Organized Crime.
The TV fiction world of Cosa Nostra bears a close resemblance to the reality described by Joseph Valachi (The Valachi Papers, © Peter Maas 1968). But these real stories are all prior to 1960 and the beginning of a long jail sentence. Whereas the Sopranos are acting out the same scenes at the turn of the century. We are led to believe that organized crime has remained the same small family business of a rather particular kind. That, while everyone else has gone global, New York mobsters are just as parochial as they were forty years ago. How very cozy. How very unlikely.
Somewhere in volume 3 of The Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn notes that the criminal slang he had been accustomed to hear in the camps seems to be pervading the rest of society. He wonders if this may not be the audible part of an ideological take over, as words give shape to thoughts. Spreading from the gulag, had criminal ethics replaced communist ones? Solzhenitsyn was thinking this before 1974, when volume1 was published and he was deported. We know what followed and what the situation seems to be now. Alexander Litvinenko (Blowing up Russia: terror from within) being but the latest on a lengthening list.
It is generally taken for granted that Intelligence Agencies conspire to commit murder and other various crimes, such as extortion, blackmail, counterfeit, arms trafficking, drugs and prostitution. Some of these agencies are “civilian” and have a chain of command which leads directly to the head of the executive. But executive power changes hands, presidents come and go, while agencies remain and acquire autonomy. Much has been said and written about J. Edgar Hoover and his personal power. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation is part of the judicial process and brings its cases to court. Whereas secret agents do their deeds in an extra-judicial twilight zone. Which means their accountability is practically nil, as no one need know what they’ve been up to. The end effect may be mentioned, not the means it justifies.
The fall of the Soviet Empire and the end of the Cold War brought down barriers everywhere. This new era seemed to portend huge opportunities for all, except for crime and intelligence gathering. Agencies need cunning and unscrupulous enemies to justify their covert activities. And criminals can organize with greater impunity when law enforcers are busy chasing ideological delinquents.
What new enemy could favor a rebirth of the “intelligence community” and keep the cops occupied? The Russian example in Chechenya was difficult to duplicate. And the Branch Davidian menace was too low key to suffice. But, looking around, “The Base” and its bearded creator could seem a perfect fit for the role. How convenient that they should succeed the most spectacular suicide attack ever attempted. 9/11 was a declaration of war ideally suited to the two organizations for whom conspiracy is second nature. (Secret agents and gangsters don’t tell secrets. Because they are trained not to and, if there’s the slightest doubt, they die before they get a chance to.)
We’ll never know for sure one way or the other, as the perpetrators are dead (except for Zacarias Moussaoui, who remains a doubtful case) and we only have a “video” confession of their commander. Who, considering his past links, could well have been a pawn in the game. Whatever may have been, intelligence agencies were back in business, while police and customs were in total overload. The operation, if it was one, could be considered a complete success.
Even the military got in on the action, in Afghanistan. But they wanted more. They and a few others wanted Iraq. Or they may have been simply over-reacting to events. Anyway, a few letters loaded with anthrax and Secretary Collin Powell shaking a flasket of white powder got things going alright. Better than any imaginable nuclear threat. After all, biological laboratories on the back of trucks did seem more convincing than hidden nuclear installations. What with Hans Blix and the UNMOVIC stamping tirelessly around Mesopotamia looking for just that.
We still don’t know who mailed the fatal bacillus. We were informed that it was a military breed of the germ. And that put a lid on the whole story. Or so it seems. Was this another operation of make believe, with many more to come, or just a happy coincidence on the path to war? So far, incompetence has been blamed for just about everything that has gone wrong. Supposing this to be the case, when does incompetence become treason?
As for the inhabitants of Iraq, after being bombed and starved, they’re now being killed piecemeal at an appalling rate. Meanwhile, the “Coalition” forces are under siege. So what’s the point? Who’s gaining from all this mayhem? Well, there’s one thing that seems almost certain. It’s that oil prices would be much lower than they are, if Iraq was producing the same quantities as prior to 2003. Not to mention prior to 1991.
(July 1990: 3.5 mbd. Feb 2002: 2.5 mbd. Dec 2005: 1.1 mbd.)
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aairaqioil.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4574954.stm
And we all know who’s been profiting from that wind fall. Then there’s the military who fundamentally like making war. It’s their thing and there’s all the fun of trying out new weapons, tactics and strategies. And combat is always good for promotion. And so what if it’s a dirty war? There aren’t any clean ones around any more. So developing effective counter-insurgency methods is a pressing necessity. And fighting terror with greater terror is a duty. There’s also the war industry. Always eager to supply extra demand. And there are authoritarian governments, who seem most at ease when there’s a war on. Which all adds up to a lot of interest in things remaining as they are.
Some, more numerous by the hour, are beginning to compare the situation in Iraq to South Vietnam circa 1968. An opinion which is strangely superficial, as the fundamental differences seem quite obvious. The time, the place and right down to the body bags. There are no conscripts in Iraq and there are no burning draft cards in the USA. This is a mercenary war made by a professional army that has outsourced all it could. Which means that a large portion the foreign personnel in Iraq and the neighboring Gulf States is made up of civilians working for private companies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1103566,00.html
http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs16785
This is probably the most entrepreneurial war since…The 4th Crusade. Or, more recently and more appropriately, since the French occupation of Algeria in 1830. (Alexis de Tocqueville has some very actual things to say in Seconde lettre sur l’Algèrie, which doesn’t seem available in English.)
