This will be a short diary. I was just reading the final essay in the latest issue of TIME magazine. I somewhat liked the point of the essay, despite it's fear-mongering. The point was that listening to people, especially muslims, is a better way of gathering intelligence than "legally problematic surveillance techniques". But there were parts I found pretty racist.
The first was just kind-of weird.
Imagine: a Muslim man sitting across from a British intelligence official at a cafe, off hours. They have little in common. Some would say they are natural opponents.
What?? A Muslim man, who is a "Citizen from Britain's diverse Islamic community" and a British intelligence official are natural opponents? Who says this, Ron? Racists, perhaps?
But the next line was really disturbing. Suskind had just finished talking about how England had gotten the needed intelligence by talking to a Muslim citizen. Then he writes:
The U.S. intelligence community is in a poor position to replicate that. Concerned citizens in the Muslim world who are close enough to radicals to see or hear something pertinent seem less inclined than ever to sit down with an American.... It's their inaction- on a vast scale- that'll kill us.
Taken in context, this suggests that a Muslim citizen of the US is somehow not an American. Does American mean "white" or Christian nowadays?
Damn Muslim citizens. It's their inaction on a vast scale that'll kill us true Americans.