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9-11
Meta Index September 11 2001
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INTELLIGENCE News:
 Dick
Cheney -  Criminal
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Prisons
-  Law
-  Military
- Intelligence
-  Politics
-  Corporate
-  Media
-  US
-  Iraq
"If Bush and Cheney Commit War Crimes and Everyone Knows It, But Does Nothing, Are They Still Crimes?" ... "As Jon Ponder noted here on Tuesday, a bi-partisan U.S. [United States] Senate panel has found [PDF] that [Republican President] George W. Bush was responsible for approving War Crimes (torture and abuse) at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, [Republican Vice President] Dick Cheney admitted in a recent interview to helping to approve War Crimes (torture and abuse) in interrogations, and the corporate media --- with the lone exception of MSNBC --- have been virtually as silent on what may be the most offensive crimes ever committed by an Executive Branch in the U.S. as they were during the lead-up to and follow-through on the War on Iraq, when those same officials sent our nation into war on the basis of demonstrable lies." ... "George Washington University's highly-respected constitutional law professor Jonathon Turley, noting the War Crimes now known and admitted to by Bush and Cheney, asked Keith Olbermann Tuesday night, "If someone commits a crime and everyone's around to see it and does nothing, is it still a crime?"" ... "During the discussion, Turley mentioned --- no less than three different times --- that it'll be up to the citizens whether or not any action is actually taken to prosecute those who committed these crimes." ... ""It will ultimately depend on citizens, and whether they will remain silent in the face of a crime that's been committed in plain view," Turley suggested. "It is equally immoral to stand silent in the face of a war crime and do nothing, and that is what the citizens are doing."" ... "He went on to argue: "There's this gigantic yawn as we hear about a war crime on national television being discussed matter-of-factly by the Vice President."" -By Brad Friedman -BradBlog.com  WATCH
"Countdown: Jonathan Turley and Bush Admin War Crimes."
-Keith Olbermann via -FireDogLake'sYouTube
Dick
Cheney - Torture
- War
Crimes - Criminal
-  Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Military
- Prison
- Law
- US
- Guantanamo_Bay
-  Cuba
"Cheney was key in clearing CIA interrogation tactics: The vice president [Republican Dick Cheney] says that the use of waterboarding was appropriate and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should stay open until 'the end of the war on terror.'" ... "[Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he was directly involved in approving severe interrogation methods used by the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency], and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should remain open indefinitely." ... "Cheney's comments also mark the first time that he has acknowledged playing a central role in clearing the CIA's use of an array of controversial interrogation tactics, including a simulated drowning method known as waterboarding." ... ""I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared," Cheney said in an interview with ABC News." ... "Asked whether he still believes it was appropriate to use the waterboarding method on terrorism suspects, Cheney said: "I do."" ... "His comments come on the heels of disclosures by a Senate committee showing that high-level officials in the [Republican President] Bush administration were intimately involved in reviewing and approving interrogation methods that have since been explicitly outlawed and that have been condemned internationally as torture." -By Greg Miller -LAtimes
Torture
- Prisons
-War
Crimes - Secret
- Military
-  Government
- Intelligence
- Law
- Investigation
- Human
Rights - Politics
-  History
-  McCain
-  Ariz
-  Mich
- US
- Guantanamo
- Cuba
- Iraq
-  Afghanistan
-  China
-   Korea
"Bipartisan Report: Rumsfeld Responsible for Detainee Abuse: Senate Committee Finds Officials Made Decisions That Led to Offenses Against Prisoners." ... "A bipartisan panel of senators has concluded that [Republican President Bush's] former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top Bush administration officials bear direct responsibility for the harsh treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay [Cuba], and that their decisions led to more serious abuses in Iraq and elsewhere." ... "In the most comprehensive critique by Congress of the military's interrogation practices, the Senate Armed Services Committee issued a report yesterday that accuses Rumsfeld and his deputies of being the authors and chief promoters of harsh interrogation policies that disgraced the nation and undermined U.S. security. The report, released by Sens. [ Senators] Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.[ Democratic-Michigan]) and John McCain (R-Ariz.