Leaks and Lies
Furthermore, I rather suspect that the president does not want much discussion of those leaks for another reason: I think a lot of the content is false. I think the Times journalists swallowed a good deal of nonsense. Do you really think he spent many hours choosing the specific targets for our killer drones? I don’t. For one thing, his White House lawyers must have warned him against the practice, because it would expose him — directly and personally — to prosecution for war crimes from bodies like the International Court of Justice, or the various foreign courts that have, on occasion, tried to indict Henry Kissinger or Donald Rumsfeld for their policy decisions. Any attorney worth his billable hours would insist that his client shield himself from such worrisome consequences, by insisting that others — folks in the Pentagon or CIA, for example — make those decisions.
Do you think that President Obama is the sort who spends hours pouring over lists of potential targets and then makes the targeting decisions? It seems out of character to me. Obama seems more inclined to make “big picture” decisions, like increasing the number of drone strikes, than to get involved with the nuts and bolts.
And what about the cyberwar against Iran? The leaks would have us believe that Obama drove the cyberwar (started before he took office) and then had the Israelis brought in. In the past few hours, a very different version has emerged from Israel. Yossi Melman, a veteran Israeli reporter with well-established sources in the intelligence agencies of that country, wrote in Haaretz:
The Israeli officials actually told me a different version. They said that it was Israeli intelligence that began, a few years earlier, a cyberspace campaign to damage and slow down Iran’s nuclear intentions. And only later they managed to convince the USA to consider a joint operation — which, at the time, was unheard of. Even friendly nations are hesitant to share their technological and intelligence resources against a common enemy.
In other words, it was an Israeli initiative, and the Obama administration had to be cajoled into joining in. Doesn’t that sound like the Obama who has singled out Israel for harsh criticism, who has yet to visit Israel, and who has vetoed the congressional bill to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem? I think Timesman David Sanger was gulled into writing that Obama was the driving force behind Stuxnet.
Which brings us back to the “now what?” question. Those many members of Congress who are rightly upset at seeing sensitive matters on the front pages of newspapers and in sensational books are adopting the wrong methods in dealing with it all. They should demand sunshine of public inquiry, not a closed investigation that can drag on for years, which is the most likely result of the activities of “special prosecutors.”
This is not a legal matter, it’s a political and policy issue. If Obama ordered or approved the leaks, there is no crime, since he’s the declassifier-in-chief; he can reveal anything he wishes, without legal consequence. Turning this over to lawyers and judges would be just one more case of the criminalization of policy. If you oppose Obama’s expansion of assassinations, say so, and challenge the policy. Don’t act as if leaking details about a practice the whole world has known about for years is the central issue.
If, in fact, the leaks themselves were part of a systematic deception of the American people, that should be made plain, and those who designed and conducted the deception should pay the political price for their lies.
Now what? First things first. Let’s get the facts. Congress can do it, all by itself. And if it turns out that a good deal of the “information” in those stories is false, then the journalists who were gulled into writing a lot of nonsense might even want to tell it like it is.
Faster, please.
UPDATE: Thanks to Dan Raviv–the co-author of the book on Israeli intelligence with Yossi Melman, who informs me that Melman is no longer with Haaretz. Indeed, the link above is to the Raviv-Melman web site.
This article was very well thought out and very well written, Mr. Ledeen. You have a clear mind. I wish we had many more like you.
Excellent. The Obama Administration and Obama himself are supranational and perhaps supernatural. The rules do not apply to them, only to us.
Exactly and, also Mr. Narcissus’s feign outrage about the leaks were oh so plausible!?
Yes the old “how dare you accuse me” dodge, while at the same time not answering whether anybody connected with his administration was responsible for the leak, or whether he had any personal knowledge of their leaking. It almost as good as Clintons “that woman” dodge. Any bets on when the race card will be played on this?
The nature of reality is independent of a human narrative; yet-to-be discovered facts will comport with what is, rather than what is told. Narrative can only be a subpart of reality at best…..and far more is an over-edited mashup of those parts of reality previously disclosed.
