internetz pwn american covert ops

has everybody heard of wikileaks before? if you haven't, you will again very soon. as the name would indicate, it's a public wiki for the exposure of secret documents from just about everyone, from scientologists to governments. naturally, they've been in trouble before, and were nearly shut down by the man.

These brave geeks have apparently stumbled upon a particularly good one that could get some powerful people into a lot of trouble. an analysis on the site entitled 'how to train death squads from san salvador to iraq' is not just hyperbole - this is a us government document teaching extremely sketchy techniques for suppressing popular insurgency in the face of an unpopular but america-supported regime.

The manual directly advocates training paramilitaries, pervasive surveillance, censorship, press control and restrictions on labor unions & political parties. It directly advocates warrantless searches, detainment without charge and (under varying circumstances) the suspension of habeas corpus. It directly advocates employing terrorists or prosecuting individuals for terrorism who are not terrorists, running false flag operations and concealing human rights abuses from journalists. And it repeatedly advocates the use of subterfuge and "psychological operations" (propaganda) to make these and other "population & resource control" measures more palatable.

much of this is not surprising to me, and strikes me as the same old covert nonsense that helped us win the cold war and unseat too-big-for-their-britches petty dictators from noriega to hussein. nothing mindblowing involving aliens, 9/11 conspiracies, or the bavarian illuminati, but interesting stuff nonetheless. here's one part of the actual document that struck me as particularly damning:

Rights on the legality of detention or imprisonment of personnel (for example, habeas corpus) may be temporarily suspended. This measure must be taken as a last resort, since it may provide the insurgents with an effective propaganda theme. PRC [Population & Resources Control] measures can also include curfews or blackouts, travel restrictions, and restricted residential areas such as protected villages or resettlement areas. Registration and pass systems and control of sensitive items (resources control) and critical supplies such as weapons, food, and fuel are other PRC measures. Checkpoints, searches, roadblocks; surveillance, censorship, and press control; and restriction of activity that applies to selected groups (labor unions, political groups and the like) are further PRC measures.

the first half of the paragraph is nothing even the casual observer of the iraq war would not be aware of. the second half of the paragraph is suprisingly frank in its suppression of populist movements, freedom of the press, and all that other stuff that we supposedly love so damn much in this country. it's no wonder the western-friendly shah of iran fell to the mobs of angry young religious nuts. call it idealism, but how does a country export democracy by suppressing the will of the people?

i guess empires and republics don't really mix.