Ex-CIA/NSA chief Hayden calls MAGAts "America's Taliban"

[Kid Berwyn]

George W. Bush's CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden calls Trump supporters 'our Taliban' and suggests sending the 'the MAGA wearing unvaxxed' on planes to Afghanistan

* Retired General Michael Hayden bashed 'MAGA wearing unvaxxed' people after Donald Trump held a rally in Alabama criticized as a 'super spreader' event

* He appeared to endorse an image calling Trump supporters 'Our Taliban'

* GOP Congressman Jim Banks was one of the people calling out Hayden

* Hayden did not reply but retweeted another user dismissing Banks's comment

* Hayden was first appointed to the intel community by former President Bill Clinton before serving under President George W. Bush's administration

* The retired general was once accused of lying to Congress over CIA torture

By ELIZABETH ELKIND, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
The Daiky Mail (UK) 23 August 2021

A retired top US military general and former CIA chief sparked outrage over the weekend by comparing supporters of former President Donald Trump to the Taliban and calling a suggestion to send 'the MAGA wearing unvaxxed' to Afghanistan a 'good idea.'

Retired four-star Air Force General Michael Hayden on Thursday retweeted a split image of armed militants in a caravan of white pickup trucks with the caption 'Their Taliban.' Under that was a picture of cars adorned with Trump 2020 and American flags along a highway.

The second image was captioned 'Our Taliban.'

On Sunday morning Hayden took another swing at the former president's fans.

Continues…

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9918841/Bushs-CIA-chief-compares-Trump-fans-Taliban-suggests-sending-unvaxxed-MAGA-Afghanistan.html

Didn’t see this important story on the TV, but Sebastian Gorka did. Truth hurts, Nazi.

[AZProgressive]

1. He isn't wrong

This is similar to an earlier article I posted.

Republicans are appeasing extremists the same way Saudi leaders do

I watched American extremists attack our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, and while their uncompromising fervor and fanaticism was shocking, it was not altogether unfamiliar to me. When the crowd erected the wooden gallows with the noose, I felt a sense of deja vu that took me a few days to pinpoint: The gallows set up outside the building reminded me of looking at Deera, or “chop chop,” square in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a site for frequent public beheadings and the same place where the beheaded bodies sometimes are later crucified. This was and still is a weekly event in Saudi Arabia.

Watching domestic terrorists erect a set for public execution outside the Capitol was all the more disheartening to me because I spent a good part of my career at the CIA fighting to keep this kind of extremism from reaching our shores. And I fear that many do not grasp the potential consequences of letting this type of lawlessness stand without loud condemnation by every single member of Congress. This is not the time for equivocation or political maneuvering to remain in power. Here, we could learn something from the Saudis.

The capitulation by Saudi political leaders to Islamist extremists was born hundreds of years ago in a twisting path that is the subject of many scholarly dissertations. But what I observed as a counterterrorism officer at the CIA was that Saudi political leaders are hamstrung when they try to curb violent jihad (commonly known as “terrorism” to Americans) emanating from the kingdom. They understand that a crackdown would imperil their reign, and they are forced to recall their original bargain with Saudi extremists: A coexistence deal was hatched centuries ago between the Bedouin Saud tribe and the dogmatic and violently puritanical Wahhabi religious sect of Islam. This partnership was restated in 1901 when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was born, and then bluntly driven home with the 1979 deadly takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca by a particularly virulent faction of religious extremists who believed Saudi politicians had allowed the country to degrade and become too liberal and modern. The leader of the siege, a religious extremist leader called Juhayman, was uneducated and preached his extremist views mostly to the uneducated. During the takeover, hundreds died, including Saudi government security officers and religious pilgrims. The details of this clash are also much debated, but one thing’s for sure: Saudi political leaders heeded the refresher on who called what shots in the kingdom.

