NSA only intercepts electromagnetic communications. AL Qeada knows this. That means ANY intercept needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Maybe two. If your enemy knows you are listening to him, won’t he use that to his advantage?
Back in the 9th century, a Byzantine General ‘arranged’ for a forged letter from an enemy general’s top aide to fall into the enemy general’s hands. Naturally the enemy general was suspicious, but he thought maybe it was a plot by those sneaky Greeks ( which is what the Muslims of that day called the Eastern Roman Empire). So the Byzantine general sent out a cavalry raid and burned a bunch of farms, skipping the farm of the Muslim General’s aide. The aide was executed shortly there after.
In low level conflicts, very few things are what they seem to be. Especially in the Middle East.
When wars are fought with deceit and stealth, NEVER believe your senses.
Remember, the CIA, DIA, DoD, DOS, etc. are all bureaucracies. So while the guy at this desk ( bureau) might not know where anything is, the guy 4 desks over might just be signing off on the utility bill for Osama’s hideout. President Bush DID not know where Osama was hiding. That doesn’t mean someone at the CIA didn’t know. Or somebody at State. State and the CIA stabbed President Bush in the back several times. It got so bad he ‘killed’ the CIA in bureaucratic terms. The CIA now reports to Homeland Security, which also controls their budget. In bureaucratic terms, the CIA was decapitated.
No matter what you want to call the war Islam is waging against the West, it will mostly be a war in the shadows. Their advantage in a shadow war is a great as the West’s advantage in any other type of warfare. Our only hope is that shadow wars are seldom conclusive. Decades of terrorism practiced by Saddam were undone by 21 days of mechanized warfare.
