Posted on 01/24/2005 1:56:23 PM PST by pissant
WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain wants the Senate Armed Services Committee to hold hearings on allegations that the Defense Department may be bending U.S. laws in order to give Secretary Donald Rumsfeld more authority over clandestine overseas operations.
The Washington Post, which reported the story on Sunday based on military and civilian sources, said the Pentagon has created a new unit, called the Strategic Support Branch (search), as a stepsister to an established unit in the CIA.
The Strategic Support Branch is meant to address what Rumsfeld called the Pentagon's "near total dependence on the CIA" for human intelligence, something Rumsfeld ordered ended.
The New York Times reported the same story Monday.
But Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita denied that the Pentagon has a clandestine unit reporting directly to Rumsfeld. for clandestine operations.
"The Department is not attempting to 'bend' statutes to fit desired activities, as is suggested in [the Post] article," DiRita said in a statement.
He added, however, that "it is accurate and should not be surprising that the Department of Defense is attempting to improve its long-standing human intelligence capability. ... A principal conclusion of the 9/11 commission report is that the U.S. human intelligence capability must be improved across the board."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
McCain's a traitor, just as Kerry is.
I especially want them done in public and in detail so our enemies can take notes..failing that..more leaks would be helpful./extreme sarcasm
McCain hates Rumsfeld and is out to get him big time.
I would not put McCain in the "Kerry/Traitor" category. He is a patriot, generally a hawk, but he hates Bush & Rummy for some personal reasons. He should have the discipline to button his lips in public though.
What they need to get to the bottom and stop are the State and Defense Department leaks.
If McCain does run all these shenanigans will come back to haunt him in the Republican primaries. Wasn't it Reagan who said the 11th commandment was "never criticize a fellow Republican"? Doesn't matter cause George Allen will win the nomination (IMHO)
It is so past time for the Senator from Arizona to stop courting his 15 minutes of glory in the media spotlight at the expense of this country's national security.
Why McCain would not want to hash this out between the admin & the Senate Intel Committee IN PRIVATE is beyond me. McCain is giving Chukie Schumer a run for his money as the most dangerous politico to be around when a camera appears.
I should live so long.
Imagine that. In the middle of a war, the Pentagon is trying to develop its own intelligence sources. What nerve!
Gettin' warmed up for '08 -- an 'Inquiry' gets a lot of free media time!
He does have it in for Rumsfield and Bush..."It shoulda been me" syndrome?
I don't think he has forgiven Bush for beating him and being President in his place. Further, he has never met a camera he didn't love. And the MSM reciprocates and loves him back as a 'maverick'. BS! He's just a media whore a-hole and I wish the people of Arizona would dump him (J.D. Hayworth for Senate?). Unfortunately he was just re-elected in November......
Sometimes I try to imagine the great things this country could have achieved over the past twelve years had it not been for the United States Senate.
..."It shoulda been me" syndrome?"
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And a touch of "little man syndome" as well as a dose of Napoleonic flu.
That bad, huh..LOL!
Yep its bad. Too much time as a Senator is detrimental to one's mental health, by what I've observed.
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