And this makes releases from a clandestine world to support a narrative particularly risky. Not only might they disclose sources and methods, reveal the hands tugging the puppet strings, or expose players to conflicting compulsions (e.g. Axelrod at http://tinyurl.com/88azdc9 re “doing fine”), but they might later be found misleadingly incomplete, or downright contrary to fact…with an inevitable resulting loss of credibility.
Worse yet, someone who orchestrates such releases can become drunk with the power to leak, “knowing” that anything leaked cannot be immediately gainsaid because the leak is secret and the discussion around it more so. Increasingly fabulous narratives can be built on increasingly edited structures, until the public face of a situation can be completely different from the perception of anyone in the administration. Yet, like an overinflated balloon, all that is required from there is a pinprick.
It seems now that most of the Obama regime is at that point. “Fast and Furious” has been spun so far from reality that every nondisclosed fact in the real world will contradict the narrative. “While visiting the Pentagon, agent John Smith went to the restroom adjacent to the conference room” is the narrative — but John Smith was provably in Milwaukee, he isn’t an agent, and there aren’t any restrooms adjacent to conference rooms at the Pentagon. Because the lies have been stretched so very far off of selectively released factoids, any tiny hint of additional truth is an existential threat.
And the administration is clearly flailing — with the wholehearted support of the MSM, control over clandestine services, the “bully pulpit”, it seems that Obama’s handlers felt that he could say any damned thing at all and it would be “as good as” truth….and they believed this to the point where they no longer even know the difference.
But where they can’t remember the lies about lies about lies…..reality remembers that which came before.
Could Congress get answers? Without the MSMS backing them, they don’t seem to be able to. C.F. Fast and Furious.
P.S. A typo.
“Instead, Scooter Libby — who had made a false statement to investigators — was prosecuted, convicted, and punished.”
I’m sure the word is spelled, “persecuted”.
Libby’s statement was not actually false. He and Tim Russert had different stories but Russert had already contradicted his own story in a Meet the Press broadcast. It is no wonder Cheney was so angry with Bush. His father pardoned Cap Weinberger.
The double agent and the Pakistani doctor are far more serious cases as they will hurt our ability to recruit agents for years. The double agent is a British asset. They are furious. Of course, Obama does not like them or the Israelis.
Bush’s people have said that the only reason he didn’t pardon Libby was because the Libby people asked him not to because they felt they had a strong case to get his conviction overturned. If he was pardoned the conviction would stand.
Could Congress ‘get’ answers? Sure, it could. Bigger question is – does Congress ‘want’ answers, or more specifically, does a certain percentage of Congress want those answers.
The administration pearl-clutching over the leaks is a bit much and this article goes to a level of sinister I had not considered. I have no doubt the info came from inside sources but 1) did not consider that the sources may have lied/embellished and 2) also did not consider the issue of presidential liability. The latter would be irony almost too sweet to savor.
these leaks are nothing compared what obama is going to do when he’s thrown out of office.. he is going to sell us down the river if he hasn’t already…. he wants the money to stay in power in any way that he can.. and he hates this country and the white people.. he ain’t done even when he’s voted out this november.. the really mean stuff is going to happen when he’s out.. he’s bad and not in any cool way. he’s a hateful anti-american..i have hoped the last three years that someone is watching him.. he’s a traitor through and through..
An ex,president is no longer declassifier,in,chief.
Private, safe and secure, please. Which means do not show it on comments section.thanks
Your blog is under inspecting by shady security mullahs regime. And by medias.
I always exclaim, muse and surprised why Tehran’s regime far in front and very so much advanced than actions against himself. Before any sanctions done and commanded by white house, they transport their money from European banks to Asian banks, they bought many security systems before the sanction laws, they easily bypass all the sanctions by second hand Chinese and Russian companies with so much higher price U.S productions, and so much more etc. and these are not all of them there’s so much pimps in the world and U.S whom get money and do every thing for the sake of mullahs.
