"How could it, after all, if Visa Express didn't even exist? But a government whistleblower leaked to Mowbray a confidential cable from the ambassador to Saudi Arabia -- written the very day of Ryan's dismissal -- asking to terminate Visa Express and to interview all Saudi applicants. Boucher told the press that the memo from Riyadh only asked for more resources. Asked point-blank at a press briefing by Mowbray whether our ambassador had asked to terminate the program, Boucher said, "No." Never mind that the subject line of the memo was "Request for Guidance on Termination of Visa Express." When Mowbray stated that he had the memo in hand, and so knew that Boucher was fibbing, State Department security officials briefly detained him and demanded that he reveal his source.
So it goes at a Department of State populated by careerists like Boucher, who would be just as comfortable -- no, more comfortable -- if he were still working for Warren Christopher. Congress is now engaged in a debate over whether State should keep the visa-issuance power, an important national-security matter since terrorists get into this country primarily through visas. State's record in creating and then defending Visa Express proves it unfit for the task, which should go to the Department of Homeland Security or an entirely new, more national- security-conscious agency."
Some things just never change, unfortunately.
(Peach, I included you just in case you are saving stuff about the State Department.) Hope you are feeling better about us Freepers, in general, not in particular.
173 posted on 07/21/2006 8:51:02 PM PDT by Chgogal
(GDBs - NY Times does it again - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1666501/posts)