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ARRRRGH. DARN YOU, CONGRESSMAN WELDON (NRO blogger loses grip...as heard on Rush!)
National Review Online ^ | 8/16/05 | Jim Geraghty

Posted on 08/16/2005 10:28:31 AM PDT by spycatcher

Just heard from a guy I trust that the Pentagon will be releasing information regarding Able Danger in the not too distant future. The short version: Don't expect any bombshells.

Thank you, Congressman Weldon, for getting just enough of this story right (the existence of Able Danger and its mission) to get folks like myself and lot of others to take you seriously. Those others weren't just bloggers, by the way - I'm talking about the New York Times, the AP, the Bergen Record...

And thanks a [really bad word] heap for getting more than enough wrong that we look like idiots for trusting you.

You know, like that rather key element that Able Danger had picked out four of the 9/11 hijackers and recommended they be picked up by the FBI. I can see how you could mix up that pesky little detail.

Thank you for making all of these stunning allegations without any supporting evidence. Thank you for not having any documents, memos, or anything beyond allegations from an anonymous former defense intelligence guy who is unwilling to come forward and speak on the record.

Thanks for using us to goose your book sales this month.

Thank you for making the 9/11 Commission, a group that seemed to have done a sloppy, incomplete job, look absolutely on the ball and well-organized and coherent in comparison. (In retrospect, should the Commission have mentioned Able Danger? Sure. They were a small part of U.S. counterterrorism efforts before 9/11. But if they never found anything that tied into the attacks, then the Commission is right, they weren't all that signficant in the big picture. They warranted a paragraph or two.)

If Weldon generates some actual evidence, or if any of the 11 guys in Able Danger come forward and make a persuasive case that "yes, we did spot four hijackers in 2000", then I'll backtrack on all of this. But right now, I doubt that we will ever hear from any of them.

The only silver lining to this mess? I can gloat to Mary Mapes about how to burn a source that leads you astray.

UPDATE: I'm told that Tony Snow recently announced that one of the Able Danger team members will be doing an interview with Catherine Herridge today, and that he (Tony) has a radio interview with the gentleman scheduled for tomorrow. AJ Strata points to a article indicating that Weldon told ABC Radio host Sean Hannity, "I can guarantee you that you will be able to have one on your show. You might want to go with your TV show with this, because it will be a major story. And you can interview him directly."

We will see. As TKS reader Ted put it:

On something as huge as this, I found it hard it hard to believe that the Able Danger guys would have stayed quiet for four years. It just seems to me that the psychological and emotional pressure on them would have driven someone public a long time ago - "We knew we had those SOB's nailed, the dumb lawyers shut us down, and then we watched 9/11 on TV just like everyone else. Do you have any idea what it's like to think you might have that on your conscience? Now it's being swept under the rug by a bunch of butt-covering bureaucrats. This is a whitewash!" If eleven people supposedly were in the loop, odds are one of them would've surfaced a long time ago.

But then, you could look at Colleen Rowley, the FBI agent in Minneapolis, and agree "Yeah, see what happens to whistleblowers."

So who knows.



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: atta; crybaby; geraghty; headlesschicken; hypocrite; nro; nutty; scaredlittlegirl; unhinged; wacky; weldon
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To: Rutles4Ever

Rutles4Ever is your real name "John Podhoretz" or "Jim Geraghty" by any chance?

It's a tiny fringe of whiners that is worried about smearing Weldon and not investigating the information these military guys have to give us.

Most of us don't care about Weldon or his book. We want his sources to tell us more. The sources are real and likely to be highly credible.



101 posted on 08/16/2005 1:23:50 PM PDT by spycatcher
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To: spycatcher

"No, we have more than Weldon. Other papers have independently quoted military sources."

Do you actually think that sometime during Able/Danger that Atta was located and at that time known to be a member of AQ?


102 posted on 08/16/2005 1:24:13 PM PDT by happinesswithoutpeace (You are receiving this broadcast as a dream)
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To: spycatcher
Conservative members of the MSM feel the need to periodically trash one of their own in order to gain street cred with Libs. The trend is despicable and evil.
103 posted on 08/16/2005 1:26:12 PM PDT by FreedomSurge
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To: nutmeg

bookmark bump


104 posted on 08/16/2005 1:27:02 PM PDT by nutmeg ("We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." - Hillary Clinton 6/28/04)
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To: spycatcher

The fortitude of some people is amazing.


105 posted on 08/16/2005 1:27:41 PM PDT by atomicpossum (Replies should be as pedantic as possible. I love that so much.)
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To: happinesswithoutpeace

Yes, if I had to bet on it, that appears to be the case. But we need to investigate further to say definitively.


106 posted on 08/16/2005 1:27:51 PM PDT by spycatcher
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To: spycatcher
No, we have more than Weldon. Other papers have independently quoted military sources.

Must have missed that. Give me a link or clue and I will chase it down.

107 posted on 08/16/2005 1:30:51 PM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: Dat Mon
Investigation, yes. I just smell a bit of self promoting PR to sell books and the "story" may not end up being what it appears to be on the surface.