Leakage, leakage, leakage, *ucked damn. When Tehran’s regime easily can crack and breach into white house, what must we expect? Its better we call the white house and change its name to whore house.
You know doctor, there’s a person named velayati, he’s high consultant regime security of khamenei, he was many years the foreign affairs minister. He has many connections, person, friends and entrants, which did for him many favors, front of any deadly act against mullah’s regime. Otherwise why this regime survived for 33 years?!
Many times I doubt west intentionally want this regime exist, and all these political depictions anti regime just are a bal masque.
He received many valuable info, support etc from the western traitors, whether American or European, money.
Cheating is common culture in western countries. Otherwise why this satanic regime survived?
They do good play power chess against U.S? Or they get hostage the Iran’s nations and region security, to scare Americans? Which?
Find the velayti connectors in U.S and Europe, this is one of keys. Other keys are money. another key, shut down their embassies all around world. And another, do like they have done. This is a war, but way westerners in this war just give their *unts to them! War means cutting the enemy’s head, not intimacy with enemy.
cabalah from Qom
Did not the Obama administration in its zeal to capitalize on the killing of OBL give away many details of the way the raid was organized and how the intell was gained that led to said raid? Isn’t some poor Pakistani Doc who aided in IDing OBL now facing 30 years in prison for giving us help?
Why are not these leaks part of this investigation?
Do you think that President Obama is the sort who spends hours pouring over lists of potential targets
isn’t it “poring”?
I think Timesman David Sanger was gulled into writing that Obama was the driving force behind Stuxnet.
If he was “gulled”, it was self-inflicted. Just as it has been over the drone strike “campaign”.
The MSM desperately wants to believe that The One is now a hard-boiled anti-terrorist warrior, after first swooning over the idea that He was the Lightbringer who would end the illegitimate, immoral war on peaceful Islam and bring a New World Order of peace and harmony.
(And oh yes, stick it to all those nasty, non-progressive Jews in Israel; they don’t support the Correct Causes, so they must be consigned to outer darkness, and their Western Imperialist State along with them. That’s the orthodoxy in the newsroom, American academia, and the Democratic Party, and it’s time we stopped pretending it isn’t.)
When the Islamists proved stubbornly unwilling to cease, well, being Islamists, in spite of all The One’s pandering, the media had to figure out some way to make Him look like a hero anyway. As much as anything else to avoid the public concluding that His media supporters were idiots, chumps, or simply anti-Western Civilization radicals themselves. (The latter generally being the case in actuality.)
Hence, the “re-invention” of Obama as a cross between Rambo and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., complete with ultra-high-tech “Death From A Distance” technology. So The Messiah need not dirty His Divine Hands with actual blood.
(Progressives love the idea of being able to arbitrarily do away with people they hate, or just consider “awkward”, without having to do the deed up close and personal; remember the 10:10 “No Pressure” ad? It makes them feel godlike, or more exactly re-affirms their own self-image as self-perceived deities.)
Trying to give Him credit for the cyberwar against the Iranian A-bomb program takes the prize for sheer detachment from reality. Considering that He has spent the last three years refusing to admit that such a program even exists.
Of course, even with Predators dropping ordnance all over the Islamic crescent, He still will not publicly acknowledge the existence of (at least semi-)organized Islamist terrorism directed at the West, either. (Cf. TSA guidelines on who and who not to search.)
As to why His Awesomeness is all in favor of drone strikes, irrespective of whether He is signing the kill orders personally or not, I believe it’s more of His narcissism at work. Hey, Look, I sign an order, wave My Hand, and somebody dies halfway around the world. Stroke of the pen, law of the land. Kinda cool. Can I do it to Marco Rubio, too? Can I, huh, can I? Please, please, please?
About the stupidest thing you can do with someone with delusions of divinity is to feed their delusions. The present situation is a case in point, even without the MSM doing their best to portray The One as a sort of secular Moses calling down G-d’s fire on those He (kinda, sorta) considers (something like)unholy*.
