[BretLudwig]

McCain's Intelligence Intelligence

"Philip Giraldi, the ex-CIA man who writes The American Conservative's
invaluable gossip column, Deep Background, notes in the June 16th issue:

Intelligence analysts who have briefed Sen. John McCain on
international issues generally report that he is not very knowledgeable
about most parts of the world, despite his years of experience in
government and his campaign's insistence that one of his principal
strengths is foreign-policy expertise. When speaking with an area
specialist or expert, McCain is primarily interested in stating his own
perceptions and is not generally regarded as an attentive listener.
Analysts do not like briefing him because he becomes angry and sometimes
personally offensive when someone contradicts his view.

It's really not very hard at all for an important personage wrapped in the
glamor of power to persuade lower ranking outsiders that he's a deep
thinker. Obama is the master of it -- all you do is tell the person how
much you value all the time they've put into developing their expertise
(implying that you are very busy yourself on so many other important
issues), nod attentively as they drone on, then bring up one or two
semi-sophisticated questions you had your staff dream up for you ahead of
time, and then finally summarize back for them what they just said with an
appreciative hint of wonder in your voice implying that the scales are
falling from your eyes. The flunkies will go away and tell everybody that
you are the new Pericles. But Yosemite John can't bring himself to do even
that.

One analyst stated that McCain's alleged expertise on international
issues is essentially bogus. He speaks no foreign language, and his
international experience [prior to Congress] derives from brief postings
at military bases, junkets while serving as Navy liaison to the Senate,
and the misfortune of his rather more extensive stay in the Hanoi Hilton.

As a Congressman, McCain served on committees dealing with Department
of Interior issues, Indian affairs, and the problems of aging -- all areas
of particular interest to his Arizona constituents. As a senator, he has
served on the three committees dealing with the armed services, Indian
affairs, and commerce. ...

According to the analysts who have interacted with McCain, his recent
misstatements about various Muslim groups and other foreign-policy issues
are not slips. They reflect a real lack of interest in other countries
that makes it impossible for him to empathize with their problems...

McCain, whose foreign-policy advisers are exclusively neocons,
receives regular briefings from the distinguished scholars at the American
Enterprise Institute, which are presumably more to his taste than the less
colorful information provided by the $42 billion per year intelligence
community."


http://isteve.blogspot.com/2008/06/m...elligence.html

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