Obama nominates, praises man who said Iraq had hidden WMD in Syria

[Xavyman]

Meet our new director of national intelligence:

"Washington (CNN) -- Calling him one of America's "most experienced and most respected intelligence professionals," President Barack Obama has nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper to be the new director of national intelligence." June 5, 2010

Digby provides a flashback:

The official, a retired lieutenant general, said satellite imagery showing a heavy flow of traffic from Iraq into Syria, just before the American invasion in March, led him to believe that illicit weapons material ''unquestionably'' had been moved out of Iraq.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/very-serious-kooks-and-spooks-rising-to.html

More here: http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/003296.html

[donco6]

1. Sigh.

What to say?

[BrklynLiberal]

3. sadly..that is my reaction as well..

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bluebear]

10. Look for the blue links.

[tango-tee]

100. Took a quick peek at the thread... none to be found (yet).

Not to despair, my friend! Surely, any moment now...

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[donco6]

16. Hoocoodanode! Love it.

I want that on a T-shirt.

[Tansy_Gold]

21. I stole it from someone else

So feel free to steal it from me!

:hi:

[Tansy_Gold]

63. Andit got deleted?

:wtf:

Oh well.

[donco6]

64. ?? Got me. n/t

[Tansy_Gold]

66. I can't remember exactly what I posted but

it may have contained an objectionable phrase, and while I was intending it to be humorous, I can see where it might have been considered offensive. And for that I do apologize. Sarcasm is no excuse for insensitivity.



Tansy Gold

[FarLeftFist]

70. Didn't they have biological weapons in the 90's?

That was used to commit genocide? I don't believe they had any after, certainly not after 9/11, cause if they did they probably would have used it.

[Tansy_Gold]

71. Not that you were replying to my post, but to answer yours:

Yes, Saddam's regime had chemical weapons of somewhat mass destruction which Donald Rumsfeld gave him. Those weapons were the gasses Saddam used on the Kurds to produce the "But he killed his own people!" meme of war justification. I think if you google rumsfeld saddam and poison gas you'll get the info.


TG

[Bluebear]

79. And how.

[BrklynLiberal]

83. duh. Read both posts when they were visible..and saw nothing offensive...but who knows..

[noamnety]

31. In fairness, he DID inherit a lot of shit from the Bush administration.

(I just didn't expect him to appoint them all to key positions.)

[donco6]

36. If I'd known that's what it took to get a job there -

Maybe I'd have voted for Bush.

[chill_wind]

89. +1000

[lib2DaBone]

50. Hoocoodanode..LOL.... the devil made him do it....

... the Devil made him appoint Republicans at every crucial post.

[sandnsea]

14. He also wants to end TALON

which should be met with huge cheers around here. I think based on that, I'll wait to see what he has to say about his WMD to Syria fiasco.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h4nK1trBYCh1w2fGuJ9JSpKZ4jvgD9FRHOJ01

[Individualist]

15. You didn't have to wait long.

[sandnsea]

17. Somebody has to bring facts n/t

[Individualist]

25. ...

:rofl:

[donco6]

18. And I'm feeling so relieved already!

I think I'll just have another martini to celebrate.

[QC]

19. YOU NEVER REALLLY LOVED HIM TO START WITH!1!!!!!!111

:cry:

[donco6]

24. But I did! I did!

. . . and I really did, too. Hubby still has his Obama/Biden round magnet on his truck. Which I keep reminding him about.

[Bluebear]

26. They just forgot!!

As Barack worked the line following the close of his speech yesterday, there was a surge of people moving forward hoping to get close enough to shake Barack's hand. Since I was standing about 20 feet back from center stage in the crowd, I felt the crowd down front tighten as many of us stood on our toes, stretched our bodies forward while reaching out to Barack. I noticed that a six foot tall guy who was standing in front of me had stretched far enough above the crowd and shook hands with Barack. As the guy drew back his hand back I asked him, "You shook his hand didn't you?" Happily the guy said "Yes." I then said, "give me some of that" and the guy shook my hand with the same hand he had just clasped with Barack's. A woman friend of mine who was standing next to me saw me shake hands with the guy. I turned to her and said "He just shook hands with Barack," to which she responded…"Hey, give it up." We then shook hands. She then turned to the person next to her and shook hands. This went on for at least five or six people.

I did not know the tall guy in front of me; he is white, I am black. But at the moment we shook hands, I felt some solidarity with this stranger, consummated by a handshake and signifying some unspoken agreement presumably about Barack Obama and Barack's core message of UNITY!

