A System in Crisis and
the Threat of Phoenix-style Counterinsurgency
By 2006 PNAC/Neo-Conservative project had been discredited.
Clearly their grasp of geopolitics and its doctrinal application in terms of
Rumsfeld's military doctrine had failed. As Wesley Clark famously revealed they
had planned regime change operations in numerous countries but Iraq had become
something of an albatross.
This is not to say that the 'war' wasn't continuing in
earnest in not only Afghanistan and Iraq, but certainly the US agenda had
destabilised the entire region as would soon be made clear.
But in terms of overt, openly declared White Paper-style
doctrine, the Neo-Conservative project appeared to be at an end.
And yet clearly it wasn't. Some elements were put on pause,
some were peeled off and faded away and yet in many ways the project continued
on even if after 2006 it was reduced to running in the background.
The anti-Bush movement that arose in 2006 led to the election
of Obama just two years later. While Obama preached change and reform, he
instead allowed things to continue but with a more humane face. Some reforms
were attempted and failed, others were disingenuous.
With the advent of Obama, what I have referred to as the
Mainline or perhaps Globalist Establishment seemed to re-assert control and yet
that probably doesn't tell the whole story.
The truth is that Obama came into office in the midst of a
crisis, one which produced a great deal of chaos. This combined with fierce
political gridlock meant that Deep State elements within the Pentagon and CIA
were allowed to continue almost unchecked. Eventually it would seem Obama in
his impotence and frustration in terms of the Congress seemed to embrace their
agendas, escalated the Afghan conflict, unleashed the Drone War and expanded
the powers of the surveillance state.
Some have argued Secretary of State Clinton representing
certain actors within the Deep State pursued her own agenda which was often
hidden from or even contrary to Obama's will. This is unclear but not
impossible.
Obama in many ways continued the Neo-Conservative project
with regard to geopolitics but reformed and reframed it in terms of
multilateralism. In terms of Deep State controls over the domestic population
Obama expanded the powers of the intelligence agencies.
The motivations and fears of the Deep State with regard to
the rise in Internet technology, alternative media, social media, hacking and
mobile phones were ratified by Obama's measures.
Obama clearly moved to not only 'save' Wall Street but in
many ways handed them the keys to the kingdom... as if they didn't in many ways
already possess them. Maybe we could say he gave them the keys to the back door
as well as the deed itself. Betraying his base and without their knowledge he
created conditions within the market and regulatory environment that allowed
wealth to concentrate at levels never before seen. In many ways he embraced a
platform that was not only the opposite of his electoral campaign but it could
be argued that in certain aspects he out-Bushed George Bush.
As has become increasingly clear, from venture capitalists,
to Fortune 500 companies to Silicon Valley, America's corporate empires have
merged with the Deep State. This is done sometimes willingly, sometimes through
profit-generating negotiation and in other cases through compulsion. The CIA
and Pentagon are closely wedded to Wall Street. They have each other's backs as
it were and represent the same forces. This has been true for decades but the
reality came together like never before during the various crises of the late
Bush and early Obama years.
And yet the Deep State can also be said to have splintered
throughout these various arrangements. So much money and in some cases
conflicting interests have contributed to the factionalisation of the movement.
The Establishment wing effectively appropriated the radical
Deep State's mechanisms. What was once the province of the radical Rollback
faction has now been embraced by factions associated with the Mainline.
Assassination and the surveillance state once Deep State activities were now
open and institutional. The off-books, secret or 'deep' agenda had to go
deeper. The hypocritical betrayal perpetrated by Barack Obama with regard to
the American Left cannot be overstated.
Bush's split in the intelligence bureaucracy and the
fragmentation generated at the CIA permitted the rise of Joint Special
Operations Command (JSOC) as well as the proliferation of private security and
intelligence contractors. JSOC was hardly new but under Bush it entered a
golden age. Hand in hand with private contractors the Praetorian forces at the
Executive's disposal became ever more powerful and at the same time clandestine.
The relationships and interests they represented became even more complex. In
some ways it could be argued that certain aspects of the Corporate State such
as defense contractors, manufacturers of weapons systems and hi-tech
surveillance technology were now postured somewhat differently than the
interests focused on finance and trade. These lines are pretty blurry as there
are overlapping interests and once again the categories are by no means
mutually exclusive. But clearly there were and are occasions where their
interests seem to clash. There have always been these episodes but the
developments under Bush amplified them considerably and created hard feelings
and a sense of enmity.
The ensuing bureaucratic battles between the Director of
National Intelligence (DNI), Central Intelligence (CIA), the Pentagon, State
Department and other privatised interests led to not only fragmentation but
conflict. In recent years there have been episodes of the various groups
actually working at cross purposes in the field and in the realm of proxy wars,
such as in Syria.
