This Will Infuriate Everyone And Convict No One

Eric Holder is apparently poised to pick a special counsel at Justice to go after the CIA guys in the trenches who put too much enhancement into their enhanced interrogations.  The top guys won't get investigated and the front-line spooks won't get convicted - who is going to like this?

Reporting from Washington -- U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. is poised to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA abuses committed during the interrogation of terrorism suspects, current and former U.S. government officials said.

A senior Justice Department official said that Holder envisioned an inquiry that would be narrow in scope, focusing on "whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized" in Bush administration memos that liberally interpreted anti-torture laws.

Current and former CIA and Justice Department officials who have firsthand knowledge of the interrogation files contend that criminal convictions will be difficult to obtain because the quality of evidence is poor and the legal underpinnings have never been tested.

We hear from what is almost surely a Bushman that this is a bad idea:

"I don't blame them for wanting to look into it," said a former high-ranking Justice Department official familiar with the details of the program. "But if they appoint a special prosecutor, it would ultimately be unsuccessful, and it would go on forever and cause enormous collateral damage on the way to getting that unsuccessful result."

CIA officers are re-directing their professional efforts:

Bracing for the worst, a small number of CIA officials have put off plans to retire or leave the agency so that they can maintain their access to classified files and be in a better position to defend against a Justice investigation.

"Once you're out, it gets a lot harder," said a retired CIA official who said he had spoken recently with former colleagues. The inquiry would probably also target private contractors who worked for the CIA during the interrogations.

Oh, well - maybe the strategy is that if Obama can't deliver on health care or global warming he can at least fulfill a long-time fantasy of his base by blowing up the CIA.

Comments

[clarice]

Read my lips:They'll blow HIM up first.

[PaulL]

When it's Democrats vs. Democrats, Democrats are bound to get hurt.

Anyway, it's a brilliant way to lose further support from Independents. Go, Holder!

[budahmon]

Everyday it's something new with this regime. The corruption (firing the IGs for investigating highly connected friends), the current healthcare fiasco - asking people to snitch on their neighbors, goon squads, calling citizens mobsters, funding of Acorn through the House Bill, having access to your bank account, and telling American Citizens to shut up cause we are the problem; and now the show trials. Have we been transported back to the 1930s?

[hrtshpdbox]

Holder is probably emboldened by the CIA's complete lack of response (so far) to being smeared by Pelosi.

[clarice]

Nah--as TM hints, Holder's going thru a show investigation to satisfy the base. No prosecutions will follow BUT he is poking a stick in a hornet's nest nevertheless IMO.

[Extraneus]

Clever employee retention program.

[Jane]

They should all just become black panthers. I hear they have immunity.

[Captain Hate]

It's getting increasingly hard to keep up with the broken promises/lies by Il Douche and his minions, but didn't he specifically say this wouldn't happen?

[Porchlight]

What I find interesting is the idea that Zero thinks his base needs shoring up. If that's true then he's really in deep yogurt, as my dad would say.

[Extraneus]

Today's Rasmussen has the big 0 at -8 for the index, with 50/50 approval/disapproval, so the yogurt is still oozing in through the windows.

[AJB]

My life long dream of torturing people to death while working for the CIA is ruined. Oh well.

[Jane]

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.
...
Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”

http://open.salon.com/blog/scott_k/2009/08/07/bush_iraq_must_be_invaded_to_thwart_gog_and_magog

[AJB]

I guess I could still join the CIA and blow up a few of those brown mohammedans with a predator drone, though.

Because when Obama does it, it's totally not a war crime to slaughter scores innocents in peaceful countries by specifically targeting them with explosives.

[AJB]

We must, however, find out exactly who poured water on some terrorist's face and sic the entire DOJ on them.

[Original MikeS]

Wag the Dog. This is a ploy to direct media attention away from this administration's "miserable failure" to get anything useful accomplished.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Have we been transported back to the 1930s?

Well, the D's keep talking about FDR....

[SpeakEasy]

Jane, Really? siting a book called "If you repeat it, I'll deny it?" You are truly an idiot. The whole basis for your "scoop" is a fifth person tabloid style book. And you wonder why there is no media interest? Moron.

