You might have thought the big news yesterday was emanating from Cairo. That’s what I thought when I went out to McLean, Virginia, to have lunch with some friends. The television was on and the newscasters were in full emergency mode: Alert, Alert, Alert! Breaking News! One side of the screen had a camera trained on the demonstrators in Cairo, the other featured a succession of talking heads who repeated the same concerned phrases over and over. A ticker tape of text at the bottom told you that President Mubarak was just about to step down and that President Obama would address the nation within minutes.
We lingered in front of the television for about twenty minutes and then, when nothing happened, went into lunch. When we finished, we regrouped by the television. President Obama did appear. (Head faces left): The future lies ahead! (Turn head to the right): Nothing stands between us and victory except defeat! The usual enlightening sentiments.
Then someone called James Clapper came on. He, it turns out, is director of national intelligence. The director of national intelligence sat in front of a House Intelligence Committee and asserted publicly, to adults, that the Muslim Brotherhood was a “largely secular” organization:
The term “Muslim Brotherhood” … is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam. They have pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt, et cetera. … In other countries, there are also chapters or franchises of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there is no overarching agenda, particularly in pursuit of violence, at least internationally.
Will wonders never cease? I thought the Muslim Brotherhood called itself the Muslim Brotherhood because, you know, it was a Muslim, i.e., a religious, i.e., not a secular, organization. And I thought the group did have “an overarching agenda,” namely the establishment of Islamic law worldwide. Perhaps our director of national intelligence should take time to ponder this statement from a document called Jihad is the Way:
It should be known that jihad and preparation towards jihad are not only for the purpose of fending off assaults and attacks of Allah’s enemies from Muslims, but are also for the purpose of realizing the great task of establishing an Islamic state and strengthening the religion and spreading it around the world.
The thing I like about the Muslim Brotherhood is that you know where you stand with them. They are forthright about their goals: “Allah,” they announce in their charter, “is our objective, the Prophet is our leader, the Koran is our law, Jihad is our way, and dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu akbar!”
Someone must have brought such items about the Muslim Brotherhood to the director of national intelligence, for not many hours went by before a spokesmen sought to “clarify” his remarks, noting that the director of national intelligence “is well aware that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a secular organization.”
Well! I’m glad we got that cleared up because I can understand how a layman might, just might, conclude that when the director of national intelligence said that the Muslim Brotherhood was “largely secular” he meant that they were largely secular — a sort of pita-pocket version of the Salvation Army, perhaps.
narcissism is a very counter-productive foreign policy. nobody else matters very much to a narcissist. effective foreign policy depends on a sensitivity to the interests of other parties, uo to a point. then tenacity is what counts. obama has exhibit none of these traits. just a poser and teleprompter reader with a faculty lounge world view. lets flush hard in 2012, hopefully it won’t be a post al gore mini-flush!!!!
The fundamental problem isn’t CIA incompetence or State Department worship of the status quo: it’s the abiding lack of interest in the world by President Obama and his administration. He and his top advisors seem to think that the world can be made to go away, to leave them alone to engage in their parochial transformations. It there was no plan or strategy for Egypt, it wasn’t for lack of warning: it’s attention deficit disorder on a world historical scale.
See “Obama against the world”:
http://vulgarmorality.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/president-obama-against-the-world/
I love Wodehouse
“US Intelligence”…. the new oxymoron. Because it is run by morons.
Which country’s intelligence agencies predicted this outcome in Egypt correctly? In advance?
You expect it would be part of the public domain do you? Something you can Google?
….not likely to be available via Google or th’media….they’d be most unlikely to publish anything supportive of our Intelligence agencies, it’s not in their collective genes. Notice always that these agencies never trumpet their successes. It’s only the auto-critics’ smirks that’re registered with th’media. It’s interesting to compare and read Peter Berkowitz’s “Contemplating Egypt at the Herzliya Conference”, also nearby at Pajamas Media,
“…Like the rest of the world, Israeli security experts did not foresee the tumult.” Arguably the Israeli’s are the very best on Earth with this subject; even if not, certainly they’re not “morons”. How silly to think so.
I put up the question because they’ll always be folks amongst us out here in the wilds of public mis-opinion who will continue to make silly observations like that at #4 without a clue about the subject matter. That one reads like the mostly adolescent level of stuff generally seen at the Washington Post.
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I just noticed that repeated posting of the question of mine just below the original……that was my own eager-finger trouble not allowing enough time…apologies.
….Which countries’ intelligence agencies predicted this outcome in Egypt correctly? In advance?
I believe our administration is mistaking the 1% of foreign policy (public) for the real work done to protect our nation and it’s allies (non-public). Without the underlying foundation they are trying to ride a wave which is controlled by someone else. With predictable results(chaos).
