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Iraq-Jordan
Wash Times: Iraqi arms scientists killed before they talk
2004-08-24
Posted by:Super Hose

#11  Well actually, I think there's a logical explanation for the very obvious de-emphasis on capturing Osama bin Laden. Have you noticed that the rhetoric now from the White House is all about catching this top lieutenant or tracking that one? Not one word about Osama. Go to the Administration's web site and search through their recent posts on homeland defense; the last official mention of Osama was in an interview Dick Cheney gave six months ago.

I figure Salem bin Laden, Osama's half brother and a well-known business partner of the Bushes, might have asked for a little favor on behalf of his blood relation.

If I'm right, then it's "death to al Qaeda" but never to Osama, half-brother to one of the world's richest and most influential men. After all, the Saudis do own 14% of our country.

And that's gotta count for something.
Posted by: Mister Write   2004-09-13 8:20:28 PM  

#10  A friend of mine that works for NIMA told me that Valerie Plame's name was on the CIA PUBLIC roster as early as 1982. Listing her as an "undercover" operative is ludicrous. The only thing that was supposed to be kept "close-hold" was her marriage to Ambassador Wilson, for obvious reasons - the stench of nepotism.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2004-08-24 1:38:35 PM  

#9  Valerie Plame's identity was a closely guarded secret among the entire Washington cocktail party circuit, I'm sure.
Posted by: eLarson   2004-08-24 10:50:25 AM  

#8  Mister Write: There are other signs of a widespread security meltdown: the mysterious outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame

People like Valerie Plame who go in under official cover are already outed to foreign intelligence services. Just as we follow around every Russian or Chinese diplomat in America, the opposition follows around every American employee working at American embassies or consulates. Basically, the only people who did not know Plame was not a spy were people outside of the intelligence services.

If Plame were an illegal - i.e. an operative working under unofficial cover, as a businessperson, academic or journalist, without diplomatic immunity - then there might be real damage. But she wasn't. And illegals are never posted to embassies unless they're already outed to foreign intelligence agencies.

The fact is this - if Plame was such a hotshot recruiter, why is she working behind a desk? Agents are in fear for their lives all the time, because they are basically betraying their countries for ideological or monetary reasons. The only person they trust is typically the person who recruited them. If Plame were such a great spy recruiter, she'd still be in-country instead of sitting behind a desk in Virginia.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-08-24 9:59:50 AM  

#7  There are other signs of a widespread security meltdown: the mysterious outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, and the Administration's leaking of Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan's name as an al Qaida/Pakistani double agent.

Khan's name was leaked by the Pakistanis. If you paid attention to the news, you'd know that.

As for Plame, it's doesn't look like her name came from the administration. I suspect Wilson "leaked" her name while playing the "anonymous source" game, then tried to score more political points off it.

I'm amazed at the way some people fell for it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-08-24 6:51:43 AM  

#6  Who do you think are translating all those top secret Arabic, Persian and Pashto language intercepts. With the ease of communication and travel these days, it's even more stupid than having German and Japanese immigrants translating Enigma and Magic intercepts during WW2.
Posted by: ed   2004-08-24 6:42:19 AM  

#5  Yup, Chalabi. Turns out he was party to all kinds of high-level stuff, which he then turned around and sold to the Iranian intelligence service.

If we played it loose with Ahmed and friends, I don't doubt there are others who were privy to stuff they shouldn't have been privy to. There are other signs of a widespread security meltdown: the mysterious outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, and the Administration's leaking of Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan's name as an al Qaida/Pakistani double agent. Someone in this government has a very low regard for national secrets and will readily reveal them if the price, or the politics, are right.

Funny thing about rot; it is seldom confined to just one apple in a barrel. B, you're probably onto something serious here.
Posted by: Mister Write   2004-08-24 5:32:37 AM  

#4  Wouldn't surprise me one bit - the Manhattan Project, for one, was full of Communist sympathizers, who gave all sorts of information. Heck, the chief trainer for the CIA and the head of counterintelligence for the FBI were both traitors! I'm sure that there are several highly-placed individuals who are passing information to the enemy.
Posted by: gromky   2004-08-24 2:53:42 AM  

#3  The partisanship this election cycle has no bounds, that seems apparent - with Leahy, Rockerfeller, and others being willing complicit leakers and game-playing assholes.

In Iraq itself, Chalabi certainly might've played a major role up until about a month ago when they raided his house and the charges started flying. No doubt there are others, including the closet Ba'athists - for whom this would be a priority if they're still on the Al Douri payroll.
Posted by: .com   2004-08-24 2:14:24 AM  

#2  You mean other than Sen Leahy?

Seriously, I imagine that Sadaam's boys knew which scientists knew what and they probably know where all the scientists are, but the mortar shot is a fluke. The guy who got beat to death with tent poles the other day, though, he definitely did something that Sadaam's fellows or the Shia or some otehr criminal element didn't care for.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-08-24 2:06:22 AM  

#1  I have become convinced that there is a very, very, high level mole in our government. I was just watching the history channel on the build up of Al Qaeda, and it just seems so blindingly obvious that someone is tipping off our enemies to our most sensitive information.

bin Laden and Sadaam seemed to know, if only hours or moments in advance, of impending assination efforts.

The head of the Northern Alliance was assinated just before he coordinated with CIA against the Taliban and bin Laden.

This acticle is yeat another perfect example of this persistent luck on the part of our enemies. No one is ever so consistently "lucky". It's becoming so &^%$#@( obvious that someone, very high in the food chain, is tipping them off.

But ..hey, no one will listen to me. I'll just have to be content to say, "uh, huh, I knew that"...when it comes out 30 years from now.
Posted by: B   2004-08-24 2:01:54 AM  

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