When director of national intelligence Dennis Blair, defending the CIA's not informing Congress of an anti-al Qaeda assassination program, told The Washington Post, "It was a judgment call" and that "we believe in erring on the side of working with the Hill as a partner," was he creating a new precedent for the intelligence community? For decades, the CIA and other intelligence agencies have often taken the less-said-the-better road when it comes to keeping Congress posted on its doings.This hasn't always been an ideological or partisan matter. Washington geezers should recall that back in the 1980s, Senator Barry Goldwater, the die-hard conservative Republican chair of the Senate intelligence committee, often decried Bill Casey, Ronald Reagan's CIA chief, for not being forthcoming with the committee.
So when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the CIA has lied to her or when it turns out that an assassination program--operational or not--has not been briefed to Congress, it really ought not to be a big surprise. There are plenty of hard-working, diligent folks at the CIA,and I imagine some might have argued that the assassination program ought to have been shared with the agency's congressional overseers. Yet institutionally, the CIA has frequently been more tight-lipped than it should have--which is, of course, a natural tendency for spies and covert operators.
And when you throw into the mix Dick Cheney, who reportedly urged that this program be kept secret from Capitol Hill, the inclination to keep legislators out of the loop probably increases by a factor of 10--or 100.
There's still a lot not known about this kill-al-Qaeda program, as Slate points out. But that Post article reports that it was dormant but about to be reactivated. Thus, it was brought to CIA director Leon Panetta's attention--but months after he had taken the job. He then quickly notified Congress that Congress had never been notified about it. And since then, the rest of us have been left to puzzle over what really went on with this project.
Which brings me to this point: it would not be too hard for a congressional intelligence committee to mount a quick probe to determine what did happen and to produce a report safe for public consumption. WIthout disclosing all the details of the program--some of which might have to remain classified--the House or Senate intelligence panel certainly could tell the public what Cheney's role was in keeping the program from Congress and examine whether the CIA violated any laws (or just good Washington manners) by doing so.
This dust-up has generated a lot of smoke this past week. The public deserves some light. Will Congress deliver?
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Comments
Can or Should? They should. Can they? Sounds like they can.
Posted by: flan
| July 17, 2009 12:24 AM
Flan, good job on the video. Also, I agree with Capt about your smile. What I thought was a cool co-inky-dink was... I happen to be wearing a light brown t-shirt as well. haha
Posted by: Alan
| July 17, 2009 1:10 AM
Don't ya think exposing this stuff would do more harm than good.
The up side would be for the good of democracy and exposing the smuck Cheney and his pals for what they are..
The down side would be exposing the world to what kind of smucks ran the US the last 8 years.
I say treat the situation as if Cheney was your dumbass f'd up brother. Take him out back to beat some sense into him but only family needs to know about it.
Posted by: CJ Wrangler
| July 17, 2009 1:27 AM
Well, I disagree CJ. The world ALREADY knows what smuck busheney was. I think we should air ALL the dirty laundry, then convict and lock busheney up, to show the world we are still a country of laws and to show what will happen to whoever tries shyt like that again.
Posted by: Alan
| July 17, 2009 1:44 AM
Alan,
Don't get me wrong. I would love to see Mr. Cheney in a striped jumpsuit working a sledge hammer making big rocks into small ones at Leavensworth.
I just think there are still alot of those good 'ole boys that would step in line to aid him in his defense. Results being status quo, just a lot of hot air swirling around and no actions taken.
Posted by: CJ Wrangler
| July 17, 2009 2:42 AM
Stains From the Bush Era Won’t Fade
[...]
The peril is not in what Congress and the public already know about President George W. Bush’s clandestine plans, but in what we do not know. That Vice President Dick Cheney was deeply involved, and may have been behind the extraordinary level of secrecy applied to the program, deepens the dread.
In just the past few days, other lights have been blinking red.
Attorney General Eric Holder has been doggedly, and correctly, pursuing investigative leads in the use of torture against terrorism detainees. Holder may prosecute some who went beyond even the shockingly permissive and almost certainly illegal guidelines cooked up as justification by Bush administration lawyers.
