Where's the Outrage?

[TOMAHAWK9521]

WTF?!!

Why is no one demanding Diane Feinstein's head as they did Scooter Libby for "outing" a 9-to-5 career office administrator Valeri Plame at the CIA? This moon-bat just blew a whole war-time operation, consisting of many "real", not make-believe, agents and operators, out into the open. I guess it's probably considered patriotic to betray military/intel operations by the left in this day and age. With elected officials like these, who needs enemies?
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Predator drones flown from base in Pakistan, U.S. lawmaker says
Sen. Feinstein's surprise disclosure likely to complicate joint campaign against Taliban militants

Greg Miller | Washington Bureau
7:06 PM CST, February 12, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an airbase inside that country, a revelation likely to embarrass the Pakistani government and complicate its counterterrorism collaboration with the United States.

The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.

At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise at Pakistani opposition to the ongoing campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Al Qaeda targets along Pakistan's northwest border.

"As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base," she said of the planes.

The basing of the pilotless aircraft in Pakistan suggests a much deeper relationship with the United States on counterterrorism matters than has been publicly acknowledged. Such an arrangement would be at odds with protests lodged by officials in Islamabad and could inflame anti-American sentiment in the country.

The CIA declined to comment, but former U.S. intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, confirmed that Feinstein's account was accurate.

Phil LaVelle, a spokesman for Feinstein, said her comment was based solely on previous news reports that Predators were operated from bases near Islamabad.

"We strongly object to Sen. Feinstein's remarks being characterized as anything other than a reference" to a article that appeared last March in the Washington Post, LaVelle said. Feinstein did not refer to newspaper accounts during the hearing.

Many in counterterrorism experts have assumed that the aircraft were operated from U.S. military installations in Afghanistan, and remotely piloted from locations in the United States. Experts said the disclosure could create political problems for the fledgling government in Islamabad.

"If accurate, what this says is that Pakistani involvement, or at least acquiescence, has been much more extensive than has previously been known," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University. "It puts the Pakistani government in a far more difficult position [in terms of] its credibility with its own people. Unfortunately it also has the potential to threaten Pakistani-American relations."

Feinstein's disclosure came during testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee by U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair on the nation's security threats. Blair did not respond directly to Feinstein's remark, except to say that Pakistan is "sorting out" its cooperation with the United States.

Pakistani officials have long denied that they ever granted the United States permission to fly the Predator planes over Pakistani territory, let alone to operate the aircraft from within the country.

The new civilian leadership has gone to significant lengths to distance itself from the Predator strikes, which are extremely unpopular in Pakistan, in part because they are widely reported to kill civilians as well as militants.

The Pakistani government regularly lodges diplomatic protests against the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty, and officials said the subject was raised with Richard C. Holbrooke, a newly appointed U.S. envoy to the region, who completed his first visit to the country on Thursday.

Nevertheless, most Pakistanis believe the civilian leadership has continued former President Pervez Musharraf's policy giving the United States tacit permission to carry out the strikes.

The CIA has been working to step up its presence in Pakistan in recent years. The CIA has deployed as many as 200 people to Pakistan, one of its largest overseas operations outside of Iraq, current and former agency officials have estimated. That contingent works alongside other U.S. operatives who specialize in electronic communications and spy satellites.

The use of Predator planes armed with Hellfire anti-tank missiles has emerged as perhaps the important U.S. tool in its ongoing efforts to attack Al Qaeda in its sanctuary in Pakistan's tribal belt. Last month, a New Year's Day strike killed two senior Al Qaeda operatives who were suspected of involvement in the bombing of Islamabad's Marriott They were among at least eight senior Al Qaeda figures reportedly killed in Predator strikes over the past seven months as part of a stepped-up missile campaign that U.S. intelligence officials have characterized as major success against Al Qaeda.

In his prepared testimony Thursday, Blair said that Al Qaeda has "lost significant parts of its command structure since 2008 in a succession of blows as damaging to the group as any since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001."

Los Angeles Times staff writer Laura King contributed from Istanbul.

