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Katie Price & Alex Reid Marry In Vegas (Photos)

Wasted glamour model Katie Price aka Jordan and her new boyfriend Alex Reid, who won... more

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Peter Andre cries during interview about Katie Price and kids

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Jordan in controversial image

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JEFF GATES: How Israel Wages War on the U.S.—By Way of Deception : Veterans Today

Mass media and popular culture are powerful tools of manipulation when wielded by those skilled at waging way by way of deception. When shaping the opinion of an unsuspecting public, the star power of military leaders and sports heroes is routinely appropriated.

That duplicity was on display in February 2003 when Colin Powell gave false testimony to the U.N. Security Council that helped launch the U.S.-led invasion of a Muslim nation. Similar duplicity was deployed in May 2005 when Pakistani cricket icon Imran Khan launched from Islamabad a false story that provoked outrage at the U.S. in Muslim nations.

Since the “bread and circus” era of the Roman Empire, pop culture has proven a potent means to distract and misdirect. With the modern reach of mass media, pop culture can be deployed not just to manipulate the public’s mental state but also to promote for political office high-profile personalities such as astronauts, newscasters, war heroes and even well known comedians.

Those who induced the U.S. to wage war in Iraq on false pretenses used Secretary of State Colin Powell for that purpose when he was dispatched to the U.N. to vouch for phony intelligence. The Powell “brand” as a credible four-star general was appropriated by pro-Israeli war-planners to market the false impression that Iraq had mobile biological weapons laboratories.

By deploying a public official’s known integrity to obscure their duplicity, those complicit in this deceit discredited both Powell and the U.S. while also undermining the credibility of the U.N. The phony intelligence on which Powell relied was provided by George Tenet, Director of Central Intelligence, and vouched for by Paul Joyal, reportedly Tenet’s Ashkenazi Chief of Staff.

A similar power-of-association ploy emerged two years later when the pop culture celebrity of Imran Khan was appropriated to provoke violence worldwide that damaged the image of the U.S. A global crisis commenced soon after those handling public relations for this legend of the cricket world summoned reporters to a May 6, 2005 press conference in Islamabad.

As an international sports figure, Khan’s star power and his position as a Pakistani politician directed media attention to an April 30th issue of Newsweek where Ashkenazi journalist Michael Isikoff reported that U.S. interrogators had flushed a Koran down a toilet in an attempt to exert pressure on Muslim combatants in custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Not until May 16th did Newsweek editors publish a partial retraction along with an apology in The New York Times conceding that the widely reported story was inadequately supported by the facts. By then Isikoff’s tale of Koran desecration had gone viral.

Game Theory Warfare

The story provoked massive anti-U.S. demonstrations in Pakistan, Lebanon, Egypt, Indonesia, Palestine, Jordan, Bangladesh, Sudan and Malaysia. Though the Guantanamo inmate retracted his statement, by then the story had done lasting damage to U.S. interests throughout the Islamic world while adding plausibility to the thematic Clash of Civilizations.

In game theory terms, the results were foreseeable because the reaction was mathematically predictable; the response could be projected—within an acceptable range of probabilities.Mass media and popular culture are powerful tools of manipulation when wielded by... more

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U.S. media outlets investigate what terrorism is...and is not. : Veterans Today

Terror and terrorism are all the rage today in online magazines. Lets start with Time online. Today's article entitled Amid the Hysteria, A Look at What al-Qaeda Can't Do sets the tone for our research into terrorism as it exists today.

Essentially we see that our continued over-reaction to 9/11 gives these people incredible power that they would not have otherwise. That is the over-riding lesson to be learned here today.

Then we move onto Newseek online and Fareed Zakaria's article entitled Don’t Panic: How our frenzied response to terrorism only feeds it. It is good advice from someone who has lived through it.

Here is the opening paragraph from his sage advice:

"In responding to the attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas Day, Sen. Dianne Feinstein voiced the feelings of many when she said that to prevent such situations, "I'd rather…overreact than underreact." This now appears to be the consensus view in Washington, but it is quite wrong. In fact, precisely the opposite is true. The purpose of terrorism is to provoke an overreaction. Its real aim is not to kill the hundreds of people directly targeted but to sow fear in the rest of the population. Terrorism is an unusual military tactic in that it depends on the response of the onlookers. If we are not terrorized, then the attack didn't work. Alas, this one worked very well."

And again from Newsweek online we read a piece entitled Anatomy of a Double-Cross: How a Jordanian jihadist turned CIA operative—and back again. We are unfortunately learning that things are never quite simple in the often misty and foggy world of international terror.

From CBS News online we read a piece entitled CIA Bomber in Video With Taliban Leader: Tape Surfaces Showing Jordanian Who Killed CIA Operatives in Afghanistan Vowing Revenge for Killing of Taliban Figure .

Now we have taped evidence that this man was a double agent with intent to kill Western intelligence people. I wonder if we knew this before he killed seven American and one Jordanian operative?

And from CNN World News online we read a piece entitled 30 injured in Hong Kong acid attack in what may or may not be an act of terrorism. We don't know yet.

One thing is for sure from even a cursory reading of today's news. Terrorism and terrorist-like actions are here to stay. Can we afford to militarize our response to all of it? Or does it make more sense to send responsibility for handling it back to the international police and intelligence communities where it belongs?

Just asking.

CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.)Terror and terrorism are all the rage today in online magazines. Lets start with Time... more

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The American Desire to Be Loved as Well as Feared Has Long Misled the CIA | | AlterNet

In the vast American embassy in the hills outside the Jordanian capital Amman a senior... more

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Villages on the Frontline: Jordan

The BBC World Series "Villages on the Front Line," was produced in... more

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Who was the double agent who attacked the CIA in Afghanistan?

I wrote yesterday about failures in signals analysis by counterterrorism officials, but I woke up today to read about a deadly failure of good old human intelligence. The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan last week was an Al Qaeda double agent.

From the Washington Post:
"The attacker, a physician-turned-mole, had been recruited to infiltrate al-Qaeda's senior circles and had gained the trust of his CIA and Jordanian handlers with a stream of useful intelligence leads, according to two former senior officials briefed on the agency's internal investigation. His track record as an informant apparently allowed him to enter a key CIA post without a thorough search, the sources said. The bomber, identified as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, was standing just outside an agency building on the base Wednesday when he exploded a bomb hidden under his clothes, killing the seven Americans along with a Jordanian officer who had been assigned to work with him. Six CIA operatives were wounded."

Balawi was a Jordanian physician with a history of Islamist militant support. He had been recruited by Jordanian intelligence agents and had been working with the CIA for long enough to be a trusted informant. And then he blew himself and seven operatives up inside of their base.

Neal Ungerleider at True/Slant also found that Balawi was a blogger who liked to fantasize about an Islamist future.

"It appears al-Balawi, writing under the nom-de-plume Abu Dujanah al-Khurasani, ran the extremely popular jihdaist bulletin board al-Hesbah. Among al-Hesbah’s many users, some were people connected to the London tube bombers and others high-ranking al-Qaeda members. Al-Balawi/al-Khurasani was also a prolific blogger...who, apparently, liked to daydream about a future caliphate....The face of Islamist terrorism apparently is this: A 36-year-old doctor posting about future dystopias on internet forums in his free time. He could just as easily have been a Trekkie.

I'm sure this is a much more thorny intelligence dilemma than being more aware of warning from Africa, and I can't say I've got any armchair-intelligence-operative suggestions. I'll say though, while I'm sure that the CIA is not pleased with the attention they're getting about their efforts in Afghanistan, I'm glad to hear they were actually working on getting to Al Qaeda.

FROM THE NEWS BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2010/01/05/who-was-the-double-agent-and-suicide-bomber-who-attacked-the-cia-in-afghanistan/

SOURCES: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/04/AR2010010402150_pf.html
http://trueslant.com/nealungerleider/2010/01/05/cia-suicide-bomber-was-a-blogger/

IMAGE: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cia-memorial-wall.jpgI wrote yesterday about failures in signals analysis by counterterrorism officials,... more

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Space Jam Jordan's

Early Wednesday morning over seven-hundred people lined up outside of the Footaction... more

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Jordan as Sacha Baron Cohen’s Character Bruno

Katie Price, a.k.a. Jordan, dressed in lederhosen and a checked shirt as part of a... more

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Jordan: a cultural mosaic

The exhibition at the Quirinale in Rome presents sixty masterpieces from the Neolithic... more

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Katie Price quits I'm A Celebrity jungle

Faced with a seventh bushtucker trial in a row, Katie Price has quit I'm A... more

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Arab experts predict Mideast water wars

Experts predict Israel will be first to go to war for control of the Litani River,... more

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Are These Jordans Ugly To You?

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9/11 Attack Memorial - Amman Bombings 4th Anniversary: Jordan is Stronger than ever!

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Katie Price nominated for Celebrity Mum of the Year

Despite all of the drama surrounding her (the divorce, the cage fighter, the parties,... more

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Katie Accuses Pete of Bedding his Agent

I bet you were just thinking how nice it was that Katie Price and Peter Andre had... more

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Weird Phenomenon in Jordan - Al Salt: Scorching heated earth puts everything on Fire

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Sheep go up in flames in Jordan

A shepherd said he saw his flock "burn and completely disappear" after he... more

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The Centennial Parade - Story of Amman in 100 Steps

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tagged w/ Jordan

Katie Price & Alex Reid Marry In Vegas (Photos)

Peter Andre cries during interview about Katie Price and kids

Jordan in controversial image

JEFF GATES: How Israel Wages War on the U.S.—By Way of Deception : Veterans Today

U.S. media outlets investigate what terrorism is...and is not. : Veterans Today

The American Desire to Be Loved as Well as Feared Has Long Misled the CIA | | AlterNet

Villages on the Frontline: Jordan

Who was the double agent who attacked the CIA in Afghanistan?

Space Jam Jordan's

Jordan as Sacha Baron Cohen’s Character Bruno

Jordan: a cultural mosaic

Katie Price quits I'm A Celebrity jungle

Arab experts predict Mideast water wars

Are These Jordans Ugly To You?

9/11 Attack Memorial - Amman Bombings 4th Anniversary: Jordan is Stronger than ever!

Katie Price nominated for Celebrity Mum of the Year

Katie Accuses Pete of Bedding his Agent

Weird Phenomenon in Jordan - Al Salt: Scorching heated earth puts everything on Fire

Sheep go up in flames in Jordan

The Centennial Parade - Story of Amman in 100 Steps

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