Meanwhile, the Administration Twiddles its Thumbs (UPDATED)
Posted by: Emperor Misha I in Fry Them, Now!, Journaljizzm, Lefty America-Haters, Useless Swine8:05 pm
(Via LC & IB Charles J.)
WASHINGTON, June 24 — The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.
According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007.
[…]
General Casey’s briefing has remained a closely held secret, and it was described by American officials who agreed to discuss the details only on condition of anonymity. [Emphases ours — Emp.M.]
Yes, you guessed right: It’s the al-Qaeda Times again, bravely serving the “public interest” by broadcasting our every move to our enemies in times of war.
But no, nothing can be done about it because, you know, that would make martyrs of them and they’d write nasty editorials about how their dissent was being stifled, and the polls would suffer and… and… and…
Better to let them continue to act as spies for al-Qaeda and provide aid and comfort to our enemies. We’ll just write angry Letters to the Editor /dev/null and threaten to boycott their advertisers. That’ll show ‘em!
So will this:
Rope. Tree. Journalist.
Some assembly required.
UPDATE: Yes, this could very well be a deliberate leak since it really doesn’t say much that wasn’t already more or less known, but that doesn’t change the facts. The facts are, as the al-Qaeda Times waste no time in pointing out themselves, that this information was classified, a closely held secret and that the leak(s) would only discuss it under condition of anonymity. Yet they still went ahead and published it.
No, it is most certainly not near as damaging as Lichtblau and Risen, on two occasions now, having broadcast to the German U-Boot Waffe that we’ve cracked Enigma (which is essentially what they did), but it is just as damning nevertheless. The al-Qaeda Times, once again, got hold of information that they knew was classified, that they were told was classified, yet went straight ahead and published it anyway. That is, if not outright treason, at least espionage.
Of course, if this leak was, indeed, deliberate, one can only wonder why the Administration would choose, hot on the heels of the al-Qaeda Times blowing the lid off of SWIFT, to hand that treasonous rag a shovel to see what they’d do with it.
Yes, you’re free to draw your own conclusions on that one. As to myself, I can only say: Mheh.
Entries (RSS)
These folks need a public hanging.
June 24th, 2006 at 8:13 pmWhich we must also remember is frequently used as a rather long-winded euphemism for “a fictitious person“.
On the other hand, we should probably still shoot them all.
Just in case.
June 24th, 2006 at 8:25 pmThe government probably can’t do much of anything about the treasonous assholes at the New Jihad Times, but they can damn well do something about the leakers.
If this was a “classified briefing” and a”closely guarded secret” that means there are only a finite number of people who knew enough about it to leak. Find the anonymous assholes. Give them a very public trial and then execute them for treason.
Firing squad on the lawn of the Pentagon out to send a message to the next fuckhead who considers telling secrets to the Times.
June 24th, 2006 at 8:49 pmThis is a good point, except that I’m starting to believe that they are just starting to make this shit up. With no accountability for an, “anonymous source,” you can have them saying just about anything. You can have, “anonymous,” mischaracterizing what actually is going on, and in the process, you can fuel the moonbats with just enough to get them baying with conjecture…
June 24th, 2006 at 9:36 pmRope. Tree. Journalist.
Some assembly required.
You know I could swear I have seen that somewhere…..
June 24th, 2006 at 10:07 pmWhile this is possibly good news, showing that we are indeed giving more of our role over there to Iraqis and is a good PR thing, and also shows that the conditions there are going more smoothly than what some people say. It is funny, I don’t know if it was real or not, I am not the best student on history, but I saw a Musical Comedy called 1776 recently, and one of the themes was how pessimistic the press or informers were back than of the Revolutionary War. A delegate of Maryland heard such horrible things about George Washington and the fighting going on, that when he saw it for himself he was very shocked at how so much different it was. How the press reports is usually very pessimistic, and hell that is how they sold the news and why I hated them even before I became into politics. The way they would sensationalize with the newest horror story got me angry. The problem is that the NYT is not the official paper for these things, it might be the biggest paper in the USA, but to me it is just the Liberal version of the New York Post. Why would they be so anonymous anyway? Are they afraid of revealing classified secrets, furthermore why is it so pressing for them to reveal things like that right now? Indeed, what some don’t understand is that our enemies(especially Bin Laden’s up-to-date takes on our news) can read and understand what is happening, and this is, as a matter of fact, getting closer to suggesting timestables even if the senate voted against the Kerry plan. Plus, the Secret prisons that don’t exist, was also pretty bad because it was libel. It is funny how so many Liberals, who always like to say “question authority” always take newspapers at face value(I think that Ddgner is an example) and never do so when a Democrat is President. I guess that the reason for all of this is the idea that someone who reveals Seekrit government information is like a mystical legendary deepthroat character, maybe tbey could do a special on Area 51 and declassify documents of the base, and find out if there are aliens, man.