Greg.Miller@tribune.com

[Penn]

February 13, 2009

My Address


Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Feinstein,

Your total lack of awareness in disclosing the operational staging of Predator drone aircraft in Pakistani territory is unforgivable. Also, as "The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee" you have, by your impatient remark, just put the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan within the reach of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

I am just a simple citizen, but even I know the fragile state of the Pakistani government and its relationship with the United States is precarious; not to mention the fact that India now has confirmation of America’s gamesmanship with regard to the Mumbai slaughter.

I think your catastrophic mistake in statesmanship calls for your resignation; as it will undoubtedly cost the lives of many American soldiers. Who are, at this very moment, defending your rights of free speech in the United States Senate, a right as "The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee" to which you have demonstrated; so adroitly, a complete contempt for. It is also obvious that this blunder in national security is not rectifiable with excuses and apologies that have typified Washington manners when “Public Officials” compromise and endanger the welfare of our nation, as they are no longer acceptable in this era of change.

As a result, and as a citizen of these United States, I demand your resignation for verifying, by your treacherous remarks, your lack of awareness in national security issues and by doing so, confirming that you are unqualified to hold such a trusted position of such great magnitude, that of, protecting the welfare and security of America and her citizens as a United States Senator.

Please forward a copy of your Resignation to the above address.



Sincerely,

[Box]

She is part of the gub-mint elite. I would like to think she will be held accountable but I am not going to hold my breath.
There are more important issues to worry about... Olympic swimmers are smoking pot !!!

Did anything happen when her scandal surfaced about her war profiteering ?
Did the public at large even hear about it?
She resigned her committee post but only to keep from being investigated any further.

This will be written off as simply a break from the Bush-doctrine.

The Secretary of the Treasury is a tax cheat and the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee gives away state secrets.

If I get caught using my thumb drive on a government computer however, my as will look like hamburger meat before I can log off my account...

Its a brave new world.




...these aren't the droids you're looking for.

[Defender968]

Originally Posted by Penn

February 13, 2009

My Address


Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Senator Feinstein,

Your total lack of awareness in disclosing the operational staging of Predator drone aircraft in Pakistani territory is unforgivable. Also, as "The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee" you have, by your impatient remark, just put the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan within the reach of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

I am just a simple citizen, but even I know the fragile state of the Pakistani government and its relationship with the United States is precarious; not to mention the fact that India now has confirmation of America’s gamesmanship with regard to the Mumbai slaughter.

I think your catastrophic mistake in statesmanship calls for your resignation; as it will undoubtedly cost the lives of many American soldiers. Who are, at this very moment, defending your rights of free speech in the United States Senate, a right as "The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee" to which you have demonstrated; so adroitly, a complete contempt for. It is also obvious that this blunder in national security is not rectifiable with excuses and apologies that have typified Washington manners when “Public Officials” compromise and endanger the welfare of our nation, as they are no longer acceptable in this era of change.

As a result, and as a citizen of these United States, I demand your resignation for verifying, by your treacherous remarks, your lack of awareness in national security issues and by doing so, confirming that you are unqualified to hold such a trusted position of such great magnitude, that of, protecting the welfare and security of America and her citizens as a United States Senator.

Please forward a copy of your Resignation to the above address.



Sincerely,

Very nicely put Penn, I'll be sending her and my Senators emails regarding this situation. It steams me that these oxygen thief’s are putting American lives at risk for their complete lack of discipline and SA, and frankly she should be significantly punished for doing so IMO, but of course as there ARE 2 standards (regardlass of what the one said), one for normal folks and another one for those in DC as we have all seen very poignantly in recent weeks I don't expect anything to happen to that POS.

[Richard]

I would suggest that Senator Feinstein don a uniform, pick up a firearm, stand a watch, and go hunt down Taliban. While she is at it, we’ll bring back the good men and women doing their jobs over there, and have them announce all her movements to the world. Then, they can be surprised when she comes under fire when others use such disclosed information to their own benefit.

I always thought that politicians were idiots: good at politics perhaps, lousy at anything requiring more than a few neurons to rub against one another. The brainless ones we currently have touting themselves as “leaders” simply serves to reinforce this view.

Richard's $.02

[greenberetTFS]

Originally Posted by Richard

I would suggest that Senator Feinstein don a uniform, pick up a firearm, stand a watch, and go hunt down Taliban. While she is at it, we’ll bring back the good men and women doing their jobs over there, and have them announce all her movements to the world. Then, they can be surprised when she comes under fire when others use such disclosed information to their own benefit.