For the record, I am not one of George Bush's fanboys. He made enough mistakes without going off the rails inventing stories. He is also no longer President so who cares? But then, that is what Alinsky advocates now doesn't he?

[Porchlight]

Posted by: Jane | August 09, 2009 at 11:06 AM

Sockpuppeting alert.

[AJB]

Sock puppet strawmen.

Real fucking mature.

[clarice]

There must be a major unreported shortage of lithium--or--someone is just off his meds again.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.

It seems pretty unlikely, seeing as that tends to be Assembly of God and some of the more fringe Baptist churches, while Bush is a Methodist.

You know, no one credible has ever connected Bush to that sort of apocalyptic belief, although there have been a lot of lefty rumors.

With Salon reporting Jacques Chirac, I'd say that tradition continues.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

My life long dream of torturing people to death while working for the CIA is ruined. Oh well.

AJB, if the CIA did try to torture someone to death, they'd just find a way to cure their head cold or something anyway.

[jean]

It does make me laugh the idea of W and Chirac having such a chummy relationship

[Jane]

Wow - someone is pretending to be me? How quaint. I am off to see Julia and whoever - so "Jane" will apparently keep my seat warm.

[mikecampbelly2k]

Hey AG Holder: You stand a much better chance of convicting the Black Panther voter intimidation goon squad than you do any patriotic CIA operative defending this country. Who's side you on Mr. Attorney General Manchurian Candidate?

[Extraneus]

Good movie, Jane. I saw it last night.

[narciso]

Unfortunately this is part of his promise, the 'dog and pony show' as they call it. This is the "Halloween massacre" by
attrition, Call it "Welcome Back Turner" Do you have to ask Mike, although possibly not in D.C, sadly, if Lewis Libby and Oliver North are any indication

[TOPSECRETK9]

Everytime Obama blows it he rolls out a Bush era prosecution threat. His minions are that dumb.

[Barbara]

Oh, well - maybe the strategy is that if Obama can't deliver on health care or global warming he can at least fulfill a long-time fantasy of his base by blowing up the CIA.

...or weakening and degrading our intelligence to such an extent that America is attacked again. It would make a nice photo op for Obama and his teleprompter.

[AJB]

Seriously, as long as the CIA are only killing innocent civilians in Pakistan from a distance using unmanned, I have no problem with what they're doing.

But pouring water on the faces of confirmed terrorists leaders? Put our CIA agents in front of the firing squad for that kind of crime against humanity.

[bgates]

Maybe it's just an attempt to get the CIA to organize under the Secret Enhanced Interrogation Union.

On the other hand, if any of these interrogation specialists find themselves out of work, they'd come in handy at the town halls. Whether they're talking to al Qaeda in Gitmo or Carnahan in St Louis, they're faced with the same problem: a cagey opponent who won't reveal details of his plan to destroy America.

[Semanticleo]

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.
...
Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”

http://open.salon.com/blog/scott_k/2009/08/07/bush_iraq_must_be_invaded_to_thwart_gog_and_magog

Just thought I'd share this with u wingerz,,, no need to thank me

[JM Hanes]

Captain Hate:

"It's getting increasingly hard to keep up with the broken promises/lies by Il Douche and his minions, but didn't he specifically say this wouldn't happen?"

IIRC, he promised to pay their lawyers -- but who knew that this was what he meant?

I think it's partly wag the dog, partly throw the dog a bone -- which includes shoring up the Rottweiler who occupies the Speaker's chair. Obama cannot afford to lose lose Pelosi. She muscled Cap and Trade through down on the floor itself by the barest of majorities, and his agenda would be going absolutely nowhere without her. They're like fraternal twins: overbearing, self-indulgent, ideological brothers in arms.

The only more perfect union would be hooking up with Henry Waxman, but he'd be a lousy Speaker even if he had a prayer of election to that spot. He knows how to legislate the Democratic foot into any door, though, and he's even more shameless than Pelosi about doing just that.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

no need to thank me

Agreed.

