Posted on 09/17/2002 8:49:08 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:08:47 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Isn't he the one that authored legislation (around 1996) to preclude the CIA from hiring informants with a shady past?
Doug could have just as easily sat on his laurels, and bash the crap out of Torricelli's ethics. He took a risk and stuck his neck out on a story which hadn't been news in over a year. If he didn't have his facts lined up, he would have lost a lot of ground -- even commentators watching the debate were confused by the complexity of the situation. They thought Doug mispoke and said "Baghdad and Iraq" rather than "Tehran and Iran". Torricelli lied and said the group was removed from the State Department terrorist list. He lied and said an appeals court over-turned the State Department designation. Torricelli called Doug a bigot and racist for bringing up the issue.
Yet Doug held his ground and presented the facts -- over and over again. He needs our support -- either by volunteering or by a contribution no matter how small. We have a real chance to kick Torricelli out of the Senate. Just think -- if he wins this time, he may well be in for life.
The Central Intelligence Agency's ability to gather intelligence in the Middle East has been injured by reforms triggered in 1995 by then-Rep. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), members of the House Intelligence Committee said last week.
In the wake of disclosures by Torricelli that a Guatemalan colonel linked to the murder of an American was on the CIA payroll, the agency fired one-third of its informants - roughly 1,000 "assets" - and instituted new rules on the recruitment of sources.
Some of the assets were fired because of poor production, but others were fired for criminal activity that could have proved embarrassing to the United States if uncovered.
"The focus of Congress at the time was on Mr. Torricelli's actions and whether he had violated ethics rules, not on the CIA," said Rep. Larry Combest (R-Texas), who chaired the Intelligence Committee at the time.
Nonetheless, voters and editorial boards across the country were outraged, and President Clinton joined the fray, threatening to fire "on the spot" any CIA agent who had failed to pass along information about the colonel, Julio Roberto Alpirez.
"Sen. Torricelli feels it is imperative in a democracy for there to be some accountability within the intelligence community," spokeswoman Debra DeShong said. "The directive merely made certain that, if the United States were to engage in a relationship with someone who has committed human rights abuses, the decision would be made by a senior official."
After conducting a review of his agency's operations, Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch fired informants - including Middle Easterners - who had dirty hands and directed his field operatives to clear questionable recruits with Washington.
Corrupt, arrogant, thieving, lying, narcissistic, manipulative and evil to the core
Then they have to have support of the Rats in government. So they are the largest $ contributors and make up a large % of the Rats in congress!
:
Supporters of the National council of Resistance of Iran, or the Mujahadeen, hold up posters of its leader: Massoud Rajavi.
©2002 AP
Photo/Ronald Zak
Demonstrators gathered with posters and flags in downtown Vienna, Austria, on Monday, March 11, 2002, to protest against a three-day official visit by President Mohammad Khatami.
Too late for that. We hang our heads in shame already, knowing that he is in office. Look at our sad, sad excuses for representatives-McGreedy; Corazine; Terror-celli.
If I hung my head any lower, I'd have to put feelers on my head to avoid chipping teeth on the curbs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.