I always thought that politicians were idiots: good at politics perhaps, lousy at anything requiring more than a few neurons to rub against one another. The brainless ones we currently have touting themselves as “leaders” simply serves to reinforce this view.

Richard's $.02

Excellent post. I agree that Senator Feinstein is "brainless" & an "idiot"..............

GB TFS

[Gypsy]

There will be no outrage, she's a democrat.


And stupid.

[HQ6]

Originally Posted by Gypsy

There will be no outrage, she's a democrat.


And stupid.

Sad, but very true. She will try to sweep it under the rug, and the media and her lefty buddies in Congress will be more than happy to help her.

[charlietwo]

Originally Posted by greenberetTFS

Excellent post. I agree that Senator Feinstein is "brainless" & an "idiot"..............

GB TFS

I have a hard time believing her problems stem from a lack of intelligence, or common sense. This woman is a treasonous "neo-Marxist" (to coin a phrase from Michael Savage).

She's not doing this because she's a fool -- she's doing this to see America fall.

[Richard]

FWIW--Diane (or Gavin, SFOs daunted Mayor) may well be the next Governor of the flat broke State of Mexifornia. If either becomes Governor, we'll really get to see some ring-tailed GLBT neo-Marxist shenanigans in action.

Richard's $.02

[swpa19]

I've been around longer than most on this board, which does'nt mean that age equates to intellect. But, I have absorbed some things through the years. It is a very sad situation when you have elected officials going off to "unfriendly" governments and individuals to further their own agenda. Acts that should have caused the Logan Act to become enforced.

Thieves, liars and cheats being lauded as the "Best there is in their fields". Then offered rewards as cabinet members.

Now, another "aged" individual placing the welfare of our troops and our docterines in jeapordy. Sadly, she will recieve no reprimand whatsoever.

How sad.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.
Theodore Roosevelt

[Sigaba]

What makes Senator Feinstein's gaffe even more outrageous--even when including the lame spin offered by Mr. LaVelle (and it is interesting that the 'defense' comes from her staff rather than the intelligence committee's staff)--is the fact that in his opening statement (here, see page 18), Admiral Blair details the declining authority of the Pakistani government in a rising tide of domestic turbulence.

Not only did Senator Feinstein manage to endanger American lives immediately, she also undermined the legitimacy of a strategic partner and, therefore, compromised America's long term interests.

(FWIW, in the process of going through volume after volume of Congressional hearings on the armed services during the Reagan administration, I was struck by the number times committee members and witnesses put aside what ever differences they may have had over politics, policy, and strategy to maintain secrecy. When the conversation would get anywhere close to a sensitive issue, someone would ask "should this be discussed in executive session?" and if the answer was anything close to "maybe", the committee would either defer the issue or close the doors. While these occasions were frustrating to me as a person doing research, as an American civilian, I could only grin and shake my head appreciatively.)

[echoes]

Originally Posted by charlietwo

She's not doing this because she's a fool -- she's doing this to see America fall.

This logic is without fault Sir, IMHO. Well Said!

Holly

[Pete]

The outrage I have is because it is American Troops who are servicing the A/C.

They now have a "BIGGER" target painted on their back.

[civilian]

Originally Posted by charlietwo

I have a hard time believing her problems stem from a lack of intelligence, or common sense. This woman is a treasonous "neo-Marxist" (to coin a phrase from Michael Savage).

She's not doing this because she's a fool -- she's doing this to see America fall.

I remember watching a TV show on the History Channel describing how when she was the mayor of San Fran, she outed vary specific information about the investigation that she was told not to disclose to the public in regard to the Night Stalker. First thing she did was hold a press conference and disclose the information. No doubt making the task of finding the Night Stalker much harder. No shame that lady.

End of the day another effective operation to fight our enemies has been outed. The silence in the media about this is deafening. 30 or so strikes since August 2008. Great bang for our buck considering how well a job our guys have been doing with those drones. Our guys over there have to be wondering what the hell we are doing back home. Not to mention they are probably having to sleep on roof tops.