by William Skink
I am so thankful for the Missoula Current, Martin Kidston’s online “news” start-up, where ex-military and ex-spook lawyers can disseminate anti-Trump propaganda.
I have learned a lot about the movers and shakers in our community and our state, like Julie Sirrs.
Who is Julie Sirrs, you ask?
Well, currently she is a lawyer with Boone Karlberg in Missoula, and a member of Montanans for National Security, but years ago she was allegedly warning Bush Junior about a terrorist named Osama Bin Laden.
Check out this Observer article, titled Ex-Spook Sirrs: Early Osama Call Got Her Ejected, from the distant year 2004:
President George W. Bush has a bold plan: to gradually shift American intelligence operatives-now free from hunting down Saddam Hussein-to Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden.
To Julie Sirrs, it’s a case of too little, too late. A former military analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Ms. Sirrs was the first intelligence officer to report on the significance of Osama bin Laden moving his terrorist operation from the Sudan into Afghanistan. She wasn’t listened to five years ago, and though she’d like to speak before the Congressional 9/11 commission, it is unlikely that she will be listened to now. Her story is a tableau of tangled politics and internal wrangling that got in the way of vital intelligence-gathering leading up to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
When I wrote my little tirade against the two party political system in this country, I used the analogy of mafia families/cartels to illustrate my perception of how these political enterprises operate.
Democrats have enthusiastically embraced “former” spooks and “former” military personal as political candidates, a trend reported on by MSM two years ago:
They put their lives on the line in foreign war zones, conducted secret missions to collect valuable intelligence and made enormous sacrifices for their country — only to see their former colleagues disrespected by President Donald Trump.
Now, driven by the president’s conduct, they’re taking matters into their own hands and gearing up for a different challenge: running for Congress as Democrats.
Fed up with what they see as Trump’s disdain and distrust of the intelligence community — and his refusal to embrace fully the conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election — an unusually large number of former intelligence officers and operatives are campaigning for office as Democrats in this fall’s midterm elections, according to experts.
How did that Russiagate operation go, spook-loving Democrats?
I’ve also written about this trend, specifically identifying Joshua Manning as one of Montana’s dedicated “former” military anti-Trump political insurgents.
We can now add Julie Sirrs and Andrew Person to that list. Here is part of their “Voices” Missoula Current propaganda piece:
When the news broke that the Russian government, through its military intelligence agency, the GRU, paid bounties to Taliban fighters for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan, it wasn’t just another headline for many Montanans – it was personal. That’s because Montanans have among the highest rate of military service and veterans in the nation.
For those of us who were close friends or family with troops killed by Taliban fighters, our response is visceral. We’re angry. We demand action – not words- from our government in response.
As Michael McFaul, a former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, born and raised in Montana, recently wrote: “ While deeply disturbing, this effort by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is not surprising: It follows a clear pattern of ignoring international norms, rules and laws – and daring the United States to do anything about it.” Since 2017, multiple reliable sources, including the U.S. general on the ground in Afghanistan, have reported that Russia has been supporting the Taliban.
This Cold War 2.0 propaganda bullshit COMPLETELY omits the LONG HISTORY of Afghanistan as a geopolitical hot spot. If Sirrs and Person were NOT being emotionally exploitive and intellectually dishonest, they would acknowledge it was THEIR OWN COUNTRY in the 80’s funding the Mujahideen that created the Taliban.
I’ll even quote the evil imperial bastards at the Council on Foreign Relations to back up that statement:
The Taliban was formed in the early 1990s by Afghan mujahideen, or Islamic guerilla fighters, who had resisted the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979–89) with the covert backing of the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI). They were joined by younger Pashtun tribesmen who studied in Pakistani madrassas, or seminaries; taliban is Pashto for “students.” Pashtuns comprise a plurality in Afghanistan and are the predominant ethnic group in much of the country’s south and east. They are also a major ethnic group in Pakistan’s north and west.
Julie Sirrs and Andrew Person are part of a larger intelligence effort to reverse the results of the 2016 election.