June 25th, 2006 at 3:51 amStephen Macklin (#3) says: “The government probably can’t do much of anything about the treasonous assholes at the New Jihad Times, but they can damn well do something about the leakers“…
Hmmm, I’ve often wondered why these folks at the Times or where ever can’t be charged with aiding & abetting a crime by printing what a leaker gives them…
I mean even if at the end of the day the charges themselves might eventually be overturned just think how much hassle and expense the government could levy onto outfits like the Times if the government wanted to follow through with charges…
Thankfully not all newspaper editors have Keller’s cavalier attitude towards national security needs that Keller has…
From the Washington Times editorial: Treasury argued its case for weeks, to no avail, to prevent publication in the New York Times, arguing that the program saves American lives and the lives of allies, that the revelation of the program diminishes its usefulness because al Qaeda and other wrongdoers constantly seek information on how Western governments track their activities. The New York Times was not persuaded. Executive Editor Bill Keller made the usual right-to-know argument: “We remain convinced that the administration’s extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest.”
This is an extraordinary commandeering of public policy from elected officials and the government they administer, committed ostensibly in the name of “the public interest” but more likely stemming from hostility to government as administered by George W. Bush. There is no other persuasive explanation.
June 25th, 2006 at 4:32 amIs the government suing the New York Times? Of course, it’s probably useless going through the courts, it would be easier to take the “rope tree journalist round” and watch the ensuing entertainment, the weeping and gnashing of teeth on sites like the Kossacks’ Kid Krying Krater.
June 25th, 2006 at 5:31 amIf there is a leaker, you got to wonder just how far they are willing to go.
Personally, I would be using made up crap to see what gets printed where and who was told that the info was legit. Then you would have a short list of those who have no real buisness being near sensitive data.
Court Martial them as an example to any other potential leakers. Or use them to spread disinformation to the press.
Either, make use of them, or get rid of them. ASAP.
June 25th, 2006 at 5:44 amOn the other hand, perhaps the leakers are useless bureaucrats, sorry sack of shit staff officers, who feel important. Politicians do it a lot to get attention (Murtha, Anyone?)
Ego is the name of the game. You have some useless desk-molester (bureaucrats and military admin types sit behind desks and play with themselves) who “feels” underappreciated, and to inflate his importance blabs to some reporter with a long shock of blonde hair. Sacks of shit. They deserve to be lined up against the wall of the Pentagon that was hit on 9/11 and shot out of hand.
June 25th, 2006 at 8:48 amI suspect it was deliberate, sort of disinforming the Italian High Command with something that you wanted to make sure got to the Allies by the most speedy and reliable means possible.
Any such withdrawal would depend on certain preconditions existing, which might or might not come to pass. This would be a way of getting a “best case” answer to the duration question out without havig to actually vouch for it.
Me, I’m skeptical. We might cut engaged forces by a third in a year or so, but things would have to develop quite a bit before anyone sane would be making promises beyond that.
June 25th, 2006 at 9:27 am[…] I may need to create some kind of macro for these posts. Posted by Ian S. in […]
June 25th, 2006 at 10:33 am[RobH, do us a favor and stop trying to hotlink Michelle Malkin’s pictures. She apparently has policies in place to block those attempts, and it’s really not doing a whole lot of good trying to get around that.
Thanks. -The Management™]
[Besides, it’s not nice hogging somebody else’s bandwidth, particularly not when somebody else is a friend of ours — Emp.M.]
June 25th, 2006 at 10:54 amThere’s a reason why al-Qaeda attacked the WTC and not the NY Times. It’s high time faithful Americans did to the reporters of the NY Times what the “new” Americans did with the torries after the Revolutionary War.
They’ve chosen what side they’re on. Let them face the consquences.
June 25th, 2006 at 11:55 amLawmaker Wants Papers Probed Over Stories
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee urged the Bush administration on Sunday to seek criminal charges against newspapers that reported on a secret financial-monitoring program used to trace terrorists.
Rep. Peter King cited The New York Times in particular for publishing a story last week that the Treasury Department was working with the CIA to examine messages within a massive international database of money-transfer records.
King, R-N.Y., said he would write Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urging that the nation’s chief law enforcer “begin an investigation and prosecution of The New York Times _ the reporters, the editors and the publisher.”
June 25th, 2006 at 11:58 amWHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH SUSPECTER?
June 25th, 2006 at 12:01 pmDid you see ‘Lawmaker wants papers probed over stories’?
Link… http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060625/ap_on_go_co/prosecuting_reporters
June 25th, 2006 at 12:30 pmSorry….. My comment was already made, by Sir Christopher.
June 25th, 2006 at 12:31 pmSimple…He’s a RHINO
June 25th, 2006 at 12:38 pmin that one fucking sentence he disses the idea that NYT has done anything damaging, and then says not to assume the WH is in the “right”
Give the NYT the benefit of the doubt
Don’t give W the benefit of the doubt
what a firkin weasle
why couldn’t he have said, yes it’s too early to condemn the Times, but it’s also to early to say the WH overstepped it’s authority. i just don’t understand this guy and others like him. Why did W help him win his election again?