I call this hand-shake scenario The "BAM" because, descriptively, it takes a bit of Obama's name and it's the sound of a collision (in a positive sense).

THE BAM, pass it on at the next Barack Rally!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7980342719

[QC]

29. That story always makes me think of apostolic succession.

Takes me right back to confirmation class.

[Bluebear]

45. It reminds me of pinky swears

[QC]

49. I first read that as "pinking shears." n/t

[CrispyQ]

2. When you're looking forward, stuff like this doesn't matter. --nt

:grr:

[avaistheone1]

87. +1

[xchrom]

4. The more things 'Change' -- so on and so forth. Nt

[gateley]

6. Sincere question - where does Obama get the suggestions for his nominees/appointees?

There have been few that have have been met with a :thumbsup: from DUers.

This guy is really ODD looking, too -- kind of scary.

[LakeSamish706]

8. No Shit Sherlock... Scary big time at this point. n/t

[Bluebear]

9. --->

[donco6]

11. LOL!

Could it be any worse? I think not.

[chill_wind]

32. He was recommended by Gates.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/06/obama-to-nominate-clapper-for-dni-tomorrow/57712/

Spent a little time as a defense contractor, I see. (which one is not mentioned.)

Gotta keep that PermaWar gravy train going.

[noamnety]

38. Oh god, this is hilarious:

"He's also demonstrated a willingness to change his mind; he was initially opposed to the consolidation of the Pentagon's imagery intelligence analysis units, but later, when he was put in charge of those units, he became a strong advocate and firm believer."

[glitch]

40. I wish this was unbelievable. nt

[chill_wind]

75. I thought that was rich.

I was hoping that was satire on Ambinder's part, but I actually don't think it was.

Elsewhere, he goes to great pain and length to try to separate his reputation from Stephen Cambone's.
see Ambinder on "He was Steve Cambone's Deputy."

Yet elsewhere again, he does tag him to some of stuff at Bagram -

"Ambinder also explained that when Appendix M techniques are being used, the man responsible for overseeing them is Gen.James Clapper (Ret.), the undersecretary of defense for intelligence."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x540433

About Appendix M

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x540433#540446

[noamnety]

80. That connection needs to be a new thread. (nt)

[Bluebear]

101. wow

[neverforget]

35. I think Frank Rich said it best in today's column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/opinion/06rich.html

It’s this misplaced trust in elites both outside the White House and within it that seems to prevent Obama from realizing the moment that history has handed to him.

[gateley]

47. Interesting. Maybe he is aware of the monumental moment at hand and is being

too cautious. Perhaps after a year or two he will begin to trust more in his gut feeling, gain more confidence?

[neverforget]

53. He needs to get rid of some those nincompoops he has surrounded himself

with.....Geithner, Summers, Gates, Duncan, Rahm.......

[gateley]

56. Agree. nt

[Individualist]

57. He knew exactly what they were when he chose them.

[neverforget]

61. Unfortunately, you're correct.

[SammyWinstonJack]

88. +1. nt

[Bluebear]

60. He picked 'em, he knew what he was getting.

[Tansy_Gold]

76. Oh, jeez. Another one getting his training on the job? n/t

[G_j]

69. "misplaced trust in elites"

and that's putting it nicely!

[donco6]

95. +1

[LakeSamish706]

7. I call bullshit to this guys observations! How the hell does he know that these were WMD's

being sent out the country? Another attempt to legitimize the Bush Administrations attack on Iraq is what I see.

[NYC_SKP]

13. What's all this fuss?

Are people here doubting that Saddam and his sons tried to move weapons and other items around pre-invasions?

Really?

You know, Bush lied, but Saddam wasn't a saint either, and I'm pretty confident he had some things to hide.

And, the term "weapons of mass destruction" is a creation by the author of this blog or whatever it is, not those of Lt. Gen. Clapper.

Please correct me if I'm wrong...

..."WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 <2003>— The director of a top American spy agency said Tuesday that he believed that material from Iraq's illicit weapons program had been transported into Syria and perhaps other countries as part of an effort by the Iraqis to disperse and destroy evidence immediately before the recent war.

The official, a retired lieutenant general, said satellite imagery showing a heavy flow of traffic from Iraq into Syria, just before the American invasion in March, led him to believe that illicit weapons material ''unquestionably'' had been moved out of Iraq.

''I think people below the Saddam Hussein-and-his-sons level saw what was coming and decided the best thing to do was to destroy and disperse,'' , who leads the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, said at a breakfast with reporters.

