Posts with the tag CIA

Muslim Activists Seeking Probe of Reported Surveillance

funkfresh01 — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:33:24 EDT

http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_C_muslim30.426eaa8.html Source: Press-Enterprise Author: Paige Austin A civil-rights group and a coalition of Muslim activists headed by a Corona man called on Congress this week to investigate a report that military and law enforcement officials stole surveillance records of Southland Muslims from Camp Pendleton. The request stems from a news report that military officials and law enforcement members of the Los Angeles County Terrorist Early Warning Group illegally took the top-secret documents from the base's Strategic Technical Operations Center. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Marine Gunnery Sgt. Gary Maziarz has been court-martialed and convicted for his role in the thefts. While the details of the surveillance and the alleged theft remain largely unknown, the incident provides confirmation that the military and law enforcement groups have been gathering information about local Muslim communities, said Michael German, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington Legislative Office.

Rep. Wexler(D, FL) on McClellan & Impeachment

Jim Callahan — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:06:59 EDT

Last night, significant news broke that directly impacts our push for Impeachment Hearings and a possible Inherent Contempt charge for Bush Administration officials such as Karl Rove:

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has revealed in his upcoming book that:

• Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and Vice President Cheney lied about their role in revealing the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson â€" actions easily amounting to obstruction of Justice.

McClellan also admitted that:

• There was a coordinated effort within the Bush Administration to use propaganda to pump up the case for the Iraq war and hide the projected costs of the war from the public.

Scott McClellan must be called to testify under oath before the House Judiciary Committee to tell Congress and the American people everything he knows about this massive effort by the White House to deceive this nation into war.

Last week, a subpoena was issued for Karl Rove to testify before the Judiciary Committee. It appears he will take every legal action to block this subpoena. The truth is that Congress has the right â€" and obligation â€" to hold him accountable now - not months or years from now. It is long past time to pass Inherent Contempt and bring Rove, Libby and others before Congress.

We simply cannot ignore these recent developments, nor should we postpone serious inquiry until after the next election.

Your commitment to accountability for the Bush/Cheney Administration, and the support of 230,000 other Americans who signed up at wexlerwantshearings.com, has inspired and motivated me in my effort to hold impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney and Inherent Contempt for Rove and others. During the past months I have been a tireless and dogged advocate of this vitally important cause.

Many of you have written me, asking for an update on where we stand with regards to impeachment hearings. I know most of you believe - as I do - that impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney â€" are not only justified, but that it is our constitutional obligation to look into the serious allegations of wrongdoing that have been raised. This is especially true based on the newest revelations from Scott McClellan.

I believe that it is the duty of Congress to pursue impeachment whenever there's significant evidence of wrongdoing, be it by Republicans or Democrats, regardless of the timing of elections or the current political environment. * * *

from an e-mail...sent by Congressman Wexler

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL

Read My Lips

Spencer — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:47:39 EDT

OK now it is my turn....... This is my little Blog ( published on a mere six sites) so permit me to talk about the two Bush's and how they have brought down our country almost single handedly. Then I want to talk about the aging hunchback.

Bush ( the elder) came from Langley ( the CIA) and was brainwashed by the system of Alan Dulles who started the CIA. The CIA is and always has been an autonomous company that operates on it;s own agenda. If you believe that Congress oversight is sufficient or is informed of all their doings I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. There Texas cowboys still live in the wild West and view the world as their personal oyster. Be it Iran - Contra or Abu Ghraib the CIA is at the forefront. The CIA is a rule bending, terrorist organization that operates in the "my way or the highway" mentality.

President Musharraf, I Stab At Thee From My Grave

Roxie — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 12:21:09 EST

The world of Pakistan politics can be venomous, savage and cruel. The death of Benazir Bhutto continues the brutal, poisonous trend in Pakistan’s malevolent political combat. Benazir Bhutto played this lethal game as well as anyone.