[narciso]

Yeah those people who helped vote out Hastert to teach the GOP a lesson, well that worked out fine didn't it.

[JM Hanes]

No bold, Semantic? Yer losing yer touch, honey. Someone seems to be usurping your spot as JOM's Astroturfer in Chief.

[geezer]

CIA just might be forced to roll out Sadam's missing plastic shredder.

[Gmax]

I grew up in the Methodist Church, even before it became the United Methodist Church. I never ever heard a word about Gog and Magog. Not once just in passing.

This is pure unadulterated BS, and if Salon is peddling it they should be ashamed. This is akin to the Protocols of Zion, a blood libel.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

The only more perfect union would be hooking up with Henry Waxman

That's an image I could have done without.

[narciso]

Gog and Magog refers to Russia, now the fact that Gaul, Germania and the last along with a host of other countries were on Babylon's retainer, probably had a little more to do with it. Isn't Chirac on trial yet for something.

[Ignatz]

--No bold, Semantic?--

It's getting a little confusing here, but I think that is someone sock puppetting Leo because Leo sock puppetted Jane; "u wingerz" being the tell tale.

[TOPSECRETK9]

No bold, Semantic? Yer losing yer touch, honey. Someone seems to be usurping your spot as JOM's Astroturfer in Chief.

Posted by: JM Hanes | August 09, 2009 at 12:27 PM

heh.

[cahmd]

The Gog Magog stuff is being done in agog.

[k]

I think this is Holder's way of thumbing his nose at those that are demanding explanation why the DOJ let off the New Black Panthers, for voter intimidation!
"you question me, i'll go after the CIA" What inept idiot thugs this whole administration is!.

[FeFe]

By hook or by crook, those pro-bono lawyers who defended the Gitmo terrorists are going to release all evidence. Anyone who has ever collaborated or assisted the US will be outed.

Just as knowing how the terrorist organizations work through wire tapping and financial records, the jihadist will know how to advance once our system is laid bare in the NYT. Agent 202 may not be reporting to work at the State Department any longer but his KGB handler seems to have moved on to bigger and more informed fish. Fishy indeed.

[RichatUF]

or weakening and degrading our intelligence to such an extent that America is attacked again

Ramadan starts on August 22nd, ends on Sept 20th (Laylat al-Qadr is on 16 September, the Western date anniversary of the start of Black September). Seems like a great time to confuse and confound our intelligence and investigatory agencies, especially at a time when the Iranians need to show the rest of the world that they still can exert influence abroad.

[RichatUF]

Captain Hate-

There will be show trials and I'm not so sure there wouldn't be convictions given the broad writ Fitzgerald was given in the Libby matter. The DOJ could highly restrict access to classified materials for the defense and enter into evidence newspaper articles. In front of a DC jury those evil CIA officers will be made to pay.

[Ranger]

Team Barry's internal polling must be truely bad to go with this one. How many more independents is he willing to alienate to try to keep the base intact. And it really won't keep the base intact either. Once he has to announce that GITMO won't close by January of next year, they won't care about anything else he's done. As they used to tell us in the Army, one aw sh*t wipes away all the ataboys.

[Pagar]

IMO, Holder is going to need all the investigators he can get his hands on to investigate the Culture of Corruption within this Administration. Michelle Malkin has the details on who is corrupt in the Obama Administration-turns out is it almost every one of them:

On July 27, we launched Culture of Corruption on the Sean Hannity radio and tv shows.

Tonight, Sean announced that the book will debut at #1 on the New York Times best-seller list for the week of August 16.

If that is not enough corruption to keep all the investigators busy:

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/06/acorn-watch-louisiana-investigates/

LUN

Can anyone imagine how many millions of investigators it would take to properly investigate ACORN. That is not even counting the numbers that will need to be assigned to investigate Dodd and Conrad and the rest of that crowd.

[About Brewster-Jennings.]

It's Sybil Edmonds, but she's dropping a dime on Marc Grossman and Richard Armitage.

[Captain Hate]

Rich, that's an ugly scenario you propose, which makes me think it's realistic.