[ Republican Arizona]), contends that Pentagon officials later tried to create a false impression that the policies were unrelated to acts of detainee abuse committed by members of the military." ... ""The abuse of detainees in U.S. [United States] custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own," the report states. "The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees."" ... "The report is the most direct refutation to date of the administration's rationale for using aggressive interrogation tactics -- that inflicting humiliation and pain on detainees was legal and effective, and helped protect the country. The 25-member panel, without one dissent among the 12 Republican members, declared the opposite to be true." ... "The [Republican President Bush's] administration's policies and the resulting controversies, the panel concluded, "damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened the hand of our enemies, and compromised our moral authority."" ... "A Defense Department spokesman noted that the Pentagon cooperated extensively with the Senate investigation and has taken numerous steps in recent years to ensure the humane treatment of detainees." ... "The panel's investigation focused on the Defense Department's employment of controversial interrogation practices, including forced nudity, painful stress positions, sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures and the use of dogs. The practices, some of which had already been adopted by the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] at its secret prisons, were adapted for interrogations at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and later migrated to U.S. detention camps in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the infamous Abu Ghraib prison." ... "The true genesis of the decision to use coercive techniques, the report said, was a memo signed by [Republican] President Bush on [February] Feb. 7, 2002, declaring that the Geneva Convention's standards for humane treatment did not apply to captured al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. As early as that spring, the panel said, top administration officials, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, participated in meetings in which the use of coercive measures was discussed. The panel drew on a written statement by Rice, released earlier this year, to support that conclusion." ... "In July 2002, Rumseld's senior staff began compiling information about techniques used in military survival schools to simulate conditions that U.S. airmen might face if captured by an enemy that did not follow the Geneva conditions. Those techniques -- borrowed from a training program known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, or SERE -- included waterboarding, or simulated drowning, and were loosely based on methods adopted by Chinese communists to coerce propaganda confessions from captured U.S. soldiers during the Korean war." ... "The SERE program became the template for interrogation methods that were ultimately approved by Rumsfeld himself, the report says." -By Joby Warrick and Karen DeYoung -WashingtonPost [PDF] "Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry Into The Treatment of Detainees In U.S. Custody." ... “What sets us apart from our enemies in this fight… is how we behave. In everything we do, we must observe the standards and values that dictate that we treat noncombatants and detainees with dignity and respect. While we are warriors, we are also all human beings” -- General David Petraeus via -WashingtonPost
 Barack
Obama -  Michael
Mukasey - Secret
- Intelligence
- Politics
-  Spying
- Torture
- Prisons
"Obama Transition Team Pushing for Secret Legal Memos." ... "A senior Justice Department official said Tuesday that "99.8 percent" of the department's work with [Democratic] President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has gone smoothly. The 0.2 percent snag: The department has reservations about granting the team's request to review classified legal opinions related to secret CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] and National Security Agency programs." ... "In a roundtable discussion with reporters last week, [Republican President Bush's] Attorney General Michael Mukasey declined to discuss specific requests made by transition staff regarding opinions issued by the Office of Legal Counsel, the arm of the Justice Department that provides legal advice to the president and all other executive branch agencies." ... "The Justice official said the dispute over access to the NSA [National Security Agency] and CIA opinions has made its way up to Williams & Connolly's Gregory Craig, who earlier this month was named to be Obama's White House counsel. Craig was expected to meet with current [Republican President Bush's] White House counsel Fred Fielding to discuss the issue, the official said." ... "The opinions, some of which have been released to Congress in redacted form, contain the legal rationale of the NSA's warrantless spying program and the CIA's detention and interrogation policies, among other intelligence initiatives." -By Joe Palazzolo -LegalTimes.com via -Law.com
 Global
- Financial
- Crisis
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
-  Nuclear
- US
-  Pakistan
- China
- Afghanistan
-  Yemen
