Rumsfeld's OUT

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Bob Gates, He's Back

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Nov 08, 2006 6:03 pm

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/ ... hes_b.html


by
Larry C Johnson

Before the media goes overboard extolling the virtues of Bob Gates as the replacement for Don Rumsfeld, it is important to look back at Gates' record and reputation. Gates has some "splaining" to do. The press has forgotten that Bob Gates, during his time at CIA, acquired a reputation for trying to tailor intelligence to satisfy political masters in the Reagan White House. In addition, Bob Gates, a man of enormous intellect and a photographic memory, conveniently forgot salient facts and meetings surrounding the Iran Contra scandal.

The doubts about Gates surfaced during confirmation hearings held in the fall of 1991 to consider his nomination to become the Director of CIA. Irionically, the questions then are still relevant today. Several analysts came out publically against Gates. These included Melvin Goodman and Harold Ford. A New York Times piece by Elaine Sciolino captured the mood of the 1991 hearings:

Three witnesses testified that Mr. Gates slanted intelligence analysis as a senior agency official in the 1980's, while two others defended him. . . .Mr. Gates's detractors assert that the slanting of intelligence was largely confined to issues involving the Soviet Union, Soviet expansionism and C.I.A. covert operations. . . .


The most dramatic testimony came from Melvin A. Goodman, a former division chief in Soviet affairs. He accused Mr. Gates of imposing his political judgments on intelligence analyses without any evidence to back his views, of suppressing his analysts' conclusions, of corrupting the agency's stringent analytical process and of misusing personnel -- "judge shopping the courthouse," Mr. Goodman called it -- until the desired analysis was produced.

But the more reflective testimony of another witness, Harold Ford, although less explosive than Mr. Goodman's, could carry more weight with the committee. Mr. Ford, a 30-year veteran of the agency who has extensively written and lectured on ethics in public policy, described his personal agony before deciding that out of loyalty to the agency, he could not support the nominee. Adding to the difficulty of his choice, Mr. Ford is a C.I.A. contract employee who would report to Mr. Gates, if he is confirmed.

One of the analysts who spoke in favor of Gates was Lawrence Gershwin. Gershwin, the national intelligence officer for strategic programs, subsequently played a critical role in drafting and promoting the flawed October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq.

Mel's experience with Gates is consistent with mine. I remember talking to the South African analyst back in 1988, who told me about the time Bob Gates tried to change the lede on an intelligence piece, which argued that Nelson Mandela was NOT a communist. Gates wanted the lede to say that Mandela was a communist. The analyst kicked back hard and ultimately prevailed, but this behavior was consistent with his reputation as a political animal willing to curry favor with the political masters downtown and sacrifice sound analysis.

There is no denying that Bob Gates has a distinguished resume and, by virtue of experience, is as qualified as any to run the Department of Defense. But it is incumbent on Senators during the upcoming confirmation hearings to insist that Gates fully commit to keep his fingers out of cooking intelligence and promise to tell the President uncomfortable truths even if they are politically inconvenient. He had trouble doing that during his tenure at CIA. Hopefully, with the passage of time, he has grown some spine and learned the importance of integrity.
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Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Wed Nov 08, 2006 6:18 pm

My anger has voiced itself on another forum(of less politically educated individuals than we have here, so keep that in mind) before I found my way here after a 12 hour internet outage.

Excerpts from my post there:

et in Arcadia ego wrote:This is merely a cosmetic change at best, at worst a last minute HUGE influence on Congressional Elections. The Revolving Door guarantees this man's influence in All Things Bad will if anything, only continue to get worse, now that he's out of the spotlight.

How many people here are aware that he personally spawned the Cheney Monster and politically delivered him like the birth of Minerva leaping full grown from her father's head?

These two motherf#ckers ARE the US Government, and they have been(almost exclusively) as far back as the Reagan Administration and further yet.

Do yourself a flavor and google this..ahh f#ck it, I'll hook you up; I'm just cool like that:

GET A F#CKING CLUE ALREADY, YOU F#CKING MORONS..

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Last edited by Et in Arcadia ego on Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"but I do know that you should remove my full name from your sig. Dig?" - Unnamed, Super Scary Persun, bbrrrrr....
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Postby Dreams End » Wed Nov 08, 2006 6:38 pm

Thank GOD...now the CIA is in charge of the military. Now we'll see some real changes...just you watch.

And those neocons...they are fleeing like rats on a sinking ship.

World peace is just around the corner.

Seriously, really have loved to have seen the behind the scenes manuevering. Did you see Bush trying to explain why he lied to the press about keeping Rumsfeld? I wonder if he was actually sincere at that point but got a little talking to.

"Hey, George. Just a little reminder from us generals. We have all the guns. So...anyway, about this Rumsfeld thing...."

It was all masterfully done...just enough change to shut people up...but actually a firmer consolidation of power by military and CIA.
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Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:04 pm

Dreams End wrote:It was all masterfully done...just enough change to shut people up...but actually a firmer consolidation of power by military and CIA.


Indeed, Sir.

My apologies for my lapse in contact with you; things here have been....profound. Please don't take it personally.

Cheers,
D
"but I do know that you should remove my full name from your sig. Dig?" - Unnamed, Super Scary Persun, bbrrrrr....
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Hmmm

Postby chiggerbit » Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:07 pm

When my trash gets re-cycled, most of it gets melted down at very high temperatures before it is re-formed into something "new" and "useful". Can I hope.....?
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Like winning another ball in a pinball game to the death.

Postby HughManateeWins » Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:39 pm

Dreams End wrote:"Hey, George. Just a little reminder from us generals. We have all the guns. So...anyway, about this Rumsfeld thing...."

It was all masterfully done...just enough change to shut people up...but actually a firmer consolidation of power by military and CIA.


The Secretary of War horse change was perfectly blended in with the post-election chatter to minimize the gloating while buying some more time to prevent outright mutiny over 'Vietnam II, The Permanent One.'

Politics is the art of putting off total disaster until it is someone else's problem.
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