I have a number of contradictory feelings on this: I've stated previously that the CIA needs a thorough fumigation but unfortunately I don't think this would do the job; in fact I think it would accomplish just the opposite by clearing out some of the good guys. Special Prosecutors can go rogue but I doubt that a sniveling coward like Holder (I'm ready for that "honest discussion of race" any time, punk) would appoint anybody he couldn't control. Finally has there been any reaction from Panetta on this? Not that the mega-douche would utter a discouraging word....

I agree with JMH that this is throwing Pelosi a bone.

[RichatUF]

JM Hanes has some good instints but I disagree that this about Pelosi and more about Holder's inability to take seriously his obligations to his office or to matters of high state (a rather unfortunate affliction that runs throughout the Obama Administration). Obama tried to walk away from the matter, to "keep his fingerprints off it" as it were, but he has made too many speeches and made too much of the memos release to really not be implicated. Holder wants to go after the CIA officials and the contractors because he is still defending his terrorist clients as he was doing before he was tapped to be AG.

[I'm So Glad I'm Not a Lawyer]

How many average Americans even have a dog in this fight? In its first form it was to perp walk Rove. While Bush's popularity collapsed on its own accord. Now? I'm sure the sales of popcorn will go up. Nancy's just having another hissy fit. More Botox will be needed for her face. Oh, yeah. Our "justice department" can go hang itself, as well. Busy work for idiots on parade. Does the president think this "diversion" will cure what ails his dropping popularity? Really?

[centralcal]

Yesterday, one of our savvy commenters mentioned a woman caller to Washington Journal (C-Span) who eviscerated the media on its reporting of the grass roots movement.

I am happy to say, HotAir has the video posted today. Don't anyone miss it! RNC needs to cut a commercial with just this lady's remarks.

[Ranger]

Also important to remember that there is probably some score settling going on here between the FBI and the CIA. This got pushed up to DoJ because the FBI people weren't happy with how the CIA was questioning people. CIA won that fight, but I have a feeling some FBI types have been aching for revenge at being humiliated.

Look for some stories to start leaking out about how inept the FBI is in the... what ever we are calling it these days.

[Rob Crawford]

Over the last couple of decades, I've put together an analogy for the way actions contribute to the political mood in the US: imagine you're on a swing, you can pump the swing to make it go higher and faster; do nothing so it eventually dies down; or pump against the swing so it slows down even quicker.

The Clinton and Bush administrations generally took the "do nothing" tack towards the political mood. Hillary's idiotic "vast right wing conspiracy" and "media chain of conspiracy theory" crap addded some heat to the mood, but generally, they didn't add to it of their own violition.

My impression of the Bush administration is that they did absolutely NOTHING to add to the heat, that instead his actions were miscast by others to heat up the national mood. Others may disagree, clearly.

But the Obama administration? They seem intent on stirring up as much anger as they can.

And that scares the living shit out of me.

[JM Hanes]

narciso:

Republicans seem to have a predilection for killing off their own, don't they? Or a death wish.

Clarice:

The immediate problem with show trials is the devastating effect they have on effectiveness and morale. Folks who stay on the job because they're afraid to leave are just the tip of the iceberg. While I have to admit I find it gratifying to think that they might spend their time stirring up trouble for Team Obama, it's an intel disaster in the making -- and, IMO, a harbinger of worse to come.

As in all things Democratic these days, it will certainly result in more intrusive Congressional "oversight," but I have a feeling that dissecting the CIA in public for the benefit of Pelosi and the nutroots is not the end game here. I suspect that there may be an emblematic effort underway to dismantle the Agency altogether.

It's worth noting that he F.B.I.'s anti-terrorism mandate has been erasing the line between domestic and international operations (can't remember whether that division is statutory or regulatory?). In a bizarre ideological way, this would seem to conform to the "law enforcement" approach to virtually any problem, but it also represents a major expansion and concentration of authority and power in the DOJ. I see that as of a piece with consolidating (and politicizing) White House control over virtually every even remotely independent entity (think Census) attached to the Executive Branch.

