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Oh boy, you might actually be in for a very rewarding moment of personal development if you can muster the will to follow that thought through to the logical co

Oh boy, you might actually be in for a very rewarding moment of personal development if you can muster the will to follow that thought through to the logical conclusion! So, what happened next with "Collateral Murder"? Then what happened in that region? What about the US public, the supposed beneficiaries of a whistleblower's labors? What about policy changes? I genuinely hope you can read that as intended - written with zero sarcasm. Because it seems obvious to me that you've actually just reinforced my point. Unfortunately it is the least interesting point in all of what I wrote that you chose to latch onto, so thats a bummer. RE sonic attacks: nah - you have to consider it from an operational, boots on the ground, strategic perspective: what purpose is being served, what is being protected by way of misdirection (CI is primarily defensive in nature and misdirection is the absolute best way to lie). I can't think of anything useful to lie about in the sonic attack story... which wouldn't really have had anything to do with anyone outside of DoS. DoS hasn't gotten along with anyone but the CIA for a very long time - so I'd have a hard time trying to guess at their motives for anything anyway.

jessaustin 5y ago
In general I eschew "personal development". Of course we haven't left Iraq yet; we haven't even left Afghanistan yet. That ain't Wikileaks' fault. Next you'll be telling us about the important work we've been doing there: something about women's rights no doubt! Guesses at the hidden meanings of pseudo-spook ramblings are rarely accurate; even if they're exactly correct the story will change in the next comment. Maybe that's how "CI" people convince themselves they ever do anything useful. To spell it out, the entire thing is a lie from the top to the bottom. USA military murdering children on the other side of the world only ever harms USA interests and USA security. Our wars are evil, done for the sake of evil. We fear brown people so that we might enrich armaments manufacturers by murdering brown people. Dress it up however you want, but that doesn't change what it is and what any thinking person who has actually spent any time doing this evil knows it to be.
- sennight 5y ago
  > In general I eschew "personal development". Well I guess it could be worse, you could be unaware of this self destructive tendency. Actually, that is the only thing worse - so not much of a silver lining. > Of course we haven't left Iraq yet... Next you'll be telling us about the important work we've been doing there You are really bad at this, presumably because your world model has been totally warped by a constant consumption of cartoonish misrepresentation. I'm pretty confident that your mental image of me is a complete inversion of reality. For things that actually matter anyway - like I doubt you imagine me to be an 86 year old black lesbian... so you've gotten warmer in that regard, but not much else. > USA military murdering children... for the sake of evil ... We fear brown people ... Dress it up however you want, but that doesn't change what it is and what any thinking person who has actually spent any time doing this evil knows it to be. This is the problem with going full emote psychobabble mode, it looks like you've just accidentally admitted to murdering some number of brown children in an evil racist killing spree. I suspect that is the opposite of what you intended to communicate.
  - jessaustin 5y ago
    I have no mental model of you. Only the shallow care about personalities and identities. You have implied that you have served in the USA military in the Middle East and rather more weakly implied that you have spent time in the unsupervised services stateside. Either or both of those claims might be true, but it doesn't matter. Your putative service has not provided you with insight you're able to share through HN comments. I appreciate "Collateral Murder" and similar releases by Wikileaks and others because they opened my eye to the world as it really is. Maybe I should have known already, but in that case I would never have voted for Bush the Lesser. Somehow the history classes in my elementary and secondary public education left out the important parts.
    - sennight 5y ago
      >> Next you'll be telling us about the important work we've been doing there: something about women's rights no doubt! >> (commence longwinded sermon about how murderous, racist and generally evil the US military is) > I have no mental model of you. lol, sure kid - I'm sure that is your default mode... if those last two sentences actually mean what I think. It would certainly explain a lot.

jessaustin 5y ago

In general I eschew "personal development". Of course we haven't left Iraq yet; we haven't even left Afghanistan yet. That ain't Wikileaks' fault. Next you'll be telling us about the important work we've been doing there: something about women's rights no doubt! Guesses at the hidden meanings of pseudo-spook ramblings are rarely accurate; even if they're exactly correct the story will change in the next comment. Maybe that's how "CI" people convince themselves they ever do anything useful. To spell it out, the entire thing is a lie from the top to the bottom. USA military murdering children on the other side of the world only ever harms USA interests and USA security. Our wars are evil, done for the sake of evil. We fear brown people so that we might enrich armaments manufacturers by murdering brown people. Dress it up however you want, but that doesn't change what it is and what any thinking person who has actually spent any time doing this evil knows it to be.

sennight 5y ago
> In general I eschew "personal development". Well I guess it could be worse, you could be unaware of this self destructive tendency. Actually, that is the only thing worse - so not much of a silver lining. > Of course we haven't left Iraq yet... Next you'll be telling us about the important work we've been doing there You are really bad at this, presumably because your world model has been totally warped by a constant consumption of cartoonish misrepresentation. I'm pretty confident that your mental image of me is a complete inversion of reality. For things that actually matter anyway - like I doubt you imagine me to be an 86 year old black lesbian... so you've gotten warmer in that regard, but not much else. > USA military murdering children... for the sake of evil ... We fear brown people ... Dress it up however you want, but that doesn't change what it is and what any thinking person who has actually spent any time doing this evil knows it to be. This is the problem with going full emote psychobabble mode, it looks like you've just accidentally admitted to murdering some number of brown children in an evil racist killing spree. I suspect that is the opposite of what you intended to communicate.
- jessaustin 5y ago
  I have no mental model of you. Only the shallow care about personalities and identities. You have implied that you have served in the USA military in the Middle East and rather more weakly implied that you have spent time in the unsupervised services stateside. Either or both of those claims might be true, but it doesn't matter. Your putative service has not provided you with insight you're able to share through HN comments. I appreciate "Collateral Murder" and similar releases by Wikileaks and others because they opened my eye to the world as it really is. Maybe I should have known already, but in that case I would never have voted for Bush the Lesser. Somehow the history classes in my elementary and secondary public education left out the important parts.
  - sennight 5y ago
    >> Next you'll be telling us about the important work we've been doing there: something about women's rights no doubt! >> (commence longwinded sermon about how murderous, racist and generally evil the US military is) > I have no mental model of you. lol, sure kid - I'm sure that is your default mode... if those last two sentences actually mean what I think. It would certainly explain a lot.