The Mugabe Obama White House is so ideologically leftist and ignorant of foreign affairs, it’s astounding. I’m waiting to hear that they will send
another Billion Dollars to Hamas, as they did in 2009.
I think the problem is they are NOT ignorant of foreign policy. It is going as they wish it to. The world needs to be afraid of believing the USA will be there to help them except to help a muslim brotherhood takeover.
There should be great fear in ISrael
At last, the voice of reason.
Obama and his cronies are not incompetent, they are not ignorant, and they are not befuddled.
They are evil.
And they are doing a good job of it.
Underestimating your enemy is always a mistake.
Our “intelligence community” is not very intelligent. That is dangerous and irresponsible and will lead to disaster and ruin if not checked soon.
Equally dangerous is our poorly educated President. He thinks in clichés; speaks in clichés; is a cliché. As intelligent people knew before he was elected by irresponsible voters, he’s not qualified for the job; the suit is just too big for him.
If you think that suit is too big for any official fraudulently elected with only ivy league debate team training that allows historical fact to be ignored for successful debate contest competition, then consider the fit of the looming lawsuit discovery process whereby the fraudulent defendant is forced to provide defense for using false identification while the death knell is ringing for his entire political party. Defense by court delay and media downplay are of the same feather. Rise above TV media whitewash and expose the debater with the actions of one in the high chair at a tennis match. The world is waiting and the intelligence community already knows that an ounce of prevention at such an elevated level is worth much more than a pound of cure.
Everybody in conservative-land thinks Clapper’s statement was the pronouncement of an idiot.
I think it was coldly deliberate and that it persuaded a lot of people that Obama’s radical muslim allies have been misunderstood.
It was a serious statement made on national TV, wasn’t it? What else could it be but the truth? Oh sure, the 30% who wouldn’t vote for Obama anyway are contemptuous. They heard it on Fox and patted themselves on the back about recognizing another stupid admistration tool. But they weren’t the audience. Did Katie Couric call the man out? I don’t watch her, but it isn’t likely she did anything but report it at face value.
The “idiots” in this administration…do NOTHING by chance,
or because “they didn’t know any better” nothing, design and purpose is there.
You can’t take back the sound once the bell is rung, and the real idiots, American liberals, will believe anything they say..
Egypt is in sad shape and I do believe the worse is yet to come. Obama must be smiling..
What really happens is that the staff wrote his prepared remarks and a series of Q & As. The DNI or any other senior level official in any administration does not sit down and do his own analysis. His job is to run the organization.
Lt Gen Clapper is more interested in process then content. He assumes that if the process is followed then the information he read to the HPSCI is correct. Although he is one of best people you can work for his organizations are generally ineffective because process is less important the content.
This sanguine view of the MB probably originated at NCTC under the aupsices of John Brennan. Brennan is an apologist for radical Islam and part of the anti-Israel/anti-Semitic circle that surrounds the President. Clapper has been set up as the scapegoat if things go south.
proreason….The question remains…who were the comments directed to. Certainly not to the congressional committee. Certainly (hopefully) not to the American people of 4-6 million who are tuned in to the situation and watch (follow) the ‘junkie’ news. One cannot claim employing satellite TV technology to reach foreign audiences involved without admitting to a lacking of other more effective and efficient operative channels on the ground in the region…..and or poorly run non effective embassy operations.
The majority, general population, of American’s are disconnected and really have no dog in the race so, putting all the pieces together lends towards foreign operations and policy incompetence…..when one has to stoop to testimony before a congressional committee to speak to some targeted foreign body or group.
When I first heard the “secular” sound bite, my first thought was that when editing his statement a paragraph about Egypt and another paragraph about the Muslim Brotherhood got combined in the worst way possible.
The real concern was that Mr. Clapper was not quick enough to realize that he “misspoke” and correct himself.
Mr. Clapper should retire and spend more time with his grandchildren.
Smart Diplomacy is the analog to the smart bomb. It goes boom, and everything is in ruins.
Obama has 2 appalling positions.
1. He absolutely refuses to identify the Muslim Brotherhood as an enemy, which they most definitely are, of both us, and anybody in egypt that actually wants freedom and democracy. In fact his intell chief just said they were a secular organization that we can work with, either a cynical/destructive lie, or appalling ignorance.
2. He provided no support for the pro democracy demonstrators in Iran, nor did he condemn Iran for violently suppressing them. However he immediately supported the demonstrators in Egypt, against Mubarak. Supporting the demonstators in both cases would have been reasonable, and staying out in both cases would also have been reasonable. But what he actually did just sends a lesson that america appeases our enemies, and undermines our allies.
