Fmr. Admiral Dennis Blair to be Obama's Director of National Intelligence

By GottaLaff

MSNBC is reporting that former admiral Dennis Blair is to be Obama's NIE Director. He's a 34-year Navy veteran, and has worked with the CIA and National Security Council, a Rhodes Scholar. He has vast experience handling large organizations.

Norah O'Donnell calls him a "brainiac".

He's an expert on Asia, per Jim Miklaszewski, who goes on to say Blair would push diplomacy over confrontation, re: Third World countries. No word on a CIA head yet.

VIDEO: Everyone gets it but IWRC* Palin

By GottaLaff

Via Think Progress:

You don’t have to believe me, the hockey mom from Alaska, proclaiming that the war on terror, central front there, has been Iraq. Please, believe Gen. Petraeus, an American hero. Unfortunately, you gotta believe even bin Laden.

Obama always got it. The Center for American Progress gets it. The intelligence community gets it. Even Bush gets it. The newest NIE report confirms it. But IWRC* Palin and Gramm-pa McCain are still as out of sync with the rest of the world as they've always been.

Afghanistan is the single most pressing security threat in the war on terror. Now tell me again, who's better on national security/foreign policy?

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

The Iraq Victory Path to Nowhere

By GottaLaff

Via Think Progress:

A new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) reportedly “warns that unresolved ethnic and sectarian tensions in Iraq could unleash a new wave of violence, potentially reversing the major security and political gains achieved over the last year.” McClatchy notes that the NIE’s findings “cast doubts on McCain’s frequent assertions that the United States is ‘on a path to victory” and instead echo Gen. David Petraeus, who has objected to using the word “victory” for war in Iraq.

About all that foreign policy experience, Gramm-pa McCain, let me ask you this: Where did it get you? How's that surge working for you now?

"That One" got it right, "The Wrong One" got it wrong.

Ex-Agent Says CIA Ignored Iran Facts

By GottaLaff

This is the kind of report that makes me want to shout obscenities for so many reasons, not the least of which: Why don't we hear about this instead of that inane corporate media Swiftboating of Wes Clark? Please read, then weep, then scream, then comment:

A former CIA operative who says he tried to warn the agency about faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs now contends that CIA officials also ignored evidence that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb. [...]

The former operative alleged in a 2004 lawsuit that the CIA fired him after he repeatedly clashed with senior managers over his attempts to file reports that challenged the conventional wisdom about weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Key details of his claim have not been made public because they describe events the CIA deems secret.

The consensus view on Iran's nuclear program shifted dramatically last December with the release of a landmark intelligence report that concluded that Iran halted work on nuclear weapons design in 2003. The publication of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran undermined the CIA's rationale for censoring the former officer's lawsuit, said his attorney, Roy Krieger.

"On five occasions he was ordered to either falsify his reporting on WMD in the Near East, or not to file his reports at all," Krieger said in an interview.

In court documents and in statements by his attorney, the former officer contends that his 22-year CIA career collapsed after he questioned CIA doctrine about the nuclear programs of Iraq and Iran. [...]

The informant provided secret evidence that Tehran had halted its research into designing and building a nuclear weapon. Yet, when the operative sought to file reports on the findings, his attempts were "thwarted by CIA employees," according to court papers. Later he was told to "remove himself from any further handling" of the informant, the documents say. [...]

Krieger maintains that his client is being further punished by the agency's decision prohibiting him from fully regaining his identity. "He is not even allowed to attend court hearings about his own case," Krieger said.

They also tried to nail him on an improper sexual relationship charge that didn't stick.

This, after Sy Hersh's piece in the New Yorker. Back to weeping and screaming.

Scott McLellan on Bush leaking 2002 NIE on Iraq

By GottaLaff

Via TPM, here's the video of Scott McLellan discussing Bush's leak of the 2002 NIE, that I posted about here.

Bush "secretly declassified" 2002 NIE to leak to reporters

By GottaLaff

Scottie claims that George Bush admitted that he was the source of the leak of the 2002 NIE. Thom Hartmann was all over this today. He is convinced that this finally gives the House grounds for impeachment, and that Scott McLellan is the next John Dean:

During his “Today” show appearance this morning with host Meredith Viera, former press secretary Scott McClellan confirmed that President Bush himself had authorized the leak of the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq:

MCCLELLAN: But the other defining moment was in early April 2006, when I learned that the President had secretly declassified the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq for the Vice President and Scooter Libby to anonymously disclose to reporters. And we had been out there talking about how seriously the President took the selective leaking of classified information. And here we were, learning that the President had authorized the very same thing we had criticized.

VIERA: Did you talk to the President and say why are you doing this?

MCCLELLAN: Actually, I did. I talk about the conversation we had. … And I told the President that that’s what the reporter was asking. He was saying that you, yourself, was the one that authorized the leaking of this information. And he said “yeah, I did.” And I was kinda taken aback.

You can watch the video here. I was unable to load it.

"Yeah, I did." Yeah, he did. Impeach. Finally. Please... before he starts that Iran war he's always wanted.