11-02-2009, 12:24 PM
I'm not sure I agree with the Atlantic's position Cliff, and I do wonder if shenanigans are at the root of this.
Let's not forget that Zbig Brzezinski is a "national security" expert of some 30 years standing. But even if he didn't want to turn to Brzezinski he could turn to Robert Gates who has almost as long a background in the National Security Council and CIA and previous to that was in the US Air Force. Dennis Cutler Blair, Obama's Director of National Security is also an old intelligence hand. So I don't think "newness" is at the root of this.
But you are right to say that in the fullness of time we will know if Obama has renegged or not, but I have to say that this move strikes me as being the first political move to prepare the national for a reversal -- the thin edge of the wedge so to speak.
Quote:But based on interviews with current administration officials involved in the case, with Bush administration officials, as well as with national security law experts, a clearer explanation emerges.
Officials decided that it would be imprudent to reverse course so abruptly because they realized they didn't yet have a full picture of the intelligence methods and secrets that underlay the privilege's assertions, because the privilege might correctly protect a state secret, and because the domino effect of retracting it could harm legitimate cases, both civil and criminal, that are already in progress.
Let's not forget that Zbig Brzezinski is a "national security" expert of some 30 years standing. But even if he didn't want to turn to Brzezinski he could turn to Robert Gates who has almost as long a background in the National Security Council and CIA and previous to that was in the US Air Force. Dennis Cutler Blair, Obama's Director of National Security is also an old intelligence hand. So I don't think "newness" is at the root of this.
But you are right to say that in the fullness of time we will know if Obama has renegged or not, but I have to say that this move strikes me as being the first political move to prepare the national for a reversal -- the thin edge of the wedge so to speak.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14