Editorial note: If you have not yet read our mission statement above, please do so in order that you can put our blogs in context. 

1 September 2014

It is sometimes said that military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.

Now that may sound a bit harsh on the spooks.

However, consider an article by Matthew Weaver and Martin Chulov covering Islamic State (Isis) militants in Iraq and Syria, which appeared in the London Guardian on 27 August 2014.

One passage says:

“Isis has proved to be disciplined in its communications, with senior leaders completely avoiding telephones, emails, or anything that the most powerful signals intelligence networks in the world could intercept.”

Another:

“Up to 150 US intelligence operatives have been sent to Baghdad over the past nine months in response to the growing threat posed by Isis, Iraqi officials have told the Guardian. Almost all of the US operatives are connected to the National Security Agency (NSA) and have been tasked with monitoring phone calls and email traffic of jihadist networks.”

Antigone1984:

Could be a lesson in there somewhere.

Might go a little way to explaining why the doughboys spent nearly nine years – almost as long as the Trojan War – fighting insurgents in Iraq only to retreat with egg on their faces in December 2011, mission unaccomplished and the country mired in civil war.

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 You might perhaps care to view some of our earlier posts.  For instance:

1. Why? or How? That is the question (3 Jan 2012)
2. Partitocracy v. Democracy (20 July 2012)
3. The shoddiest possible goods at the highest possible prices (2 Feb 2012)
4. Capitalism in practice (4 July 2012) 
5. Ladder  (21 June 2012)
6. A tale of two cities (1) (6 June 2012)
7. A tale of two cities (2) (7 June 2012)
8. Where’s the beef? Ontology and tinned meat (31 Jan 2012)

Every so often we shall change this sample of previously published posts.

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