Far too many in official Washington see prosecution as a political distraction, and an incendiary one. But this is itself a measure of how thoroughly our moral compass has been shattered. It is Holder’s duty to prosecute those who have broken the law. Political calculation, even one that helps the president who appointed him, should not be the decisive factor.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090715_reflection_no_longer_an_option/
Posted by: capt
| July 17, 2009 9:06 AM
We HAVE to bring this all out in the open. I believe that is the healthiest thing for our country. If we don't, people like Cheney and Bush- who will continue to get into office whether we like or not - and will continue to do these things.
We are better than this.
Posted by: flan
| July 17, 2009 11:30 AM
And thanks Alan - you know, my yearbook is full of people talking about my smile. Since I don't have a mirror in front of me at every moment - I don't see my smile - glad to know I still got it!
Ah, the power of a smile. It's amazing what it can do.
When I was a telemarketer, I would smile to put a happier tone in my voice - it worked and I always did well - inbound sales, not outbound - with the cross-sell and up-sell. I hated outbound sales - too much pressure.
I do the same thing when I speak. People will be much friendlier to you when you speak with a smile on your face.
Look into people's eyes and smile at them. Try it. Even strangers on the street when you pass them by. I do it in NYC - it freaks people out sometimes.
Posted by: flan
| July 17, 2009 11:36 AM
Alternative Health Tips: Smile Makes You Happy
If you have a serious face, you have to use 64 muscles on your lips. And if you smile, only 10 of your lips muscle is used. Small effort and you could take an advantage from that.
When you start smiling, your cheek will send messages to your brain. At the same time, happiness hormones spreads and it will stop the production of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenalin. Smile also triggers your immunity system which strengthen your body and produce antobody.
You don't have to worry if your smile is only to make others happy and not from your heart. The interesting fact is that your brain can't identify what kind of smile you've made. It means that a big smile is always a good one since happiness hormones will always be spreaded. What is the easiest thing to start a smile? You can try this tip.
Try to look at your face in your mirror for a couple seconds. You will smile or even laugh after a while, laughing at yourself. By then, you should feel the happiness hormones spread out from your body.
So, what are you waiting for, try it and be happy.
http://health-weekly.blogspot.com/2007/07/smile-makes-you-happy.html
Posted by: capt
| July 17, 2009 12:07 PM
Wayne Madsen published a very damning investigative report on Cheney's extracurricular activities, and the 2 day hold has elapsed, so I am free to repost it. Don't want to overwhelm this board, but I would like David Corn to have this information. If you would like to verify, the website is www.waynemadsenreport.com, and there is an email address.
July 15, 2009 -- SPECIAL REPORT. Cheney secret team involved saboteurs as well as assassins
WMR has learned from U.S. and foreign intelligence sources that Dick Cheney's super-secret clandestine operations team, primarily made up of Department of Defense Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) personnel, in some cases worked closely with their Israeli commando counterparts to carry out sabotage against Iranian and Pakistani nuclear facilities, as well as assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists, other individuals who were knowledgeable about the role of Israelis in supplying nuclear materials to Pakistan and Iran, and commit terrorist attacks on civilian aircraft.
Although the CIA decided against working closely with the Cheney-directed JSOC team, agency officials were well-aware of its operations and special relationship with Mossad "Kidon" department, which is responsible for conducting assassinations and kidnappings. "Kidon" is the Hebrew word for bayonet.
During the time Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was in charge of the Pentagon, his neo-conservative subordinates, including Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, authorized the entrance into the Pentagon of top Israeli Defense Force and Mossad officers, including Kidon personnel, according to information obtained by WMR. There were no records maintained of the Israel visits or the identities of the visitors in what was described by Pentagon officials as a complete violation of Pentagon security procedures.
The operations of the JSOC-Mossad team were coordinated by the Office of Special Plans, a unit that operated as a CIA rival under the direction of Feith and other pro-Israeli elements within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, including Feith's deputy, William Luti, a close adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Gingrich recently called for stepped up U.S.-led sabotage against Iranian targets. The JSOC-Mossad team also utilized the services of the Iranian terrorist organization, the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department, to coordinate sabotage and assassinations inside Iran.