Or at least irritatingly consistent in their hatred of, well, Him. One of the overlooked factors, I strongly suspect, is that The One is extremely put out at the Islamists’ unwillingness to consider Him as their friend. They certainly consider Him a “useful idiot”, as they do with most Western progressives, but that does not translate into the adoration He feels He is entitled to, by virtue of being Him.
To the Islamists, the fact that the One is the leader of “The Great Satan” trumps everything else, including His attempts to convince them that He is really on their side. And I believe it has taken Him this long to process that data point. (He is emphatically not a “fast learner”.)
The combination of an immature, narcissistic POTUS and a sycophantic, radicalized media has never been better illustrated, even in this administration, than it is by the present attempts to portray said POTUS as something He came in insisting He wasn’t. That is, a determined foe of Islamist terrorism. (Remember “man-caused disasters”?)
Do we really need any more illustrations of just how incompetent, and frankly dangerously stupid, our “enlightened elite” really are?
(*Somewhere in Heaven, Charlton Heston is shaking his head.)
clear ether
eon
“…Do we really need any more illustrations of just how incompetent, and frankly dangerously stupid, our “enlightened elite” really are?”
Does Barry need anyone other than Anna Wintour?
IMO, the NYT ‘kill list’ article had Valerie Jarrett’s fingerprints all over it, and it was an obvious work of fiction. For example, we know that O ha a complete distaste for digging into details, yet in the article there he was down in the bowels of the kill list agonizing over every detail. Right.
Excellent as usual. I have a question, with and without sarcasm in re: the following, ” …prosecution for war crimes from bodies like the International Court of Justice.” Truly now, has such a thing ever happened to a leftist?
“This is not a legal matter, it’s a political and policy issue. If Obama ordered or approved the leaks, there is no crime, since he’s the declassifier-in-chief; he can reveal anything he wishes, without legal consequence.”
Why does that NOT sound right to me? If that is true, Obama could go on television and give up any secrets that he wishes, such as the number and location of CIA agents all over the Middle East. He could also disclose all military and intelligence operations we have going on in countries like Pakistan, Iran, or even China. To put it more bluntly, if an unbalanced man became president and simply decided to spout off on anything he liked regarding national security, what would you have?
Joe Biden.
However, there is a mechanism under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution (ratified on February 10, 1967) that provides for the replacement of the president by the Vice President and “A majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide.” If a president decides to go off the reservation and start giving away national secrets on a regular basis, could this be cause for invoking the 25th Amendment and replacing the president by force? If Obama keeps this up, Biden may just start measuring for some new drapes in the Oval Office. After this past week, Obama’s friends are drifting away at a fast pace and he seems as detatched from reality as ever. This is not a happy place for the government to be in. Twenty-Fifth Amendment, anyone?
Liberty: that’s political, isn’t it? Those are events that take place in a political forum, not a court.
And yes, the president can “give up any secrets that he wishes” without legal liability. He’s the declassifier-in-chief. You can go after him for putting the nation at risk, but not for violating classification regulations or laws from WWI…
Which is just a bit scary, isn’t it? But then have we ever had someone in the White House of whom this would have been a concern?
Until this one, I think we’d been fairly confident, that the President would not do anything that would compromise America, or her allies. The upshot there, is our allies no longer refer to ‘America’ as doing these things, but to the Obama Administration.
Maybe there needs to be a tightening of the holes in the Constitution, Obama has both bragged and exploited. We now see what can happen when someone occupies the White House who lacks belief and participation in American patriotism and ethics.
Or you just have a press that actually vets the candidates. Giving one guy an absolute pass is going to lead to our current situation.
Michael, What and where is the mechanism for “de-classifier in chief”? You and I would spend the rest of our lives in a box for espionage and treason. How does the president get an ‘above the law pass’ on disclosing state secrets? How far down the chain of command does this instant pardon go?
we were told that the president can instantly declassify anything, anytime, and can approve same.
