Kudos for speaking up about it, understandably with a throwaway account - which unfortunately doesn't help prove what you say is in any way truthful. But you probably still work for them and enjoy a nice salary. So can't blame you at all there. But I do just wish more people would be willing to put their careers on the line to say the right thing. This is one of the underlying problems: when smart people go along with bad things, very bad things can and will happen - if on the contrary smart people speak out about bad things then those bad things will be less likely to unfold on a large scale as we see them happening so often in SV.
To your points though, I mean it is a great perspective and helps to illustrate a sliver of possibility of innocence here on Intel's part but it's a little weak given that the operation would have been compartmentalized and political objectives/partnerships therof obviously not part of the system's technical development.
Well, you're right salary is not justification for mistreating other people but I can at least sympathize with OP who has maybe rationalized going along with something shady because he himself was mistreated/deceived and perhaps wants to believe ME is not a tool for exploitation; for many 'ignorance is bliss' is a way of life that works for them so it is what it is.
To your points though, I mean it is a great perspective and helps to illustrate a sliver of possibility of innocence here on Intel's part but it's a little weak given that the operation would have been compartmentalized and political objectives/partnerships therof obviously not part of the system's technical development.