We should come out in support of reform in Egypt, but also stress that it should be gradual enough to allow democratic secular political parties to form, that can be a real bullwork against the Muslim Brotherhood. We should state that if the opposition wants the immediate fall of Egyptian military control, instead of gradual democratic transition over this year, we are opposed.
3. He’s an anti-semite
4. He has nothing but contempt for allies of the United States.
The one clear message in all of this mess is that no ally of the United States can now or ever depend on this country while Obama is in office.
According to Obama, community organizers can do no wrong, as long as they are not part of the TEA Party.
Old Clinton crony James Carville probably said it best the other day on CNN:
Obama is a community activist type. He wants to be liked, doesn’t want to make anyone mad, ultimately really wants to be, well…. a community activist! (Cue “Kumbaya.”) Those were good traits, Carville opined. So, Obama doesn’t want to hurt Mubarak’s feelings, but he doesn’t want to hurt the feelings of the Muslim Brotherhood either, and he most assuredly does NOT want to go against the Egyptian community activists currently marching in the streets of Cairo. That makes for quite a pickle, doesn’t it? I think that’s as much explanation as is needed for our “rudderless” foreign policy.
I think you’re right. Obama is shallowness personified. Those who voted for him were snookerd by his b.s.’ing “charisma”. We musn’t let that happen again.
Take my word for it, some of the snookered, even those who should be educable, remain snookered. It’s quite frightening, really.
We’re living the movie “Idiocracy”. The citizen-idiot that continues to strongly support Obama, well, aside from the ones who support him out of a misguided sense of ethnic solidarity, are the “educated idiots” — the paradoxical ones who combine their idiocy with a strong conviction of their personal intellectual superiority. For these people, there’s not much that could make them yank the Hope & Change needle out of their arm. To abandon Obama in 2012 would be tantamount to admitting they were wrong, they misjudged, or that maybe their ideology is fundamentally flawed. Either way, the cognitive dissonance will be insurmountable for them. They’ll be prepared to explain away his failings on any number of things, just like collectivists/socialists/Marxists always explain away their ideology’s track record of failure.
Panetta and Clapper ARE the most intelligent people in the U.S. Government! Obama says so!
We are soooo screwed!
Could the Capitol Building be turned in to a mosque without too much renovation? I know the Washington Monument could.
We have Bevis and Butt Head in the White House, and their offspring in the administration. (Yea, I know; Which one gave birth?)
And the IMF is saying our money isn’t any good! This nation is going to become so useless under this administration, nobody will even take the trouble to invade us. They’ll just send a text message to SuperDope in the White House, and say he’s been captured. He’ll surrender like a girl on drugs.
The Egyptian military is commanding business to get back to work! This is classic!
How much longer before the dolt in the White House commands our military to order U.S. business to do the same?
Wouldn’t this be a good example of Obama’s “Smart Diplomacy”?
The Moslem Btrotherhood! It could not get the British kicked out of Egypt in the 1920′s How can it possibly threaten the United tates now? Here is some rational analysis.
RATIONAL ANALYSIS
One of the big reasons for the backwardness of the Middle East is the low level of the intelligence of the people who live there. IQ in Egypt is not too high. It is obviously not a good idea to allow low IQ Moslems into Europe, just as it is not a good idea to allow low IQ Hispanics into the U.S. Moslems are unquestionably culturally and racially alien to white civilization and do not belong. Their religion is aggressive and intolerant. But they are not part of a world-wide conspiracy. Islam would still slumber peacefully were it not for the agitation of Zionism and political partition.
The Arab world is hopelessly divided. They could not unite at the time of the 1948 war. Their armies could not or would not unite against the Zionists; it hardly seems likely that they could unite against the west today. During the Arab revolt of World War One not all Arab tribes united against the Turks; some remained neutral, others fought on behalf of the Turks. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Egypt and Syria were usually at loggerheads, even though temporarily aligned during the United Arab Republic (U.A.R.) of 1958-1961. Iran and Iraq were involved in a decade long war before the Iranian revolution of Ayatollah Kohmeini. The Hashemites of Jordan have remained stable far longer than the other Arab states in the region, largely thanks to excellent British tutelage and military training under Sir John Bagot Glubb. But even the Jordanians had their moment of confrontation against the extremists of the PLO during the Black Hand days of the early 1970’s.
In short, the Arabs are far more likely to continue fighting among themselves than they are to start marching on the west. The true Islamic threat to the west is the same threat posed by the Mexicans – massive immigration and higher birth rates. Everyone wants to talk about a phony threat – something called “Islamo-Fascism”. Islamo-Fascism is a concoction of political propaganda. It aims to make an intolerant religion the target when the real irritant is a Zionist intrusion backed by outside support. Had Moslems not been allowed into Europe by stupid immigration policies and the crime of Zionism not been planted in Palestine, Islam would be stewing in its own juice back in the Middle East where it belongs.
