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The hunting of the snark.

Article Excerpt
AMERICA'S SECRET WAR: INSIDE THE HIDDEN WORLDWIDE STRUGGLE BETWEEN AMERICA AND ITS ENEMIES By George Friedman Doubleday, 341 pages, $25.95

The truth may indeed set us free, but if there is one lesson to be learned from reading George Friedman's America's Secret War: Inside the Hidden Worldwide Struggle Between America and Its Enemies, it's that truth is a snark glimpsed vaguely just as it disappears into a misty glade.

And those who claim to have photographed the mythical beast had better provide more than their own word in support of the claim.

George Friedman is founder of Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting), a private intelligence organization. Friedman "leads a team of analysts with an unparalleled record for accuracy and clarity in its forecasts. With its own proprietary network of on-the-ground sources around the world, Stratfor has been called 'a private quasi-CIA' by Barren's, and cited by the mainstream media for its uncanny accuracy and ability to uncover the globe's best-kept secrets and predict world-changing events in ways that no one else can" (www.stratfor.com).

That's a pretty heady claim, and it raises serious questions. As the old joke concludes, calling a lamb's tail a leg doesn't give a lamb five legs, and being cited by mainstream media for "uncanny accuracy" doesn't make the claim credible. In fact, in a world of managed perception, subtle propaganda and effective disinformation, one expects documentation when someone claims to...