It's a constant source of amazement to me that, given the Bush government's record of cack-handed incompetence in every other aspect, people assume that if the administration sets up a secret service (Department of Homeland Security etc) it's going to be efficient. It isn't. Nothing is efficient when run by half-wits. Yes, even fanatical ones.

Besides, the CIA have always been shite. They failed to foresee the building of the Berlin Wall, they failed to foresee the Tet offensive of 68 in Vietnam, they failed to foresee the collapse of the Soviet Union when it was patently obvious to the meanest intellect that it was going to happen from the mid-80s onward, and finally they failed to foresee the fall of the Berlin Wall. They've supported politically expedient loons time and again, only to belatedly realise that they're fruitcakes and then have 'taken action' by bombing the bejeezus out of the poor sods they've helped these scumbags subjugate. The only reason any Secret Service is secret is because if it weren't, taxpayers would ask awkward questions.

Not a clearly thought-out foreign policy, I admit, but it's been a long day and I needed to vent some spleen on this before I go to bed!