So Much To Blog About Yet So Little Time - Zooming, OLÉ, Winter, Justice, Dark Banners, Anchorage International Film Festival, Elitism

 I try not to blog about sensitive stuff quickly.  I want to get it as right as I can.  And now is a time when so many things are happening that most of the media (let alone a single blogger) has trouble focusing on any one enough to get to the root of the many particular problems.  

Zooming

Yesterday I was zooming from morning to night.  Probably the best as as a visiting grandfather resource in my granddaughter's class in the Seattle area.  I got to listen to two second graders read.  They did really well.  Then I had three Olé classes, Thomas Merton, Refugee Resettlement, and Alaska Trees and Shrubs. The last of the four class fall semester.  The last class is Friday's Alaska Native Perspectives.  All the classes have got my head buzzing with ideas.  Then my San Francisco grandkids via Jitsi, my son's preferred video conferencing program.  

I also wanted to give you a look at how incredibly beautiful Anchorage is during a cold spell when all the trees are encrusted white and the sun glows on them.  But suddenly the bluetooth connection between my phone and my laptop has failed.  I have to figure out how I moved photos before I used the Blue Tooth.  

Government At Cross Purposes

The LA Times reports this morning on the dropping of drug trafficking charges of the former Mexican defense chief. 

"The U.S. government moved Tuesday to drop drug trafficking and money-laundering charges against a former Mexican defense secretary, a stunning turnaround in a case that had deeply angered Mexican authorities."

Which makes me think about the last few days' readings in Black Banners.  He writes about how the US government agencies work at cross purposes.  One part doing one thing and then having another part of the government take it away.  His example looks at how the FBI and CIA were at cross purposes in interrogating al-Qaeda detainees.   Ali Soufan, the author is a Lebanese born, native Arabic speaking, who grew up in the US and became an FBI interrogator.  He writes about clashes between seasoned FBI interrogators and a new set of CIA contractors over how to interrogate al-Qaeda detainees.   Soufan's group, which has been tracking al-Qaeda since 1998 or so, believes in 

• developing a relationship with the suspects  
• through convincing the suspects they know all about them so there's no benefit in lying  
• treating the suspects decently which confounds the counter-interrogation prep al-Qaeda gave them
• and they open up and tell the interrogaters lots of valuable information

They've already had great successes with this methods following the USS Cole bombing in Yemen where they've gathered huge files of data on various al-Qaede members and allies along with locations of training camps and networks, and communication, funding, and training methods.  They use all this along with documents  they've captured in raids of al-Qaede safe-houses and hotel rooms.  In Soufan's telling, it doesn't take long to turn the al-Qaede members and allies, once they realize how much the FBI already knows about them and the FBI demonstrates they aren't the weak, stupid, and brutal Americans al-Qaeda has portrayed them as.  As I read this, it's clear that Soufan's Arabic fluency and his good people sense play a large role in their success.  [Here's a link to a Foreign Policy article that counters the campaign against Soufan when the original very redacted book came out in 2011.  The copy I'm reading is much expanded as lots of the material has since been declassified.  I was able to read most of the Foreign Policy  article before the paywall went up.]

But after 9/11 the CIA, which didn't have interrogation specialists, hires a guy Soufan calls Boris, to coordinate the CIA's interrogation.  They're in a black site in an unnamed country (some things are still classified, though he mentions a cobra in the bathroom which means it could easily be Thailand and the black site link says Abu Zubaydah was interrogated there.)  Boris is a psychology professor who is pushing harsh interrogation methods - what is to become known as Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT).  But the CIA at first didn't believe that the captive was in fact Abu Zubaydah, "America's first high-level detainee since 9/11."  So they didn't send anyone to interrogate him, even though Soufan had been told the CIA was in charge.  So this meant Soufan and his partner had about ten days to work with Abu Zubaydah on their own.  And they gained lots of information which was sent back to DC.  So the CIA got interested and Boris arrived.  He was now going to take over by stripping Abu Zubaydah naked, playing loud rock music 24/7, and depriving him of sleep for 24 hours, which would get him to talk instantly.  But they got no information from him in ten days.  Soufan writes, that the CIA interrogator would go in and ask Abu Zubaydah to tell him what he knew.  Abu Zubaydah would then say, "What do you want to know?" and the CIA guy would walk out.  In contrast, Soufan would ask Abu Zubaydah very specific questions that Soufan knew the answers to, and if AZ lied, Soufan would present evidence that he was lying.  In one example, he asks him if he knows the person in a picture.  Abu Zubaydah says no.  Soufan then plays an audio tape of Abu Zubaydad talking to the person.)  After a week of no information, Soufan is allowed to interrogate again and gets lots more information.