"Experts See Security Risks in Downturn: Global Financial Crisis May Fuel Instability and Weaken U.S. [United States] Defenses." ... "Intelligence officials are warning that the deepening global financial crisis could weaken fragile governments in the world's most dangerous areas and undermine the ability of the United States and its allies to respond to a new wave of security threats." ... "U.S. government officials and private analysts say the economic turmoil has heightened the short-term risk of a terrorist attack, as radical groups probe for weakening border protections and new gaps in defenses. A protracted financial crisis could threaten the survival of friendly regimes from Pakistan to the Middle East while forcing Western nations to cut spending on defense, intelligence and foreign aid, the sources said." ... "The crisis could also accelerate the shift to a more Asia-centric globe, as rising powers such as China gain more leverage over international financial institutions and greater influence in world capitals." ... "Some of the more troubling and immediate scenarios analysts are weighing involve nuclear-armed Pakistan, which already was being battered by inflation and unemployment before the global financial tsunami hit. Since September, Pakistan has seen its national currency devalued and its hard-currency reserves nearly wiped out." ... "Analysts also worry about the impact of plummeting crude prices on oil-dependent nations such as Yemen, which has a large population of unemployed youths and a history of support for militant Islamic groups." ... "Annual spending for U.S. intelligence operations currently totals $47.5 billion, a figure that does not include expensive satellites that fall under the Pentagon's budget." ... "U.S. officials are following developments with particular concern because of Pakistan's critical role in the campaign against terrorism, as well as the country's arsenal of dozens of nuclear weapons. Al-Qaeda has appealed directly to Pakistanis to overthrow their government, and its Taliban allies have launched multiple suicide bombings, some aimed at economic targets such as the posh Marriott hotel in Islamabad [Pakistan's capital], hit in September." ... "Economic and social unrest has helped drive recruiting for militant groups that cross into Afghanistan to attack U.S. troops." ... "China already was on track to surpass the United States as the world's largest economy, perhaps as early as 2030. Now, many experts believe the global recession could help it do so faster." (1, 2, 3) -By Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
Secret
- Military
- Law
- Politics
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
-  Virginia
- US
- World
-  Syria
- Pakistan
"Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda." ... "The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials." ... "These military raids, typically carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that [Republican President Bush's] Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the officials said. The secret order gave the military new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States." ... "In 2006, for example, a Navy Seal team raided a suspected militants’ compound in the Bajaur region of Pakistan, according to a former top official of the Central Intelligence Agency. Officials watched the entire mission — captured by the video camera of a remotely piloted Predator aircraft — in real time in the C.I.A.’s [Central Intelligence Agency] Counterterrorist Center at the agency’s headquarters in Virginia 7,000 miles away." ... "Some of the military missions have been conducted in close coordination with the C.I.A., according to senior American officials, who said that in others, like the Special Operations raid in Syria on Oct. 26 of this year, the military commandos acted in support of C.I.A.-directed operations." ... "According to a senior administration official, the new authority was spelled out in a classified document called “Al Qaeda Network Exord,” or execute order, that streamlined the approval process for the military to act outside officially declared war zones." ... "It was issued after the Bush administration had already granted America’s intelligence agencies sweeping power to secretly detain and interrogate terrorism suspects in overseas prisons and to conduct warrantless eavesdropping on telephone and electronic communications." (1, 2) -By Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti -NYTimes
 Sarah
Palin - Barack
Obama - 2008
Election - Rhetoric
- Politics
- Racist
- Federal
- Investigation
- Intelligence
"Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama: [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin's attacks on [2008 Election Democratic President-Elect] Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign." ... "The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers." ... "The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric." ... "But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further." ... "The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks." ... "Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"" ... "Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."" -By Tim Shipman -Telegraph.co.uk 
Chinese
- Hackers
- US
-Government
-  E-Mail
-  Network
- Military
-  Technology
- Intelligence
- Politics
