Warren Olney's hour of discussion on NPR, "To the Point" – a "fast-paced, news based one-hour daily national program that focuses on the hot-button issues of the day" – broadcast weekdays, never fails to pit an activist of real social and political issues against a right-wing ideologue from some intelligence front or other. The result of the typical "debate" on "To the Point" is the confusion of listeners who may not be familiar with the specific issues involved. In this instance, David Armstrong, a legitimate reporter from Los Angeles (the former editor of Random Lengths, an alternative weekly in Long Beach, and a former writing partner of mine), "faces off" against "conservative" reporter Mark Riebling, a CIA Mockingbird.
Olney neglects to mention in his introduction that Riebling is an editor at the Manhattan Institute, a fascist front with deep intelligence connections. Armstrong had just published an article in Harper's on the New American Century, significant revelations undercut by Riebling who is treated as an "expert" on national security affairs – and not a cheesy intelligence asset with a wallet stuffed full of ultra-con think-tank money in his pocket. Riebleing is the author of Wedge: How the Secret War between the CIA and FBI Has Endangered National Security, From Pearl Harbor to 9/11.
"Mark Riebling’s writings are used as course curricula for National Security and Intelligence in the Modern State, at the Carleton University Department of Political Science; for U.S. Intelligence and National Security, at Brigham Young University; and as research and instructional texts at the Air University (Maxwell AFB), the Army War College, the Naval Postgraduate Institute, the CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence, the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (London), and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. ... "
http://markriebling.blogs.com/about/
Riebling trots out the blurbs to kill his smell: “ ... Wedge changed the way everyone thought about national security,” says MICHAEL LEDEEN, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute." (Members of AEI, a military intelligence front, according to Covert Action Information Bulletin, are frequent guests on Olney's psyop charade. Ledeen, of course, is an Italian mole who is said to have forged the Niger documents – he pretends to be Jewish but idolizes Mussolini.)
Olney's approach to "talk radio" is underhanded – under his tutelage, political "debate" is turned into a form of insidious propaganda. Faux "conservative" arguments are granted an air of respectability on his "liberal" program, and he NEVER mentions that his guests hail routinely from CIA and military intelligence fronts.
This charade occurs on a daily basis.
Olney's "talk show" is a thin veneer for state and corporate propaganda posing as honest debate – fake news – and listeners are encouraged to withhold donations to the "publicly-sponsored" network that accepts funding – and policy direction – from the Ahmanson, Pew, Ford Foundations, etc.
Olney was raised on a military base. He has never been weaned from the rhetorical influences of his youth, apparently. Typical mockingbird, but NPR's ersatz air of liberalism is the perfect front for "balanced" interviews that provide "conservative" liars with a public forum and an illusion of respectability they lack.
– Alex Constantine
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http://www.markriebling.com/archives/00000216.html
Excerpt: "Rumsfeld's New Spy Unit and the War on Terror"
Transcript of October 31, 2002 NPR
Broadcast "To the Point" with Warren Olney. Interviewees: David Armstrong, Mark Riebling, Richard Anderson, William Arkin.
WARREN OLNEY
Talking, today, about reports that, at the Pentagon, Secretary Of State Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, are building up, what's been referred to as, a Secret Army, a covert group, to fight the War On Terror. Also, has developed a new intelligence unit to look at other intelligence data, see if, in fact, they can find connections between Saddam Hussein and terrorist groups, particularly Al Qaeda. Connections that haven't been made public, yet. Although, it was pointed out by William Arkin, they may, in fact, be known, and, yet, is just simply not revealed. David Armstrong, though, investigative reporter for the National Security News Service, sees this as part of a continuum, that goes all the way back to the Ford Administration, of cooking intelligence in order to meet preconceived positions. Taking up a different view, I suspect, is Mark Riebling, a writer on National Security issues, and author of, Wedge: From Pearl Harbor To 9/11, How The Secret War Between The FBI The And CIA Has Endangered National Security.
David Armstrong, I'd like to talk first about your article, "Dick Cheney's Song Of America: Drafting A Plan For Global Dominance." What does this all have to do with global dominance?
