know the enemy - Stephen Cambone

[donsu]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FE25Aa02.html

Stephen Cambone: Rumsfeld's henchman

Stephen Cambone, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's right-hand man and under secretary of defense for Intelligence, was for the first time caught in the glare of media attention as part of the congressional inquiry into Iraq prison abuses at Abu Ghraib. <1> Under sharp questioning by a few senators on May 11, Cambone vigorously defended both Rumsfeld and Douglas Feith, under secretary of defense for policy. Cambone's attempt to split hairs on whether the Geneva Conventions were applicable to intelligence gathering in Iraq and his awkward defense of the role of military intelligence in interrogations put him at odds with the US Army general who first investigated abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. As the first-ever under secretary of defense for intelligence, Cambone will likely come under increased fire as the prison scandal unfolds. Some of the most intense questioning of Cambone centered on whether the Geneva Conventions were "precisely" respected. What "precisely" Cambone knew and when he knew it, and what precisely was the role of military intelligence will be questions that Cambone will be required to answer.

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After Rumsfeld was named defense secretary, he made Cambone his special assistant in January 2001. Then, in March 2003, Cambone was appointed the first-ever under secretary for intelligence - a position that "will allow the Defense Department to consolidate its intelligence programs in a way that could undermine CIA head George Tenet's role", one defense analyst noted. <3> Well known and much despised by both military and civilian officials in the Pentagon prior to joining the second Bush administration, Cambone, serving as Rumsfeld's henchman and intelligence chief, soon began creating a new enemies list in the CIA and State Department.

While Cambone was directing the two Rumsfeld commissions, he also participated in two national-security strategy and military-transformation commissions sponsored by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and the National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP). The institute's 2001 report, "Rationale and Requirements for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control", and the PNAC's "Rebuilding America's Defenses" were blueprints for Rumsfeld's promised "revolution in military affairs". Several other PNAC associates, in addition to Rumsfeld himself, also served on the Rumsfeld commissions, including Paul Wolfowitz, Malcolm Wallop, William Schneider, and James Woolsey. Both the NIPP and PNAC studies seem to have served as blueprints for the defense policies initiated by the current administration of George W Bush with respect to nuclear policy, national security strategy and military transformation. <4, 5>

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When asked by the New York Times (April 11, 2003) if he thought hardliners in the Pentagon had politicized intelligence to support arguments for the war in Iraq, Cambone responded: "Any policymaker has certain views. Policymakers are where they are and doing what they do because they have a view." Further, he said: "The politicization of intelligence, I think, happens when intelligence is thought to be more than it is. And what it can be at best is a summary judgment at a given moment in time based on the information that one has been able to glean."

(the man speaketh shit)

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[cliss]

1. If I'm not mistaken,

Al Franken was trying to reach Mr. Cambone by phone on his radio program last weeek. It had something to do with a fraudulent Master's Degree. It seems as though Mr. Cambone is a fraud (?)

Al left a message on his voice mail asking him to call him back on this issue. I had to turn off the radio, so I never found out what the result was.

Anybody know about this? I'm very curious about this. If this is true, this dude will get the boot (rubs hands together). Hope so.