Because of the rift between the CIA under George Tenet and the Department of Defense under Rumsfeld and his neocon deputies, the CIA backed off the operation for two major reasons: the CIA did not trust the Mossad and Langley saw Cheney as a major threat to more legitimate CIA operations.
In February 2007, Radio Farda, a neocon contrivance operated under the aegis of the State Department, broadcast a news item that Dr. Ardeshire Hassanpour, 44, a nuclear scientist at Iran's uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan, died from "mysterious causes." Hassanpour died on January 18, 2007, and it is believed by many that the scientist was one of many "enemies" assassinated by the joint U.S.-Israeli assassination and sabotage team operating under the aegis of Cheney's office in the White House.
Cheney's team reportedly struck earlier, on December 23, 2002, when a Russian-built Antonov An-140 crashed into the side of a mountain in central Iran while on its final approach to Isfahan airport. Between 44 and 48 people aboard the aircraft were killed, including 6 Russians and a number of Ukrainian engineers. A woman and child were also on board. The plane was en route to Isfahan from Kharkiv after making a refueling stop in Turkey. Although press reports stated that on board the aircraft were Ukrainian and Russian engineers, the fact that the plane was heading to Isfahan, a major Iranian nuclear research and engineering site raised eyebrows at the time.
The Iranian newspaper, Jam-e-Jam, reported that Mossad agents operating in Turkey had sabotaged the aircraft while it was being refueled in Turkey.
In February 2002, Iran AirTour flight 956 a Tupolev Tu-154, crashed into the side of a mountain near Khorramabad, 270 miles southwest of Tehran, killing all 119 passengers and crew on board. Residents of a village near Khorramabad said they heard a "big explosion."
On January 9, 2006, a Falcon jet carrying 11 members of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) crashed Orumiyeh, capital of Iran's West Azerbaijan province. The ground commander for IRGC's forces, General Ahmed Kazemi, was one of the victims. The joint JSOC-Mossad team, operating from neighboring Azerbaijan, where the Mossad and CIA have major stations, is suspected of being behind the crash. WMR is aware that JSOC personnel, some ex-Delta Force contractors operating under journalistic cover, had already been in Iran to identify "soft targets" for assassinations and sabotage. These personnel allegedly reported directly to Colonel Steven Bucci, the personal military assistant to Rumsfeld at the Pentagon.
On February 19, 2003, another plane, a Russian-built Ilyushin-76, carrying elite IRGC soldiers crashed into a mountain in central Iran. The plane was transporting 302 members of the IRGC from Zahedan in southeastern Iran to Kerman, 500 miles southeast of Tehran.
On November 27, 2006, an Antonov-24 of the IRGC crashed at Meharabad International Airport in Tehran after its engines caught fire on take-off. 36 IRGC members and the crew died. The plane was en route to Shiraz on a "military mission."
On December 8, 2005, an Iranian C-130 military aircraft transporting a number of journalists from Meherabad Airport to Bandar Abbas crashed into a 10-story building after take-off from the airport. 108 passengers and crew were killed as well as 34 on the ground. The plane was attempting to make an emergency landing when it crashed. The Iranian journalists and photographers, 68 in total, were en route to Chabahar to cover a military exercise. The JSOC-Israeli team is also suspected of being behind the crash of the journalist plane.
On May 30, 2009, a bomb was found in board Kish Air flight Y9-7030 MD-82 with 131 passengers. The bomb on the plane, which was en route from Ahvaz, Khuzestan to Tehran, was successfully defused after the plane made an emergency landing. The bomb incident took place just prior to the Iranian presidential election.
And in what may represent a warning by the special U.S.-Israeli assassination and sabotage unit not to probe too deeply into its past clandestine work, a Caspian Airlines Tupolev-154 crashed today 75 miles northwest of Tehran after take-off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran en route to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Iran and Armenia maintain close relations. All 168 people on board the plane were killed. Caspian Airlines is an Iranian-Russian joint venture airline. An eyewitness is reported by the AP as saying the tail section of the plane burst into flames as it circled for a place to make an emergency landing prior to crashing near the city of Qazvin.