DAVID ARMSTRONG
Well, the, this is really part of a long-term position, held by many of the senior Bush Administration officials. This is one element, currently, in the war with Iraq, as, sort of, a test case for a long-term strategy. Staring in 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Bush, the first Bush Administration put together a defense planning guide, drafted by Paul Wolfowitz, that, essentially, called for, this was under, of course, Defense Secretary Cheney, at the time.
And, it called, essentially, for the United States to prevent new rivals from rising up to challenge the US on the world stage, thereby, preserving total superiority over friends and allies, alike. It was America's imperial moment, as they saw it, and an opportunity to consolidate power and not have to be concerned with possible retaliation by the Soviets, or other Super Powers.
This policy, which included, of course, massive military superiority, massive economic superiority, missile defense, space weaponization, and all of the policies that the current Administration has adopted, was roundly rejected at the time. It was seen for what it was, a power play by the United States, and it was loudly denounced. It was shelved as a result of that bad reaction, and issued only as a white paper in the very last days of the first Bush Administration.
Then, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Colin Powell, was also an advocate of this policy, at the time. He, in fact, when it was first put forward, when the United States, when the Defense Department was rounding up support on Capitol Hill for it, at the time, he announced that he thought that US dominance was an appropriate position to take in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. And, in his words, he wanted to be the bully on the block.
Well, not everyone saw it that way. With an election coming up, they had to shelve the plan, and issued it only in the very closing days of the first Bush Administration.
WARREN OLNEY
So, you're saying, then, that what we are seeing now is a revisitation of this, in the aftermath of September 11.
DAVID ARMSTRONG
September 11th gave them the perfect opportunity to revivify this plan, to put it back into action. During the first months of the Bush Administration, many of the elements, space weaponization, missile defense, and the rest, were all there, but it didn't seem to add up to a cohesive plan. And on September 11th, we saw that, we saw the plan cohere, in a sense, and come together in a more obvious way. And, Iraq is really the test case for that process.
WARREN OLNEY
David Armstrong, once again, investigative reporter for the National Security News Service. Mark Riebling is a writer on National Security issues, and author of, Wedge: From Pearl Harbor To 9/11, How The Secret War Between The FBI The And CIA Has Endangered National Security. Mark Riebling, what do you say to what we have just heard from David Armstrong? And, what does this imply for the view of our current leadership, as to America's role in the world?
MARK RIEBLING
RieblingWell, I guess I would start by saying, I think it's appropriate that we're speaking of all this on Halloween, because what I'm hearing is, frankly, a lot of scare-mongering. I'm hearing about a vast Right Wing war conspiracy, a kind of a scenario which we, like a James Bond film scripted by Hillary Clinton, in which Rumsfeld is Blowfeld. I mean, really, the idea that he's, A, intent on taking over the whole spy community, and, B, after that, the whole world, I just find rather amusing, actually.
But, one of the things I talked about in Wedge, which is very much about all these interagency things, is that every time there's a major intelligence failure there's talk about a makeover. But, every time there's talk about a makeover, it's, sort of, transmuted into warnings about a takeover, on someone's behalf. And, that's why these bureaucratic turf battles transformed into big issues, and, sort of, blown up into talk about an American gestapo, for instance. ...
Continued:
http://www.markriebling.com/archives/00000216.html
Mark Riebling: Profile of Fascist Propagandist
Mark Riebling is Editorial Director at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. He is also a co-founder and the former research director of the Center for Tactical Counterterrorism. Independently of his work for the Institute and the Center, he writes on national security, military, and cultural affairs.
He is the author of Wedge: How the Secret War between the CIA and FBI Has Endangered National Security. First published in hardcover in 1994 by Alfred A. Knopf, Wedge has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Polish, and Czech, and was optioned by Martin Brest for Universal Pictures. In 2002 Wedge was reissued by Simon and Schuster, with an updated Epilogue, bringing the story forward through 9/11.
He is also the author of two other forthcoming nonfiction books: Soldier Spies: The Secret History of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Rise of Pentagon Espionage Empire (Knopf), and Vatican Assassins: The Pope, the Jesuits, and the Plot to Kill Hitler (HarperCollins).
Source:
http://www.markriebling.com/
