The US Embassy in Iraq(1,000 strong) the new "House of Spies"?

[underpants]

My wife is reading "Reading Lolita in Tehran" for her book club and she asks me what I remember about the events leading up to and after the fall of the Shah. I can add this and that but even I (hey I was 11 in '78) wasn't aware of the use of the US embassy in Iran for extensive spying around the Arab world. This, by the way, should not be seen in any way as an indictment of the hostages held for 444 days. Apparently it was no secret to the Iranians. The "students" (lead by the ultra fanatical) regularly brought in people from the countryside to have lunch and demonstrate in front of the "House of Spies".

This is one of the interesting facts that this sorta non-fiction (not a breezy read I am told) offers.

So when I first heard that the US embassy in Iraq would be the world's largest and would have 1,000 personnel there I immediately realized that this is the perfect staging ground for a new center control of US spy operations in the Middle East/Persia.

Like it or not we do need "eyes on the ground" and it is a dangerous business but are we setting ourselves up and providing a fixed and easy target for propaganda and political attack?

[Cocoa]

1. is that embassy going to be in the Green Zone?

or does the new sovereign government get to decide what to do with that area?

I can't imagine the new embassy lasting very long if it's in the middle of regular Baghdad.

[underpants]

2. Few more than a few years the Marine contingency will have to be huge

Marines do Embassy duty. I meant more of a PR target but I suspect that the physical danger will be palpable for a while.

[JM]

3. There is no doubt

the Iranian Embassy was one of two centers for ME spying by CIA. Most embassies are centers for intelligence for most countries.

This was part of the PNAC plan. We cannot fight terror in the ME without bases from which we can project power of any type at any time without hinderance. Both the Embassy and the military bases provide such capability.

I don't object to these. I object to how are arriving at the result.

There is also little doubt (at least in my mind, anyway) that King George I bears the brunt of the failures since the Iranian Hostage Crisis. He was ME Station Chief prior to being appointed CIA Director. He should have seen this coming. The failures in intelligence starting in Iran led to the debacles in Beirut, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

JM

[underpants]

5. Wht's odd is that W didn't even trust the intel HE got the "just trust us"

treatment. Excerpts of Woodwards book (and interviews)show that we only had 5 or 6 PEOPLE on the ground in Iraq. W himself couldn't believe it and was told by the neocons "trust us we know what we are talking about....we have sources.........."

[JM]

8. That is not odd

It is actually quite common. People in the business world surround themselves with "yes people" all the time and proclaim to have all the answers.

JM

[bryant69]

4. I don't know

Certainly we do need intelligence in the area, there's no doubt about that. But I don't know if that will end up being the best location to get it.

Still, it's not like any other local is going to present itself.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[mike_c]

6. this is one major reason that the next administration...

...must completely repudiate the neo-con ME objectives. The PNAC's plan, Rebuilding America's Defenses, should be read as a checklist of policies to dismantle, including the notion of an imperial force presence in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

The next (presumably Democratic) administration will only be continuing the neo-con foreign policy agenda if it does not unilaterally withdraw ALL American interests from Iraq, including the military presence, the giant embassy plans, and the carpetbaggers masquerading as reconstruction contractors.

This is the elephant in the Democratic party's living room, folks. Most Dem's seem not even aware of it.

[underpants]

7. Turn it around on the right with an "America First" thme?

Sorry I know that Buchanan used that phrase as did a German/Japanese agent cover organization in pre-WWII that was supported by the isolationist Right (the actually protested WWII before and AFTER Pearl Harbor) but that is the type of theme that there is no answer to.

"Let's take care of ourselves (our own) FIRST!!!!!!!!!"

That means all kinds of things but W&Co. would have no answer to it. That garners a lot of "Damn right!!!"s at the bar and at the lunch counter.

[mike_c]

9. what I'd really like to see is more general awareness...

...of where American foreign policy has been and where the neo-cons have pointed it for the future. Rather than hiding it further behind a deep cover of boosterism, I'd rather see it hauled out to face the light in all its ugliness. Betrayal is just as powerful an emotive message as nationalism, and Americans have been betrayed by their government for decades. We're at a point, however, where at least some past mistakes can still be corrected, but if we continue on our present course I fear that we'll burn all of our bridges at once.

They're already smoldering. NPR mentioned yesterday that at least some Americans are revising their plans to attend the Athens Olympics because they fear the general mood toward Americans abroad. We need to air out the dirty linen and show the world that America can admit its mistakes and learn from them-- not that we intend to "stay the course" to disaster.

[underpants]

10. True but how many sit through a READING of your post

I wants my information short and sweet "Fear Factor" with chicks in bikinis.

I don't mean to demean my fellow Americans, I do think there is an audience for Kerry should he stand up and say "Look you are being screwed and I will do everything I can to stop it". The refreshing truth of it would score (sorry still in campaign mode) huge.

There is an LBN or GD thread about his wife only paying 14% tax on her income (if that is the first time you have heard that it certainly won't be the last), that is a perfect spot to start-See YOU are paying the rest!.