The Prez has installed political lap dogs at the head of both CIA and DOJ, but while Panetta was probably intended to be little more than a reassuring public face, Holder may be just a less overtly thuggish Rahm Emmanuel. I believe Obama and Holder are doing in fact what Bush and Gonzales were always accused of doing in fiction: shaping the DOJ into a wholly owned creature of the White House.

In addition to Holder's frontal attack on the CIA, we've got what looks like a systemic undermining of Inspectors General, which was already underway back in April:

DNI head Dennis Blair announced Friday Justice Department official Roslyn Mazer will replace Inspector General Edward McGuire as the DNI's internal watchdog. The inspector general's role is to examine the operations of the office and investigate any allegations of waste, fraud or misconduct.

Earlier this week, Maguire testified before Congress about his report on the state of the DNI's office, outlining rampant communication problems, continuing turf battles within the intelligence community and financial mismanagement.

All of those problems were supposed to be addressed when the position of DNI was created by Congress in 2004 to look at the intelligence failures associated with the 9/11 terrorism attacks and the claims of Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction.

The classified inspector general report was completed in November 2008, but was not made public until this week.

DNI spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said Maguire's departure has nothing to do with his report. She claimed Blair, who assumed his position two months ago, wanted to bring his own leadership team.

How exactly does handing off to DOJ qualify as bringing in his own team? In any case, the Black Panther controversy is significant less for its racial complexion than for what it says about the acceleration of political meddling. Ditto on Holder shopping around for supportive opinions on the constitutionality of Presidential policy. Add Treasury into the mix on the financial side, making it up as it goes along and answering to no one but Obama. Add a phalanx of Czars, unvetted and unfettered by Congressional oversight. Add putting anyone who argues for vesting power in state vs federal government to the extremist watch list in the name of Homeland Security, and you've got a truly dangerous Executive Branch in the works -- even if Obama is turned out of office in '12.

We can thank our lucky stars for the healthcare dispute and the Tea Parties.. If Obama already had that package under his belt, I shudder to think about what he'd be doing now. I may be sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but we're not just looking at a massive expansion of bureaucracy, and it's not just Obama at the helm we need to worry about in the long term. The kind of executive power in the offing can seduce ambitious Republicans as well as Democrats.

[Dave (in MA)]

I think TM's going to need to had some sort of registration to weed out these leftholes intent on sockpuppeting and mobying.

[Dave (in MA)]

(have)

[Fresh Air]

Dave--

It's just one lefthole: the one with an imaginary son serving in Iraq.

[narciso]

Any one who had any part in turning a six year old over to the Castro govt as their property, so he can become a Young Pioneer is more than an Axelrod; that's a whole other level of evil in my book.

The DNI has proven to be too "mockeries of a sham" so of course it has to have been a suggestion of the 9/11 commisssion. It safeguarded the last two years of Iran's nuclear development, with that previous NIE, The current report says Iran will get the bomb in at least four years, that the Saudi jihadi rehabilitation program is working great, that we need at 325,000-800,000 troops in Afghanistan, and that climate change will be the new source of political instability. Very helpful, but for whom.

[clarice]

JMH--I agree generally with your post but here are some areas of departure:

The immediate problem with show trials is the devastating effect they have on effectiveness and morale. Folks who stay on the job because they're afraid to leave are just the tip of the iceberg. While I have to admit I find it gratifying to think that they might spend their time stirring up trouble for Team Obama, it's an intel disaster in the making -- and, IMO, a harbinger of worse to come.

At this point, I do not think there will be any trial or even a grand jury. I could be wrong but the Administration has too much to lose to play this game. I think there will just be an internal investigation.

As in all things Democratic these days, it will certainly result in more intrusive Congressional "oversight," but I have a feeling that dissecting the CIA in public for the benefit of Pelosi and the nutroots is not the end game here. I suspect that there may be an emblematic effort underway to dismantle the Agency altogether.
The agency has lost a lot of clour which is not in the DNI anyway. But I doubt there will be Dem congressional hearings..The administration will say they are handling this and congressional hearings will just interfere. And since the scope of the prosecutor's mandare will be kept ambiguous, should congress go ahead with hearings, subpoenaed witnesses will plead the fifth on the gounf of the ongoing investigation.

