Document Dump

Republican Senators & Staff Contemplating Full Investigation of CIA Secret Prison Leak?

Congress has the power to jail journalists for contempt, too. I think the Sergeant at Arms can be directed to take recalcitrant witnesses to the local jail:

Intelligence Committee Chairman, Sen. Pat Roberts, to open a full investigation into the leak by CIA staffers of so-called "black sites" overseas. These facilities house captured al Qaeda and other terrorists, and are maintained by the CIA.

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Although Post withheld the locations of specific "black sites," the London Times quickly followed up. Citing the human rights group as a source, it identified not only the nations where they might be located -- both of which are staunch allies in America's War on Terrorism -- but also the flight plans used by the CIA to transport the prisoners.

"This leak not only put CIA operatives at risk by identifying the locations, including ones that are supposedly no longer being used, it put our national security at risk here at home and put civilian lives in the countries that are helping us at risk. Weigh this leak against the one Democrats are all hopped up about and there is no comparison," says a Republican staffer for a Senator considering making a formal request for the investigation.

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"This is a very serious matter," says another Senate leadership aide. "Democrats should be looking to join us in this investigation, but they won't because they know where it will end: their side of the aisle."

Democrats engaging in seditious leaking for partisan ends? That's just crazy-talk, that's all that is.

Plame/Wilson Scheme A "Covert Operation" Against the US Government?

The meme spreads. Because it's true:

So why did the CIA let him do it? It sent Wilson on a sensitive mission — but didn't require him to sign the usual confidentiality agreement. Even though his wife was a CIA staffer, it let him go loudly public — violating the most basic precautions, if she truly wanted to protect her identify.

The agency didn't assert a right to vet the New York Times op-ed he wrote about his trip — even though such review is standard, and even though his Times account sharply conflicted with what he'd told the CIA. It was if the agency flashed him a giant green light to blast Bush.

Indeed, the indictment that could send ex-White House aide Scooter Libby to jail for 30 years also holds clear evidence that the CIA should have stopped Wilson from going public.

The indictment notes that on June 9, 2003, Libby got CIA documents about Wilson's trip to Niger that were marked "classified" — even though "they did not mention Wilson by name" and Libby didn't yet know about the role of Wilson's wife. That indicates that the trip itself was classified — so CIA should have ordered Wilson to stop blabbing.

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For her part Toensing — who was Intelligence Committee counsel when Moynihan was vice-chairman — has no doubt about the answer: "It was a planned CIA covert action against the White House. It was too clever by half."

Islamic Upbringing No Excuse For Rape

An Australian court dismissed appeals on Friday from three Pakistani brothers convicted of gang rape, with a judge describing a defence claim that their Muslim background contributed to the crime as insulting.

New South Wales state appeal court judge Michael Grove refused to reduce the sentences of the three brothers over the July 2002 rapes of two teenage girls at the family home in Sydney’s suburbs.

Appeal lawyers for 27-year-old MSK, one of the brothers, argued that their client’s strict Muslim upbringing in Pakistan meant he had traditional views about women that made him a “cultural time bomb� in Australia and contributed to the rapes.

French Rioters May Soon Break Out The Heavy Artillery

"In the past, when we have cracked down on these criminals in their homes, we found drugs, grenades and heavy weapons such as guns. While they haven't started using these arms yet, there's also no reason to think they wouldn't."

Yeah, they may stop shooting cops and burning down whole neighborhoods and get serious.

Volcker Admits He Changed Language In Report To Protect Kofi Annan

With his report on Iraqi oil deals creating a political storm in India, its author Paul Volcker, in a startling revelation, has said he agreed to change the language that referred to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's son Kojo's business dealings.

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"...[W]hen it came to the moment when he realized that Annan's job hung on his words, "I felt uncomfortably," he said.

The daily said that the U.N. Chief and his lawyer asked Volcker to change the language about business dealings by Kojo Annan that they thought could force his father's resignation, hours before the publication of the draft forward of the report in September.

Right, that's what he was hired for-- to protect Kofi Annan's job despite being kneedeep in corruption, right?

And, this just in:

Terrell Owens Is An Asshole

Breaking news. Must credit Ace.

posted by Ace at 01:19 AM

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