And as with everything else Clinton, it is likely to go nowhere.

108 posted on 08/16/2005 1:31:42 PM PDT by Phantom Lord (Fall on to your knees for the Phantom Lord)
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To: Rutles4Ever

I agree that Republicans may have things to hide too. But I don't care. That's why we should push them to investigate openly and "support the troops." Oh yeah, remember that phrase? The military guys here deserve respect and not to be marginalized as Weldon's whores.


109 posted on 08/16/2005 1:33:42 PM PDT by spycatcher
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To: spycatcher

"Yes, if I had to bet on it, that appears to be the case."

No offense, but bet on something else.


110 posted on 08/16/2005 1:35:00 PM PDT by happinesswithoutpeace (You are receiving this broadcast as a dream)
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To: InterceptPoint

Able Danger

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search


111 posted on 08/16/2005 1:36:38 PM PDT by spycatcher
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To: happinesswithoutpeace

So you think the military guys are liars and whores for Weldon too, eh?


112 posted on 08/16/2005 1:37:33 PM PDT by spycatcher
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To: Rutles4Ever

Your obessive concern that a Congressman has written a book is beyond my understanding as is your erroneous assumption that he could have chosen a better way to get his message out. That is simply false and he has chosen the EXACT best way to reach the mindnumbed. He is selling it cheap though. I would advise him to raise the price to 29.99 just to p.o. you.

Nothing should have greater urgency than pointing out treason and traitors as we have been doing here for years though I am sure you have been critical of the means or the syntax or the grammar or something.

Most of the books I mentioned are NOT reflections on the authors' political careers or philosophies either. In fact, NONE of them are perhaps you are confusing them with the book of another politician, Mein Kampf.

I wish we had MORE politicians writing books. It might help remove my concern that most are illiterate boobs.


113 posted on 08/16/2005 1:37:46 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (Public Enemy #1, the RATmedia.)
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To: InterceptPoint

"Give me a link or clue and I will chase it down."

You would be chasing ghosts and unnamed, maybe ranked, maybe sank, maybe just something a reporter made up after ten drinks.


114 posted on 08/16/2005 1:38:27 PM PDT by happinesswithoutpeace (You are receiving this broadcast as a dream)
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To: Rutles4Ever

Oh, btw you can go and read his speech on the floor of the House about this matter for free.


115 posted on 08/16/2005 1:39:00 PM PDT by justshutupandtakeit (Public Enemy #1, the RATmedia.)
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To: happinesswithoutpeace

FYI, tune to Fox News at 7PM tonight to see a ghost.


116 posted on 08/16/2005 1:40:30 PM PDT by spycatcher
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To: spycatcher

"So you think the military guys are liars and whores for Weldon too, eh?"

Who the heck are you talking about? Give me a name (of any of the "military guys") and I will tell you what I think about them.


117 posted on 08/16/2005 1:41:22 PM PDT by happinesswithoutpeace (You are receiving this broadcast as a dream)
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To: spycatcher

weldon must step up now. lets see some evidence. it's hard to imagine him going this far out on that limb. if the people involved will not come forward to speak, because they are afraid of losing their positions or facing the inevitable heat. how different are they from the people they tell on? real time is here! if it.s a scam freepers or any one else do not need to feel guilty or like they have been fooled. there is no dishonor it demanding the truth about those who failed on the 11th. lastly , how is it that the press had a complete info dump on atta hours after the attack?


118 posted on 08/16/2005 1:43:02 PM PDT by fantom
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To: happinesswithoutpeace
Here you go, from the Able Danger skeptic himself:

ABLE DANGER LIVES? [John Podhoretz]

Liberal blogger Laura Rozen, who is an open-minded skeptic, has some interesting news on the matter: "Delco Times columnist Gil Spencer, who has long covered Curt Weldon's Pennsylvania district, has just interviewed the Able Danger official who is going public tonight on Fox News. Spencer is the first journalist I am aware of to reveal the identity of the Able Danger official who originally briefed the 9/11 commission staff about Able Danger's findings back in October 2003 at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan. That official is DIA Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer. He served in a liaison capacity between Able Danger and the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, Florida, and he flew into Afghanistan with special ops in a boots on the ground capacity....t's still a bit vague as to what exactly on Atta and the 'Brooklyn cell' the Able Danger team came up with, but Shaffer did tell Spencer that the Able Danger team briefed Pete Schoomaker on their findings. Shaffer also told Spencer that he was meeting with Pentagon intel czar Stephen Cambone today about the Able Danger issue, so clearly the Pentagon is paying attention. Stay tuned." Posted at 04:13 PM

119 posted on 08/16/2005 1:45:43 PM PDT by spycatcher
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To: spycatcher

Hmmm. That could probably use its own post...


120 posted on 08/16/2005 1:48:00 PM PDT by eureka! (Hey Lefties: Only 3 and 1/2 more years of W. Hehehehe....)
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