As the daughter of Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto grew up in a family of wealthy Pakistan landowners who were among the political elite. Her father’s reputation is one of arrogant tyrant who tortured political opponents, rigged elections and lived in a world of political corruption. He was executed on the orders of General Zia after a trial much like the trials Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had inflicted on his opponents. Two of Benazir Bhutto’s brothers were known as international terrorists involved in the hijacking of civil aircraft in the 1980’s.

When she was Prime Minister, Benzair Bhutto attempted to control the press and the judiciary just as President Musharraf does today. The death of Benazir Bhutto did not mark the end of her venomous attacks on her opposition; in fact, Benazir Bhutto carefully planned to reach out from the grave to stab at her opponent President Musharraf. Benazir Bhutto had sent an email to CNN prior to her death which was to be read after her death. In that email, and former interviews, she accused President Musharraf in advance of being responsible for her death. Benazir Bhutto’s book will also reach out from her grave with the power of a martyred author’s last words. Benazir Bhutto also left last instructions for her supporters and her party.

In a culture that prizes martyrdom, Benazir Bhutto not only used her role as a martyr well, but she also has played Pakistan’s ruthless political combat well. Many questions remain, not only about the circumstances of her death, but why the highly educated Condoleezza Rice supported sending Benasir Bhutto to her death. Surely the highly educated Condoleezza Rice and the ever-watchful CIA knew the dangers of Pakistan’s political environment better than this less-educated writer, yet Condoleezza Rice supported Benazir Bhutto’s return and her certain death. Given the history of the CIA, and given the Bush Administration’s failure to capture Osama bin Laden, one can not help but wonder if the return of Benazir Bhutto to Pakistan was a part of a greater CIA plot to remove President Musharraf because he had failed to provide enough assistance for the Bush Administration’s war on terrorism and because he had failed to bring forward democratic reform in Pakistan. Condoleezza Rice called Benazir Bhutto a “champion for democracy,” and also said, “The way to honor her memory is to continue the democratic process in Pakistan so that the democracy that she so hoped for can emerge.” Condoleezza Rice is clearly helping Benazir Bhutto reach out from the grave to stab at President Musharraf.

Written by Roxie Howard 12/29/07. Public domain.

NPR Reports:Congress Probes White House Role in CIA Tapes Banner.

Michael Tiffany — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 03:00:46 EST

CIA Rodrigeuz Claims He Can Take White House Down

Roxie — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:06:11 EST

NOTE: The source is the Islamic Republic of Iran's Press TV website: Former head of the CIA's clandestine service Jose Rodriguez claims he can take the White House down over a torture cover-up scandal. Rodriguez said he may testify before the House Intelligence Committee if he is granted immunity from prosecution, The Sunday Times reported. Intelligence sources believe Rodriguez is now quite determined not to become the fall guy in the controversy over the destruction of CIA videotapes showing the torture of terrorist suspects.

Why does this remind me of Oliver North and Iran-Contra? In the end, torture affects national security because it reflects on the core values of the nation.

PELOSI BRIEFED ON TORTURE IN 2002?

Eric Wattree — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:35:05 EST

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE, SR.

PELOSI BRIEFED ON TORTURE IN 2002?
NO WONDER IMPEACHMENT IS OFF THE TABLE

On Sunday, December 9, 2007, the Washington Post reported that in September 2002 four members of congress were briefed on “enhanced interrogation techniques”--sweet talk for methods of torture by the CIA. According to the report, the CIA provided a second briefing the following month, and 28 additional briefings over the following five years. Among the congressional delegation that were briefed was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif). Other members of congress briefed by the CIA were Jane Harman (D-Calif), who replaced Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV(D-W. Va.), Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.).

Among the “techniques” that the legislators were briefed on was the infamous form of torture known as “waterboarding”--a method of torture that simulates drowning. In waterboarding, the victim is strapped to a board with his feet above his head. A clothe is placed over his mouth and nose, then water is poured over his face. This causes the victim to have the sensation of drowning, and is intensely horrifying.