June 25th, 2006 at 12:45 pmThat’s what happens when you back the wrong horse. You get a Jackass instead. Bush screwed up big time when he dumped Sphincter’s opponent in favor of him. Now we’re stuck with a RINO in a Jackass suit.
BTW….I can’t BELIEVE the Emperor hasn’t even mentioned THIS little party taking place in Colorado. Sounds like quite a bash. Smokes, Guns, and Libations.
June 25th, 2006 at 12:58 pmSunday Funnies…
Image courtesy of Six Meat Buffet. Thank you for the dedication.
June 25th, 2006 at 1:04 pmMichelle Malkin has all kinds of these posters reminding us how important it is to keep our secret programs secret.
Gateway Pundit tells us about the Jews within Al Qaeda!
Dan Riehl ca…
Time to embed a spy inside the NY Times and catch some leakers …
June 25th, 2006 at 1:13 pmMrs. M says (#21): “That’s what happens when you back the wrong horse. You get a Jackass instead. Bush screwed up big time when he dumped Sphincter’s opponent in favor of him. Now we’re stuck with a RINO in a Jackass suit.“…:lol:
I have to wonder if Rove pushed Bush to campaign for the SPHINCTER instead of Pat Toomey?
After all even with the help of Bush, Toomey almost won anyway…
June 25th, 2006 at 1:59 pmMurtha says U.S. poses top threat to world peace
June 25th, 2006 at 2:13 pmI guess with the someone like Murtha ranting & raving like a demented moonbat the Alqueda Times feels safe since Murtha tends to echo the Times’ editorial stance…
Strategy Page notes: Treason You Can Get Away With:
June 25th, 2006 at 2:17 pmFuck it! Invite ‘em over to Iraq to see for theselves…then frag ‘em. All of them. Accodents Do happen, you know……
June 25th, 2006 at 2:27 pmEmperor - my humble apologies - am still not overly familiar with how this internet linking stuff works - believe I can get the photo to a place like photobucket and link from there? Is that ok?
I’d never want to get you nor MM in trouble, man!
How’s this:
June 25th, 2006 at 2:39 pmI was reading this article and thought to myself…he’s really coming off the wall now…perhaps he is feeling the heat? Not to mention folks becoming wise to his role in the Somalia debacle………so he can join the ranks of Hanoi Jane, John Kerry and Co……….now all we have to do is help his opponent get elected. Murtha has dreams of furthering his career with the blood of our soldiers….I only hope we can end it. Pathetic little man, can’t face the reality he helped get a lot of our guys killed unnecessarily, so let’s do it again…….Christ! The guy’s a full blown menace.
June 25th, 2006 at 2:47 pmThat’s very much OK, yes
And don’t worry, apology accepted. A lot of people don’t know exactly how this whole bandwidth/hotlink deal works. It took me a “would you please stop this?” to learn it myself back in the day. I had no idea I was doing anything wrong at the time.
June 25th, 2006 at 3:19 pmI must be now where you were THEN, Emperor!
If there was an “edit” function for each post I could go back and delete my MM link then reinsert the same pic which I put into my photobucket account - but ain’t it strange that here we are on the web and there are “rules” for what can be linked - and I’m an ex-USN fighter jock that didn’t care much for rules anyway!
Just the mission - and in this case, it’s to get America to wake up to its own internal enemies and bitch-slap ‘em until they “get it!”
Though it is ONE HARD MISSION, man!
here ya go, completely street legal and as appropriate as before:
June 25th, 2006 at 3:25 pmYou know folks maybe applying the Don Goldwater ‘worthless wetback‘ solution to the seditious swine in the so called news media might not be such a bad thing…:lol:
June 25th, 2006 at 3:52 pmActually, Rob, that was me. I’d noticed that your pics weren’t posting and started digging to find out why.
Putting them in Photobucket or whatever storage area you prefer is just fine, as the Emperor has already said. That’s what I do, in fact - have a couple of storage areas at my disposal.
Thanks!
June 25th, 2006 at 6:25 pmRob,
You’ve got company in that respect (hotlinking causing “bandwidth hoggage”…)
I’m still trying to understand my way around too.
From one semi- semi-literate computer techie to another, (But you’re probably more on the ball than I am!)
June 25th, 2006 at 6:51 pmReally, what ever happened to keeping troop movements secret and shooting bastards/bitches that leak that kind of info–this sh__t gets people killed. An example or several needs to be made and now.
June 26th, 2006 at 9:20 amIf the NYT is giving out information to our enemies as a matter of “public interest” isn’t in the public’s interest to know the names, family members’ names addresses, phone numbers, schools, etc. of every NYT employee so that their treasonous activities can be closely monitored by members of the public? Monotoring the NYT’s attempts to aid Al-Qaeda seems much more important than any silly privacy issues.
June 26th, 2006 at 10:25 am