"Chinese hack into White House network." ... "Chinese hackers have penetrated the White House computer network on multiple occasions, and obtained e-mails between government officials, a senior US [United States] official told the Financial Times." ... "On each occasion, the cyber attackers accessed the [Republican President Bush] White House computer system for brief periods, allowing them enough time to steal information before US computer experts patched the system." ... "US government cyber intelligence experts suspect the attacks were sponsored by the Chinese government because of their targeted nature. But they concede that it is extremely difficult to trace the exact source of an attack beyond a server in a particular country." ... "The official said the Chinese cyber attacks had the hallmarks of the “grain of sands” approach taken by Chinese intelligence, which involves obtaining and pouring through lots of - often low-level - information to find a few nuggets." ... "Some US defence companies have privately warned about attacks on their systems, which they believe are attempts to learn about future weapons systems." ... "The National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, a new unit established in 2007 to tackle cyber security, detected the attacks on the White House. But the official stressed that the hackers had only accessed the unclassified computer network, not the more secure classified network." ... "The US has increased efforts to tackle cyber security, particularly since Chinese hackers believed to be associated with the Peoples’ Liberation Army last year perpetrated a major attack on the Pentagon." ... "US military computer experts battled for weeks against a sustained attack that eventually overcame the Pentagon’s defences. The cyber attackers managed to obtain information and emails traffic from the unclassified computer system that supports Robert Gates, the defence secretary. Pentagon IT technicians were forced to take the network down for days to conduct repairs." -By Demetri Sevastopulo -FT.com
Secret
- US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Military
- Terrorism
- Politics
- McCain
- Obama
- 2008
Election
"New U.S. intelligence report warns 'victory' not certain in Iraq." ... "A nearly completed high-level U.S. [United States] intelligence analysis warns that unresolved ethnic and sectarian tensions in Iraq could unleash a new wave of violence, potentially reversing the major security and political gains achieved over the last year." ... "U.S. officials familiar with the new National Intelligence Estimate said they were unsure when the top-secret report would be completed and whether it would be published before the Nov. 4 presidential election." ... "More than a half-dozen officials spoke to McClatchy on condition of anonymity because NIE's, the most authoritative analyses produced by the U.S. intelligence community, are restricted to the president, his senior aides and members of Congress except in rare instances when just the key findings are made public." ... "The new NIE, which reflects the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, has significant implications for Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, whose differences over the Iraq war are a major issue in the presidential campaign." ... "The findings seem to cast doubts on McCain's frequent assertions that the United States is "on a path to victory" in Iraq by underscoring the deep uncertainties of the situation despite the 30,000-strong U.S. troop surge for which he was the leading congressional advocate." ... "But McCain could also use the findings to try to strengthen his argument for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq until conditions stabilize." ... "For Obama, the report raises questions about whether he could fulfill his pledge to withdraw most of the remaining 152,000 U.S. troops _ he would leave some there to deal with al Qaida and to protect U.S. diplomats and civilians _ within 16 months of taking office so that more U.S. forces could be sent to battle the growing Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan." ... "The findings of the intelligence estimate appear to be reflected in recent statements by Army [General] Gen. David Petraeus, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq, who has called the situation "fragile" and "reversible" and said he will never declare victory there." -By Jonathan S. Landay, Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef with contributions by Leila Fadel -McClatchyDC.com
McCain
- Terrorism
-Finance
- History
- Secret
- Government
- Intelligence
- Military
- Politics
-  Iran
-  Nicaragua
- Foreign
- Arizona
- US
-2008
Election
"McCain linked to private group in Iran-Contra case." ... "GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair." ... "The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America." ... "The council's founder, retired Army [Major General] Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career in Arizona." ... "Covert arms shipments to the rebels called Contras, financed in part by secret arms sales to Iran, became known as the Iran-Contra affair. They proved to be the undoing of Singlaub's council." ... "In 1987, the Internal Revenue Service withdrew the tax-exempt status of Singlaub's group because of its activities on behalf of the Contras." ... "Elected to the House in 1982 and at a time when he was on the board of Singlaub's council, McCain was among Republicans on Capitol Hill expressing support for the Contras, a CIA[Central Intelligence Agency]-organized guerrilla force in Central America. In 1984, Congress cut off CIA funds for the Contras." ... "Months before the cutoff, top [Republican President] Reagan administration officials ramped up a secret White House-directed supply network and put National Security Council aide Oliver North in charge of running it. The goal was to keep the Contras operational until Congress could be persuaded to resume CIA funding." ... "Singlaub's private group became the public cover for the White House operation." ... "Secretly, Singlaub worked with North in an effort to raise millions of dollars from foreign governments." -By Pete Yost -AP via -Yahoo