According to the report, “Waterboarding as an interrogation technique has its roots in some of history's worst totalitarian nations, from Nazi Germany and the Spanish Inquisition to North Korea and Iraq. In the United States, the technique was first used five decades ago as a training tool to give U.S. troops a realistic sense of what they could expect if captured by the Soviet Union or the armies of Southeast Asia. The U.S. military has officially regarded the tactic as torture since the Spanish-American War.”

Senate Likely to Hold Hearings

Asher Heimermann — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:29:11 EST

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller told reporters Friday that he is “inclined” to hold hearings as soon as next week on news of the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes.

READ MORE: Link

Neocons Weakening Our National Security

Bryan M. Williams — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:46:13 EST

Scooter Libby was convicted of multiple crimes, including obstruction of justice, and perjury. Just when we though America would finally have justice for all the illegal actions taken by this administration, President Bush intervened and granted "Scooter" Libby clemency. The public seems to misunderstand what exactly happened during the controversy. The real unde! rlying cause of this whole situation was a power grab by Dick Cheney. Cheney unilaterally declassified sections of the National Intelligence Estimate. (The annual, authoritative report on National Security for the United States) Cheney did this to make it easier for this administration to outsource not only our military, but now our intelligence gathering capability. To make matters worse this declassification by a Vice-President has never been done in history. Now former press secretary for the White House, Scott McClellan admits that the Libby "leak" case was a conspiracy that took place in the White House. We have seen our National Defense weakened to further corporate profits for the likes of Halliburton and Blackwater. The Bush administration led us to War in Iraq based on lies, thus the reason Valerie Plame's identify at the CIA was leaked by Cheney and his cohorts; to hurt the credibility of Plame's husband. Plame's husband, Joe Wilson (a longtime State Departm! ent official) who publicly admitted in a NY Times Op-Ed that t! he story about an Iraq-Nigerian Uranium that the Administration was using to lead us into war was a lie that was based on forged documents. The time for impeachment is now. We all know Cheney is the brains behind this greedy corporate cabal in Washington. Now its time for Congress to stand up and proceed with impeaching Cheney before we end up in another war in Iran, based on a continuation of lies, perpetuated to make more money for the War Profitee

NAT HENTOFF's EDITORIAL: "Biden Strikes The Right Balance"

Erin Medlicott — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:56:54 EST

Nov. 12: An editorial by Nat Hentoff in today's Washington Times, "Biden Strikes The Right Balance." I am reporting this editorial in its entirety. Mr. Hentoff has written over 30 books and is a Pulitzer prize finalist for commentary. Web link to read it online is included, below.

"Of all the analyses and cheerleading I've seen on the presidential race, a column in the April 19 Des Moines Register by Richard Doak, a former editor there, made the fundamental point: 'Who will defend the Constitution? That should be the litmus test.' He continued: 'Most of the candidates, especially the leading Republicans, have failed to press any qualms about the claims of absolute executive power by President Bush and Vice President Cheney.'

PLAME IN PRINT

Sir Knight — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:34:06 EDT

Well, now the cat is really out of the bag!

After all of Valorie Plame Wilson's ordeal of being exposed by the Republican Administration as a CIA Spy,
she has made her come back against them.

Amazon.com is now listing her new book FAIR GAME: My
Life as a Spy, so everyone in America gets to hear her
side of the story.

Perhaps justice will now come for her?

Well, what do you think???

CIA ADMITS DISCRIMINATION

Sir Knight — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:23:06 EDT

This last week, the USAToday ran an article on the CIA,
in its attempts to overcome its Racist, White bias.

Cited in the Article were primarily its failure at recruiting Arabs. Hence all the problems in the Middle
East, and from lack of manpower to deal with it!