Are you saying that the act of ordering, hypothetically, the leaking of certain classified information is construed as a de facto immediate declassification or will the President have had to first declassify them before such an action? Are there any legal consequences if a de jure declassification process had not been followed before such a release and at the time of the leak they were still classified? Or can he be legally immune by retroactivley declassifying the information when the fecses hits the fan?
i believe he can cause the declassification of anything, anytime, either by doing it or by ordering it.
He gets a pass because the President is “The State”, and can disclose any of “his” secrets he wishes.
Many forget that the President is not just the Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Government, but also the Head of State.
Then, are you saying that the restraints of the presidency is not a question of law, but a question of character?
there are certainly Constitutional restraints on the president, but the classification regulations do not apply to him, that’s all I’m saying. But character is enormously important and is certainly relevant to this discussion. thanks.
Hmm—I don’t know if that’s applicable. It seems to address a situation in which the President would be incapacitated (illness or injury) and unable to discharge the duties of the Office. Obama isn’t incapacitated–he is able to discharge the duties of Office. The issue is how he’s discharging them, and what he’s doing with them.
I suppose the argument could be made on his mental fitness and stability, but unless his behavior becomes overtly rabid and raving, it would be difficult to prove. Unfortunately, in spite of his bouncing desperately all over the country, his actions appear to still be deliberate and organized–and as far as many are concerned–criminal.
A long silent poster on this formum used to say that Obama would end his presidency in a mental breakdown.
I used to discount that idea. Now I’m not so sure.
You all will be shocked, amazed, dumbfounded and outraged when you see who Bambi pardons before noon on January 20. The list likely will go into four figures.
It is valuable for voters to consider reality. When we choose a Commander-in-Chief, we select a person who holds the power of life and death over us and our allies. The reason for classified information is to protect our side Typically, the release of classified information results in the murder of one of ours. Every President knows this; they want the power. Hence if the White House leaks the name of the Pakistanian doctor who aided us in killing Osama Ben Laden, there was a motivation. If the President did it, it was legal. It was a crime for others to leak it, without authorization.
The other reality is the purity of the head of state. In ancient China, when two kings were in conflict, they met together with their subordinates. If one side presented a position, via an underling, which was unacceptable, the other side killed the subordinate, but not the potentate. The message was clear, rejection, but the decision maker remained healthy, and above the fractious deal making. And there was an incentive for subordinates to close the deal, to save their skin.
And finally, one main purpose of leaks is to convey a lie to our enemy. But not to us. When we vote, do we consider that “our guy” may simply be a skilled liar? Or perhaps, he does not care much if we are slaughtered?
Our only real protection is the ballot, choose the right guy.
Good article, except for one point. There was a 3rd leak, that was even worse than stuxnet and the kill list. That was the leak that the new undewear bomber case was solved because we had a mole in el quaida in Yemen. This leak was much worse than the others. After all, Iran probably had already figured out we and Israel were behind stuxnet, and our drone strike program was common knowledge. But it might not have been common knowledge that we had a mole in el quaida, and even worse providing enough details that you could narrow down who he was. That leak actually was treasonous, because it may have compromised an actual agent within el quaida. This ensures this agent must stop operations, and if we were not careful could have led to his death or capture. And all so Obama could have a story making him look good. The Valery Plame story, which only involved a CIA building burocrat, was a page one story for months. Now a story which could have actually led to the death or capture of a critical informer is largely ignored.
“In interviews with The New York Times, three dozen of [Obama's] current and former advisers described Mr. Obama’s evolution since taking on the role”
36 advisers. Usually there are one or two leakers. 36 is not a number for leakers, it’s a number for a coordinated effort. Designed by the guy in chief, and his puppet master, George Soros. Only it’s blowing up in their faces.
EXCELLENT point….Not a “leak” but a political strategy
right. a disinformation campaign, linked to real events, as it must be.
“…Congress can do it, all by itself…”
As if that would ever happen!
Good piece.
Minor quibble.
