Did the Bush Administration Use the CIA to Attack a Domestic Critic? by Scott Horton

[Jefferson23]

June 16, 11:39 AM, 2011

James Risen reports in the New York Times about a White House–instigated effort to use the CIA to attack a prominent academic critic of its Middle East policies, Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan:

Carle said his supervisor at the National Intelligence Council told him in 2005 that White House officials wanted “to get” Professor Cole, and made clear that he wanted Mr. Carle to collect information about him, an effort Mr. Carle rebuffed. Months later, Mr. Carle said, he confronted a C.I.A. official after learning of another attempt to collect information about Professor Cole. Mr. Carle said he contended at the time that such actions would have been unlawful…

Mr. Carle said that sometime that year, he was approached by his supervisor, David Low, about Professor Cole. Mr. Low and Mr. Carle have starkly different recollections of what happened. According to Mr. Carle, Mr. Low returned from a White House meeting one day and inquired who Juan Cole was, making clear that he wanted Mr. Carle to gather information on him. Mr. Carle recalled his boss saying, “The White House wants to get him.”

“‘What do you think we might know about him, or could find out that could discredit him?’ ” Mr. Low continued, according to Mr. Carle.

Mr. Carle said that he warned that it would be illegal to spy on Americans and refused to get involved, but that Mr. Low seemed to ignore him.

in full: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2011/06/hbc-90008118

[leveymg]

1. "But, that would be illegal."

[Jefferson23]

6. I know, it is difficult not to be cynical, isn't it? It is for me anyway. n/t

[Zoeisright]

2. Sure.

I mean, they broke the law continuously and killed millions.

What's a little sliming of a critic?

[saras]

3. "Did the Bush Administration Use the CIA to Attack a Domestic Critic?" Yes. Repeatedly. So?

[Fly by night]

4. Prior to my medical cannabis-related prosecution, I was an outspoken election integrity spokesman.

In the months before the raid on my farm, I was repeatedly buzzed (at very low altitude) by a drone, once coming no more than 80 feet above my head. It spooked the hell out of my farm worker, and I didn't know what to think.

I am unaware that state marijuana eradication task forces are equipped with drones. Whoever was responsible was very committed to confining me in a federal Bureau of Prisons halfway house before Tennessee moved to abolish unverifiable voting equipment. They succeeded.

Coincidence? Who knows? (Maybe Karl Rove, and he ain't talkin'.)

[awoke_in_2003]

7. yeah, I remember your story...

coincidence? Not a snowball's chance in hell.

[QuintanarooBoy]

5. I wouldn't put ANYTHING past that bunch!

Recced.

[Jefferson23]

8. Eliot Spitzer interviews Glenn Carle and Juan Cole ( video at link)

Did the Bush White House ask the CIA to discredit a U.S. college professor?

Jay Kernis - Senior Producer

CNN/IN THE ARENA Exclusive – Juan Cole is a professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Michigan, and author of blog, Informed Comment.

This week, The New York Times reported that Glenn L. Carle, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer–who was a top counterterrorism official during the administration of President George W. Bush–said the White House at least twice asked intelligence officials to gather sensitive information on Cole, who writes an influential blog that criticized the Iraq war.

Carle tells Eliot that in 2005, the White House wanted "to get" Prof. Cole by discovering information of a personal nature. Carle says, "I was flabbergasted by the request."

http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/