He said he was providing a personal assessment. But he said ''the obvious conclusion one draws'' was that there ''may have been people leaving the scene, fleeing Iraq, and unquestionably, I am sure, material.'' A spokesman for agency, David Burpee, said he could not provide further evidence to support the general's statement. ..."

:shrug:

[donco6]

22. Report Finds No Evidence Syria Hid Iraqi Arms

U.S. investigators hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have found no evidence that such material was moved to Syria for safekeeping before the war, according to a final report of the investigation released yesterday.

Although Syria helped Iraq evade U.N.-imposed sanctions by shipping military and other products across its borders, the investigators "found no senior policy, program, or intelligence officials who admitted any direct knowledge of such movement of WMD." Because of the insular nature of Saddam Hussein's government, however, the investigators were "unable to rule out unofficial movement of limited WMD-related materials."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042501554.html

So, basically the report concluded there's no evidence, but Obama appoints the guy who insists a little intelligence genie assured him it was true. Great.

[NYC_SKP]

28. "Syria helped Iraq evade U.N.-imposed sanctions by shipping military and other products..."

The man was at that time serving as the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

They look at and interpret pictures from space.

They probably make mistakes.

That he served under Bush and was mistaken about this and maybe other conclusions does not constitute anything about which to be particularly upset.

And he never used the term WMD, the dramatic author did.

He said "illicit weapons", and I'm sure they had them, just like we do and France and Great Britain and Iran, etc...

I still call it a non-story.

:shrug:

[donco6]

30. So, in the entire government, there's no one available who DIDN'T make this monumental mistake?

Really? This is the best we've got? A guy who ended up justifying our wrong-headed war in Iraq?

[NYC_SKP]

34. He didn't justify it.

If you're suggesting that Bush/Cheney relied even a little on his mistake, statement or existence as the premise for their war crimes, I have to disagree.

That he interpreted some data the way he did, and was only partly right, was not their premise for war.

Not even close.

Bush/Cheney were taking us in no matter what this little cog in the system said.

[donco6]

37. Rove disagrees.

He used this very quote in his book. The one justifying the war.

[NYC_SKP]

68. Yes! Splendid! Karl Rove Book provides reliable foundation for criticism of administration. n/t

[glitch]

41. Consistently wrong is the only requirement for high level employment in this administration.nt

[Bluebear]

98. !

[Tansy_Gold]

23. Well for one thing, he's a carry-over from the

previous administration. Change? I didn't think so.


'Nuff said.




TG

[WinkyDink]

43. This is unadulterated hogwash. Are you seriously still giving credence to BUSH???

[NYC_SKP]

55. I don't know what you're talking about. Bush got us into this war. n/t

I've really gone about as far as I care to in describing in a rational way the fact that this war would have started no matter what.

And there are bloggers and authors who love to create drama where there is no real basis for it.

And now Karl Rove has been brought into the conversation to give some legitimacy to the bullshit of other authors.

I'm done.

:patriot:

[donco6]

58. He has to keep justifying the war in Iraq. After all, we're still there.

So Saddam MUST have been worth killing everyone for. See how the logic works? No?

Me neither.

[Nite Owl]

20. In November, 2008

I thought we finally won, guess not.

[laughingliberal]

27. On the bright side, he can be counted on to say what 'they' need him to say.

You never know when you might need a mouthpiece to justify an invasion. ;)

[Mari333]

33. more fodder to stop me from ever voting again.

[glitch]

42. Please vote. Just don't vote for the right wing, no matter how well they're cloaked. nt

[Mari333]

46. for who? local level only progressive dems, but who???

[glitch]

51. National level, write in if you have to.

When you don't vote at all they don't even have to bother stealing it.

[autorank]

39. And the beat goes on...

[glitch]

44. Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain.

La de da de de, la de da de da.

So many good people being passed over for corporatist sycophants. Disgusting.

[Bluebear]

54. And men still keep on marching off to war.

[glitch]

59. And dried up zombies keep raking in the dough.

La de da de de, la de da de da

[autorank]

102. You've seen the secret text

The lost verses -- time to proudly reveal ourselves!

[neverforget]

48. The guy who got some vital intel wrong is now one of America's

"most experienced and most respected intelligence professionals"? :rofl:

[donco6]

52. You say potato, I say potahtoe.

We all say, "We're fucked."

[Autumn]

62. That just fucking sucks. Whats next?

Bernie Madoff to head the Fed?