But the CIA are in charge and they have bought into EIT as their interrogation method.  And, I guess, if you don't know anything about the person you're interrogating and you don't speak Arabic, torture is an easier approach.  But Soufan argues in the book, that replacing the FBI's technique with EIT meant the loss of valuable information and as the book's subtitle says, this is "How Torture Derailed the War on Terror after 9/11."

So, how, you're asking, is the related to the headline about dropping the Mexican drug charges?  Well, it appears that the Bush administration wanted certain information from the interrogations that Soufan wasn't getting.  Like, proof that Iraq and al-Qaeda were working together.  Like proof of WMD's (I guess there might be readers who need me to spell that out - Weapons of Mass Destruction.)  Soufan says he didn't get that information because it wasn't true.  But the CIA got those confessions, according to Soufan, who also quotes a Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility Report to support his personal experience, to detainees telling the CIA interrogators what they wanted to hear to stop the torture.  

So I'm guessing this Mexican case dismissal is due to funding between different departments that have different objectives, just as Soufan so high-value detainees snatched away from him because the intelligence he was getting didn't match the administration's agenda.  One part of the US is working hard to prosecute this drug trafficker and another part has interests that they believe will be harmed by pursuing this case.  And one day, an Ali Soufan of this case, will write a book telling the story.  

Getting Oliver and Jacob to Agree

A recent post  seems to have accomplished something that hasn't happened before - regular commenters Jacob and Oliver are in agreement that I'm being elitist because I mentioned that only 34% of the US adult population has a bachelors degree.  So I need to clarify that too.  

Individualism vs. Communalism and US Culture

And I'm also thinking about one of the characteristics of "United States culture" is a form of extreme individualism.  This issue came up in the Alaska Native Perspectives class where we also agreed in the that American refers to people in North, Central, and South America, not just the US.  That's wording I try to use here on the blog anyway, though sometimes American slips through.   I think it's part of the complex explanation of Trump's appeal and of the anti mask wearing nonsense,  as well as the inability of people to understand how White Privilege works.  

Anchorage International Film Festival

AND this morning pass holders for the Anchorage International Film Festival were invited to a Zoom orientation on how the virtual conference will work and a little tour of the website.  The Festival starts in a couple of weeks - December 4.  The virtual festival will have some distinct benefits over the in person festival:

1. you can watch the films whenever you want during the 9 days of the festival and as often as you want
2. you don't have to be in Anchorage to participate
3. there will be more sessions with film makers because they don't have to travel to Anchorage

So I'd urge Alaskans all over the state to consider getting a festival pass ($100) which allows you unlimited viewing of all the films and filmmaker events  OR pick out a few films you want to watch and buy individual film passes for $10 each.  There are a total of 111 films.  That includes shorts.  I think that for shorts a single $10 pass will get you to a shorts program which is a collection of shorts.  

In any case, people in Alaska outside of Anchorage who normally can't get to the festival,  and in the US, I urge you to check out the festival.  I asked festival co-director John Gamache this morning if anyone anywhere can get pass and he said yes.  There will be no restrictions for US viewers, and few restrictions for overseas viewers.  He did mention that one of the filmmakers was blocking showing of the film in the home country.  And I'd mention for my Canadian readers, that the country of Canada is a sponsor of the festival this year and there are eight Canadian feature films.  Here's the link:

Anchorage International Film Festival 2020

This opens to the main page with a link to buy passes.  But on top is a link to see the films that are showing if you want to check that out first.

John also said he'd put in "COUNTRY" as one of the searchable categories for people who might be interested in films in a particular language.  I'll try to post on what countries have films in the festival when that feature gets added.  

So all this, plus updating my daily COVID page, gets between what I'm thinking about and those thoughts turning into blog posts.