Contributed by: filbert Friday, December 07 2007 @ 05:12 PM CST
Intelligence agencies turn on a dime, deciding that after all, Iran isn’t developing nuclear weapons. In the words of Director of Intelligence Emily Litella[*1] : “Never Mind.”
Story #2:
CIA makes tapes of, then disposes of, then tells the world about interrogation tapes of Al Qaida terrorists.
To review, these are the guys that our entire political leadership depend on for clear and honest analysis of what’s going on in the world. These are also the guys who, throughout the Clinton presidency and well into the G.W. Bush presidency, stated in no uncertain terms that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had WMD’s and were ready to use them. That is, until our political leadership actually did something about it. That’s when Miss Litella mentioned above got her promotion to Director of Intelligence.
Can someone explain to me why some the vitriol aimed at Bush (and, some of that aimed at the Democrats) is not focused like a laser beam on our deeply dysfunctional national intelligence services?
UPDATE: Meet Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr.,[*2] Director of Operations for the CIA, apparent villain of this particular piece:
Top C.I.A. officials had decided in 2003 to preserve the tapes in response to warnings from White House lawyers and lawmakers that destroying the tapes would be unwise, in part because it could carry legal risks, the government officials said.
But the government officials said that Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the chief of the agency’s clandestine service, the Directorate of Operations, had reversed that decision in November 2005, at a time when Congress and the courts were inquiring deeply into the C.I.A.’s interrogation and detention program. Mr. Rodriguez could not be reached Friday for comment.
As the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in 2003, Porter J. Goss[*3] , then a Republican congressman from Florida, was among Congressional leaders who warned the C.I.A. against destroying the tapes, the former intelligence officials said. Mr. Goss became C.I.A. director in 2004 and was serving in the post when the tapes were destroyed, but was not informed in advance about Mr. Rodriguez’s decision, the former officials said.
It was not until at least a year after the destruction of the tapes that any members of Congress were informed about the action, the officials said. On Friday, Representative Peter Hoekstra, the Michigan Republican who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 2004 to 2006, said he had never been told that the tapes were destroyed.
Hmm, wasn’t the Director of Operations the bad guy in some of Tom Clancy’s novels? Life imitates art.