Don’t be too hard on Clapper. His statements are in line with Boy O’s muslim outreach program. It is possible that the poor stooge is only parroting what he is ordered to parrot, from the very top. Meaning of course Axelrod and maybe a couple of other hacks. They are doing the vague and maybe incoherent bidding of Boy O, issued naturally while his head is up his rear.
Think about it, it fits.
Roger: I have been saying, you pointed out Obama`s head movements, that if you look back at film of Benito Mussolini you will see the same chin, head gestures.
For GODS SAKE America.How many times must this black American hating Muslim lover , be allowed to give support to terrorism. Your Media ism sold ,lock ,stock and barrel, to the black God in the W/House.As a group,they are going to demolish America.You can wait till 2012 BUT the vote will be rigged.By then his work will be done and America will be lost forever,UNLESS you wake up and stop him.
Oy. This just the kind of idiotic attitude that inspired me to write “Egyptian Revolution Blues” – a satirical ditty that is now clocking in at > 10,000 views on YouTube. If you want a humorous break from all the bad news, I invite you to go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqiGmodx33A
This is bizarre. I am no friend of the President, and I’d never heard of this Clapper guy before, but I’m going to stick up for both of them.
I think Obama handled the Egyptian thing about right. Yes, he changed positions as the crisis moved forward. At first supporting Mubarak, as time went on more and more supporting the protesters. I’m not sure what’s wrong with that. At first, we had to be sure we didn’t piss of Mubarak and then have him successfully suppress/co-opt the protesters. At some point it became obvious that the protests weren’t going to stop; this left us with the queasy feeling that if we said nothing the army might shoot into the crowds. So the State Department made it very clear we’d be upset by that, and the Egyptian army issued a statement saying they wouldn’t, and they lived up to it. Finallly, the President moved around to the position that Mubarak had to go, and soon…and finally Mubarak did just that. Near as I can tell, the only people, other than some conservative commentators, who object to the President’s policies are those who wish Mubarak still in power. Frankly, that’s a short-sighted view of the world, to say the least. Mubarak was going to go sooner or later, and the idea that his son would take over was always a bit dubious, given how restless the rest of the country was at the Mubarak family’s enriching of themselves while the rest of the nation lives in poverty.
As for the Muslim Brotherhood comment of Mr. Clapper: what no one in the West wants to acknowledge is that even Al Qaeda and the Taliban are to an extent secular organizations. We here in the West are so anti-religion that even conservatives, when they hear something coming from al Qaeda, assume that it must be because the people involved are religious fanatics. In reality, Islam in general is part religion and part political and social movement, much more than either Christianity or Judaism are. People on the left often compare al Qaeda with the Christian right, but in reality they’re more in step with a cross between the religious right and the political right (I’m talking Timothy McVeigh here, not Rush Limbaugh), along with perhaps something like the Birchers, all ramped up on steroids and much more pervasive than their Western counterparts. Many Muslims are radical about their religion, but go to mosque once a year, the equivalent of a Mass-on-Christmas-Eve Catholic. This is because the religion has aspects of a club and political movement, and even if they don’t practice the religion religiously, they’re insulted if you or anyone else hasn’t joined.
This is how Mohammed Atta could be a devout Muslim, to the point of killing himself in order to murder thousands, and still get into an argument in a titty bar a few days before about what he considered an extravagent bar tab for mixed drinks. He wasn’t a devout Muslim in the sense that your neighbor who goes to church every weekend is a devout Christian. He was a dedicated Muslim in the way that a diehard Nazi soldier who sacrificed his own life to hold off the American troops in 1945 was. Is this “secular”? No, perhaps not, but it’s also not religious in any way that we recognize.
And the Muslim Brotherhood hasn’t been on the Terrorism Watchlist since the mid-70s. Yes, they have roots in terrorism. They’ve moved away from them, and long ago renounced violence. They still speak of jihad, but of course at the risk of repeating what’s already said, jihad can mean any sort of struggle (even a non-violent one) for good, or for Islam. It *can* have warlike overtones, but it doesn’t always. Nothing wrong with giving tacit approval of their participation in a government (they’ve already said they’re not going to run a candidate in the election) and watching them like hawks to see if they live up to their promises. We were going to do that anyway, and to my mind if we’re seen to be trying to influence the elections in any serious way, it could do a lot of harm in the region. The Arab world is paranoid enough about the influence of the U.S. and by extension Israel, isn’t it?
To Sam: If you love Wodehouse can you tell me what the latest developments are at Blandings Castle and the Drones Club?
The Empress won at the Agricultural Show and there’s a meeting of the Finance Committee at the Drones at which Roderick Spode is expected to speak.
Spode? Don’t you mean Lord Sidcup?