It's worth noting that he F.B.I.'s anti-terrorism mandate has been erasing the line between domestic and international operations (can't remember whether that division is statutory or regulatory?). In a bizarre ideological way, this would seem to conform to the "law enforcement" approach to virtually any problem, but it also represents a major expansion and concentration of authority and power in the DOJ. I see that as of a piece with consolidating (and politicizing) White House control over virtually every even remotely independent entity (think Census) attached to the Executive Branch.

The Prez has installed political lap dogs at the head of both CIA and DOJ, but while Panetta was probably intended to be little more than a reassuring public face, Holder may be just a less overtly thuggish Rahm Emmanuel. I believe Obama and Holder are doing in fact what Bush and Gonzales were always accused of doing in fiction: shaping the DOJ into a wholly owned creature of the White House.

I fully agree and think you've picked good examples to illustrate your point.

As the train slides off the track, I expect Holder will start coming under a great deal of fire. The US Civil Rights Commission has already announced it will conduct hearings on the Black Panther case dismissal.

[JM Hanes]

RichatUF:

Upon reflection, I agree with you about Pelosi -- but differ on Holder, as above. Hopefully we're all advancing the ball in a two step forward, to only one step back, game. :-)

[clarice]

(Sorry-jmh--part of your statement which I intended to italicize all of was inadvertently left un-italicized.)

Dave--why? Certainly no one was fooled for even a minute by the crazy who impersonated Jane and PUK.

[Barbara]

Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He cannot be straightforward on his ambitions as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers in our society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada.

Dr. Krauthammer on Obama… Pay no Attention to What he SAYS; Rather, Watch What he DOES

See article at Political Pyro Contributors (LUN)

[Harmageddon]

"can at least fulfill a long-time fantasy of his base by blowing up the CIA."

Indeed. We know what happened to JFK when he threatened to tear the CIA into a million pieces. WTF do we need CIA AND NSA for?

Please, don't tell me we need a civilian arm.
The Pentagon can handle it with oversight.

I should think conservatives would find TWO agencies redundant and wasteful. But I forgot they never seed waste in military weapons or operations.

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

I probably should have said "show trial scenario," because I doubt we'll be seeing indictments too -- although I think hearings are not entirely out of the realm of possibility depending on how much distraction (or destruction) might seem desirable at some given point in time. I was thinking less of public hearings in terms of oversight though, than of political interference and pressure.

It seems to me that even just the prospect of what can only be interpreted as a hostile investigation has got to have devastating implications. Not least of which is the fact that this is clearly a mission of choice, not necessity. A special prosecutor (visions of Comey rising from the dead?) goes way beyond the kind of internal reforms that Porter Goss was tasked to undertake, and I can't imagine anyone at the CIA putting any stock in Panetta to watch their backs.

[Barbara]

Sorry. I should have posted that comment on the Thuggish, Racist Saturday Open Thread.

[Pagar]

He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada.

No way! His whole intent is to make Castro
look good by making the US a fourth world nation.

[Bill G.]

Will Holder's Injustice Department investigate his boss for requesting criticism that the White House cannot maintain yet is not allowed to delete?
Will the left-stream media point out this dilemma?
Somehow, I doubt it.

[JM Hanes]

Barbara:

I think it's pretty much apropos anywhere!

[Reaganite Republican]

Great, bring it on Holder- you partisan toady.

Obama really kicked an ant hill with his ill-advised and politically motivated release of Bush Administration memos regarding EITs. Surely he regrets it, but he’ll just double-down with an investigation of the CIA now.