And while that carried much of the story, also cited was
the Hispanic Problem. With the massive influx of these
illegal aliens, and most of which have no loyalty to the
US government, they provide a fertile ground for foreign
powers to recruit operatives and mercenaries from! And,
yet, with this obvious problem, the recruiting of Hispanics to the CIA is minimal. Meanwhile, out here, in
the West, where the Hispanics are most numerous, this is a growing problem and national security threat. (If not a door for massive discrimation, as the White-Boys accuse
the coloreds of dastardly deeds that they many not have done!)

Also mentioned were Asians and specifically the Chinese.
For, while the Country's attentions have been focused on
the Middle East, the Chinese Intelligence Services has
grown increasing stronger--especially out here, in the
Pacific Coast! Yet, recruitment of American Chinese operatives is at a low level!!!

And in that same vein, the Yakuza or Japanese Mafia appears to run free on the Pacific Coast, without restraint! And, despite our excperiences with WWII,
very little is being aimed at containing Japanese intelligence operations in America!

Now, has that got you awake???

Well, before closing, let me add this: AT LEAST THE CIA IS AWARE OF THEIR PROBLEM, ADMITS IT, AND IS TRYING TO DO
SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

But, where is the FBI in all of this??? Dare you want to know...

CIA Executive Summary of 9/11 declassified today

Steve Wilson — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:27:45 EDT

Link

The link is to CIA Director Hayden's statement about the declassification. He provides a link to the pdf file of the Executive Summary after his statement (at the bottom of the page)

ABC News says the report blames Ex-CIA Director George Tenet. Link

Too Many Secrets Undermine American Democracy

saguarovet — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 07:57:21 EDT

Ted Gup, professor at Case Western Reserve University, has written a book titled, "Nation of Secrets" in which he describes how the proliferation of government secrets is undermining American democracy. Professor Gup says this issue of too many secrets crosses Democratic and Republican Party lines. Additionally, Professor Gup criticizes the media for their complicity in this growth in government secrets.

To hear Professore Gup discuss these issues with Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, you can watch Professor Gup on C-Span2's "After Words" at 6pm and 9pm Eastern Daylight Time today, Sunday 17 June 2007.

If you don't get C-Span2 via your cable/satellite programming, you can watch the program on line at www.C-Span.org.

Intel Officers respond to George Tenet

Wayne Williams — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 15:52:56 EDT

The letter below, written by a group of former CIA intelligence officers, was sent today to George Tenet to protest his upcoming book tour.

We specifically call on him to return the Medal of Freedom he received from George Bush and to donate part of the royalties from his book proceeds to the soldiers (and their families) who have been killed and wounded in Iraq.

Larry Johnson
http://noquarter.typepad.com/
-----

28 April 2007
Mr. George Tenet
c/o Harper Collins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street
8th Floor
New York City, New York 10022
ATTN: Ms. Tina Andredis

Dear Mr. Tenet:

We write to you on the occasion of the release of your book, At the
Center of the Storm. You are on the record complaining about the
â��damage to your reputationâ��. In our view the damage to your
reputation is inconsequential compared to the harm your actions have
caused for the U.S. soldiers engaged in combat in Iraq and the
national security of the United States. We believe you have a moral
obligation to return the Medal of Freedom you received from President
George Bush. We also call for you to dedicate a significant percentage
of the royalties from your book to the U.S. soldiers and their families
who have been killed and wounded in Iraq.

We agree with you that Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush
administration officials took the United States to war for flimsy
reasons. We agree that the war of choice in Iraq was ill-advised and
wrong headed. But your lament that you are a victim in a process you
helped direct is self-serving, misleading and, as head of the
intelligence community, an admission of failed leadership. You were
not a victim. You were a willing participant in a poorly considered
policy to start an unnecessary war and you share culpability with Dick
Cheney and George Bush for the debacle in Iraq.

You are not alone in failing to speak up and protest the twisting and
shading of intelligence. Those who remained silent when they could
have made a difference also share the blame for not protesting the
abuse and misuse of intelligence that occurred under your watch. But
ultimately you were in charge and you signed off on the CIA products
and you briefed the President.

