Disinformation and power hungry mongrels

There is an increasing feeling of the return of the Cold War from the current

US administration. True there have been other attacks on alleged freedoms enjoyed
by the citizens, but those like McCarthy’s were essentially offensive.

The Bush administration seems to have adopted the Cold War tactic of disinformation
for use against their own people. I know we use other terms now, like spin and
damage control, but it amounts to the same thing.

One suggestion I came across for the Porter Goss dismissal has it that his
role was to steer a severely truncated CIA away from intelligence gathering
and into disinformation production. Not merely aimed at supposed enemies but
at citizens of the US and allied countries.

The failure of Goss, in that regard, can probably best be illustrated by the
continuing controversy over the actual existence of super insurgent, Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi.

Admissions of other propaganda episodes have led to the questioning of the
existence of al-Zarqawi as anything more than an American invention to put a
face to an otherwise intangible enemy.

The whole WMD episode was another monumental, disinformation cock-up. One which
could still lead to serious trouble for the administration and significantly
one which the CIA was somehow instrumental in exposing.

Disinformation over the NSA surveillance program is surely not the fault of
the CIA, but raises the spectre of an increasingly active, domestic intelligence
operation. Arguably, much of the active intelligence gathering function of the
CIA is being transferred to other, undefined agencies.

The fact that DoJ investigators have been barred from looking at information
and documents relating to the National Security Agency's surveillance program
that were already in the Justice Department's possession, underscores that concern.

It could be argued that the intelligence services of the Cold War era were
not especially efficient or effective. It was a spy Vs spy game which, to a
great extent, had little impact on our daily lives.

This current crop of spooks, apparently as inept as their predecessors, is
of a greater concern because they are bringing the game right into the homes
of ordinary people.

Like the US, the Australian and British governments have promulgated draconian
laws which severely undermine concepts of liberty and freedom. On top of that
they would seek to steer public opinion and support to increase the erosion
of citizen’s rights.

What I can’t understand is just what is the madness driving this quest
for total power over citizens who generally couldn’t care less what their
governments do, so long as they are relatively comfortable?

Are the egos of these power hungry mongrels so fragile that they need to totally
cower the masses to satisfy their own lack of self esteem? Events of this whole
dark period are just beyond imagination and belief.