But Obama, Pelosi, and Holder seem to have forgot something: the CIA KILLS people… it’s in their job description- Did these twits really think that these killers were going to just meekly take-one-for-the-team… when the team captain is a lying, incompetent, arrogant nebbish who has basically told them they need to kiss his ring? -please

Let’s have a hearing and get it all out there, shall we? Then just watch the rats scatter who in 2006-07 attacked George W Bush for protecting the country from terrorist attack… but who clearly knew what was going on five years before we heard a peep out of them-

http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com

[clarice]

You could be entirely correct, jmh, and I could be dead wrong, but I think like Obama, Holder is a chuck and jive artist and this move is just to cover his ass re the base.

OTOH, maybe he'll appoint Fitzgerald to this important mission and drag him off the Ill, investigation.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Gog and Magog

Is there anyone not of the loony left persuasion that would believe George Bush would say such a thing? I cannot imagine him even saying it in private, let alone to another world leader.

This is the kind of b.s. that the left fantasizes about since they have little personal knowledge of religion or religious teachings and gin up all kinds of weirdness out of whole cloth.

I sat in a mainline denomination for 30 years of Sundays and never heard a single apocalyptic sermon. When we were transferred to South Carolina and my 16 year old daughter wanted to join a church with a good youth group, she and I went church shopping. We took the church directory published in the paper on Saturdays and started at the top and visited every church over the next year.

Most of those churches were very tame and much like the mainline church I grew up in, some were borderline weird and a couple were really weird. The point is that was my first introduction to some of the apocalyptic preaching in a few of the churches that the left thinks is the norm.

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

I could certainly be giving Holder too much credit as a wolf in sheep's clothing as opposed to a useful idiot. It's just that everything about Obama screams control freak to me, from designing your own voting district, to money, image, or message, and I'm not sure government as empire shouldn't be added to that list. I hope I am wrong. On more optimistic days, I think Obama has the misguided impression that Washington is just Chicago writ large, and that he is about to find out just how big the United States really is.

[clarice]

I hope your optimistic view of the *shuck* and jive man is the right one. I am watvhing his and Rahm's faces these days and I am seeing a lot of stress and angst.

[daddy]

Magog is a point on the Elato 4A and 4B arrival into Hong Kong Airport. You are expected to descend to cross Magog at Flight Level 260 in the event that holding is occuring at point Abbey. THis rarely occurs however, so instead you are usually told to blow off the 280 Knot speed restriction at Musel, proceed direct to Guava for further vectors for the 07L ILS, and shortly after you're descending the steps at Murphy's Pub on Nathan road for a nice cup of grog.

[Rob Crawford]

This is the kind of b.s. that the left fantasizes about since they have little personal knowledge of religion or religious teachings and gin up all kinds of weirdness out of whole cloth.

Keep in mind -- lefties heard the recordings of "Rev" Jeremiah Wright shrieking hate-filled racist bile and didn't understand what the problem was. I think they believe that's what all churches are like.

[daddy]

Good link Barbara,

Thanks.

[Janet]

Am I alone in thinking we should hold a ticker-tape parade of thanks for the men and women that protected us after 9-11? CIA, Special Ops.,...those in the Dept. of Defense that made the hard choices. Really, I do not view any of these people as anything other than "the men in the arena"...those willing to do the hard work of protecting us.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I have a favor to ask everyone here on JOM.

Once the weather cools off this Fall, I intend to concentrate on getting rid of Barbara Boxer. Right now, there are two primary candidates who have made it known they are interested in her seat.

Chuck deVore, a conservative presently in the State legislature and Meg Whitman, eBay founder and more a McCain-type Republican. I'm not going to take sides at this point, although I'm more inclined toward deVore at this point.

The goal is to get rid of Barbara "don't call me M'am" Boxer, who has to be one of the silliest women ever.

My favor is to ask all of you to send me links or comments regarding Boxer. Yes, I'm looking for blog fodder, but also to build a good case for kicking her butt to the curb. Anything you find you can send to:

defeatboxer@pal2pal.com

and please pass along too.

[Fishy, that's what it is, fishy.]

Yes, excellent link to Krauthammer, Barbara. Looks like it's gone viral, people are arriving at that site from all over.

[Cecil Turner]

I suspect that there may be an emblematic effort underway to dismantle the Agency altogether.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. And at the hands of their allies . . . sweet. (But I doubt it'll amount to all that much, which is too bad.)

