Juan Cole: 'They have brought great shame upon the traditions of the White House'

[deminks]

http://www.juancole.com/

Eminent National Security correspondent at the New York Times James Risen has been told by a retired former official of the Central Intelligence Agency that the Bush White House repeatedly asked the CIA to spy on me with a view to discovering “damaging” information with which to discredit my reputation. Glenn Carle says he was called into the office of his superior, David Low, in 2005 and was asked of me, “ ‘What do you think we might know about him, or could find out that could discredit him?’ ”

Low actually wrote up a brief attempt in this direction and submitted it to the White House but Carle says he intercepted it. Carle later discovered that yet another young analyst had been tasked with looking into me.

It seems to me clear that the Bush White House was upset by my blogging of the Iraq War, in which I was using Arabic and other primary sources, and which contradicted the propaganda efforts of the administration attempting to make the enterprise look like a wild shining success.

Carle’s revelations come as a visceral shock. You had thought that with all the shennanigans of the CIA against anti-Vietnam war protesters and then Nixon’s use of the agency against critics like Daniel Ellsberg, that the Company and successive White Houses would have learned that the agency had no business spying on American citizens.

(end snip)

Let's see, what do I remember about using government agencies against political enemies...

[gratuitous]

1. Oh, you're so preoccupied with lookin' backwards to the past

We're all about lookin' forward to the future! Hope! Change! On to Chicago!

[Wind Dancer]

2. K & R! n/t

[Demeter]

3. The CIA LIVES to Spy!

and if they can't find Osama binLaden, what better alternative than to find someone who writes about happenings in the Arab world and spy on him and discredit him so he runs away...and therefore could conceivably lead to Osama?

Bullies don't learn by failure. They learn by forcible stoppage.

[ixion]

4. Aye, and here's the rub:

Because Obama doesn't even bother to investigate, much less indict and prosecute, makes him an accessory after the fact.

[slay]

5. Yep

and i don't think i can vote for that. It was one thing to vote for Obama based on his words and promises as candidate - it's a whole other thing to validate his actions by voting to re-elect him in 2012. I wish we had a better option. He will likely win - but also likely without my vote.

[femrap]

6. +1

[tomp]

12. agreed. nt

[uponit7771]

17. -1

[WillyT]

7. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[On the Road]

8. Wow --Unbelievable

Juan Cole is so fairminded. We're not talking Ted Rall here.

[Octafish]

9. Juan's lucky all they tried to do was destroy his reputation.

Remember all John Kokal and Gus Weis tried to do was tell the truth about Iraq having no WMDs.

[Canuckistanian]

10. I read this earlier

It's outrageous that Juan Cole should be targeted by the friggin' government.

His stuff is SOLID. He knows how to speak Farsi and Arabic and knows how to interpret what's happening in Iran and the Middle East, without some news agency's spin.

But then again, I guess that's what makes him so dangerous.

[carolinayellowdog]

11. They bring shame on themselves but honor to Juan Cole

He has long been a hero of mine for a variety of reasons.

[IDemo]

13. Frank Church is spinning in his grave

If he were alive now and trying to create the Church Committee, he would be howled out of the room by the media and "leaders" of the Left and Right.

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Church_Committee_Created.htm

[Major Hogwash]

14. Good point. Those who wish to wage war rarely were ever in one.

Church was the greatest Senator Idaho ever had.

[Scurrilous]

15. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Gabi Hayes]

16. spitzer is interviewing Carle as I type this

[deminks]

18. Thanks, I missed it. If there is a repeat, I will try to catch it.