There are also suspicions that the JSOC-Israeli team, with the then-involvement of the CIA, was operational under Cheney's aegis prior to 9/11. On July 11, 2001, Ali Mahmudi Mimand, the "father of Iran's missiles," including the Shihab III medium range missile, was reportedly killed in a mysterious explosion at the Shahid Hemat Industrial Group, south of Tehran. Mimand was chief of Iran's secretive "Zelzal" missile development group. The JSOC-CIA-Mossad team is believed to have been behind the assassination of Mimand.
The JSOC-Mossad team is also strongly believed by some U.S. intelligence sources to have been behind the February 12, 2008, car bombing assassination of Hezbollah military commander Imad Mugniyeh in Damascus and the poisoning deaths of a number of targets, including Palestinian President Yasir Arafat who was reportedly blood poisoned at his headquarters in Ramallah on the West Bank.
Poisoning with a later conclusion of "death by natural causes" was a favorite method employed by the JSOC-Mossad team. Their fingerprints are suspected in the May 11, 2007, poisoning of Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Almaz Atambayev when he declared in the same month that the U.S. airbase at Manas could not be used in any attacks on Iran. The poison team may have also been behind the sudden death in December 2006 of Turkmenistan's dictator Saparmurat Niyazov or "Turkmenbashi." Niyazov maintained a position of strict neutrality and forbid the U.S. from using Turkmenistan territory for military operations in Afghanistan or the use of Turkmen airspace in operations against Iran. Fast cancer agents, courtesy of the JSOC-Mossad team, also reportedly took the life of Tajikistan's Islamic opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri who died from cancer on August 7, 2006 at 59. Nuri favored establishing an Islamic state in Tajikistan and was seen as close to Iran.
WMR previously reported that the JSOC team carried out the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in Rawalapindi on December 27, 2007.
The Cheney joint Pentagon-Israeli team goes to the heart of covert activities conducted by the Bush-Cheney administration. The Obama administration has shown every indication of protecting Cheney and other top Bush administration officials from scrutiny. Obama recently extended Cheney's Secret Service protection by six months, an indication that the White House is concerned that international arrest warrants for homicide may soon be issued against the former Vice President.
Posted by: Styve
| July 17, 2009 3:26 PM
Larry Summers cites Google search as progress
Larry Summers says the number of people searching for the term ?economic depression? on Google is down to normal levels and that this shift shows consumer confidence is higher.
POLITICO 44
Of all the statistics pouring into the White House every day, top economic adviser Larry Summers highlighted one Friday to make his case that the economic free-fall has ended.
The number of people searching for the term “economic depression” on Google is down to normal levels, Summers said.
Searches for the term were up four-fold when the recession deepened in the earlier part of the year, and the recent shift goes to show consumer confidence is higher, Summers told the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
~~~~~~~~~
Boy, I sure better that Barry has this guy in charge of the economy....
Posted by: freddie
| July 17, 2009 7:59 PM
Schakowsky: CIA Investigation Will Go Deeper Than Cheney's Program
[...]
The investigation will go beyond the program Schakowsky refers to, about which Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly ordered the CIA not to inform Congress.
"The investigation is going to focus, in the full committee, on the business of proper notification of the committee -- not just of this particular program but of so many others where the Congress has not been adequately notified," said Schakowsky. "We want to answer questions about what was the process for deciding to begin this program, what was the exact nature of it, how far did it get in terms of implementation, how'd it change over the eight years of the program, who was involved within the intelligence community and outside the intelligence community, that kind of very important information."
