And of course just about the first thing they did was radicalize Islam by overthrowing the democratically-elected President Mossadegh in Iran. Did you know that Iran's constitution at that time was based on ours? That they respected us, unlike their feelings for the colonial powers?

The CIA practically invented "blowback" and the world has been suffering the consequences ever since.

Fuckers.

(except to the eternally-unprepared CIA) that the American embassy was attacked in '79 and the hostages seized. After all, the Shah was in the US, and 25 years before the CIA had plotted in the embassy basement to install him on the throne, and prevent the nationalization of Iranian oil.

But I'm sure no one could've predicted the outcome.

It became SOP, standard operating procedure. Then they lost sight of their original mission and started the junta thing in the USA in violation of everything that's holy. And our nation is in ruins.

Henry Kissinger should be in a deep dark hole.

formed in 1947, off the reservation by 1953, unaccountable and malevolent and yet bumbling. Have they ever accomplished something that was a long-term benefit for the US?

And not only have they been causing trouble since inception, they are lousy at the job they are supposed to be doing, which is keeping us informed on what our "enemies" are up to...being unable to see the coming collapse of the USSR was pathetic to the point of being surreal.

the advocates of an ever expanding military did not want told. What was the justification for massive military spending if the Soviet Union was weakening? We see some of the same obfuscation today in the terrorism threat.

Our military/surveillance/industrial complex is always looking for a reason for being. And both parties--granted one a smidge less than the other--perpetuate the myth.

We would be drinking beer (outside) in the 1980s and raising hell about politics. My repeated personal point of emphasis was that the Republicans, but both parties, were overstating the Soviet threat as an excuse for massive military spending.

If I could see that with zero intelligence at my disposal there is no way Saint Ronnie and the rest were not faking it.

And now they are so worried about having a viable enemy that we are engaged in creating one out of thin air by sending killer drones into sovereign nations. This is unprecedented in all of human history. We are sending explosive laden aircraft into countries that are not at war with the US. This is an act of war in itself. Someone is growing very wealthy from building this hardware.