I actually CAN believe than Obama would pore over playing cards formulating a kill list.
Apart form the fact that it is a God-like act that he would find, in his narcissism, only fitting and satisfying, it is also a way to perhaps assuage other, equally perhaps deeper psychological issues.
As regards time, he seems to have lots of time available. I’m sure he found time to squeeze in these sessions between rounds of golf, fundraising, and vacations.
you have company; others think it’s entirely in character.
Perhaps if he spent as much time reviewing his teleprompter texts as he does his kill-lists, he wouldn’t find himself flossing with his shoe-laces so much.
Dr. Ledeen,
Your solution is correct, the leak debate is a distractor. The President should obviously be the declassifer-in-chief, the buck does have to stop somewhere and the American people should have the opportunity to see openly whether the commander-in-chief puts himself or the country first.
We know that Obama loves to provide us his detailed basketball predictions, the results of his serious mental exertions, so pouring over lists of people to kill with drones seems in character.
Plus, he, like most Democrats, likes to play Santa Claus so “making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty and nice” also fits well.
You can also leak the leaker.
Speaking of Scooter Libby and the Valerie Plame debacle; Sunday night on the Fox News, Mike Huckabee show, Huckabee interviewed Lanny Davis about the recent leaks. Davis spouted the old democrat lies about how Scooter Libby in the George W. Bush administration was successfully prosecuted for leaking classified information about Valerie Plame. The usual “it’s wrong but your side did it too.”
This was a slam dunk served up for Huckabee who could have exposed Davis and by extension, the duplicitous democratic party for the blatant liars they are. So what did Huckabee do? He gave Davis a pass; not one word of the truth about the blatant lie that apparently is still considered viable to suit the democratic parties purposes. Libby was eventually convicted of perjury, not the “outing” of a CIA operative, a charge which resulted in a prison sentence that G.W. later commuted (he should have been pardoned).
And this is symptomatic of the republican establishment; sitting ducks for democratic operatives ripe for exposure as the liars they are but immune from any criticism in the interest of what? Bipartisanship? Civility? Moral superiority? Cowardice (fear of media reprisals)? America is in a political gun fight for its future and the republican establishment is holding up the universal peace sign.
One of Obama’s lies already busted:
Mossad Agents Claim Obama Lying About Stuxnet http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/06/10/Oh-No-You-Didnt-Mossad-Agents-Claim-Obama-Lying-About-Stuxnet
Since he began his presidency, president Obama’s foreign policy has been based on appeasement of the terrorist sponsors and other enemies of the United States and as we predicted all his failed policies have failed, he appeased the mullahs in Iran and betrayed the Iranian protester who begged for his help, the result: the mullahs are inches toward making the bombs, the uranium and missile stockpile is 10X bigger, successfully crushed the dissent and have killed 100s of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan through their proxies in Iraq and Afghanistan, even plotted to carry pout attacks on US soil. The same goes to appeasement and engagement of the barbaric Taliban that has made things worse. His hit list is nothing to brag about, CIA and special forces assassination of terrorists and other hostile forces has been taking place since WW-II through out the cold-war and only increased since the war on terror began, the president doesn’t plan them, all he does is authorizing and the Pentagon take it from lead to planning and then to execution. The architect of clandestine activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan that led to assassination of OBL was the Bush admn and the SEALs did the job now Obama is trying to credit for. Obama = president ZERO accomplishment, that’s why he is desperately trying to take credit for covert stuff that he shouldn’t be credited for anyway, but calling them leaks gives them special attention
The objective of investigating Fast & Furious and the security leaks must be to identify and prosecute evil doers and those who authorized and covered up these actions. Independent prosecutors, not Obama-Holder henchmen, should be appointed to conduct the investigations and prosecutions free of political influence. I suspect few of those responsible will fall on their swords to protect Obama or Holder. Let Obama declassify the leaked material to protect and silence those responsible. Let him pardon Holder and his crew for Fast and Furious and the coverup. In case some may be worried about reaching across the isle in the spirit of bi-partisanship, ask yourself: What would the Democrats do if these events occurred during a Republican administration? Don’t worrying about hostile/leftist reaction. They already hate you. You are the enemy. Appeasement will not satiate leftist lust for republican blood. Its time for Congressional Republicans to grow some guts and get tough.
democratic revolt
Pressures against the blood drinkers in Tehran is significantly effective. Pressures must carry on and extended to a long time until this blood drinkers topple down.
