Month: September 2014

The Obama administration has
proclaimed that arming the supposedly moderate Syrian rebels is the
U.S.’s best play in the fight against ISIS. But according to

The Huffington Post, CIA analysts don’t believe that plan
is going to work at all.

It’s an opinion the CIA has been keeping quiet about, until now.
A top CIA official told HuffPost that opinions among
agency analysts range from “ambivalence to outright opposition.”
And they have good reason to hold those opinions—the CIA is
already covertly arming the Syrian rebels, a strategy that
has already been show to have failed, in no small part
because the rebels are unreliable and the equipment eventually
finds its way to ISIS.

According to a Democratic Congressman consulted by
HuffPost:

“I have heard it expressed, outside of classified contexts, that
what you heard from your intelligence sources is correct, because
the CIA regards the effort as doomed to failure,” the congressman
said in an email. “Specifically (again without referring to
classified information), the CIA thinks that it is impossible to
train and equip a force of pro-Western Syrian nationals that can
fight and defeat Assad, al-Nusra and ISIS, regardless of whatever
air support that force may receive.”

He added that, as the CIA sees it, the ramped-up backing of
rebels is an expansion of a strategy that is already not working.
“The CIA also believes that its previous assignment to accomplish
this was basically a fool’s errand, and they are well aware of the
fact that many of the arms that they provided ended up in the wrong
hands,” the congressman said, echoing intelligence sources.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, huh? At least war skeptics
can now confidently state that the president’s plan will fail,
since it has already failed.

The Obama administration has
proclaimed that arming the supposedly moderate Syrian rebels is the
U.S.’s best play in the fight against ISIS. But according to

The Huffington Post, CIA analysts don’t believe that plan
is going to work at all.

It’s an opinion the CIA has been keeping quiet about, until now.
A top CIA official told HuffPost that opinions among
agency analysts range from “ambivalence to outright opposition.”
And they have good reason to hold those opinions—the CIA is
already covertly arming the Syrian rebels, a strategy that
has already been show to have failed, in no small part
because the rebels are unreliable and the equipment eventually
finds its way to ISIS.

According to a Democratic Congressman consulted by
HuffPost:

“I have heard it expressed, outside of classified contexts, that
what you heard from your intelligence sources is correct, because
the CIA regards the effort as doomed to failure,” the congressman
said in an email. “Specifically (again without referring to
classified information), the CIA thinks that it is impossible to
train and equip a force of pro-Western Syrian nationals that can
fight and defeat Assad, al-Nusra and ISIS, regardless of whatever
air support that force may receive.”

He added that, as the CIA sees it, the ramped-up backing of
rebels is an expansion of a strategy that is already not working.
“The CIA also believes that its previous assignment to accomplish
this was basically a fool’s errand, and they are well aware of the
fact that many of the arms that they provided ended up in the wrong
hands,” the congressman said, echoing intelligence sources.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, huh? At least war skeptics
can now confidently state that the president’s plan will fail,
since it has already failed.

Oklahoma law enforcement seems to have something
of a sexual assault problem. On Tuesday, Tulsa County Deputy Gerald
Nuckolls, 26, was arrested amid accusations that
he sexually assaulted two women while on duty. Though Nuckolls
hasn’t been formally charged yet, authorities say he
admitted to coercing at least six other women into sexual
acts. 

On Monday, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol
arrested state trooper Eric Roberts, 42, on complaints that he
kidnapped and sexually assaulted three women while on duty. The
department began investigating Roberts in July after a woman
reported being pulled over by Roberts and then raped. 

And in August, Oklahoma City officer
Daniel Ken Holtzclaw, 27, was charged with raping or sexually
abusing seven people. The alleged victims, all black women, say
Holtzlcaw forced them to expose themselves, perform oral sex on
him, or have intercourse with him in order to avoid arrest.

So what’s going on with Oklahoma police culture? Sadly, nothing
that’s not happening all around the country. “In any given month,
there are multiple reports of on-duty cops raping women,”
Nicole Flatow at Think
Progress notes. For example, let’s take a look at
March, 2014: 

• Baltimore
officer Martez Johnson was charged with raping a woman he
drove home from the scene of a car accident; his trial started this
month. 
• San
Jose police officer Geoffrey Graves was charged with
raping a hotel maid after she called 911 to report being assault by
her husband; a preliminary hearing is set for October 1.
• In North Port, Florida,
officer Michelle Turner was charged with sexual
battery after an alleged victim claimed Turner and her partner (who
committed suicide in March) handcuffed and assaulted her at a
party.
• Former Irwindale, California, police
officer David Paul Fraijo was charged with kidnapping and
sexually assaulting a woman after pulling her over for a traffic
stop. 
• Odessa, Texas,
officer Salvador Becerra was arrested after three women came
forward saying they were touched innapropriately by Becerra during
traffic stops and another said he forced her to perform oral sex on
him after finding an open container in her vehicle.
• Detroit
officer Deon Nunlee was charged with sexually assaulting a
woman after being called to her home to investigate a domestic
violence incident in 2013.

As Flatow writes, these incidents “illustrate the ways in
which women are victims of police violence, too.” And holding
officers who commit sexual violence accountable seems (surprise,
surprise)
like just as much of a weak spot for U.S. police departments
than holding officers accountable for any other crimes they
commit.