The Enemy is Us

Officials are scrambling to come up with a response to revelations that several U.S. senators, including John McCain, and a few congressmen, were subjected to specialized "psychological operations" manipulation tactics by Army “psy-ops” officers in an effort to persuade the lawmakers to increase the number of soldiers, and funding for the Afghan war. Admiral Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was also a target of the clandestine operation. (msnbc.com)

One officer, who balked when ordered to conduct the scheme, was reportedly severely reprimanded by his superior officers. "My job in psy-ops is to play with people's heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave," he’s quoted as saying. "I'm prohibited from doing that to our own people… When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you're crossing a line."

Using such tactics on U.S. citizens is (theoretically) against regulations and not to be done under any circumstances.

Serves these politicians right, doesn’t it? After all, they’re the ones who trained and set the goons loose in the first place, and now they’ve apparently gone right around full circle on their masters. Not to worry, though. Our brave politicians get the same tactics from lobbyists and special interest groups all the time. As long as there is some quid pro quo, I’m sure they can handle a few attempts at manipulation; something they too use every chance they get.

Politicians and “psy-ops” professionals are all trained to work against the enemy, and the enemy turns out to be us.