Faster, with more hard rock solidity, please.
Serge
Death to Iranian regime, death to blood suckers in Tehran.
This regime must die by any means and any price their nation should pay. This regime is very dangerous.
The Russians and Chinese mustn’t support criminals. Russians and Chinese should help the Iran’s nation and global community to get rid of this blood thirst regime.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/poring?s=t
got it! tks. strange language…
Right on target, sir.
Politicians are, in our mostly secular times, equivalent to the priests in Egyptian ancient history. The unwashed masses, by and very large, don’t have a clue that they are being continually manipulated by their elite masters.
And, these days, it’s in the noosphere where there’s a hammer lock being applied.
Ah, it reminds me of a definition of a left winger—
They are called bleeding hearts, because it’s as if they had their hands choking their own throats.
Many bad results are inevitable—
The blood flow is constricted, so their hearts bleed.
Likewise, not enough oxygen reaches the brain, so clear thought is impossible.
To boot, with their hands being stuck around their throat, they can’t be used to do any useful work.
The takers are beating the makers.
Brilliant, though as you know I don’t think Libby’s statement was false or at least deliberately so. His statements were no more inconsistent than any of the other witnesses, including Tim Russert.
sure. my point was simply that the leaker was quickly identified, in keeping with Helms’s First Principle, and that Libby was punished for something else…basically for working for the vice president…
There should be no need for a kill list. Any truly patriotic president would quietly put the word out that everyone associated with the Muslim Brotherhood is fair game as an enemy spy/saboteur/unlawful combatant.
That’s right, Grover Norquist, you evil Muslim Brotherhood mole, I’m talkin’ about YOU!
the lawyers no doubt insist on detailed justification of targets, and they are typically involved in targeting decisions. you can call it whatever you wish, but it is what “kill list” means, I think.
The ship of State is the only ship that leaks from the top.- Yes, Minister
Nice piece. But it’s a bit disingenuous to score Obama for not visiting Israel as president. He did visit as a senator, even left a prayer paper in the haKotel. The only president to visit Israel while in office was Nixon, in 1974.
Oops. I relied on Google. Should have checked Wikipedia. W. visited Tel Aviv in January, 2008, according to the state department historian’s archives. Sorry about that.
So by this political gambit of claiming to be personally signing off on death lists, is Obama closing the door on the possibility of becoming Secretary General of the UN or President of the World Bank or even vacationing in Spain with its zealous prosecutors?
Well, maybe he can get a job at the Carter Center.
Hail Saudi Arabia.
Hail to king Abdullah king lion of Saudi Arabia.
Salute Saudi Arabia military forces.
Hail to judicial system Saudi Arabian.
Execute this blood thirsty Iranian evil which can only can kill the defenseless Syrian women and babies.
Cut their filthy throat, these coward Iranian blood drinkers who can only kill the civilians in Syria.
Death to Tehran’s regime, their coward military forces, Persian cowards. they can only massacre Syrian civilians.
Decapitate whenever find them, cut their throat, behead them whenever find them.
They are Tehran’s regime spies, killers and blood thirsty proxies who can only kill Arabian Syrian women and babies.
Hail to Saudi Arabian military forces, Arabian Gulf belongs to king Abdullah king of Saudi Arabia.
Arabian armies will depart the south of Iran and cut it form tyrant Tehran’s regime.
I see the context in which you are putting things. Would you shed light on how other governments view the leaks.
This does not bode well, as far as I can see.
Mazeltov to your old AEI colleague, Newt Gingrich, on his birthday.