This is not a case of Monday morning quarterbacking. You helped
send very mixed signals to the American people and their legislators in
the fall of 2002. CIA field operatives produced solid intelligence in
September 2002 that stated clearly there was no stockpile of any kind
of WMD in Iraq. This intelligence was ignored and later misused. On
October 1 you signed and gave to President Bush and senior policy
makers a fraudulent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)ï¿½"which
dovetailed with unsupported threats presented by Vice President Dick
Cheney in an alarmist speech on August 26, 2002.

You were well aware that the White House tried to present as fact
intelligence you knew was unreliable. And yet you tried to have it both
ways. On October 7, just hours before the president gave a major
speech in Cincinnati, you were successful in preventing him from using
the fable about Iraq purchasing uranium in Africa, although that same
claim appeared in the NIE you signed only six days before.

Although CIA officers learned in late September 2002 from a high-level
member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle that Iraq had no past or
present contact with Osama bin Laden and that the Iraqi leader
considered bin Laden an enemy of the Baghdad regime, you still went
before Congress in February 2003 and testified that Iraq did indeed
have links to Al Qaeda.

You showed a lack of leadership and courage in January of 2003 as the
Bush Administration pushed and cajoled analysts and managers to let
them make the bogus claim that Iraq was on the verge of getting its
hands on uranium. You signed off on Colin Powell's presentation to
the United Nations. And, at his insistence, you sat behind him and
visibly squandered CIA's most precious assetï¿½"credibility."

You may now feel you were bullied and victimized but you were also
one of the bullies. In the end you allowed suspect sources, like
Curveball, to be used based on very limited reporting and evidence.
Yet you were informed in no uncertain terms that Curveball was not
reliable. You broke with CIA standard practice and insisted on
voluminous evidence to refute this reporting rather than treat the
information as suspect. You helped set the bar very low for reporting
that supported favored White House positions, while raising the bar
astronomically high when it came to raw intelligence that did not
support the case for war being hawked by the president and vice
president

It now turns out that you were the Alberto Gonzales of the intelligence
community--a grotesque mixture of incompetence and sycophancy
shielded by a genial personality. Decisions were made, you were in
charge, but you have no idea how decisions were made even though
you were in charge. Curiously, you focus your anger on the likes of
Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and Condi Rice, but you decline to
criticize the President.

Mr. Tenet, as head of the intelligence community, you failed to use
your position of power and influence to protect the intelligence process
and, more importantly, the country. What should you have done?

What could you have done?

For starters, during the critical summer and fall of 2002, you could
have gone to key Republicans and Democrats in the Congress and
warned them of the pressure. But you remained silent. Your candor
during your one-on-one with Sir Richard Dearlove, then-head of British
Intelligence, of July 20, 2002" provides documentary evidence that
you knew exactly what you were doing; namely, "fixing" the
intelligence to the policy.

By your silence you helped build the case for war. You betrayed the
CIA officers who collected the intelligence that made it clear that
Saddam did not pose an imminent threat. You betrayed the analysts
who tried to withstand the pressure applied by Cheney and Rumsfeld.
Most importantly and tragically, you failed to meet your obligations to
the people of the United States. Instead of resigning in protest, when
it could have made a difference in the public debate, you remained
silent and allowed the Bush Administration to cite your participation in
these deliberations to justify their decision to go to war. Your silence
contributed to the willingness of the public to support the disastrous
war in Iraq, which has killed more than 3300 Americans and hundreds
of thousands of Iraqis.

If you are committed to correcting the record about your past failings
then you should start by returning the Medal of Freedom you willingly
received from President Bush in December 2004. You claim it was
given only because of the war on terror, but you were standing next to
General Tommy Franks and L. Paul Bremer, who also contributed to
the disaster in Iraq. President Bush said that you:
played pivotal roles in great events, and [your] efforts have
made our country more secure and advanced the cause of
human liberty.

