Article

2006-04-05 Home Front: Politix

Democrat concerned over US intel on Iran

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Dan Darling 2006-04-05 00:56|| || Front Page|| [11136 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Harman's one of the smarter Dems but she still thinks we can somehow get 'pristine and pure' intelligence. It's like she wants to convict them in court after mirandizing, subpoening, etc.

It does not occur to these people most decisions in the real world, and all made in wartime, are made under uncertainty. When possible, it's best to err on the side of caution.

Posted by JAB 2006-04-05 01:51|| 2006-04-05 01:51|| Front Page Top

#2 She was echoing the words

A pity thats all she and her kind are qualified to do.

Posted by Besoeker 2006-04-05 05:21|| 2006-04-05 05:21|| Front Page Top

#3 Jane Harman may be one of the smarter Democrats, but I'm sure as Hell not willing to bet my life or my childrens' lives on her "concerns."

Iran has been shaking its fist at us and screaming, "DEATH TO AMERICA!!!!" for 27 years; a few years ago we learned they were running a secret program to develop uranium enrichment capability; and they continue to defy all efforts to persuade them to stop.

Those simple facts right there are enough for me. Whack the Mad Mullahs. DO IT NOW.

Posted by Dave D.">Dave D. 2006-04-05 06:01|| 2006-04-05 06:01|| Front Page Top

#4 "I can't tell you that's true, but I can't tell you it's not true."
Indecisiveness and and hand wringing. Plane and simple.
"I remain skeptical lots of unanswered questions."
Failure to commit and take a stand. Again, plane and simple.

What does she nor understand? They are building Nuclear material to use in boms. They have shown it to the world, there is no hunting for it or conjecture. Their Pres has said his goal in life is to destroy the United States of America. The Iranian Government funded the Beirut bombing that killed 200+ great American, bombed the Kobar towers, and built an army, Hammas, designed to carry out terrorist actions worldwide.

My only question to our esteemed Congresswoman is, "What questions here need answering????"

Posted by 49 Pan">49 Pan 2006-04-05 07:20|| 2006-04-05 07:20|| Front Page Top

#5 She really pissed me off with her fench sitting. Sorry folks for the spelling errors. My bad.

Posted by 49 Pan">49 Pan 2006-04-05 07:22|| 2006-04-05 07:22|| Front Page Top

#6 Harman's one of the smarter Dems...

Damning with faint praise, again? I mean "one of the smarter Dems" is like being one of the more chaste street walkers.

Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford 2006-04-05 07:39|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2006-04-05 07:39|| Front Page Top

#7 I'd like to see a statement from George Bush to the effect that as a result of historical experience, we have no choice but to believe it when other countries make warlike and threatening statements, or claim to have or to be acquiring certain weapons -- and therefore we will respond to stated threats in the same way as to confirmed threats. This is not the kind of thing for which equivocation or nuance is helpful.

But lately I've been feeling more than a bit impatient with the usual nonsense. I'm very glad I'm not in the diplomatic corps, else we'd be in the middle of a couple of wars by now. ;-)

Posted by trailing wife 2006-04-05 09:05|| 2006-04-05 09:05|| Front Page Top

#8 If the dems are downplaying the intell, then it must be fairly damning. You know how dems run from war, therefore, Jane is off and running,
indicating we are soon off to war.

Posted by wxjames 2006-04-05 09:54|| 2006-04-05 09:54|| Front Page Top

#9 Dems need backup so if the war goes badly they can say told you so.

Posted by djohn66 2006-04-05 10:36|| 2006-04-05 10:36|| Front Page Top

#10 Its delusional to believe the majority of elected US officials (of all stripes) can resist their political instincts. Even with all her deserved accolades, Harman has proven not to be the exception. Take her recent statement of how she felt mislead into authorizing the Iraq War for example. Or how she used weasel words to imply trepidation in light of the congressional intelligence committee briefing and authorization for the NSA surveillance. At best, for someone in her position, these smokescreen statements should be viewed as unashamed admissions of incompetence. Although I agree with her apprehension to accept some of the sensational information about Irans capabilities and goals, this is clearly another example of a politician making a CYA statement.

