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Month: September 2006

ABC Cuts and Runs, From Bill Clinton

Somehow I knew the suits at ABC would bend over for Bill Clinton. They’ve reportedly agreed to edit parts of the mini-series “The Path to 9/11”, due to air this weekend. Supposedly Bubba is offended by scenes that allegedly misrepresent actions taken (or not taken) by the ex-prez and members of his administration which could have prevented the September 11th terrorist attacks.

More from Hot Air | LA Times |

Secret Prisons No Longer Secret; CIA Pansies Cheer

The WaPo’s Dana Priest talks with CIA officials who are “relieved” that Bush told the nation about a covert prison system. The big reveal now leaves the U.S. with one less tool in our “war on terror” toolbox.

Sheesh. Where do I start with this?

Employees at CIA headquarters stood transfixed at television sets yesterday in a moment one senior official called “electric” as President Bush told the nation about the agency’s covert prison system — a program once considered so secret that even Bush did not know the details.

Electric? That would be a strange word to use to describe the mood of CIA officials who believe the U.S. is at war with the terrorists. But, when you’re talking about career CIA folks who have been at the agency a decade or more, you’re talking about Clinton era officials – namely left leaning folks who believe terrorism is a law enforcement matter. So, in this case, “electric” would mean happiness, glee, and satisfaction that a successful anti-terror program which saves lives has now been rendered completely useless. Dead. Kaput.

I bet they were clinking champagne glasses too.

“I know it’s going to make a lot of people sleep well at night,” one counterterrorism officer said of the disclosure. The feeling of relief by the very people carrying out the program was a striking indication of how deeply attitudes have changed within the government about the administration’s unorthodox counterterrorism tactics and the need to shroud them in secrecy.

“Sleep well at night…” Heh. Could it be more obvious? These prisons were used specifically to extract information from bad guys. Bad guys who want to kill Americans. Bad guys who know the time and place of the next round of mass murder. They certainly weren’t shoplifters. But NO! These appeasement pacifists in the CIA believe we’re safer now that so called “unorthodox counterterrorism tactics” can no longer be used against these poor, defenseless islamofacists. How screwed up is that?

“Finally the burden of this program will not rest only on the shoulders of the CIA,” said James Pavitt, who headed CIA covert operations when the program was put in place, with White House approval, after Sept. 11, 2001. “This was a tough world and we were asked to do some tough things,” he said, adding that such efforts were always within the law.

Ahem. “Was” a tough world? What? Now that we’re 5 years on from September 11th, and no new terrorist event has hit the U.S., the world has suddenly returned to those blissful years so loved by millions in the 1990’s? What a bunch of crap.

Although it was a recent Supreme Court ruling that forced the program into legal limbo and probably pushed the president into going public, the administration had begun debating whether to suspend the CIA’s so-called black sites at least a year ago. European allies as well as senior officials at the departments of State and Justice and the CIA, along with a handful of lawmakers, lobbied to abandon the program for something more transparent and with more legal protections of detainees.

If it wasn’t for the leakers in the CIA, this program would still be secret, but they had another agenda. They believed it was best to give away the most secret details surrounding these detention facilities. And who did they tell? European allies (like France?), Democratic lawmakers and RHINOS who were more than happy to race toward the cameras and tell the terrorist our secrets.

In the past year, the CIA has studied more closely the effectiveness of harsh interrogation techniques that it and other agencies have used and concluded that some of those were worth discarding. CIA officials have eliminated some of those techniques and, within the past two months, have begun to consult for the first time with the full Senate and House intelligence committees about creating a new list of techniques.

Why? What is the purpose of sharing secret details with those sieves who occupy seats on congressional intelligence committees? Especially when they’re filled with wimpy RHINOS and Bush hating Democrats?

“Although there is no one in CIA custody today, it’s our intent that the CIA detention program continue,” said a senior intelligence official. “It’s simply been too valuable in the war on terrorism to not allow it to move forward.”

The idea, said several administration officials, is to get Congress’s political buy-in to a program that is fraught with some of the most difficult questions facing the government: how a country steeped in the rule of law should treat suspected terrorists it believes have valuable information.

And therein lies the problem – we’re trying to fight terrorism with tools that must first gain political buy-in. In other words, we’re doomed.

That’s it…I can’t keep going with this. It’s driving me completely crazy. The article continues with a few more paragraphs, so if you feel suicidal, go read the rest.

God help us.

Sometimes I Hate Politics

Why? Because of stuff like this…

President Bush will announce that about a dozen top foreign terrorism suspects held at secret CIA prisons will be transferred to Department of Defense custody and granted protections under the Geneva Conventions, ABC News reported on Wednesday.

Quoting an unnamed source familiar with the president’s announcement, the network said the change would apply to all prisoners now being held by the CIA, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks and senior al Qaeda leader Ramzi Binalshibh.

The source said there are “about a dozen” prisoners now being held by the CIA.

Up to now, the U.S. government has not officially acknowledged the existence of the CIA prisons, which were revealed by the Washington Post last year, sparking international criticism of the Bush administration.

So, why this, why now? Could a pessimistic attitude about the result of November elections be guiding the President to move these prisoners now, rather than face a Democratic majority who has already indicated a willingness to grasp at straws in order to push impeachment proceedings?

Heck, it could be that and a million other reasons. It’s no longer possible to predict where and on what this administration and the GOP will compromise.

One thing is clear though. This move smells like fear of Tuesday, November 7th, 2006.

Pakistanis Smoke Crack, Green Light Bin Laden

The Pakistanis, our (ahem) ally, wimp out, give up, and stop hunting for Bin Laden. All he has to do is live a “peaceful life”.

Welcome to the Grand Appeasement, come on in and see what’s happ-nin, pay the price get your tickets for the show.

Osama bin Laden, America’s most wanted man, will not face capture in Pakistan if he agrees to lead a “peaceful life,” Pakistani officials tell ABC News.

The surprising announcement comes as Pakistani army officials announced they were pulling their troops out of the North Waziristan region as part of a “peace deal” with the Taliban.

If he is in Pakistan, bin Laden “would not be taken into custody,” Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan told ABC News in a telephone interview, “as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen.”

And that’s not all.

In addition to the pullout of Pakistani troops, the “peace agreement” between Pakistan and the Taliban also provides for the Pakistani army to return captured Taliban weapons and prisoners.

Nice.

Somehow, this just doesn’t add up. I agree with AJStrata:

It could mean Pakistan is giving up the hunt and we are losing an ally thanks to all the surrender talk from the left. Or, it could also mean Pakistan is gaining political cover for some future ‘event’.

Whatever it might mean, Bush needs to get Musharraf on the horn and get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.