This is going to be good. Its odd that Panetta was always one of the Clintonians that earned the grudging respect of conservatives.

Three things:

1) Panetta is very independent and wont be bullied
2) Clinton/Panetta axis still exists
3) CIA will protect their own despite partisan biases

The question is whether Panetta has the will to stay and fight. He will be pushed out. Will he raise hell?

Also, will the intelligence community turn on Obama. He’s “stuck” in Afghanistan. He will need them.

Is the love for Obama and a successful Democratic adminstrations so great that Holder will overcome these obstacles and nail a few Bushies to the wall.

Popcorn

It seems to me that the White House has gracious plenty problems on their plate without poking around in CIA files. The Holder witchhunt is going to accomplish nothing at this point except demoralize the CIA.

The White House sent a bevy of “unnamed senior advisors” out this morning to trash Panetta, including news accounts of Panetta resigning and replacements already being given briefings. They can’t throw Panetta under the bus fast enough.

Makes me just want to scream. Pannetta, from all accounts from all persuasions, is a stand-up guy. He appears to have taken his job at CIA and supporting the men and women who serve there very seriously. The thugs in the White House disgust me, but these are the same thugs who had no hesitation whatsoever to brand Bill Clinton a racist for political gain.

This could get ugly. Panetta will rally many allies. I actually hope he resigns in defense of the CIA. That will be a black mark against the White House.

…that this gator unit is going to be run out of the National Security Council?

As an N3/J3 (operations) guy during my .mil time, this is how it WILL work in practice:

- Yes, it will be “run” out of FBI HQ. The FBI is under Justice. Who runs Justice? The Attorney General…who is loyal to the White House.

- FBI HQ = FBI staff and Department of Justice rules and NSC oversight. .

- Being run out of the NSC couldn’t possibly lead to anything bad…could it? Staffers are an average of 35 years old and many are not ex-military or CIA, DIA et al with the exception of the National Intelligence Officers.

This move was meant to centralize HVT interrogation ops in the National Security Council and take it away from the CIA. That was the point. Also – I’m sure the military wasn’t invited to this party.

The good thing about this is once he creates it, it will never go away (see: Director of Naval Intelligence). The next administration(s) doesn’t have to worry about the loyalty in CIA, State or DoD because the NSC (controlled by the National Security Adviser and staffed with political appointees) now controls HVTs and their subsequent interrogation.

Questions worth asking:

- Was the military intelligence community invited to participate. If not, why not? If so, what role will they play?

- Will the darker parts of the special operations community (who have their own interrogators) play nice? I don’t know: you tell me.

These are important questions and the answers will determine how effective we really are at obtaining actionable intelligence on AQ and others.

Can you imagine if Cheney had tried to move all high-value interrogations to a White House unit?

Of course, the current White House may have no choice. I’m assuming that anyone even half-decent at intelligence operations at the CIA is packing their bags and heading out the door. No way anybody stays in those jobs if they don’t have legal cover from their own government.

H/T – Washington Independent

Just in case anyone is interested…

The redacted full-report and appendices have be uploaded to Scribd, and they can be viewed or downloaded here:

2004 CIA Inspector General Report on Torture

Appendices

I’ll withhold substantive comment until after I’ve finished reading the documents, but so far, there’s nothing new to add to the debate except that the document’s release is purely political and stands to greatly diminish our intelligence gathering capabilities for the foreseeable future.

Don’t u get it that every time Obama is in a bind so far him or the NYTimes brings up big bad Bush

This move by Holder today was backed up by WH because they want a diversion from their troubles

So, if news reports are accurate, CIA operatives are alleged to have threatened terror suspects with threats of such things as electric drills.

But in Gaza last night, film surfaced of Hamas executing Al Qaida-backed rivals by shooting them in close range. According the jpost.com, the film was taken by cell phone and provided by Fatah affiliates in Gaza.

Here is an excerpt:

“Two Israeli television stations on Monday night broadcast a video showing Hamas forces “executing” Gaza rebels linked to al-Qaida during an armed confrontation earlier this month.

“The video of the August 15 clash shows what appear to be black-clad Hamas gunmen shooting at rebels pinned in a mosque courtyard in a fierce exchange of fire.

“In two scenes, Hamas gunmen appeared to be executing captives by shooting them at close range.”

The link is here

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251145107235&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Readers of the web paper using the ‘Talkback’ feature had the following comments:

* Paging Jimmy Carter….

* Where is Human Rights Watch?

* obama….they must be acting like animals of the lowest kind because of the settlements

Meanwhile, back in the USA, the attorney general appoints a special prosecutor to consider charging agents who threatened but did not inflict bodily harm.

Isnt something backwards here?

Maybe with razor wire on it this time?

This allows the Dems to change the subject while Obama is on the ropes because of health care.

The fire has done it’s job and the President is less and less popular every day….However, it’s hard to stay in a rage for long because the human body can only hold so much anger…I think the anger over Obamacare, while still burning, is dying down. The metal in the forge is losing that white hot edge…

So what better way to turn the heat down on Health Care reform than to put something out there that is sure to piss off your opposition and refocus their anger on something new that has the added benefit of reminding many of the supposed excesses of the Bush administration and the “Evils” of the Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush cabal?!

The “Big Tent” analogy isn’t the correct one…the correct one is a MAGNET…we need to be a MAGNET that draws these independents in who are sick and tired of what’s going on in Washington—Fred Thompson

Anyone have a knife…a brace of Bamboo…and some finger nail clippers?

The “Big Tent” analogy isn’t the correct one…the correct one is a MAGNET…we need to be a MAGNET that draws these independents in who are sick and tired of what’s going on in Washington—Fred Thompson