Posted by DepotGuy 2006-04-05 11:08|| 2006-04-05 11:08|| Front Page Top

#11 She's a Californian, not an American. Ignore her.

Posted by Secret Master 2006-04-05 11:23|| 2006-04-05 11:23|| Front Page Top

#12 The intelligence would be a lot clearer if the Democrats hadn't deliberately gutted intelligence capabilities.

Posted by Grunter 2006-04-05 12:28|| 2006-04-05 12:28|| Front Page Top

#13 Sadly, she has a point. A stupid one, but a point.

That being, that US intelligence agencies have so embarassed themselves so many times, over so many years, that to get accurate intelligence we almost have to subcontract to private entities, like Janes.

I really wonder if it is an insolvable institutional problem. That they are just so enormous that they cannot see out from under the puffy rolls of bureaucratic flesh. They would not be the first bureaucracy to suffer from such a problem.

The side of this coin she is concerned about is that they might lead us into an unneccessary war.

HOWEVER, it should concern those of us here, if their data is so flawed, that in a war, it might lead to a significant number of our soldiers and sailors getting killed.

I, for one, do not want to see a single soldier or sailor killed because some honorable schoolboy Eli at CIA was promoted because of his class ties.

Posted by Anonymoose 2006-04-05 14:18|| 2006-04-05 14:18|| Front Page Top

#14 I have not been up at the senior levels were the ivy league guys are, and presumably the problems are. But down at the operator level, all of the guys I have known and worked with were focused, dedicated and trustworthy. I see them as the new breed as the culture shifts in that agency. As much as the senior leaders have embarased themselves and the agency, the new guys climbing the ladder are different. I am hopefull.

Posted by 49 Pan">49 Pan 2006-04-05 15:40|| 2006-04-05 15:40|| Front Page Top

#15 49 and OS and anyone else with experience...

My question has always been, "Isn't intelligence one of those areas that you never see or hear about the successes, only the failures?"

If so, how can anyone outside the system judge whether or not things are going reasonably well?

Remember, a batting average of .800 is pretty good, but, if you only hear about the misses it's still a .000

Posted by AlanC">AlanC 2006-04-05 19:01|| 2006-04-05 19:01|| Front Page Top

#16 She's a Californian, not an American. Ignore her.

SM, It's not Californian anymore It's Caliphornian!

/sheech

Posted by RD 2006-04-05 19:45|| 2006-04-05 19:45|| Front Page Top

#17 Harmon is a political hack, first and foremost. She was on so many sides of the terrorist surveillance issue of which she was a principle, along with Rocky from the Senate Intel Committee.

If she is one of the brighest bulds on the donks side, sheesh.

Posted by Captain America 2006-04-05 22:51|| 2006-04-05 22:51|| Front Page Top

#18 amen, CA - she reminds me of a parrot that's learned from a disaffected family - she'll say whatever it takes to get the cracker and her feathers preened. Her turnabout on FISA should've got her ass off the intelligence committee if her party had any nads

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2006-04-05 22:58|| 2006-04-05 22:58|| Front Page Top

00:01 ex-lib
23:58 FOTSGreg
23:46 FeralCat
23:33 11A5S
23:32 SteveS
23:13 Old Patriot
23:10 GradStudent06
23:03 Captain America
22:59 SPoD
22:58 Frank G
22:51 Captain America
22:45 Frank G
22:32 newc
22:20 tibor742
22:20 trailing wife
22:19 plainslow
22:11 xbalanke
22:10 phil_b
22:08 Robert Crawford
22:05 trailing wife
22:03 Juck Sleath3598
22:01 Alaska Paul
21:51 lotp
21:50 Robert Crawford