Eric Prince set himself up as a third incarnation of Will
Bill Donovan or perhaps William Casey 2.0, a reformer and innovator, one who
would re-cast the nature of US intelligence operations. The growth and focus on
JSOC allowed the president to command his own paramilitary force that was far
more robust and resourced then previous CIA manifestations which usually relied
on proxy forces. Now the White House could strike and wage war and not even have
to worry about Congressional oversight. The Unitary Executive, the Imperial
Presidency had been reborn beyond any previous expectation.
Many believe Prince fell out of favour during the Obama years
and suffered something of an exile. While plausible when considering the
external evidence I have never fully accepted that narrative. If anything he's
gone deep, or perhaps went deep for a few years, reorganised his Blackwater
project and developed new areas of expertise. To some he's gone rogue, working
for China and other dubious regimes. I don't believe it for a moment. It's a
convenient narrative that has allowed him to set-up shop in parts of the world
that are now the focus of US actions. Prince has been gathering intelligence
and setting up networks. His rogue episode I consider as something akin to
playing a privatised version of double agent.
Now with the Trump administration in power, Prince has
returned to the forefront, even though he still occupies an unofficial
position. He's made his goal clear, a return to the Phoenix Program, a
comprehensive strategy of assassination, torture, clandestine activity, black
sites etc... If you understand the work of authors such as Doug Valentine
you'll grasp that Phoenix represented a turning point within the Deep State. It
spawned not only modern concepts of counter-insurgency but even large-scale
programmes such as Condor in South America.
Phoenix, the codename for the operation in Vietnam is usually
associated with assassination. That was part of it to be sure, but in reality
it was a comprehensive plan to militarise society, media, journalism and even
thought. This is total war applied in terms of sociology. This is state terror
through intimidation. This thinking continues to dominate the Deep State and
it's clear that since 9/11 a very significant goal has been to turn this
apparatus previously applied to Indochina and parts of Latin America...onto the
American public itself.
The media and corporate worlds are clearly either
collaborating or at the very least are compliant.
Fueled by the visions of Rumsfeld, McChrystal and men like
Prince, Boykin and even CIA figures like James Woolsey, the Joint Special
Operations Command (JSOC) is being utilised in part as a counter to the
weakness produced by the creation of the DNI and instead provides the Executive
Branch with an augmented paramilitary capacity. This vision has been
incorporated within a larger militaristic posture with regard to foreign
policy. It is clearly this faction that has come into power with the advent of
Trump. If they're allowed, they will begin to turn the counter-insurgency
apparatus and the violence of JSOC on the American public in order to crush
opposition and solidify control.
Current formulations of counter-insurgency, its doctrinal
basis and framework have been dominated by figures such as general's
McChrystal, Petraeus and Mattis. This is a return to Phoenix-style operations,
a golden age reborn for the radical militarists within the Deep State. Prince
wants to expand this and in the capacity of a private contractor, implement it
within the United States. Starting with event security, disaster zones and
civil unrest, the comprehensive nature of the programme will eventually
infiltrate and permeate all aspects of life.
Private military contractors that could operate openly in
cooperation with the White House and National Security Council (NSC) under
Bush, became Deep State operatives under Obama. They never went away but their
agenda and certainly methodology faded into the background. The figures at the
forefront ran into difficulty (at times) with the Obama administration. And yet
at the same time when implemented within an institutional framework such as
JSOC, Obama had no problem at all.
Regardless of which hierarchy was calling the shots and which
figures had full control it's obvious the PNAC agenda continued. The
Neo-Conservative ideologues were forced into the background and some of their
leading operatives within government were reduced in standing and yet clearly
the agenda had support from other sectors.
Within Wall Street, the Pentagon, the CIA and even the State
Department the agenda (while modified) was able to persevere throughout the
Obama years. The Syrian uprising was fomented and supported in a regime-change
operation which as of this date has failed. The regime change/coups-d'état in
Libya and Ukraine were resounding successes. Yemen's regime was forced out but
is now preferred when faced with the Houthis who have come to power.
Nevertheless the breaking of Yemen serves Washington's purpose. A Yemen under
the Saudi boot is acceptable and though Washington has received some flak in
the media, it's been minimal.
The Obama and Establishment Deep State prefer to see a
greater focus on proxy war, drones, paramilitary operations, stepped up
surveillance and new technologies.
The radical wing of the Deep State would have preferred to
invade Syria and Yemen and establish clear control. They're not opposed to
utilising the other tools but they have a much more direct and ideologically
driven foreign policy.
The splintering of the Deep State which occurred in earnest
from 2006-2010 had reached a point of crisis by the second term of the Obama
administration. The stage was being set for a serious and potentially
destabilising conflict.
Continue reading part 5
Continue reading part 5