The Talk Shows
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:FOX NEWS SUNDAY (WTTG), 9 a.m.: U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton ; House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.); Plácido Domingo , general director of the Washington National Opera.
THIS WEEK (ABC, WJLA): Will not air because of British Open golf coverage.
FACE THE NATION (CBS, WUSA), 10:30 a.m.: Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon ; Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha ; Washington Post columnist David Ignatius .
MEET THE PRESS (NBC, WRC), 10:30 a.m.: White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten ; Washington Post staff writer Thomas E. Ricks
LATE EDITION (CNN), 11 a.m.: Bolton ; Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.); Reps. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.); Mohamad Bahaa Chatah , senior adviser to the Lebanese prime minister; Israeli Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog ; author Gary Berntsen.
So that matches up with your second posting. CNN's site still doesn't list Berntsen, nor do they list Mohamad Bahaa Chatah, both of whom I assume are last minute additions.
According to this article there's a slew of 9/11 related programs coming up around the 5th anniversary and this guy is part of the coverage. it looks like it's part of a campaign leading up to the election to paint the war on terror as a failure and blame Bush in particular and, by association, all Republicans. The next new theme the Democrats are going to try to use to win back control of the government is that they are better on defense issues. I'm not kidding. Of course, my bet is that the senior people in the media went to the dims and told them that this was what they needed to do and spelled out what the networks would be doing to support the effort. After all, the DBM has their own war to fight against the new media to win back their "rightfull position" on the world stage.
Berntsen ran part of the CIA's operation to try and capture Bin Laden. He's written a book, Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander, which was reviewed by John Lehman (of 911 commission fame) and it includes this little tidbit that is likely to be the point of his appearance on CNN this morning:
Contradicting Bush administration denials, Berntsen writes that his teams discovered bin Laden and the remnants of his entourage in the now famous Tora Bora Mountains along the lawless, rugged Afghan-Pakistani border. U.S. operatives under his direction were able to call in precision strikes 24 hours a day and pulverize the remaining al Qaeda forces. Berntsen recounts very credibly how he and others pleaded with Gen. Tommy Franks and the Pentagon brass to put in blocking forces so that bin Laden and the remnants of al Qaeda's leadership could not flee into Pakistan. But for reasons that remain unclear to Berntsen (and, indeed, to this reviewer), the Bush admi nistration or Franks decided to depend instead on local Afghan warlords rather than put U.S. forces on the ground to block bin Laden's escape. The CIA and Berntsen, who had many years of experience with these militiamen, warned that relying on them, with their many personal agendas and family and tribal ties, would mean letting al Qaeda's leader cross easily into Pakistan. Ignoring their counsel was a huge blunder -- one we continue to pay for as we are taunted by bin Laden, who remains alive and well, probably in the mountains of Pakistan, continuing to inspire jihadists worldwide and helping organize the increasing counterattacks on the fragile democratic government in Kabul. Berntsen did his best to try to get bin Laden; many in Washington have yet to do theirs.
Yes, you got it right. It's all Bush's fault™... again...
As to Mohamad Bahaa Chatah, since he's a "senior adviser to the Lebanese prime minister," he's clearly on to keep the Israeli from having a clear shot at making his case. Other than the AP listing giving his credentials I can find nothing on him, so there's probably a spelling problem with his name, or he's a totally unknown face being put forward. How much do you want to bet that he's really a spokesman for Hezbollah?
part of a campaign leading up to the election to paint the WOT as a failure and blame Bush in particular and by assoc. all Republicans.
Just truly great analysis here does not get much better.
Oh great. Let's but US boots on the ground to block in Bin Laden then fight their way out past crazy a$$ warlords.