FREAKIN IDIOTS!!!!
Posted on 09/30/2005 2:35:36 PM PDT by pabianice
An officer who has claimed that a classified military unit identified four Sept. 11 hijackers before the 2001 attacks is facing Pentagon accusations of breaking numerous rules, charges his lawyer suggests are aimed at undermining his credibility.
The alleged infractions by Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, 42, include obtaining a service medal under false pretenses, improperly flashing military identification while drunk and stealing pens, according to military paperwork shown by his attorney to The Associated Press.
Shaffer was one of the first to publicly link Sept. 11 leader Mohamed Atta to the unit code-named Able Danger. Shaffer was one of five witnesses the Pentagon ordered not to appear Sept. 21 before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the unit’s findings.
The military revoked Shaffer’s top security clearance this month, a day before he was supposed to testify to a congressional committee.
Mark Zaid, Shaffer’s attorney, said the Pentagon started looking into Shaffer’s security clearance about the time in 2003 he met in Afghanistan with staff members of the bipartisan commission that studied the Sept. 11 attacks and told them about Able Danger.
Zaid said he can’t prove the Pentagon went after Shaffer because he’s a whistleblower, but “all the timing associated with the clearance issue has been suspiciously coincidental.”
Citing concerns with the privacy act, Cmdr. Terry Sutherland, a Defense Intelligence Agency spokesman, declined to release any information on Shaffer.
According to papers provided by Zaid, the Defense Intelligence Agency is questioning whether Shaffer deserved a Defense Meritorious Service Medal he was awarded. Shaffer, who is supported by a retired colonel who has praised his work, says those challenging the medal do not have firsthand knowledge of his actions.
Shaffer says he showed his government credentials during two incidents in 1990, when he was drunk, and 1996, when he was pulled over by police. The military says he misused his credentials, but Shaffer says he was not told he should not have used them. He also said he has joined Alcoholics Anonymous and has been sober for 13 years.
As for the pens and other office supplies taken, he blamed that on “youthful indiscretions” more than 20 years ago.
According to the paperwork, the alleged infractions against Shaffer also include:
• Falsely claiming $341.80 in mileage and tolls fees. He said he filed travel expenses based on what he was told by human resources staff.
• Obtaining $67.79 in personal cell phone charges. He said the amount was a legitimate expense accrued so he could forward calls.
• Going over his chain of command to do briefings. Shaffer said he was providing briefings to higher-ups on projects even his direct superiors did not know about, and he received superior review ratings for that time.
• Showing irresponsibility with $2,012 in credit card debt. He said he paid off the debt, and Zaid said DIA dropped the issue.
Shaffer, now a member of the Army Reserves, has been on administrative leave since March 2004. During the same time, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on Oct. 1, 2004.
Shaffer has said he tried three times to meet with the FBI to convey the Able Danger unit’s findings before Sept. 11, but was ordered not to by military attorneys.
Shaffer’s assertions on Able Danger have been supported by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa. If correct, they would change the timeline as to when authorities first learned of some of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
The Sept. 11 commission has dismissed the claims. The Pentagon has acknowledged some employees recall seeing an intelligence chart identifying Atta as a terrorist before the attacks, but said none have been able to find a copy of it.
I'll sleep better tonight knowing this pen thieving felon is not loose on the street. [/sarc]
You get punished in Washington if you are the little guy. But a criminal like Sandy Berger did not lose his security clearance for something that should have put him behind bars for a few years!
"Where is Rumsfeld on this? If the Republicans cant protect this guy who can we protect, Obviously no one. The Clintonites in the Pentagon are still running things and Bush is standing there with his thumb up his butt. He let Bubb a go with no prosecutions he let Gorelick off the hook and now he turns his back on this man."
The Republicans in power, especially Bush, have all been a big disappointment this time around. The only one with any guts is
Delay and I bet they abandon him too.- pitiful
Times must really be tight in Washington if they have to pin a charge on an officer and not an enlisted man. However, in Washington, a Lt. Colonel is about the same as a PFC.
Hang in there, Anthony, the people are with you!
OK. Now. When will the Navy get of it's but and start looking a bit more closely into the military records of Hanoi John.
Several of those 'charges' are enough to get a high-level security clearance suspended for investigation on their own, let alone collectively. Even the behavior he admits reflects a pattern of questionable judgement.
I'm not saying I don't believe what he says about AD, just that there's enough smoke here to look for an underlying fire for a guy with a high security clearance.
Old and common tactic, Nazis, Communists. Have something on everyone, then if they get out of line or fail to sing and dance the newest party BS, then pull out the files. Next, they'll charge him with that his father once said something bad about JFK.
He should of known, that you don't make good, and they never forget. He's done, he's toast, they've sliced him deep across the forearms and are pushing him away from the lifeboat with the long oars.
only if we let congress hold hearings in open session that tip off our methods.
bttt
The last offence with the credentials happened in 1996, if this is how the pentagon operates Kerry should be up for the firing squad any day now. And if you can say you never had a minor infraction in your life while protecting your country you can throw the first stone.
Maybe it would help put things in perspective if we compared waving your id around when drunk and stealing pens with being stupid and allowing 19 men to destroy the World Trade Center and kill 3,000 people.
You're right, Washington stinks on ice. And the so-called public servants are just scared little boys and girls trying to preserve their positions.
The Pentagon and the Bush Administration had better give this man respect and let him speak, or my support for them is going to evaporate very quickly.
I can't stomach this kind of back stabbing betrayal about "stolen pens" and such, when I need to know how my home city was viciously attacked, and if that makes the Pentagon look bad then they are the ones that need to be disgraced, not a "pen stealer".
FREAKIN IDIOTS!!!!
Desperation and the need to cover up everything.
Don't leave out Weldon he has been a pitt bull on AD.
"Don't leave out Weldon he has been a pitt bull on AD."
You are correct. One of the last few patriots with entrails of iron.
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