Notwithstanding the Baker-Hamilton report, the only real problem that Bush and consorts have with Iraq is that it’s costing more than was expected. And even that can’t be bad for everyone.
Somewhere in volume 3 of The Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn notes that the criminal slang he had been accustomed to hear in the camps seems to be pervading the rest of society. He wonders if this may not be the audible part of an ideological take over, as words give shape to thoughts. Spreading from the gulag, had criminal ethics replaced communist ones? Solzhenitsyn was thinking this before 1974, when volume1 was published and he was deported. We know what followed and what the situation seems to be now. Alexander Litvinenko (Blowing up Russia: terror from within) being but the latest on a lengthening list.
It is generally taken for granted that Intelligence Agencies conspire to commit murder and other various crimes, such as extortion, blackmail, counterfeit, arms trafficking, drugs and prostitution. Some of these agencies are “civilian” and have a chain of command which leads directly to the head of the executive. But executive power changes hands, presidents come and go, while agencies remain and acquire autonomy. Much has been said and written about J. Edgar Hoover and his personal power. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation is part of the judicial process and brings its cases to court. Whereas secret agents do their deeds in an extra-judicial twilight zone. Which means their accountability is practically nil, as no one need know what they’ve been up to. The end effect may be mentioned, not the means it justifies.
The fall of the Soviet Empire and the end of the Cold War brought down barriers everywhere. This new era seemed to portend huge opportunities for all, except for crime and intelligence gathering. Agencies need cunning and unscrupulous enemies to justify their covert activities. And criminals can organize with greater impunity when law enforcers are busy chasing ideological delinquents.
What new enemy could favor a rebirth of the “intelligence community” and keep the cops occupied? The Russian example in Chechenya was difficult to duplicate. And the Branch Davidian menace was too low key to suffice. But, looking around, “The Base” and its bearded creator could seem a perfect fit for the role. How convenient that they should succeed the most spectacular suicide attack ever attempted. 9/11 was a declaration of war ideally suited to the two organizations for whom conspiracy is second nature. (Secret agents and gangsters don’t tell secrets. Because they are trained not to and, if there’s the slightest doubt, they die before they get a chance to.)
We’ll never know for sure one way or the other, as the perpetrators are dead (except for Zacarias Moussaoui, who remains a doubtful case) and we only have a “video” confession of their commander. Who, considering his past links, could well have been a pawn in the game. Whatever may have been, intelligence agencies were back in business, while police and customs were in total overload. The operation, if it was one, could be considered a complete success.
Even the military got in on the action, in Afghanistan. But they wanted more. They and a few others wanted Iraq. Or they may have been simply over-reacting to events. Anyway, a few letters loaded with anthrax and Secretary Collin Powell shaking a flasket of white powder got things going alright. Better than any imaginable nuclear threat. After all, biological laboratories on the back of trucks did seem more convincing than hidden nuclear installations. What with Hans Blix and the UNMOVIC stamping tirelessly around Mesopotamia looking for just that.
We still don’t know who mailed the fatal bacillus. We were informed that it was a military breed of the germ. And that put a lid on the whole story. Or so it seems. Was this another operation of make believe, with many more to come, or just a happy coincidence on the path to war? So far, incompetence has been blamed for just about everything that has gone wrong. Supposing this to be the case, when does incompetence become treason?
As for the inhabitants of Iraq, after being bombed and starved, they’re now being killed piecemeal at an appalling rate. Meanwhile, the “Coalition” forces are under siege. So what’s the point? Who’s gaining from all this mayhem? Well, there’s one thing that seems almost certain. It’s that oil prices would be much lower than they are, if Iraq was producing the same quantities as prior to 2003. Not to mention prior to 1991.
(July 1990: 3.5 mbd. Feb 2002: 2.5 mbd. Dec 2005: 1.1 mbd.)
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aairaqioil.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4574954.stm
And we all know who’s been profiting from that wind fall. Then there’s the military who fundamentally like making war. It’s their thing and there’s all the fun of trying out new weapons, tactics and strategies. And combat is always good for promotion. And so what if it’s a dirty war? There aren’t any clean ones around any more. So developing effective counter-insurgency methods is a pressing necessity. And fighting terror with greater terror is a duty. There’s also the war industry. Always eager to supply extra demand. And there are authoritarian governments, who seem most at ease when there’s a war on. Which all adds up to a lot of interest in things remaining as they are.
Some, more numerous by the hour, are beginning to compare the situation in Iraq to South Vietnam circa 1968. An opinion which is strangely superficial, as the fundamental differences seem quite obvious. The time, the place and right down to the body bags. There are no conscripts in Iraq and there are no burning draft cards in the USA. This is a mercenary war made by a professional army that has outsourced all it could. Which means that a large portion the foreign personnel in Iraq and the neighboring Gulf States is made up of civilians working for private companies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1103566,00.html
http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs16785
This is probably the most entrepreneurial war since…The 4th Crusade. Or, more recently and more appropriately, since the French occupation of Algeria in 1830. (Alexis de Tocqueville has some very actual things to say in Seconde lettre sur l’Algèrie, which doesn’t seem available in English.)
Notwithstanding the Baker-Hamilton report, the only real problem that Bush and consorts have with Iraq is that it’s costing more than was expected. And even that can’t be bad for everyone.
posted by le Lézard at 2:14 AM
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