Secret
- Afghanistan
- US
- Military
- 2008
Election - Terrorism
- Politics
-  Dutch
-  Canadian
"'Grim' Afghanistan Report To Be Kept Secret by US." ... "US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the [2008] election, according to one US official familiar with the process." ... "According to people who have been briefed, the NIE will paint a "grim" picture of the situation in Afghanistan, seven years after the US invaded in an effort to dismantle the al Qaeda network and its Taliban protectors." ... "Seth Jones, an expert on Afghanistan at the Rand Corporation think tank, called the situation in Afghanistan "dire."" ... ""We are now at a tipping point, with about half of the country now penetrated by a range of Sunni militant groups including the Taliban and al Queida," Jones said. Jones said there is growing concern that Dutch and Canadian forces in Afghanistan would "call it quits."" ... ""The US military would then need six, eight, maybe ten brigades but we just don't have that many," Jones said." ... "Last week, Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress "we're running out of time" in Afghanistan. "I'm not convinced we're winning it in Afghanistan," Adm. Mullen testified." ... "Perhaps foreshadowing the NIE assessment on Afghanistan, Adm. Mullen told Congress, "absent a broader international and interagency approach to the problems there, it is my professional opinion that no amount of troops in no amount of time can ever achieve all the objectives we seek in Afghanistan."" (1, 2) -By Brian Ross -ABCNEWS.com
Sarah
Palin - Terrorism
- Politics
- US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- 2008
Election
"Out of bounds! Palin confuses Iraq with al Qaida." ... "Throw the flag on: [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin." ... "Call: Pass interference." ... "What Happened: On the 7th anniversary of the [September] Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Palin linked Iraq to those attacks. " ... "Why that's wrong: The bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States said it found "no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaida cooperated on attacks against the United States."" ... "The panel also said that contacts between al Qaida and Iraq before the attacks "do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship."" ... "The group's conclusion confirmed similar findings by the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] and other U.S. intelligence agencies. [Republican] President Bush, who once claimed such a pre 9-11 connection to Iraq, has since backed off." -By Steven Thomma -McClatchyDC.com
Dick
Cheney - US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- Terrorism
- Politics
- History
-  Book
"Did White House fake link between Saddam and Al Qaeda?" ... "First, former CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] Director George Tenet told the president it was a "slam dunk" that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Then came efforts by the [Republican President] Bush White House to discredit critics, like ambassador Joe Wilson, who questioned the wisdom of going to war in Iraq." ... "Now comes a new book by author Ron Suskind claiming that the [Republican President Bush] White House ordered the CIA to forge and backdate a handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein to link the Iraq regime to Al Qaeda. The White House calls the assertion nonsense." ... "In “The Way of the World,” to be published today, Suskind writes:" "The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001. It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq –- thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al Qaeda, something the vice president’s office [Republican Dick Cheney] had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link.""Suskind says the order to forge such a letter was written on “creamy White House stationery” but gives no details about how it was created or how it was delivered to Iraq." -By Johanna Neuman -LAtimes 
Political
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Crime
- Noteworthy
- Government
- Law
- US
- Iraq
- Military
- History
- Journalist