And the takeover of the mosque later gave rise to Osama bin Laden, who referenced the mosque takeover and Juhayman in his own call to arms. So it’s really no surprise that the vast majority of 9/11 hijackers were Saudis. Nor that the Saudis’ assistance in the global war on terrorism was tepid and on very much their own terms. Nor that, more recently, the Saudis killed an American journalist critical of the royal family. The Saudi rulers are transactional: They will do whatever they need to, with whomever they need to, to stay in power. And so the deal they hatched endures: The family holds power mostly unmolested, in exchange for endorsing Wahhabi religious extremism and its violent enforcement of the same.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/01/26/republican-extremists-saudi-terrorism/

https://democraticunderground.com/100215018135

[Kid Berwyn]

13. Hijacking Belief Systems

Control what people think is true and you can control what they really do.

The Bush-Saudi Connection

By Michelle Mairesse

EXCERPT…

Special Saudis

Michael Springmann, formerly chief of the visa section at the US Embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, claims that he rejected hundreds of suspicious visa applications, but the C.I.A. officer overruled him and ordered the visas to be issued. Springmann protested to the State Department, the Office of Diplomatic Security, the F.B.I., the Justice Department and congressional committees, but in vain. (10)

Springmann observed that 15 of the 19 people who allegedly flew airplanes into buildings in the United States got their visas from the same CIA-dominated consulate in Jeddah. As a special favor to residents of Saudi Arabia (including non-Saudi citizens), applicants for non-immigrant visas can apply at private travel agencies and receive their visa through the mail. During the months following the 9-11 attack, 102 applicants received their visas by mail, 2 more were interviewed, and none were rejected.

The Saudis always got special treatment. In a November 6, 2001 BBC broadcast Greg Palast revealed just how special that treatment was. Even after Pakistan expelled the World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and India claimed that the organization was linked to terrorist bombings in Kashmir and the Philippines military accused WAMY of funding Muslim insurgency, the F.B.I. got orders to leave the "charitable association" alone.

After 9/11, investigators of the Islamic charities discovered overwhelming evidence that Saudis at all levels worked in tandem with the terrorists. David Kaplin reports, “At the Saudi High Commission in Bosnia, which coordinated local aid among Saudi charities, police found before-and-after photos of the World Trade Center, files on pesticides and crop dusters, and information on how to counterfeit State Department badges. At Manila's international airport, authorities stopped Agus Dwikarna, an al Haramain representative based in Indonesia. In his suitcase were C4 explosives.” The interlocking charities make it difficult to follow the money trail. “Many share directors, office space, and cash flow. For two years, investigators have followed the money to offshore trusts and obscure charities which, according to court records, they believe are tied to Hamas, al Qaeda, and other terrorist groups.” (US News and World Report, December 15, 2003).

"The White House official line is that the Bin Ladens are above suspicion --apart from Osama, the black sheep, who they say hijacked the family name. That's fortunate for the Bush family and the Saudi royal household, whose links with the Bin Ladens could otherwise prove embarrassing. But Newsnight has obtained evidence that the FBI was on the trail of other members of the Bin Laden family for links to terrorist organisations before and after September 11th." (11)

In the Boston Globe, March 11, 20004, Carl Unger, author of House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World’s Two Most Powerful Dynasties, states that the 9/11 commission should ask who authorized the evacuation of 140 Saudi nationals on at least 8 aircraft making stops in 12 cities immediately following the attacks. “Many of the passengers were high-ranking members of the royal House of Saud. About 24 of them were members of the bin Laden family, which owned the Saudi Binladin Group, a multibillion-dollar construction conglomerate.” Unger obtained passenger lists for 4 of the flights, which are posted on his website: www.houseofbush.com and includes the name of Prince Ahmed bin Salman.

SNIP…

Unger believes that this episode “raises particularly sensitive questions for the administration. Never before in history has a president of the United States had such a close relationship with another foreign power as President Bush and his father have had with the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud. I have traced more than $1.4 billion in investments and contracts that went from the House of Saud over the past 20 years to companies in which the Bushes and their allies have had prominent positions -- Harken Energy, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group among them. Is it possible that President Bush himself played a role in authorizing the evacuation of the Saudis after 9/11? What did he know and when did he know it?”

CONTINUED…

Original link (seems bad):

http://www.hermes-press.com/BushSaud.htm

Internet Archive Waybac:

https://web.archive.org/web/20150211055253/http://www.hermes-press.com/BushSaud.htm

Thank you for the information and link, AZProgressive! These are dangerous times.