The reality of Iraq, however, has not made our nation more secure nor
has the cause of human liberty been advanced. In fact, your tenure as
head of the CIA has helped create a world that is more dangerous.

The damage to the credibility of the CIA is serious but can eventually
be repaired. Many of the U.S. soldiers maimed in the streets of
Fallujah and Baghdad cannot be fixed. Many will live the rest of their
lives missing limbs, blinded, mentally disabled, or physically
disfigured. And the dead have passed into history.

Mr. Tenet, you cannot undo what has been done. It is doubly sad that
you seem still to lack an adequate appreciation of the enormous
amount of death and carnage you have facilitated. If reflection on
these matters serves to prick your conscience we encourage you to
donate at least half of the royalties from your book sales to the
veterans and their families, who have paid and are paying the price for
your failure to speak up when you could have made a difference. That
would be the decent and honorable thing to do.

Sincerely yours,

Phil Giraldi
Ray McGovern
Larry Johnson
Jim Marcinkowski
Vince Cannistraro
David MacMichael

What sort of rights does they have??

Celina — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:39:17 EDT

I just has to ask what sort of rights CIA has,
To pick up people because they are terrorist suspected
and then put them in secret jails , such
as Guantanamo, sure Guantanamo isn`t so secret...
But anyway:
The first prisoner have got justice ,
or he has confessed that he is a terrorist and have
got his punishment for that.
He is the first one,
now can we just hope that the other prisoners are given the same opportunity to justice.
Can they give one justice;
Treat the othersw in the same way!

What sort of rights does CIA have??

Celina — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:27:36 EST

Excuse me but I only has to yell a bit about CIA and their damn rights,or illegal things........
What sort of rights does the CIA have on their sides when they comes to Europe for to pick up suspected terrorists with their Gulf streams??
Not the human rights, not even the American constitution (the bill of rights) I think.
Why are they doing this things??
I don`t know
Is it for to show the power of USA???
I think it is horrible to do that way for to show a country`s power.
So the government has to think about how a country with such of big power over the rest of the world shall act!!
Do it for a better world!!!!!

The Case Against Cheney

Ron McBride — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 06:56:04 EST

Since day one, we have, for the most part; all assumed that it was the Vice Presidents office that leaked the information about Valarie Plame, violating the federal law that bars the "outing" of intelligence operatives.

Vice President Dick Cheney wrote a memo that effectively confirms his intimate involvement in strategizing about how to counter the inquiry into the Bush administration's politically motivated outing of CIA operative Valarie Plame. This was revealed in the former vice presidential chief of staff "Scooter" Libby's trial on charges of obstructing a federal investigation.

Censorship Is Alive And Well In The White House: NY Times OpEd "What We Wanted To Tell You About Iran"

Erin Medlicott — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 12:36:05 EST

[From Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann, an OpEd, "What We Wanted To Tell You About Iran," Dec. 22, excerpts below. The writers prepared an OpEd for publication in The New York Times. After submitting it to review by the CIA's Publications Review Board, they were told by reviewers that although their draft "included no classified material," the White House deleted portions of the article deemed detrimental to the Bush Administration.

Their comment in today's paper, below, is a plea to release the full version of their original OpEd before it was censored. Their blacked out version of the OpEd is included, following their comment. The writers are continuing to press for the release of their original uncensored article. Leverett is senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Mann is a former Foreign Service officer who participated in the U.S. discussions with Iran, 2001 to 2003.--EM]

Ex-Natl Security Council Official Says Bush Admin. Is Stifling His Criticism Of Iran Policy; Calls CIA "Spineless" Under Political Pressure From White House

Erin Medlicott — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 07:44:10 EST

From Glenn Kessler for The Washington Post Dec. 19, excerpts below:

A former top White House official is accusing the Bush Administration of trying to muzzle his criticism of its Iran policy and of falsely alleging that his writings contained classified material to prevent them from being published.