The subcommittee will also looking into the "Peruvian shoot-down in 2001," Schakowsky said. "This is a case where the CIA actually lied to the committee," she said, referring to the mistaken shooting down of a plane carrying missionaries. The CIA thought it was a drug plane -- and told the Peruvian Air Force as much. Ranking committee Republican Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) has long been a critic of CIA behavior in that incident and has called on its report to be declassified.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/17/schakowsky-cia-investigat_n_238364.html
******
They will investigate then issue a strongly worded report or letter. Possibly a new rule or two to really require oversight - this time - really for sure.
UGH!
Posted by: capt
| July 17, 2009 8:04 PM
Video: Palin-Attended Church Event Featured Samurai Sword Ceremony
Amidst Militant Rhetoric, 3-Year Graduates Trained in "Prophecy" Get Swords
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/politics/141391/video%3A_palin-attended_church_event_featured_samurai_sword_ceremony/
Posted by: capt
| July 17, 2009 11:36 PM
What Walter Cronkite, Dead at 92, Did for Journalism
The end of an era.
Posted by: capt
| July 17, 2009 11:46 PM
Has anything leaked on why Sara Palin quit as governer? My thoughts are that someone has the goods on her and she was forced out.
I'm just saying.... just thought I'd throw that out there.
Posted by: CJ Wrangler
| July 18, 2009 12:16 AM
Mysterious Blob Off The Coast Of Alaska Identified As Algae (And The Rest Of Your Scritti Politti)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/17/mysterious-blob-off-the-c_n_238599.html
*******
Maybe Sarahcudda and TAWD were running from the blob?
Posted by: capt
| July 18, 2009 9:27 AM
NBC's Gregory to Sanford's Office: "Meet The Press Allows You To Frame The Conversation As You Really Want"
The Charleston Post and Courier has posted online (pdf) all 570 pages of emails obtained from the office of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.
There's a bevy of information in there, but one exchange that jumped out at us was the one between Sanford's press secretary, Joel Sawyer (who just today announced he's quitting -- good for him!) and David Gregory, the host of NBC's Meet the Press. In courting Sanford's office, Gregory wrote that "coming on Meet The Press allows you to frame the conversation as you really want to."
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/nbcs_gregory_to_sanfords_office_meet_the_press_all.php
******
If anyone can "frame" the conversation on MTP "as they want to" - such an honest admission should be the end of MTP.
Posted by: capt
| July 18, 2009 9:56 AM
More Signs of An Economic Bottom
The economic news this week added further evidence to the story that the economy is bottoming. While we are not out of the woods yet (by a long shot) the worst is behind us.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/7/18/754878/-More-Signs-of-An-Economic-Bottom-
*******
Some very easy to read charts and whatnot.
Posted by: capt
| July 18, 2009 10:29 AM
U.S. Weighs Special Team of Terrorism Interrogators
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is considering overhauling the way terror suspects are interrogated by creating a small team of professionals drawn from across the government, according to people familiar with a proposal that will be submitted to the White House.
The new unit, comprising members of spy services and law-enforcement agencies, would be used for so-called high-value detainees, they said. In a switch from Bush-era efforts, it wouldn't be run by the Central Intelligence Agency, though who might be in charge isn't specified.
One of the team's tasks would likely be to devise a new set of interrogation methods, according to one person familiar with the proposal. Those techniques could be drawn from sources ranging from scientific studies to the psychology behind television ads.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124787391051060705.html
*******
We can do far better than torture. We are better and smarter than that.
Posted by: capt
| July 18, 2009 10:33 AM
President Barack Obama: Don't bet against me on health care
[...]
“That is why those who are betting against this happening this year are badly mistaken," Obama said. "We are going to get this done. We will reform health care. It will happen this year. I’m absolutely convinced of that.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25091.html
******
I'm not a gambler but I wouldn't bet against Barack. So far he seems effective when he wants to be.
Posted by: capt
| July 18, 2009 1:23 PM
Staffing the Government in Record Time
Though it's often seemed like a slow process, CQ Politics notes President Obama is on his way to setting a modern record for the speed at which his initial nominees for top agency posts are winning confirmation by the Senate, outpacing every other president going back at least to Ronald Reagan.
http://politicalwire.com/
Posted by: capt
| July 19, 2009 11:44 AM
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