[boston bean]

2. I agree with him.

[Kid Berwyn]

14. It's a fact.

[malaise]

3. That's the truth

Get thee to the greatest page RFN!

[Kid Berwyn]

15. Served up on a tray.

At Camp David, Trump Sought The Mantle Of History. But Afghanistan Is Different

Ron Ellington
NPR, September 10, 201911:52 AM ET

Questions will linger about President Trump's aborted plan to host peace talks between Afghanistan's elected leader and representatives of the Taliban, but one aspect of that ill-starred rendezvous is relatively easy to understand — the proposed location at Camp David.

The venue, a federal facility in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland about 70 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., has been associated in the past with U.S. presidents and momentous meetings.

The peace agreement known as the Camp David Accords was negotiated there by President Jimmy Carter and the presidents of Israel and Egypt in September of 1978 and signed six months later at the White House.

Even today, speaking of those accords or mentioning a "Camp David-style" negotiation has the power to summon hope. The place and the phrase have become an emblem of serious commitment to diplomacy, cooperation and peace. And they carry the cachet of success.

That's why Trump said he made the decision on his own — reportedly over the objections of his advisers — to try again at Camp David for an accord with and between Afghanistan's government and the insurgent Taliban.

Continues…

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/759268550/at-camp-david-trump-sought-the-mantle-of-history-but-afghanistan-is-different

[Bleacher Creature]

4. Markos Moulitsas has been calling them that for more than a decade.

In fact, he used that exact phrase as the title of a 2010 book.

It's 100% accurate, but not new.

[Johnny2X2X]

5. Anti American

I am waiting for the day when the media starts to treat Trump supporters like the America hating miscreants they are. I'd love to see them start asking why this group is so against America.

[Deep State Witch]

6. Hayden Has No More F*cks To Give

Gen. Hayden has done his service to the country. He was a good DIRNSA - so good that Congress kept him on for another three years after his term was up. He had a stroke a few years ago and retired from any kind of public service. So, he has no more f*cks to give, and is telling the truth about a lot of things.
Besides, he's my Pittsburgh homeboy.

[Ocelot II]

7. Their Taliban drive Toyota pickups; ours drive Fords.

Otherwise there's not much difference.

[louslobbs]

8. trumps republican taliban. The trucks, the flags,

the religion, the guns, the threats and the violence. The thing is, they really don’t see themselves as the fanatical terrorists that they are. Most of them have no real belief in the religion they claim to follow. They simply use religion as a means to their authoritarian end. To me, that photograph really says it all. This is who they are folks, we better believe them when they show us.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. Great idea

Except they've probably never been in a real fire fight.

[GoodRaisin]

10. That's what they are. nt

[Paladin]

11. Perfect description. Make plans to use it, loud and often. (nt)

[luv2fly]

12. Unfortunately I think they will like it (n/t)

[LessAspin]

16. Enemy of the State

Good for Hayden.

Interesting tidbit about Hayden and the movie 'Enemy of the State'

An episode of PBS' Nova titled "Spy Factory" reported that the film's portrayal of the NSA's capabilities was fiction: although the agency can intercept transmissions, connecting the dots is difficult.

However, in 2001, the then-NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden, who was appointed to the position during the release of the film, told CNN's Kyra Phillips that "I made the judgment that we couldn't survive with the popular impression of this agency being formed by the last Will Smith movie."

James Risen wrote in his 2006 book State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration that Hayden "was appalled" by the film's depiction of the NSA, and sought to counter it with a PR campaign on behalf of the agency...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_State_(film)

Turns out the movie might have helped the agency..

In June 2013, the NSA's PRISM and Boundless Informant programs for domestic and international surveillance were uncovered by The Guardian and The Washington Post as the result of information provided by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. This information revealed capabilities such as collection of Internet browsing, e-mail and telephone data of not only many Americans, but citizens of other nations as well.

The Guardian's John Patterson argued that Hollywood depictions of NSA surveillance, including Enemy of the State and Echelon Conspiracy, had "softened" up the American public to "the notion that our spending habits, our location, our every movement and conversation, are visible to others whose motives we cannot know"...