From The Guardian in Britain:
Detailed leaks of operational information about the foiled underwear bomb plot are causing growing anger in the US intelligence community, with former agents blaming the Obama administration for undermining national security and compromising the British services, MI6 and MI5.
The Guardian has learned from Saudi sources that the agent was not a Saudi national as was widely reported, but a Yemeni. He was born in Saudi Arabia, in the port city of Jeddah, and then studied and worked in the UK, where he acquired a British passport.
These leaks, meant to tout the success of a double-agent operation, have not been leaks in the traditional sense of someone acting against the wishes of or to damage the Commander in Chief.
Whether it was naming Navy SEAL Team 6 as the group which killed bin Laden, or releasing details of how that mission was accomplished, leaking information which presents Obama in a good light is part of the political strategy.
You can’t properly spike a football without showing it to the crowd.
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Leaks of this type are frowned on in Britain where the press is not immune to prosecution under the State Secrets statutes.
Too bad that we do not have the equivalent here because you can bet that all this would lead back to the White House as is the case with most of the unsavory actions taking place out there.
Shameful…
Leaks of this type used to be frowned upon here as well. You don’t destroy a carefully built intelligence network in order to jack your approval ratings up a point.
Of course you do when the real “enemy” are those seeking to remove you from power. One just needs the right “perspective”.
Another take on this: who loses (besides the spy?)?
British intelligence services.
Obama’s record regarding the Brits is best characterized as treacherous, so ‘spiking the football’ does double duty by showing the faithful that Obama is tough on crime, and destroys British intelligence capabilities against terrorism.
Absolutely correct. He’s his father’s son with his hatred of England and he hates the country he’s always apologizing for.
This was a two-fer in his book.
+100. You nailed it perfectly.
It’s funny. That was the first thing I thought when I first saw this story. Why the hell are they revealing that the bomber was a double agent? It’s almost like they value PR more than the life of this agent or other agents.
Also because Dear Leader views the double agent as a traitor?
The agent is just expendable for the greater good of Obama’s re-election.
You got that right.
Of all the things which disgust me about Obama this may top the list. It is transcendentally ironic that, given his role in undermining the war on terror and smearing and demoralizing the troops for eight years under Bush not to mention the contempt for the military in which he and his Alinsky/academic friends have marinated their entire lives, the ONLY accomplishment he can or wants to cite is the one THE MILITARY achieved and ONLY because of the infrastructure and dedication established by Republicans. It’s breathtakingly disgusting hubris.
Meantime, he continues to financially gut our national defense, sabotage the Afghanistan mission with untenable rules of engagement and perfidious appeasements, sanitize our terminology so we cannot identify the enemy, and subvert our military with Muslim appointees at the highest levels.
“Traitor” is too kind a word.
What is used and exploited for a campaign point has indeed reached a new threshold.
This particular incident just happened to coincide with the one year of OBL killing? I dont buy it one bit. No more than I buy Biden’s remarks forced a guy like Obama to suddenly evolve. Nothing policy wise is uttered by Obama’s team without scrutiny first. Nothing.
Obama has admitted that he himself can do any job done by subordinates better than they might. And we suddenly think this self absorbed control freak has evolved?
This leak of convenience raises the bar on leaks and pitting people at risk.
This NOT what I intended as I continue to point out the lack of sports, and particularly SEC Football, coverage on the site.
It’s almost like you people aren’t interested in College football. It’s almost like you don’t care Cornell has NEVER won the BCS National Championship…
The Ship of State leaks from the top.
The president is by definition incapable of leaking. If he authorises it then it isn’t a leak.
PS: No, I’m not being cynical. I’m dead serious. That’s the law. All classification of documents is by the president’s order, and he of course isn’t bound by his own order. And that’s why it was OK for Cheney to have Scooter Libby reveal classified documents to Judy Miller. Bush gave Cheney permission, and that made it OK.
Off topic-
Re: video of the day,
An interesting bit of music trivia: Luke had his hair done, his dress on, and was ready for filming when his office called him to work. The only replacement Luke could find in such a pinch was his daughter. That dress fit Luke so perfectly, too.
On topic-
I miss the days of the Bush administration when we were just told that many terrorist plots against America had been foiled.
….and you went to work thinking ‘I shaved my legs for this?’ 😉
Darn right!
I even took care not to forget the back of my legs this time, so as not to have that embarrassing, hairy racing strip!
In high school I was on the swim team and for the division finals we had to shave everwhere except our heads (we had to wear caps).
I thought I could quietly get away without shaving, but when I went to the locker room, there was the coach holding up a disposable razor in one hand, pointing to the showers with the other hand, smiling.
That would be considered abuse in this day and age.
Oh how the stubble on my legs hurt rubbing against my jeans in the days after. That was painful!
Our coaches didn’t like to tape our ankles for us when I played football. The DEMANDED we shave our ankles if we wanted tape. This dissuaded guys who really didn’t need it. But for those of us who did, and shaved, the coaches ALWAYS made sure they taped a good two or three inches ABOVE the point we had shaved. Oh, did that hurt when it came time to remove the tape…
The actions of this administration have an air of carelessness toward those we ask to sacrifice for us, and it shows.
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2012/05/obama-views-troops-as-expendable.html
In my opinion the only way to cure the leaks from the top about the mission to kill Bin Laden, would be to continue with update leaks so that nobody knows what’s true or false. Unfortunately, the people we really do not want to have the information will be in a good position to sift it.
Callous not careless.
You’re not going to sell many Obama action figures http://www.amazon.com/Jailbreak-Barack-Obama-Action-Figure/dp/B001AF29MG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336844712&sr=8-1 unless you’re spiking something.
As the products description says “America was in desperate need of a hero and we got, Obama”.
Got a dandy idea, as to where that spike belongs, up #44’s rinky.
He makes himself, so easy to loathe. Truly a detestable bastid!
National security takes a back seat to Obama’s re-election as far as he and his administration are concerned. He will throw anyone under the bus to stay in office. He is envious of Russia’s Putin who has found a way to be a leader for life.