[Tansy_Gold]

72. At least he admits he's a crook. n/t

[donco6]

65. kick

[ProgressiveVictory]

67. hmm

[MisterP]

73. more PNACers (founded by the Dem Scoop Jackson as much as the Pub Team B)

from the comments, "Let's just hope that this guy was just kissing ass at the time"

in that sentence--variants of which the Loyalist Brigades subjected us to to excuse (nay, PRAISE) the IWR vote and other Brilliant Moderate Gems--caviling cowardice is presented not only as a pragmatic or survival mechanism, but as the highest political good

it forms part of the Neo-Tammany Triad: cowardice ("triangulation"), pragmatic if grudging obedience ("we're the only viableTM party who'll do any good"), and sycophantic gratitude ("ZOMG The One is so smart! he has something up his sleeve! we must await His glorious descent from on high! if you dump on Gerald Ford you're on the wrong side of history!")

[glitch]

85. Very well said.

I have no doubt the Vichy considered themselves highly skilled pragmatists.

[Bluebear]

92. !

:)

[chill_wind]

74. Suggested what would later become Bush spying?

Caught this refererence in the comments section at Matthew Yglesias

It seems Robert Gates and Clapper have a history:

Comments on Women in Intelligence
Dr. Robert M. Gates and LtGen James R. Clapper, Jr.

Reorganization of DIA and Defense Intelligence Activities
LtGen James R. Clapper, Jr., USAF, Director, DIA

Clapper suggested what later became Bush spying:

A report written somewhat earlier, in June 1999, by Lieutenant General Jim Clapper of the NSA Scientific Advisory Board, argued for similar measures. While heavily redacted, the report, also made available by the National Security Archives, called for the development of “digital network intelligence,” which it defined as “the intelligence from intercepted data communications transmitted between, or resident on, networked computers.” Modern communications posed the problem of “manipulating huge volumes of heterogeneous complex data,” it said.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2010/05/endgame-238.php

I haven't looked at it yet, but for the curious, that'd be here (pdf):

Document 22: Lt. Gen. Jim Clapper, NSA Scientific Advisory Board, Panel on Digital Network Intelligence (DNI), Report to the Director, June 28, 1999, Secret Comint

"This study, a complement to another study on conventional collection, is another example of NSA's attempt to address the changing communication environment. Digital network intelligence is defined as "the intelligence from intercepted digital data communications transmitted between, or resident on, networked computers."

The study, which has been heavily redacted prior to release, notes an imperative to "re-tool: organizationally, programmatically, and technologically" and examines issues concerning the access and collection of digital network intelligence, processing and extraction of intelligence from the data collected, analysis and reporting, and dissemination."

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB24/nsa22.pdf

Main site: National Security Archive
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB24/index.htm

[Bluebear]

77. Obama invokes state secrets privilege to block lawsuit over warrantless wiretap

http://blog.taragana.com/n/obama-administration-invokes-state-secrets-privilege-to-block-lawsuit-over-warrantless-wiretap-213304/

And the beat goes on.

[chill_wind]

78. History has turned the page, uh huh.

La de da de de, la de da de da.

[Echo In Light]

81. Phony war

[unhappycamper]

82. The next big player in the Obama administration?

James Baker, Henry Kissinger or Richard Cheney. :(

[glitch]

86. They prefer managing from the shadows. nt

[Bluebear]

94. .

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

84. and so forth and so on..........

[Bluebear]

91. :nodding:

[flyarm]

90. CHANGE?..yawn..that is sooo YESTERDAY!!..we move forward don'tcha know!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[ecstatic]

93. Didn't SoS Clinton & VP Biden believe there were WMDs as well?

:shrug: *I* never thought Iraq had weapons, but just pointing out that the majority of democratic senators were right on board with the IWR.

[chill_wind]

97. Their job wasn't to help gather intel at the highest levels or cook it.

Not that I give them a pass for their votes and how long they clung to them. But I'm not aware that either promoted the idea that the WMD's were in Syria. Once again, if either of them did, this would be one man to "thank" in no small part.


Ackerman at FDL put it rather well, I think:

This is a demonstrably false, and worse, a batshit insane statement, the idea that Iraq, while hemmed in on all sides and under constant surveillance prior to the war, would ship munitions out of the country undetected. Maybe this would be a forgivable statement from a housing policy expert, or a health care official, but not an intelligence officer about to lead the entire intelligence bureaucracy for the country.

I, for one, welcome our crazy overlords of the national security state.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/06/06/dni-nominee-clapper-believed-iraqi-wmd-shipped-to-syria/

[MadHound]

96. Oh boy, more change!

Or not.:banghead:

[Rhiannon12866]

99. So THAT'S where they went!

x(