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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FiloF who wrote (52098)	9/14/2001 12:43:50 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 70976

> Over the past decade or so, there have been have pushes for for more transparency in our intelligence organizations (i.e. no covert ops; everything out in the open). Have you considered this as one of the reasons (not THE reason, but one of them) for the intelligence failures in this tragedy. I think there is a great need for secrecy in the intlligencia. I greatly support motion to increase information gathering and counter terrorism. But I do demand a change in the underlying philosophy of the intelligence organizations. Let me give you and example. In Canada, for decades, Party Québécois has been dedicated to separation of French Canada from the rest of the country. If you think about it, this is a greater threat to the country than a military attack to occupy the province. So the RCMP (Canadian "FBI") was asked to infiltrate the ranks of the party and gather information on their plans and pass it on to the government. RCMP refused to do so on the grounds that it is a direct violation of the people's rights. Effectively they stated that should the people of Québéc choose to separate, it is their right to live their lives as they see fit. At the same time, RCMP was highly mindful of violent tendencies of some the factions within the party. I find their approach most honorable. This approach has allowed Canada to be one of the most peaceful countries in the world. By the same token, the intelligencia has a responsibility to keep us safe from terrorist attacks and they should get all the help they need. But they do a lot more than that. They bring up and destroy governments based on short sighted views of what our economic interests are. This approach has total disregard for the rights of the human being living in those countries. As such, many people outside of the US blame the US for all wrong their government does, regardless of US approval of the events. This alienates those people and breeds contempt for us. And it has failed to work in the long run. In numerous examples it has had a much greater negative fall out than any short term gains achieved. We should interfer less and be more respectful of the lives we affect.