Posted on 07/14/2009 12:03:30 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
With their Speaker behind them, House Democrats are pushing ahead with plans to hold a series of hearings investigating instances in which intelligence officials may have misled members of Congress.
Senior Democratic aides said that a major announcement could come by the end of week, but it was already clear on Monday that House Democrats are seizing on weekend news reports that former Vice President Dick Cheney hid information from Congress.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that the CIA, under the direction of Cheney, developed a secret counterterrorism program and then was directed by the vice president to conceal it from Congress.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the program was a classified initiative to kill or capture al Qaeda operatives. Cheney has not commented on the media reports.
Members of both the House and the Senate Intelligence committees learned about the program last week, when CIA Director Leon Panetta told them in classified hearings that he had just learned about the program and had ordered it terminated.
But Panetta also told Democrats and Republicans on the Intelligence panels that Cheney had directed his predecessors to conceal the program from all members of Congress, even the so-called Gang of Eight House and Senate leaders and top Intelligence committee members, who are directed under federal law to receive regular intelligence briefings.
Senior congressional aides said Panetta’s latest briefing angered members of the panels, even though Panetta had only weeks prior admitted to members of the Intelligence committees that the CIA had, under past directors, engaged in obfuscation following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
popcorn...
Get ready for some interesting times. We will soon see people retiring for “family reasons”, getting “appointed” to new jobs, and family members of congress critters getting arrested on old charges or “long time” investigations.
Democrats to investigate “secret” program reported by NYT in 2002 ...Panetta steps in it!
So if the program was secret and the Congress wasn't told,...how did the NYT learn about it...?
See #3.
Obama is floundering, the economy is getting worse...Quick! create a pointless diversion!!
I so want the CIA to fight back on this. They are getting the shaft by the dems and these investigations are used for political posturing only.
A few leaked stories here and there will be a breath of fresh air if it finally involves someone with a (D) after their name.
This whole thing is intended to be a multi-headed defense of Obama — or perhaps a multi-headed attack on Obama by a fearful Demwit majority in Congress. Thanks Ernest.
This story could help conservatives if they held up the 2002 NYT headline about targeting Al Q leaders and then say, “If the Speaker does not listen in meetings, maybe she should read the Times. They knew about and so did all of America.” Then they say, “It is typical of people who want to let crooks go free that they target the people who uphold the law and cry about being safe in their home is not enough - we need more rights for terrorists.”
Good find, EATB. Next the Democrats will learn that we plan to use unmanned Predators to attack key Al Qaeda leaders hiding in the tribal areas of Pockyston.
I disagree, I hope the CIA is creamed by the Democrats.
The CIA constantly undermined the Bush administration with carefully timed leaks. They were pretty much in bed with the Democrats during the Bush adminstration.
I hope the CIA finds out first hand just how dirty things can get at the hands of Democrats.
The CIA made their bed and they can now lie in it.
Nancy Nero is tuning up her fiddle.
Indeed. Democrats/career bureaucrats all.
But as we have seen, triangulation is underway to foist this whole mess onto Bush and Cheney.
I think the Democrats will try, but I really don’t think Pelosi and company really want to take on Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz.
House Democrats are seizing on weekend news reports that former Vice President Dick Cheney hid information from Congress.
Hold on, is that a tug on my line, I think I’m getting a bite.
They are gonna be sorry about going in this direction.
Those who hate Intelligence are doomed to live without it's aid. We all would be under Nazi Germany today if it wasn't for the OSS, and I am certain we would be under Soviet Communism if it weren't for the CIA.
LA would have another "World trade Center" Down. And Iraq would be owned by Al Quaeda.
I suspect the Democrats would have been wiped out by Anthrax having done nothing to monitor their congressional mail after 9/11.
People are people where ever you go. They seek their own glory and power and it is amazing that any human institution lasts. Leakers are opportunists no matter what party they seek to damage.
Loose Lips sink Ships.
“I really don’t think Pelosi and company really want to take on Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz.”
####
By any objective standard, the Cheney’s will easily kick their lying, cowardly asses, but what does it matter if the DemocratMedia, or if it gets to this, the DemocratJudiciary says otherwise?
Hey CIA, how’s that hopey-changey stuff working for ya?!? I know a bunch of you voted for the clown, enjoy!
Just like I’ve run into my generation’s vets (Vietnam Vets era) that did also, so enjoy it! I have NO respect for any vet that voted for this disgrace and I’ve got the right to have NO respect! They’re kind of like the AARP crowd—mind numbed robots.
The CIA—and I am talking to you CIA employees on this list also—is the must incompetent and stupid group of individuals ever assembled by the United States Government. Can anyone name one thing that they have ever been right about?
I know there’s some truly committed CIA workers, meaning from clerks to super secret sleuths but darn, there’s a bunch of the “other ones” too. In all fairness, I can only imagine what sort of stuff the loyal and true American CIA employees are putting up with...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.