[daddy]

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I see this CIA fishing expedition as an opportunity for the full MSM complement to start saying that "these very necessary inquiries will eventually lead to getting to the bottom of the evil Dick Cheney's collusion in orchestrating these non-Constitutional atrocities etc"...or some such similar rot.

The Leftist MSM lapdogs are currently failing miserably at defending the indefensible Health Care monstrosity because they are having to fight a populace that is angry and well armed with the facts. This CIA investigation on the other hand, because of it's cryptic and legal nature, opens up a whole new non-factual Lefist front, that puts the MSM megaphones nationally back on the offense in spreading difficult to refute attack meme's 24/7 against Conservatives in general and Cheney in particular. That's my uneducated assessment of the reason for this dangerous and irresponsible DOJ game playing---an end sweep around the front line that is knocking their initiatives and poll numbers on their ass.

[Barbara]

Oops!

I went to the web site of the "Center of the American Experiment" to see if I could find an actual draft of Charles Krauthammer's speech. Instead, I found the following disclaimer:

Statement from Dr. Charles Krauthammer
about his American Experiment Annual Dinner Remarks

A number of people have asked about the availability of an audio recording or transcript of Charles Krauthammer’s brilliant remarks at American Experiment’s 2009 Annual Dinner on June 1. We’re sorry, but Dr. Krauthammer has informed us that he does not disseminate comments made at private events. He also has advised us that a summary of his speech on the Internet is “neither accurate nor authoritative.” His full statement follows. The Center regrets any disappointment or confusion.

Here's the link (LUN) for his full statement.

Apparently, whoever drafted the summary of his comments embellished them far beyond what Mr. K. said.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Yikes!

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Sorry, forgot the link to the poll above.

[Barbara]

Since the link I referenced only contained a summary of Krauthammer's comments, I should have checked for the actual text of his speech first.

My apologies to all.

[Jim Ryan]

Thanks for the correction, Barbara.

[Extraneus]

*shuck* and jive

Whew, I'm glad you posted that correction because I was about to really let you have it over that typo.

I agree, daddy. Perhaps the idea isn't really to investivage low-level CIA people at all, but more importantly to get their own Special Prosecutor appointed. There's no telling who might have to come downtown to be deposed once that happens, is there? Rove is still a free man, for example, and probably makes the hairs on their butts curl up every time he writes a piece for the WSJ or appears on Fox News. (Bonus Babs Boxer cameo on that clip, Sara.) And Cheney's book is still to come.

I'd lay odds that Obama and Holder have been pillow-talking about a SP for over eight months, and have perhaps finally settled on how to justify one. Surely his or her mandate won't be too restrictive.

[Barbara]

You're welcome, Jim.

[Ignatz]

--Chuck deVore, a conservative presently in the State legislature and Meg Whitman, eBay founder and more a McCain-type Republican. I'm not going to take sides at this point, although I'm more inclined toward deVore at this point.--

I think I can simplify things for you Sara.
I believe Whitman is interested in running for the governorship not senator.

[Ignatz]

Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. make something out of us.
Michelle told us so.

[glasater]

I have read that Carly Fiorino is exploring running against Boxer.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Sara had a brain fart.

[narciso]

I think they're still grading on a curve, myself. There have been some votes like the vote against the stimulus were good, but voting for cap n trade, Sebelius, and Geithner seems to cancel that.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Indeed. We know what happened to JFK when he threatened to tear the CIA into a million pieces. WTF do we need CIA AND NSA for?

I'm guessing that means you don't actually know what either agency does?

[not_bubarooni]

just a guess...

they won't push on the CIA members (politically risky), but those evil private contractors are gonna go thru the wringer.

[PD]

Greetings from Largo, FL.

Just one small amendment to an earlier comment:

Keep in mind -- lefties heard the recordings of "Rev" Jeremiah Wright shrieking hate-filled racist bile and didn't understand what the problem was. I think they believe that's what all churches are like.

s/are like/should be like/

[PD]

Yikes!

I'll say. That 56% should be much higher.