Bullshit alert! After watching George Bush and Dick Cheney
weep and wail over the “damage” done by the New York Times for reporting that
financial data is being dumped into the CIA as part of an effort to find
terrorist networks, I kept waiting for Darryl Hannah to pop up and say, “Live,
from New York, it’s Saturday Night”. Does George have Alzheimer’s
Disease? Has he forgotten that he used to love the New York Times?
The only thing funnier is that most of the main stream media is reporting the
antics of these clowns as straight up news.
I guess Bush and Cheney decided that leaks to the New York Times were no
longer kosher when their go to girl, Judith Miller, got canned. Of course,
Judy wasn’t the only member of the now “traitorous” New York Times to benefit
from White House largesse. Doug
Jehl published a piece on August 2, 2004 that exposed an Al Qaeda
informant:
The unannounced capture of a figure from Al Qaeda in
Pakistan several weeks ago led the Central Intelligence
Agency to the rich lode of information that prompted the terror alert on
Sunday, according to senior American officials.
The figure, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, was described
by a Pakistani intelligence official as a 25-year-old
computer engineer, arrested July 13, who had used and helped
to operate a secret Qaeda communications system where information was
transferred via coded messages.
A senior United States official would not confirm or deny
that Mr. Khan had been the Qaeda figure whose capture led to the information.
But the official said ”documentary evidence” found after the capture had
demonstrated in extraordinary detail that Qaeda members had for years
conducted sophisticated and extensive reconnaissance of the financial
institutions cited in the warnings on Sunday.
The White House also used the New York Times to spread lies about the state
of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program. Remember the September 8, 2002
piece by Michael Gordon and Judith Miller? They reported
that:
More than a decade after Saddam Hussein agreed to give up weapons of mass
destruction, Iraq has
stepped up its quest for nuclear weapons and has embarked on a worldwide hunt
for materials to make an atomic bomb, Bush administration officials said
today.
In the last 14 months,
Iraq has
sought to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes, which American
officials believe were intended as components of centrifuges to enrich
uranium. American officials said several efforts to arrange the shipment of
the aluminum tubes were blocked or intercepted but declined to say, citing the
sensitivity of the intelligence, where they came from or how they were
stopped.
The diameter, thickness and other technical specifications of the aluminum
tubes had persuaded American intelligence experts that they were meant for
Iraq’s nuclear program, officials said, and that the latest attempt to ship
the material had taken place in recent months.
And who can forget that Vice President Cheney instructed his
Chief of Staff, the intrepid Scooter Libby, to leak misleading portions of the
October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate to the New York Times’ Judity
Miller. NPR’s David
Greene reported that:
Former vice presidential aide Lewis Libby, indicted for
leaking a CIA agent’s identity, has testified that any classified information
he may have leaked to a reporter was authorized by President Bush through the
vice president. The claim is included in court documents released Thursday.
Libby told a grand jury that classified information he may have leaked to a
New York Times reporter was authorized for use by President Bush,
acting through Vice President Dick Cheney. Lewis is awaiting trial on charges
that he lied to the grand jury, which was investigating the leak of the
agent’s identity to the media.
We should also remember that the New York Times was not the only friendly
outlet for planting “news”. White House officials turned to Time
Magazine and the Chicago Sun Times in shopping information about Valerie Plame,
an undercover CIA officer. For this White House, leaking classified
information that damages national security is okay as long as it can be used to
save the President’s political reputation.
President Bush crying about “leaks” to the New York Times is like listening
to former Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss complain about sexual promiscuity.
Sorry George, we ain’t buying your song and
dance.
……………………………………………………..
Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder
of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm
that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by
terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously
with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s
Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized
expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk
management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety
of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio,
ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News,
and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for
publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York
Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and
aviation security around the world. Further bio
details.
Personal Blog: No Quarter
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