"Our Enemies" - Our Government's Response

I recently read a review of Ron Suskind's new book: "The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of its Enemies Since 9/11". The reviewer describes how the author talking of a U.S. intelligence policy where pre-established political decisions shape the intelligence so that the CIA and others must "find evidence" to support whatever the Bush Administration wants the message to be.

The reviewer describes the capture of Abu Zubaydah in Pakistan in March, 2002. He indicates that this man was described as: "al-Qaida's chief of operations". "Abu Zubaydah, his captors discovered, turned out to be mentally ill and nothing like the pivotal figure they supposed him to be." After indicating that the prisoner appeared to know nothing about terrorist operations, President Bush, two weeks later described him as: "one of the top operatives plotting and planning death and destruction on the United States."

This man then became a major CIA focal point with some of the notorious torture (or almost torture) techniques based allegedly upon a statement Bush gave to George Tenet (CIA Director at the time): "I said he was important" and "You're not going to let me loste face on this, are you?"

Under much duress Zubaydah began to speak of a whole range of plots including attacking The Brooklyn Bridge and The Statue of Liberty. "With each new tale, 'thousands of uniformed men and women raced in a panic to each ... target' And so, Suskind writes, 'the United States would torture a mentally disturbed man and then leap screaming, at every word he uttered.'"

Being bothered greatly by ridiculous, dangerous, ineffective actions of the Bush Administration alone does little to change things! Hopefully the patterns of such efforts will haunt Bush and the Republicans in the months and years to come awakening voters to help change things.