Weldon and Able Danger

* william arkin on Able Danger:

"The existence of a set of overlapping secret counter-terrorist organizations before 9/11 should punctuate the failures of the government and thus create an environment of deep skepticism today about the government's competence to pursue terrorists. What appears to be happening instead is the perpetuation of the myth that secret organizations -- properly managed and given free reign -- will protect us in the future."

and

"Shaffer suggests that. What's missing from his testimony and Cambone's is any substantiation that all of this secret, compartmented activity achieved anything useful, nor that it necessarily achieves anything useful today.

Cambone is not to be completely believed because he is the mouthpiece for a damaged administration and a Pentagon that is not above lying when it suits it. Shaffer can not be relied upon because he is a nut.

Yet Cambone and Shaffer share the same agenda. For these secret warriors, it is the lawyers and the bureaucrats and the strait-laced military officers and the human rights activists and the media who are the real problem: They should all just get out of the way and let the patriots do their job. Cambone, Shaffer, Weldon all tug on the heartstrings of those who want to believe that the government could have done something to prevent the attack. It is their ticket." (link)

I still haven't got my head around Able Danger - apart from the fact that Weldon is a nutter