Extreme Right meet the Extreme Left. Now you both can agree. Whatever happens, it must be the fault of the CIA. Sleeper cell members, Al-Qaeda operatives, terrorists, foreign agents you can all rest easy. We've finally found the enemy and it ain't you. Nope. It's our own subversive intelligence services. If we don't have the Mullahs to kick around anymore, what better substitute than the boys over at Langley?
As I mentioned just yesterday, the neocon pushback on the NIE Iran report continues to be relentless. Now it has gelled into a visible, pointed strategy. It's all about the "CIA's war on Bush" as the geniuses over at Powerlines have put it.
On the same blog, long-time Kissinger Krony and current employee at the American Enterprise Institute, Mark Falcoff, argues the same line, explaining to us dunderheads that the CIA is divided into two clear factions. The action/operative types are just like the cool straight-shooters in the movies. And then, oh heavens, are all those pointy-headed analyst guys who...well... you just can't trust. Says Falcoff: "The estimates guys are mostly academic types who couldn't find a job teaching at a university when they got their Ph.D. Politically and culturally they are absolutely indistinguishable from the career people at the State Department. You can imagine what that means in the present context of Bush-hatred."
Oooooo, how scary indeed! If the CIA guys are so twisted, incompetent and duplicitous, what must the resident "scholars" at the lower-rung AEI think-tank be like? Mark?
And the beat goes on. The Wall Street Journal editorialized, going way over the edge, by fingering the alleged three authors of the NIE report as "hyper-partisan anti-Bush officials." Why, natch. How come the rest of us didn't figure this out? Sixteen separate U.S. intelligence agencies, working for more than a year to figure out what's really going on Iran, colluded to put their names behind what is, in reality, a Democratic election-year ploy to discredit the administration they all serve! How obvious.
Having finally exhausted the re-runs of the 2007 World Series of Poker, I flicked on Charlie Rose late last night who was chatting away with Fred Thompson. And there was Uncle Fred nimbly tapping out the same dance as the Powerline guys. I'll admit that Thompson pushed me too close to a state of narcolepsy to have actually taken notes, but I was awake enough to notice how dutifully he was trashing the CIA. If they so botched up Iraq, Thompson drawled, how on earth could we believe what they have to say about Iran?
Which doesn't answer, of course, the question of why Thompson is currently supporting a war based on the same intelligence he now dismisses. But then again none of this is about providing answers -- only excuses. Excuses to continue a tilt toward war in Iran, no matter the reality.
They were the ones responsible for setting up the O.S.P. (office of special planning) whose sole purpose was to second guess the CIAs data on Iraqi
WMD.
Needless to say, the O.S.P. helped pervert the data into a pack of baseless lies that they then sold to the rest of the White House.
It's quite interesting that one of the underlings of O.S.P chief Douglas Feith was stung by the FBI and found to be giving Classified Documents on Iran to Memebers of AIPAC and People at the Israeli Embassy with the intention of arming them with the intel that could be used to help foment war between the US and Iran. Larry Franklin was sentenced to 12 years in federal Prison for his part, and the two AIPAC officials are facing charges of espionage against the US, although their trial has been endlessly delayed by their Lawyers.
Clearly, the FBI and CIA set up this sting due to similar activities that the OSP engaged in during the run up to the war in Iraq. It boggles my mind that the media is not Much more aggressive about pursuing this story.
Now that the CIA is back in the drivers seat, the very people who brought you the "Iraqi WMD Threat" B.S. are saying that the CIA should be second guessed again.
As I said, they are shameless. Desperate and Shameless.
One last comment: be very wary of ANY candidate that takes money and support of AIPAC. IE HILLARY. She and the others like her will keep us on exactly the same track that these Neocon nutjobs put us on in the first place.
CIA agents could and have become "double agents." Politicians could represent the interests of other countries. Multinational corporations could have no loyalty to America. Large capital funds controlled by foreign countries could be used to buy and then dump treasuries and bankrupt our system, Computer programmers could be used to create computer viruses to destroy the internet.
Global warming, peak oil, avian flu, lead in the Barbie Doll, hijacked jets, etc., etc. The list goes on forever.
The threat from Iran is very small in comparison to the threat from China, for example. But Nixon went to China. No, Cheney's real motivation is financial, ideological, fanatical, delusional, but his limited analysis of threats discounts all other real threats we have faced and are facing.
Congress must rein these evil men in by impeachment and criminal prosecutions must follow. There have now been millions of deaths in Iraq and many more to follow. All to fatten Cheney's already bloated person, and to fatten his wallet. Americans are idiots and traitors.
The armed services are not Cheney's private oil army. He is a war criminal and should face justice.
Conincedence? I think not.
It is surprising that most bloggers and journalist haven't read the NIE summary. Here is a quote. "Iranian entities are continuing to develop a range of technical capabilities that could be applied to producing nuclear weapons, if a decision is made to do so." And: "We assess with high confidence that Iran has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity eventually to produce nuclear weapons if it decides to do so."
P.S.
slightly off-topic but how does Lou Dobbs feel about all these neocons whose first loyalty is to Israel?
Take em' down boys!! the other regimes you've toppled were only exercise drills for this big show!!!
Ya know the world has gone mad when I'm cheering for the CIA. Maybe all our public money will actually work to help US.
I have to admit that the only alternative that I see now is Ron Paul.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist or paranoid. There are far too many questions that have yet to be answered. Why did Cheney try to prevent the 9/11 Commission's hearings and investigation? We have published and known evidence Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. We had facts and evidence that Iraq did not have WMD's or nuclear capabilities, but suppressed those. If Rove had been around, the NIE report would have been shredded or re-written to accomodate the Bush/Cheney plan to bomb Iran. The administration does not like this report, similar to the ones on Iraq, but since they couldn't keep the lid on this one, they're attacking the civil servants, who are probably tired of being scapegoats after-the-fact for failed policies.