it is appropriate that a film taking it on has a very complicated title: How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change. It is a kind of natural evolution from his earlier work.

More Than Half the World’s Population Faces Severe Water Scarcity

A new study finds that 4 billion people across the globe suffer water scarcity during at least one month during the year, while half a billion experience it throughout the year.

The research, conducted by scientists at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, indicates that global water shortages are much more severe than previously thought.

Almost 2 billion of those experiencing extreme water scarcity live in India and China, but the study also includes 120 million people living in the United States, mainly in California and other Western states.

North Atlantic Carbon Intake Doubles

LONDON— The North Atlantic Ocean is responding rapidly to climate change: it has absorbed 50% more carbon from human activities in the last 10 years, than in the previous decade, a new study shows.

In effect, it has become both a sink for the byproduct of the fossil fuel combustion that is driving global warming, and at the same time an index of the impact humans are now having on the ocean and atmosphere.

Scientists from the University of Miami’s school of marine and atmospheric science established the Atlantic’s hunger for carbon dioxide by simply looking at data samples taken a decade apart.

They report in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles that the data were collected in two international ship-based studies. One was CLIVAR, short for Climate Variability CO2 Repeat Hydrography, the other GO-SHIP, or the Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program’

Washington Post's Food Columnist Goes to Bat for Monsanto - Again

A few months ago, I raised concerns about Washington Post food columnist Tamar Haspel (FAIR.org, 10/28/15) after she admitted taking money from agribusiness interest groups that she covers.

I pointed out that her columns are biased in favor of those industry groups, particularly on the topic of GMOs, even though her column is presented to readers as an unbiased effort to find middle ground in debates about our food system.

My article was met with crickets of silence from Haspel, her Post editor Joe Yonan and the band of biotech promoters who prolifically praise Haspel on Twitter. I figured that, soon enough, Haspel might write another column that would warrant raising the concerns another notch up the pole. She didn't disappoint.

In her January column (Washington Post, 1/26/16), Haspel offered an investigation ("the surprising truth") about the food movement—without speaking to anyone in the food movement—concluding that there isn't much of a food movement after all, and most people don't really care about labeling genetically engineered foods (GMOs).

Montana Tribe's Water Deal Clears Major Senate Milestone

Seven years ago, Montana legislators approved a water compact with the Blackfeet that was decades in the making. But it took until this week for a Senate committee to approve a bill that could make that deal a reality for the tribe, whose reservation is next to Glacier National Park. It was the first major Indian water settlement to get even this far since 2010. Still, several big hurdles remain before the bill becomes law and money can start flowing to help the tribe use its water resources to invigorate its beleaguered economy.

The delay reflects just how complicated it is to negotiate water settlements, especially when disputes date back more than 100 years and the federal government wears multiple hats in the negotiations. In this case, it represents the interests of the tribe as its trustee, U.S. taxpayers and Canada, because of an international treaty.

Since the Great Recession, Congress has been especially resistant to Indian water settlements because they are expensive and some House Republicans view them as earmarks. Chairman Bishop last year laid out new criteria for Indian water settlements. He requires that the Obama administration supports the deal and testifies that it is in the net benefit of U.S. taxpayers. The Blackfeet settlement likely will be the first major test case. 

U.S. Forest Service Stretched After Record Wildfires Year

The U.S. Forest Service has warned it is at the “tipping point” of a crisis in dealing with escalating wildfires and diseases that are ravaging America’s increasingly fragile forest ecosystems.

The federal agency, which manages 193 million acres of forest, will plead once again for more funding from Congress, in the wake of a devastating 2015 that saw record swaths of forest engulfed in flames.

A total of 10.1 million acres were burned last year, a figure that is double the typical losses seen 30 years ago. During this time, the average fire season in the U.S. has lengthened by 78 days, with scientists predicting that the amount of forest razed by fire will double by 2050.

Climate change-driven drought, wildfire and invasive diseases are stretching the U.S. Forest Service to breaking point, the agency has warned. It spent about 65 percent of its $5 billion budget dealing with wildfires last year and is requesting that fire be treated like other natural disasters so that it is able to access more money to keep pace.