Billmon asks: Will coincidences ever cease?
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August 7, 2004
Billmon: Half Cocked
Comments
As Reuters cites:
“If it’s true that the Americans have unintentionally revealed the identity of another nation’s intelligence agent, who appears to be working in the good of all of us, that is not only a fundamental intelligence flaw its also a monumental foreign relations blunder,” security expert Paul Beaver, a former publisher of Jane’s Defense Weekly, told Reuters.
Note to all Secret Services: Never trust the US!
Posted by: b | Aug 7 2004 7:21 utc | 1
Bernhard
I don’t know if your reference to Billmon’s article is a typo or not but half cooked is a nice play on the story as well. My guess is that Rove was so desperate to get something into the ether that he couldn’t be bothered with checking with the spooks first to make sure he didn’t blow someone’s cover or threaten an ongoing investigation. Had anyone else done this, they would be tried for treason. Since this is already the second time (Valerie Plame for those who might have forgotten) that the White House has “outed” an undercover agent, one could make a conspiracy argument, no?
Posted by: Dan of Steele | Aug 7 2004 7:45 utc | 2
@Dan – thanks – just woke up and corrected it.
Juan Cole is at it
In this scenario, [Bush] or someone in his immediate circle decides that a mere double agent inside al-Qaeda can be sacrificed if it helps Bush get reelected in the short term.
On the other hand, sheer stupidity cannot be underestimated as an explanatory device in Washington politics.
Posted by: b | Aug 7 2004 7:56 utc | 3
Reports on BBC now, the 12 guys arrested will now probably not face charges.
What a total fuck-up.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Aug 7 2004 8:00 utc | 4
This is truly bizarre, normally you would enjoy schadenfreude when your enemy fucks up by the numbers. In this case I really can’t. If there are bad guys out there who want to hurt me, Boy Bush is helping them by being such a power hungry bastard.
Hopefully we can make it thru the next couple of months and the “10 out of 10 terrorists who favor Kerry for President” (Republican ad) will actually go and vote the shrub’s ass out of Washington. Then we can all pose for pictures on a flight deck with a big banner screaming “Mission Accomplished”
Posted by: Dan of Steele | Aug 7 2004 10:26 utc | 5
This is far more serious than the Plame case, and needs to be investigated. I’ve given up on calling my Senators to make things like that happen.
So, in that, I’m glad the 9/11 Commission is staying on the job. I fully expect a contingent of them to hit the press circuit this week, drumming up support for a full investigation into this leak. Am I being too optimistic?
Yup, sure.
If there’s one thing we know, real credible human assets are crap, right?
So, let’s just get rid of them all.
Instead, we can rely on the level of ‘chatter’ and big guns in shopping malls.
I’m with dirtgirl. This must be investigated, and if there is validity, it can only mean one thing – any future attack will repudiate, not vindicate Bush Admin policies and actions.
In other words, this is serious business because it could be an indication that the Flesh-Eating Rot of the Mayberry Machivaellian Disease has reached the Lethal stage.
Posted by: RossK | Aug 7 2004 16:00 utc | 7
By this point in the Shrub misadministration I just shake my head, but this has stirred my rage anew.
The Kerry campaign *needs*, has a moral obligation, to cry this from the tallest tower, put it in an ad along with the Plame case, make it as well known as the fact that Kerry served on a gun boat in Vietnam. Bush is not just stupid, not just incompetant, he is an traitor!
Maybe the CIA will perform two or three “wet jobs” at 1600.
It may not work, but come Monday I am going to make a call to Lugar’s office and give one of his poor administrative assistants a piece of my mind!
Posted by: Stoy | Aug 8 2004 4:52 utc | 8
You might want to look at it another way. Bushco is responsible for the terror scare, 9/11 etc. AlQaeda is something else; perhaps a patsy manufactured by Mossad/CIA, perhaps a gang of pissed-off Muslims, whatever.
Obviously bushco wants no exposure of AlQaeda’s true involvement or lack thereof, as it would direct attention back at the true treasonous responsible party, bushco. I hear they are or may be attempting to create a credible double for OBL so they can bring him in at the right moment and win a few political points. As with Saddam. Jeeze, talk about desperation and a fool’s mission.
Anyway, I suggest not sweating the Pakistani double agent, and whether or not he had the goods on somebody. Your true enemy is in the White House.
Posted by: rapt | Aug 8 2004 22:28 utc | 9