While I think Trump is also acting as a duplicitous asset of a different cartel-like criminal faction of our unelected power elite, this effort by Democrats is as Democracy-destroying as anything those bad, bad Republicans have done.
So, which white, male mafia don are you going to vote for, oh ye lovers of the illusion of Democracy?
JC
I wonder if any of those folks have the ability to put their best thinking caps on and apply their rhetoric to Operation Cyclone. Cuz, well, if the Russkies are doing anything close to what part of the intelligence state is accusing them of doing, it’s because they learned how to do it from us. Here’s a decent article about Cyclone to remind folks of our sordid history, while we lambast other countries for maybe doing far less than we did.
“Congress historically has tried to force presidents to bring troops home. But in the last three years, lawmakers have repeatedly tried to make laws to do the opposite. A bipartisan group of House lawmakers who want to stop President Donald Trump from pulling U.S. troops from military conflicts and overseas bases are using a once-unusual tactic that has in the last three years become Congress’ go-to tool…
https://www.defenseone.com/politics/2020/07/unconventional-tactic-becomes-congresss-go-weapon-against-troop-withdrawal/166880/
…Beginning on the campaign trail in 2016, Trump has made no secret of his desire to remove U.S. troops from American bases around the world, both in active conflict zones and permanent stations designed to project U.S. force into Asia and Europe. In December 2018, he shocked Congress with an abrupt announcement that he would withdraw the 2,000 U.S. troops fighting in Syria.
The House version of the annual defense policy bill, scheduled for a vote next week, would ban the administration from lowering troop levels in Germany below their current benchmark of 24,50…The same bill places similar restrictions on cutting troops in Afghanistan below 8,000 without certifying that a withdrawal “will not increase the risk for the expansion of existing or formation of new terrorist safe havens inside Afghanistan”…
…Lawmakers in the Senate also passed nonbinding legislation in 2019 calling on the Trump administration to certify the “enduring” defeat of ISIS and other Islamist terror groups before any embarking on any significant withdrawal from Syria or Afghanistan…
…others question the enforceability of these measures. But…it might also give the administration [officials who quietly oppose Trump] the opportunity to stall any withdrawal efforts…
There are some constitutional concerns with the tactic, however, [congressional leaders assure that], the tactic is confined to White House-Hill relations during the Trump administration. In a more conventional presidency, it’s likely the use of the tactic would fade. “Supposing Trump loses and [presumptive Democratic nominee Joe] Biden is in office, Biden is part of this mainstream and I think the problem would go away”
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So there you have it, “liberals”, “Progressives” “D’s” and “lefties” agree with right-wing [R] nut-jobs, Trump evil, war good, must keep war going ’till Biden takes office, then we can return to the USA’s regularly scheduled programs…of war eternal.
yep, foreign policy is what finally clued me into the two party scam. even Bernie knew not to get too uppity with genocide in Yemen and open air slave markets in Libya. don’t want to scare away those death merchant jobs in Vermont now do we?
Exactly.
But after watching Bernie fold like a cheap lawn chair in 2016, I wasn’t going to be sheep-dogged in 2020, I was pinning my hopes on Tulsi. Yes, in vain but, she did well in the one debate she was allowed to speak in, easily knocking out Kamala Harris* without breaking a sweat…which is why the DNC never allowed her up on any platform again…she was a real threat, not Bernie. You notice, Bernie only waited few days until after Gabbard folded to quit the race. Bernie defined the edge of the party and delivered his people to Biden…Bernie was a very good doggie and prevented any leftward drift.
*Kamala Harris, oddly enough, used Bernie as a willing punching before Tulsi knocked her to the floor.
I would have chained the doors shut at the CIA after the Church Report in 1976. I once listened to Dennis Kucinich (very left) and Ron Paul (very right) speak and agree on foreign entanglements and demilitarization of our country. To me, that added great validity to the argument. I encourage a review of Eisenhower’s speeches. I would hope all who are reading this could agree that War is a criminal act. There are no heroes and no causes that justify killing each other. It’s an aspiration at least. When we can go across the political spectrum in agreement hopefully progress can be made. Our country did a really efficient job of keeping Afican and indigenous people suppressed.