This might interest you:
" . . . if any of you have ever looked at your FBI file through a Freedom of Information Act release, you've probably discovered that intelligence agencies are in general extremely incompetent — that's one of the reasons why there are so many intelligence failures; they just never get anything straight, for all kinds of reasons. And part of it is because the information they get typically is being transmitted to them by agents and informants who are ideological fanatics, and they always misunderstand things in their own crazy ways. So if you look at an FBI file where you actually know what the facts are, you'll usually see that the information has some relation to reality — you can sort of figure out what they're talking about — but by the time it's worked its way through the ideological fanaticism of the intelligence system, there's been all sorts of weird distortion."
This is from Noam Chomsky's Understanding Power: The indispensable Chomsky, a book I highly recommend if, like me, you've been interested in Chomsky's analysis but have been daunted by his dry, interminable prose and lengthy footnotes. Understanding Power is a collection of discussions Chomsky had with groups of activists over the years — just him talking in plain language — and it makes him accessible without all the work. I think this is a good thing, because even though I disagree with him in some ways, he's still saying many things that are both important and true but off the radar of the mainstream — unsurprisingly, since he says things like this about his country, the U.S.:
" . . . we're a brutal terrorist power of enormous strength, and if you get in our way, you're in trouble."
Not exactly fodder for the mainstream!
Anonymous
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The editorial policy of True North allows readers to sign themselves Anonymous. This, like Pen Names, is a time honoured tradition in publishing. We prefer that letters appear with bona fide signatures but there can be good reasons to protect a writer’s privacy. However, True North will not publish a letter unless we know the identification of the writer. Looking forward.
Carl Dow, Editor and Publisher.
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