C.I.A. tarnished

written May 2004 but why revise> things just keep getting stranger.

C.I. A. Just look at those letters. Central Intelligence Agency. All sorts of images swirl in my head when I think of it—undoubtedly the result of all those years of schooling in Washington, DC. Nevertheless, what a mystique!

And then came 9/11 when I discovered the CIA was not capable of figuring out a bunch of rich Saudi guys in their mid twenties could come to the US, get US training on how to fly an airplane (landing skills optional) and run into both the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in DC…well.. Let’s just say that the mystique is a bit less lustrous.

It’s rather fun now days to go to the CIA cite on the Internet. If you haven’t done so…give a whirl on a rainy afternoon when you aren’t doing much. I used to worry about them bugging my computer, but after the most recent “patriot acts” I figure personal freedom is pretty much a loss anyway. Our time is running out. Let’s enjoy the illusion of freedom as long as it lasts...because the commodity is even more limited than Middle Eastern oil.

On the Web, the CIA has acknowledged the overthrow of Saddam curiously spelling his name “SADDAM Husayn” through out the website. The CIA tells us a bit about Iraq informing us it’s twice the size of Idaho--certainly a benchmark state for most people in the US. Population growth rate for 2003 is listed as 2.3%, presumably with the war death rate factored in the equation.

The CIA lists several international disputes—primarily land and maritime boundary disputes but nothing that explains why the US remains in the country. All of these are from a word “factbook” printed in January of 2003. Unfortunately the world outpaces the CIA’s official publications. I wonder what they were using when they told of the “weapons of mass destruction”.