And then there are the not-yet-fully-appreciated revelations in George Tenet's new (and unconscionably and unforgivably belated) book, one highly illustrative example of which was recounted today by Scott Shane in The New York Times:
In January 2002, George J. Tenet, the man who oversaw all American spy agencies, was asked by a visiting Italian intelligence official what he knew about United States officials making contact with exiled Iranian opposition figures.It was prohibited for awhile to describe the work of the deceitful little neoconservative cabal in Washington which was at the center of the administration's efforts to knowingly churn out pure falsehoods in order to justify the invasion of Iraq -- an invasion which (Tenet is but the latest figure to reveal) was desired and planned by Dick Cheney and friends long before the 9/11 attacks."I shot a look at other members of my staff in the meeting," Mr. Tenet writes in his newly published memoir. "It was clear that none of us knew what he was talking about. The Italian quickly changed the subject."
The embarrassed Mr. Tenet, then director of central intelligence, had stumbled upon a quixotic effort by a few Pentagon officials working closely with a conservative Middle East specialist, Michael A. Ledeen, to meet with Iranian dissidents living abroad. It was neither the first nor the last time he would be surprised by intelligence efforts inside the Bush administration but outside official channels. . . .
Meanwhile, Mr. Tenet had learned about the contacts with Iranian exiles, organized by Mr. Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute and involving two Defense Department officials. They seemed to be in touch with, among others, Manucher Ghorbanifar, an Iranian exile who had been a middleman in the Iran-contra affair in the 1980s and who the C.I.A. believed was completely unreliable.
"What we were hearing sounded like an off-the-books covert-action program trying to destabilize the Iranian government," Mr. Tenet writes, calling such a program "Son of Iran-contra."
But the truth can only be concealed for so long, and sooner or later, it is going to be absolutely clear just how corrupt and radical the dominant political force governing the Bush administration really has been. In the world of crazed neoconservative radicals, Michael Ledeen is the Gold Standard for pure reality-detachment and a belief in deceiving the American public in order to manipulate their support for the neoconservative agenda, and yet there he was -- Michael Ledeen -- at the center of the cabal which was shaping foreign policy and the Iraq war, operating in secret even from our CIA Director."
Sunday, April 29, 2007
the deceitful little neoconservative cabal
Glenn:
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4 comments:
It seems not everyone is quite willing to see Tenet as the victim of the neocon cabal. (1)
Greenwald goes on,
"...Taken together, these two seemingly unconnected incidents reveal: (a) just how radical, extremist and dishonest are the people who have been running this country for the last six years, the whole Bush-led neoconservative Republican edifice loyally supported by most of the "conservative" movement, and (b) outside of the hard-core Bush followers and the stuck-in-2002 Beltway media establishment, there is a rapidly growing recognition of (a) in this country, which is beginning to engender a very potent sea change in political opinion and political power.
And most critically of all, the joint forces of the Beltway media and the right-wing machine have been almost completely impotent in trying to stem the tide. No matter what they do, public anger with the president, his party and the war just continues to grow."
I have to be skeptical that either anything will change, or that the change will go very deep.
There is the argument that the political parties are about the same. Each is supported, mainly, by the same deep pockets. This fact explains, it is argued, why they have the same policies about the main issues on who makes money.
So, if the neocon republicans are ousted then we could easily get the neocon democrats. Both seemingly are into supporting the strategy in the middle east, if not the particular wars in Iraq, or the tactics about the way they are fought. Both seem to want to put pressure on Iran if not attack them.
I figure both are wanting to do something about some coming oil shortage by going in and taking what they want.
I also think that most of the people "beyond the beltway" share many of the values of the neocons doing all the stealing and murdering "within the beltway." For example, they share the Christian values that there's such a thing as God's will that will bring about a conflict between the forces of good and evil. Being on God's side for these people has nothing to do with pacifism.
There are other values having to do with doing what's necessary to protect one's own and to make sure one survives.
When the President talks about protecting us from mushroom clouds, he's appealing to the concerns of not just his Christian base.
So, just pointing out the neocons have done wrong will not in itself root out enough to keep us from, say, invading countries to steal what we want and kill whomever objects, for example. I can imagine we'll just change the actors but the general program will continue the same.
Greenwald would like to think a big change will occur if the present administration is exposed. But isn't that one reason we have administrations? So that the actors can be changed without having to change the policies they promote?
NeoNutizis!!!!
Do you think Tenet googled the stuff on Ledeen/Ghorbanifar, found that it was all exposed by the Italian media years ago, and then decided to add it to his book?
Since he mentions Iran-Contra, I wonder what he'd have to say about Robert Gates in the Ledeen context?
But . . . I guess what amazes me more than anything else is the fact that dirtbags like Ledeen continue to be regarded as "experts," even though their credibility is absolutely ZERO.
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