Burying the Lede
The reliably un-reliable New York Times (effectively the Al Qaeda Intelligence Service [AQIS]) has done us both a disservice and a service. The disservice was two fold: They published a leaked privileged communication between the chairman (Peter Hoekstra) of the House Intelligence Committee and they both selectively (and anti-contextually) quoted from it and buried the lede of the letter. The service they provided was the pdf of the actual letter.
Tom Maguire, at his Just One Minute blog does the reporting that Lichtblau and Shane of the AQIS failed to do. The real lede of the letter?
Read the whole thing.
So, yet another piece of evidence for the inevitable trial of the New York Times, it's reporters and editors has now been entered into the record.
And, did I mention, that this is a weekend of riches?
Hat Tip: Ed Morrisey
Tom Maguire, at his Just One Minute blog does the reporting that Lichtblau and Shane of the AQIS failed to do. The real lede of the letter?
Hoekstra - CIA Group "Intentionally Undermined" Administration
July 9, 2006
The NY Times yesterday featured a Lichtblau-Shane story centered around a once-confidential letter to President Bush from Peter Hoekstra, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Here is the Times lead, but stay with me, since they buried a great tidbit:
In a sharply worded letter to President Bush in May, an important Congressional ally charged that the administration might have violated the law by failing to inform Congress of some secret intelligence programs and risked losing Republican support on national security matters.
The letter from Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, did not specify the intelligence activities that he believed had been hidden from Congress.
But Mr. Hoekstra, who was briefed on and supported the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and the Treasury Department's tracking of international banking transactions, clearly was referring to programs that have not been publicly revealed.
Yeah, yeah. But the Times also offers a .pdf of the letter itself, which includes this (my typing, and emphasis added) on the topic of Bush's decision to bring back Steve Kappes as Deputy Director of the CIA:
I understand that Mr. Kappes is a capable, well-qualified, and well-liked former Directorate of Operations (DO) case officer. I am heartened by the professional qualities he would bring to the job, but concerned by what could be the political problems that he could bring back to the agency. There has been much public and private speculation about the politicization of the Agency. I am convinced that this politicization was underway well before Porter Goss became the Director. In fact, I have long been convinced that a strong and well-positioned group within the Agency intentionally undermined the Administration and its policies. This argument is supported by the Ambassador Wilson/Valerie Plame events, as well as by the string of unauthorized disclosures from an organization that prides itself with being able to keep secrets. I have come to the belief that, despite his service to the DO, Mr. Kappes may have been a part of this group. I must take note when my Democratic colleagues - those who so vehemently denounced and now publicly attacked the strong choice of Porter Goss as Director - now publicly support Mr. Kappes’s return.
Is the Times kidding? The Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is "convinced" that a CIA faction is intent on discrediting the Administration and that the Plame story is part of their scheming, and the Times can barely mention it? (Or maybe I'm kidding - the WaPo does not mention it at all. Did I pick a bad morning to switch to decaf, or did they? More on the WaPo below.)
Read the whole thing.
So, yet another piece of evidence for the inevitable trial of the New York Times, it's reporters and editors has now been entered into the record.
And, did I mention, that this is a weekend of riches?
Hat Tip: Ed Morrisey
2Hotel9
Angry Vertebrate
Mickey
The Whistler
WOOF
ConservativeEgghead
Alena
