Posted on 09/20/2005 9:08:30 PM PDT by bobsunshine
I couldn't be more disappointed than I am at Rumsfeld....I can't figure this out.
He is trying to get a handle on it before it blows up, but it may have already done so?
I know this for sure, because I represented Earnest Fitzgerald against Richard Nixon in the US Supreme Court on this precise issue.
Congressman Billybob
Everyone up to Rumsfeld himself must be dragged in to answer for this. If Rummy won't permit their testimony, he should be removed from office.
How far will Bush go to protect the Clintons? We are about to find out.
I don't know... I really have mixed feelings about this.
It is very difficult for me to believe that Rumsfeld would do this capriciously or just to cover someone's POLITICAL posterior.
The only way I could see it is that it is to protect some intellegence asset(s) currently "in place" and producing high value intel... So high a value that keeping them in place is more important for the future than pulling them out so that we can further discredit the previous administration and the joke of a 9-11 Commission.
As much as I'd like to see the evil and / or incompetent people in the previous (and current) administrations and the bureaupaths in the Defense and Intel agencies brought down, if there is a good source at risk I'd rather wait a couple of years than lose someone that might be able to give us information that will prevent a major terror attack or even worse.
You certainly can't tell a Senate Committee oe even a Congressional investigation any sensitive, much less critical, life or death secret.... It will be leaked within minutes. There aren't three Senators or more than a dozen Representatives that can be trusted with national security secrets.
Other than that though, if this is just political posterior covering.... Then Sec. Rumsfeld (Who I have always admired and always thought was the best SecDef we ever had) deserves to hang with whoever is responsible for this debacle in the first place.
How does this protect Clinton?
Rummy may be concerned that the Democrats on the Committee will ask questions regarding OTHER classified information and/or operations.
If I recall correctly, the assumption is that Able Danger reported its findings during the Clinton adminstration and were squelched by the wall built between the CIA and FBI. The Bush administration likely would have had little knowledge of the Able Danger findings since the CIA under Clinton dismissed the info.
I'm sure we will find out more.
After all the things Bill Clinton said about the President this past week, Bush's administration STILL is going to incredible lengths to protect Clinton's administration. Unbelievable. The worst part is that this is at the sacrifice of our national security.
This may not be Rummy's fault. Although staffed my military personnel, DoD's legal department is mainly semi-autonomous and not always answerable to either the military or civilian chain of command.
More information is great, but Hurricane Rita will dominate the news. If all of this drips out in a quieter time it is more likely to get the attention in deserves.
"Bluntly, it just did not happen," said commissioner Slade Gorton, a former senator from Washington State, at a press conference here last week.
Well then.... the 9/11 Commission says there's nothing to all this silly "Able Danger" stuff, nothing at all.
And after all, they should know. They investigated the terror attacks thoroughly and in an objective, non-partisan manner.
Jamie Gorelick and Company left no stone unturned.
Let the butt-covering begin!
What a very curious thing to say "... more than one ..." -- by someone who always chooses his words and phrases so very carefully, especially when he lies. And no, I don't trust Domocrat/Republican Specter as far as I could throw him.
That's a laughable statement. Specter knows it was THE Atta. They also identified others in his Brooklyn cell, IIRC.
I think this was said more for a diplomatic purpose than nay other.
But I don't trust him either.
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