Scott Horton
No Comment
November 6, 11:38 AM
More on the Verdict in Milan

I discuss an Italian court’s recent conviction of 23 American officials on kidnapping and assault charges stemming from a 2003 extraordinary rendition operation with DemocracyNow’s Amy Goodman and the Italian prosecutor, Armando Spataro, below...

[big snip]

First, this case helps us understand why the CIA is so vehemently opposed to probes of its operations. In this case almost two dozen covert intelligence operatives have had their cover blown and are now fugitives from justice. Sophisticated law enforcement techniques, many pioneered by the United States, are now being employed to track their movements. While a number of commentators claim this has no serious consequences, no one I have spoken with in the intelligence community feels that. The future utility of these agents is seriously compromised, and they face arrest every time they leave the country... [emphasis mine]

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006039

Sweet.

I don't know if Davie Sugarman, aka catamite is drunk again or not.
- totallyblase

calamine, formerly David Sugarman, should not be confused with catamitebastard.

http://letters.salon.com/11cfd0de81f191e8ba21fa20be27967e/author/index15.html

It'd be a bonus if catamitebastard would return to Glenn's threads. I might even agree to read calamine's letters if catamitebastard came back.

A link which may be useful to you:

http://letters.salon.com/about/index.html

Glenn can and does delete comments from his threads. Being banned from Salon is, I believe, a somewhat different process.

Glenn's email address is on his front page. You could communicate with him there regarding your status in his threads.

I'll state honestly that I am a highly selective reader, and may, therefore, have overlooked some of your earlier submissions. But, if this analysis,

... most of the time Greenwald spouts knee-jerk, left-wing nonsense, and he desperately needs somebody like me to challenge him -- in a forum where everybody can see every side of an issue and judge each by its merits.

is representative, it would appear I haven't missed very much. Glenn has any number of critics who participate in these threads. Some of whom have even less to say. I wonder what made you special?

There is, I suppose, the off-chance of someone, or something, having made an error. That has happened before and letters have been restored. But, me thinks, that possibility probably doesn't suit the arc of your narrative nearly as well as the one you have selected.

Because the information people don't have, they will simply make up. Or, infer. Or, speculate. Or, extrapolate to get. It's human to do so. The question for me is, how skeptically a person treats raw information, and how flexibly a person responds to changes in the narrative they construct for themselves as the facts (such as they are) become known. And, in the end, how much room is allowed for doubt when some bits of narrative can't be confirmed/will never be confirmed by the facts. Our media is what it is. And, for better or worse, we're stuck with it.

Mrs Sis B highlights for me a group that is horribly vulnerable to a drunk-on-its-own-adrenalin media. The people in the midst of a crisis desperate for information that might have a bearing on their safety. Broadcasts from the command structure at post were essential and likely the most accurate, but you can understand why those who believed they were at risk didn't filter what they were being told by a media desperate to put out a narrative, and acted on it. You wonder if that group even crosses a reporter's mind as they spew. Thanks for that reminder, Mrs Sis B.

Another group vulnerable to this insta-reporting (otherwise known as whipping it out of your, er, back pocket) are those who by virtue of assigned group identity are at risk for guilt by association. Once Hasan's name had been released, the hungry-for-narrative beast had fresh meat on which to run. It goes without saying that, most likely, Muslims will be the identity group to feel the discomfiture of public ignorance, when it would be equally "reasonable" to worry about psychiatrists. You wonder if the people reporting even gave a thought to how this story might affect those at Fort Hood with a similar ethnicity.

Especially, in these times, with this trad media, there is no substitute for critical thinking.

Not your average military recruit...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125745253140431689.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular

http://www.theyoungturks.com/

For those who confuse (or conflate) rendition (as conducted by Bush41 and Clinton) and extraordinary rendition (conducted by Bush43). Lots of embedded links:

Harper's
February 2, 11:56 PM, 2009
No Comment

More on the Renditions Hoopla
By Scott Horton

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/02/hbc-90004332

They all know he's Mr. Shoot-from-the-lip, but his status is such that they never drag him over the coals for it.

Of course, because as it happens, as long as it's out of Rahm's mouth, it's not a leak. Particularly, since he is the one charged for keeping everyone "on message." Seems he's likely to be the only one Obama has afforded a license to mouth-off.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aQcApDSFmq20

but that interview with Jamie Killstein and Allison Kilkenny, somehow put the trolls who show up here in proper perspective. The trolls may function as play toys for your thread participants, but in the broader scheme, they really don't matter at all. I've often thought them irrelevant, but they're also thoroughly insignificant.