"Author claims White House knew Iraq had no WMD: Journalist Ron Suskind says [Republican President] Bush ordered forgery linking Saddam, al-Qaeda." ... "President Bush committed an impeachable offense by ordering the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] to to manufacture a false pretense for the Iraq war in the form of a backdated, handwritten document linking Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, an explosive new book claims." ... "The charge is made in “The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, released today." ... "Suskind says he spoke on the record with U.S. [United States] intelligence officials who stated that Bush was informed unequivocally in January 2003 that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. Nonetheless, his book relates, Bush decided to invade Iraq three months later — with the forged letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam bolstering the U.S. [United States] rationale to go into war." ... "“It was a dark day for the CIA,” Suskind told TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira on Tuesday. “It was the kind of thing where [the CIA] said, ‘Look, this is not our charge. We’re not here to carry forth a political mandate — which is clearly what this was — to solve a political problem in America.’ And it was a cause of great grievance inside of the agency.”" ... "The author writes that Bush’s action is “one of the greatest lies in modern American political history” and suggests it is a crime of greater impact than Watergate." ... "The letter" ... "On page 371 of “The Way of the World,” Suskind describes the [Republican President Bush's] White House’s concoction of a forged letter purportedly from the hand of [Iraqi intelligence chief Tahir Jalil] Habbush to Saddam Hussein to justify the United States’ decision to go to war." ... "CIA officers [Bob] Richer and John Maguire, who oversaw the Iraq Operations Group, are both on the record in Suskind’s book confirming the existence of the fake Habbush letter." -By Bob Considine -MSNBC WATCH:
Ron Suskind interview on TODAY show.
Government
- Intelligence
- Secretly
- Marketing
- Media
-  Opinion
- Noteworthy
- Military
- Terrorism
- Political
- History
- Book
- US
- Iraq
"Book says White House ordered forgery." ... "A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein." ... "Suskind writes in “The Way of the World,” to be published Tuesday, that the alleged forgery – adamantly denied by the White House – was designed to portray a false link between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war." ... "Suskind writes in his new book that the order to create the letter was written on “creamy White House stationery.” The book suggests that the letter was subsequently created by the CIA and delivered to Iraq, but does not say how." ... "The author claims that such an operation, part of “false pretenses” for war, would apparently constitute illegal White House use of the CIA to influence a domestic audience, an arguably impeachable offense." ... "Suskind writes that the White House had “ignored the Iraq intelligence chief’s accurate disclosure that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in plenty of time to stop an invasion." ... "“They secretly resettled him in Jordan, paid him $5 million – which one could argue was hush money – and then used his captive status to help deceive the world about one of the era’s most crushing truths: that America had gone to war under false pretenses,” the book says." ... "Suskind writes that the forgery “operation created by the White House and passed to the CIA seems inconsistent with” a statute saying the CIA may not conduct covert operations “intended to influence United States political processes, public opinion, policies or media.”" ... "“It is not the sort of offense, such as assault or burglary, that carries specific penalties, for example, a fine or jail time,” Suskind writes. “It is much broader than that. It pertains to the White House’s knowingly misusing an arm of government, the sort of thing generally taken up in impeachment proceedings.”" -By Mike Allen -Politico.com
Barack
Obama - Military
- Police
- US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Iran
- Pakistan
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Government
- Money
- Political
- McCain
- Arizona
- 2008
Election
"My Plan for Iraq." [By 2008 Election Democratic Presidential Canidate Barack Obama] ... "The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States." ... "The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike [2008 Election Republican Senator and Arizona] Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban [in Afghanistan] by invading a country [Iraq] that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown." ... "In the 18 months since [Republican] President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly weakening its effectiveness." ... "But the same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we’ve spent nearly $200 billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq’s leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge." ... "The good news is that Iraq’s leaders want to take responsibility for their country by negotiating a timetable for the removal of American troops. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. [Lieutenant General] James Dubik, the American officer in charge of training Iraq’s security forces, estimates that the Iraqi Army and police will be ready to assume responsibility for security in 2009." ... "Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis’ taking responsibility for the security and stability of their country. Instead of seizing the moment and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous commitments to respect the will of Iraq’s sovereign government." ... "Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been. As Adm. [Admiral] Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq." ... "As |
