Posted on 12/27/2005 7:59:59 PM PST by FairOpinion
Suppose in the midst of the Second World War a media outlet like the New York Times stumbled on the ULTRA secret? Remember, that was the amazing code-breaking machine that Allied scientists invented to decipher the Nazis’ supposedly unbreakable codes? Suppose the newspaper published the secret for all to see, giving the Nazis the incredibly valuable information that the Allies were reading their highest classified transmissions. It would have been akin to giving Hitler information that would mean a longer war, more American and Allied soldiers lost, and more innocent lives sacrificed for the sake of selling more newspapers.
We’re about at that point today in our war with al-Qaeda and Islamofascist terrorists. A big part of the problem, as Frank Gaffney and his collaborative authors (full disclosure: I made a small contribution) explain in the new book War Footing, is that one of the greatest challenges facing America today is the inability – or denial – of a large number of Americans to face the fact that we are actually at war. Many on the Left actively deny existence of such a war. They speak and behave as if al-Qaeda were a criminal gang running wild. Worse, some justify these terrorists through confused multicultural babble and unabated moral equivalence. Therefore, we have devolved to the point that anyone can say or do anything regardless of how harmful to the security interests of the country and not be held accountable. Dan Rather gave sympathetic interviews to Saddam Hussein on the eve of war. Sean Penn visited Baghdad and said negative things about America’s treatment of the dictator. A covey of Anglican religious leaders expressed solidarity with Saddam and noted how popular he was with Iraqi people. Congressional members went to Iraq, were feted by Saddam then blamed America for the region’s ills while abroad. CNN’s Baghdad bureau faked news stories rather than risk expulsion.
Now the Times and other outlets are revealing top secret, highly classified counter-terrorist strategies and tactics, the exposure of which harms the national defense. This all fits under the so-called “people’s right to know.” Then these same critics turn things upside down and blame our leaders for carrying out these activities designed to keep the country safe and destroy our enemies. It is as if Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were attacked for violating Hitler’s civil rights by reading his dispatches.
The phony indignation is about a clandestine, highly productive operation intended to thwart another terrorist attack on America. The president authorized limited, tightly controlled electronic eavesdropping by the NSA on terrorist supporters’ calls overseas to terrorists. The president consulted frequently with the Congress. He reviewed the program every few months. This is done in order to prevent another attack and since we have not had an attack since 9/11, this limited program has been effective. In return, the opposition talks hysterically of impeachment.
Now that this program has been exposed, you can rest assured – just as Hitler would have instantly changed his codes had he known about ULTRA – bin Laden, Zawahari, and other terrorists have already changed their methods of communications, making intercepting their plans for future attacks that much more difficult. Suppose NSA analysts caught them talking about bringing a dirty bomb into the U.S.? Or perhaps how they could effectively distribute weaponized anthrax around the country? Are leftists really content to miss that intelligence information on the absurd hypothetical that some innocent grandmother’s cell phone privacy might have been violated?
The Founders did not draft the Constitution to be a suicide pact.
Meanwhile, the media breaks yet another classified story: the FBI and DHS have been monitoring mosques for signs of unusually high radioactive levels. This might tip us to the presence of a suitcase nuclear weapon. If you are a terrorist, might this disclosure not alert you to store radioactive weapons elsewhere?
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate stays forever locked in a September 10th mindset. They foolishly argue more ludicrously about G-Men violating my library privileges, rather than about that library being blown up.
Senators, busy pandering to the environmental fanatics over ANWR, allow not just the Arabs but also our friend Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to can put the squeeze on us. If our esteemed leaders had been wise enough to act a decade ago, we could already be pulling a million barrels a day out of ANWR, enough oil to keep Ted Kennedy and John Kerry’s state free of Arab oil for 75 years. But in their minds not enough to “make a difference.”
While these self-appointed scolds feign concern over exaggerated threats to our “rights,” our enemies grow stronger, smarter, and deadlier – thanks, in large part, to the Left.
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Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu has been an Army Green Beret lieutenant colonel, as well as a writer, popular speaker, business executive and farmer. His most recent book is Separated at Birth, about North and South Korea.
ping.
I only wish the Lt. Col could hammer a nail into some of the heads of the traitors that festoon our culture with anti-American lies.
Except the Lt. Col. needed to do a bit more research. While the Ultra secret wasn't revealed in the press, the fact that we were reading Jappanese codes in the summer of 1942 WAS revealed by the Chicago Tribune and by a Congressman during a speech on the House floor.
In the Navy we were taught that disclosure of Top Secret information would cause "EXTREMELY GRAVE DAMAGE" to the United States.
Pricks!
You are complete correct. Absolute must reading.
"The Main Stream Media: Al-Qaeda's most effective spy network."
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Sad, but accurate.
"al-Qaeda were a criminal gang running wild" = "freedom fighters"
They can't or don't want to grasp the gravity of the situation, that the terrorists could indeed attack us with WMD, nuking a city, or unleasing some horrible disease.
WORLD WAR II MAGIC:
The Chicago Tribune, Midway, and MAGIC
The American success in the Battle of Midway (3-6 June 1942), the turning point in the naval war in the Pacific, is attributable in large part to the U.S. Navy's advance knowledge of Japanese plans. That knowledge came from communications intercepts and cryptanalysis (MAGIC). Soon after the Battle of Midway, the Chicago Tribune reported that U.S. naval intelligence knew the Japanese navy's plans, strength, and dispositions prior to the battle. As Holmes put it in Double-Edged Secrets, "[a]ny informed reader could only conclude that Japanese codes has been broken." (p. 107) The compromise of the security around MAGIC and the failed effort to hold the newspaper and journalist Stanley Johnson accountable is the focus of the material included here.
Check out the links on this article -- they list some papers that discuss whether the reporters and editors committed treason.
Unfortunately, you are right...however, do you believe that the left is so unintelligent to discount the possibility and risk political gain by putting aside such a possibility?
What I cannot fathom is why 'reason' has escaped - so it would appear - this Administration and the 'whomevers' responsible for insuring that those who give away national security information. . .those who would in fact, commit treason. . .are held accountable. . .
Are they waiting for them to just give our 'military store' away entirely? Do they think it is not politically expedient? WHAT?
Meantime, where is 'Scooter Libbey' these days; busier than Sandy Berger?
GIVE ME A BREAK!
It is more than just a little important to fully grasp the degree to which the stockholm syndrome also plays a part in the lefts collaboration. Their positions are a reflection of both grasping for power and their personal cowardice.
W
I do NOT understand why those responsible are not being prosecuted.
The left thinks it's a win-win situation for them: if we don't have a terror attack, they can make hey by attacking and trying to impeach President Bush, if we do have a terror attack, they can blame him for it.
They do NOT care how many hundreds of thousands of people die, what happens to the economy and the country, just as long as it gets them back into power.
It brings to mind the old story where Solomon had to make a decision: two women claimed the same child. So Solomon said to cut the child in half and give each woman half. One woman thought that was just fine. The other said, she would rather give up the child, just so the child isn't harmed -- the Republicans act this way, they care for the country. The Dems act like the other woman, they rather see the country destroyed, just so Republicans don't lead the country.
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