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Obama Damages National Security by “Muddled” “Confused” Policy
Flopping Aces ^ | Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 1:28 pm | Mike's America

Posted on 04/22/2009 1:59:13 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

The damage at CIA may have deadly consequences!

The Politico reports that Obama’s missteps on “torture” are “muddled” and “confused.” The idea that an incoming Administration will investigate and prosecute it’s predecessor is wrong on so many levels. In this case, the direct impact may be felt hardest by those charged with the difficult job of discovering where the next terrorist attack will come.

Slow Roll Time At Langley
By David Ignatius
Washington Post
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

…Sad to say, it’s slow roll time at Langley after the release of interrogation memos that, in the words of one veteran officer, “hit the agency like a car bomb in the driveway.” President Obama promised CIA officers that they won’t be prosecuted for carrying out lawful orders, but the people on the firing line don’t believe him. They think the memos have opened a new season of investigation and retribution.

The lesson for younger officers is obvious: Keep your head down. Duck the assignments that carry political risk. Stay away from a counterterrorism program that has become a career hazard.

Obama tried personally to reassure the CIA workforce during a visit to Langley on Monday. He said all the right things about the agency’s clandestine role. But it had the look of a campaign event, with employees hooting and hollering and the president reading from his teleprompter with a backdrop of stars that commemorate the CIA’s fallen warriors. By yesterday, Obama was deferring to the attorney general whether to prosecute “those who formulated those legal decisions,” whatever that means.

For a taste of what’s ahead, recall the chilling effects of past CIA scandals. In 1995, then-Director John Deutch ordered a “scrub” of the agency’s assets after revelations of past links to Guatemalan death squads.


(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: cia; ciainterrogation; ciainterrogationmemo; obama

1 posted on 04/22/2009 1:59:13 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Wait.

Eliminating teen pirates “with deep prejudice” good.

Waterboarding terrorist plotters bad.

Got it.


2 posted on 04/22/2009 2:03:06 PM PDT by mdk1960
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To: All
Related thread:

Slow Roll Time At Langley

The Washington Post article referenced....

3 posted on 04/22/2009 2:03:42 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Support Geert Wilders)
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To: mdk1960

The left is not overly concerned with protecting the country....securing their power is a much higher priority!


4 posted on 04/22/2009 2:05:45 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Support Geert Wilders)
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To: mdk1960

Leftism is a brain disorder.


5 posted on 04/22/2009 2:09:01 PM PDT by DB
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To: All
From the Drudge Report:

*********************************************

Pelosi knew NSA had listened to Harman phone calls...


MEMO: Harsh techniques brought good info...

'Deeper understanding of the al-Qaida network'...

POLITICO: WHITE HOUSE DAZED, CONFUSED BY TORTURE DEBATE...

AP: Interrogation debate testing White House...

6 posted on 04/22/2009 2:09:37 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Support Geert Wilders)
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To: All; fiscon1
FR Thread:

Obama Muddles Torture Message

**********************************EXCERPT INTRO*****************************

Politico ^ | 04/22/2009 | Mike Allen

Posted on Wed 22 Apr 2009 10:19:10 AM PDT by fiscon1

President Barack Obama’s attempt to project legal and moral clarity on coercive CIA interrogation methods has instead done the opposite — creating confusion and political vulnerability over an issue that has inflamed both the left and right.

7 posted on 04/22/2009 2:12:33 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Support Geert Wilders)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Obama is a complete fool and should step down or impeached. He is definately not for America.


8 posted on 04/22/2009 2:13:28 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: All; Scanian
And the last link also has a thread:

Analysis: Interrogation debate testing White House

*******************************EXCERPT INTRO*************************

Yahoo News/AP ^ | April 22, 2009 | Ben Feller

Posted on Wed 22 Apr 2009 07:16:22 AM PDT by Scanian

WASHINGTON – No wasting time digging up the past? So much for that.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday that his attorney general would determine whether anyone from the Bush administration broke the law by crafting a legal rationale for drastic, demeaning interrogations of terror suspects. On the surface, it was a pragmatic call: Let the Justice Department lawyers check it out.

Trouble is, the White House had been sending the opposite signal for days. Obama tried last week to close a dark chapter, not open a messy one, as he made public the memos detailing the brutal interrogation methods. Nothing, he said, is gained by "spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."

In a flash, the story was not Obama's decision, but whether he had changed his position. The White House said no, but struggled to explain why not.

So what happened?

9 posted on 04/22/2009 2:15:58 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Support Geert Wilders)
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To: mdk1960; DB; freekitty

Added some updates....


10 posted on 04/22/2009 2:18:27 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Support Geert Wilders)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Obama IS the torture.... heck, he’s the terrorist.

Obama is working harder at destroying our country than OBL ever did.


11 posted on 04/22/2009 2:19:05 PM PDT by Gator113 (I'm a PROUD RIGHT WING EXTREMIST.... Obama has failed, IMPEACH Obama NOW....)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; SkyDancer
I heard this morning that the CIA let go an Iraqi suspect, seized in Iraq a few weeks ago. the CIA didn't even try to interrogate him. They did not want to take this risk. They turned him over to the military.

Stunning... this is where we are in the war on terror.

12 posted on 04/22/2009 2:24:21 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Freedom Needs A Soldier)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
discovering where the next terrorist attack will come.

That's the big question. I cant help but think that the DC area is high risk and that everyone who lives in the city, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Arlington Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun, or Prince William counties who voted for this idiot should be kicking themselves.

I never thought I'd be proud to have voted for McKook but I really dont think he would have done something this dumb.

13 posted on 04/22/2009 2:24:35 PM PDT by freespirited (Is this a nation of laws or a nation of Democrats? -- Charles Krauthammer)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

14 posted on 04/22/2009 2:26:24 PM PDT by william clark (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: Northern Yankee
I heard this morning that the CIA let go an Iraqi suspect, seized in Iraq a few weeks ago. the CIA didn't even try to interrogate him. They did not want to take this risk. They turned him over to the military.

Stunning... this is where we are in the war on terror.

Whoops... from the Ignatius article.

15 posted on 04/22/2009 2:26:25 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Freedom Needs A Soldier)
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To: Gator113

16 posted on 04/22/2009 2:27:40 PM PDT by william clark (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: william clark

Thanks.


17 posted on 04/22/2009 6:27:25 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Support Geert Wilders)
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