CIA Critic of Bush....now free to talk.....

[nostalgicaboutmyfutr]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=9&u=/nm/20041111/pl_nm/security_cia_dc

From Americablog: http://americablog.blogspot.com/archives/2004_11_01_americablog_archive.html#110021553287023304

Thursday, November 11, 2004
Bush critic at CIA resigns, and starts talking
by John in DC - 11/11/2004 06:23:32 PM

The good news is that he's now free to talk, and talk he is going to do.

Michael Scheuer, whose book "Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror" was signed as "anonymous" and published this summer, will resign effective Friday after 22 years at the Central Intelligence Agency.

In a statement, Scheuer said the CIA had not forced him to resign, "but I have concluded that there has not been adequate national debate over the nature of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and the forces he leads and inspires, and the nature and dimensions of intelligence reform needed to address that threat."

He intends to speak to the media over the next several weeks, including an appearance on the CBS show "60 Minutes" on Sunday.

Scheuer's statement said senior leadership had allowed the intelligence officers working against al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to be made scapegoats for pre-Sept. 11 failures.

Scheuer was chief of the CIA Counterterrorist Center's unit which focused on bin Laden from 1996 to 1999 and remained a CIA analyst after that.

"The Atlantic Monthly" in its December issue published a letter sent by Scheuer to U.S. congressional intelligence committees that said the key pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures were mainly the result of bad decisions by senior officials.

"While the 11 September attacks probably were unstoppable, it was decisions by human beings -- featuring arrogance, bad judgment, disdain for expertise, and bureaucratic cowardice -- that made sure the Intelligence Community did not operate optimally to defend America," Scheuer said in the letter.


Let the heads roll.

[Ann Arbor Dem]

1. The cracks are getting bigger and the dam is going to burst.

I'm glad Scheuer has decided to go public with a vengeance. I hope his actions will inspire others to come forward to expose the wrongdoings of the administration.

[Carolab]

2. How about

DELIBERATE avoidance of the facts and NO ATTEMPTS to secure ANYTHING

[H2O Man]

3. Michael also wrote

"Through Our Enemies' Eyes." It's interesting that this came up. I've been working on a draft of a short paper for DU based largely on his book. An old friend was over last weekend to watch a boxing match; although the fight was disappointing, our conversation was not. His father worked for the US government overseas, and he spend most of his youth in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That and his military career give him a good bit of insight into that area of the world.

Scheuer's books are fascinating reading, and I'd recommend them to anyone who is interested in what type of mess the idiots in this administration have gotten our country into.

[wiggs]

4. What question would you ask this guy?

The stuff above may be interesting but doesn't sound new. And it will likely disappear from the media spotlight right away. But there are some questions it would be good to ask:

I would like to ask if Tenet said it was a slam dunk that Hussein had WMD. I would like to ask if Cheney spent time at CIA for the purpose of affecting intelligence reports and if he has proof. I would like to know what kind of disclaimers were attached to intelligence that discussed the possibility of WMD's and Al Queda in Iraq. I'd like to know what the CIA thought of Powell's UN speech. I'd like to know what the CIA thinks of this administration, a member of which outed one of their operatives, and which has all but blamed the CIA for the war in Iraq and for failing to predict 9/11. I'd like to know what the CIA thought of Richard Clarke. What does he think of a president that sits quietly for 7 minutes while the country is under attack?

A major, ungaggable, brave, bulletproof whistleblower is needed...an insider who knows the answers to these questions and others.