Left In Lowell

“Actionable Intelligence”

11 Responses to ““Actionable Intelligence””

1. Kimosabe Says:
   June 6th, 2012 at 8:24 am

   There was also a Drone Strike in Wisconsin!!!!

2. joe from Lowell Says:
   June 6th, 2012 at 10:44 am

   When I spent 2003-2008 pointing out that Saddam Hussein and nothing to do with 9/11, and saying that Bush should be going after al Qaeda, not Iraq, it wasn’t just something convenient to say during an argument about the Iraq War. I actually meant it.

   I thought everyone else saying it meant it, too, but I was wrong.

3. joe from Lowell Says:
   June 6th, 2012 at 10:54 am

   Every one of these successful strikes gets us closer to ending the war against al Qaeda.

   As Leon Panetta said shortly after taking over as Secretary of Defense:

   “Now is the moment, following what happened with bin Laden, to put maximum pressure on them, because I do believe that if we continue this effort that we can really cripple al-Qaeda as a threat to this country,” he told reporters on his plane en route to Afghanistan.

   “I’m convinced,” he added, “that we’re within reach of strategically defeating al-Qaeda.”

   The previous President thought we were fighting a “War on Terror,” which he viewed as the equivalent of the Cold War, with “radical Islam” playing the role of Soviet Communism. This was to be a generational war - that is, one that went on indefinitely, until Islamist politics collapsed as definitively as Boshevism. This was, to put a fine point on it, batshit insane. “Radical Islam” was 1) never even in the same order of magnitude as communism in terms of its reach, 2) not a cohesive ideology or movement, and 3) not, in its entirety, a military threat against the United States.

   Now, we have a President who rightly understands that we are actually at war with a few thousand extremist cult members who do not represent, even as a vanguard, any broader Islamist movement, and that defeating this enemy means putting that one specific organization out of commission.

4. openyoureyes Says:
   June 6th, 2012 at 2:44 pm

   O. K. let me spike the ball On Wisconsin… On Wisconsin may we never fail… You folks should know the rest. They may have just saved our country. Don’t look now lefties but its crumbling in California too. Right now Barack Husein Obama is singing Johnny Cash. I hear the train a comin, its comin round the bend and the only sunshine I can see is a drone attack! I am sure that our desperate for any good news President will now release elaborate details as to exactly how it was done and give the names of those who played the video game to get it done just to look good. Just like all these other releases that put our troops and operatives in danger. Anything to get re-elected.

5. Mr. Lynne Says:
   June 6th, 2012 at 3:09 pm

   As soon as you emphasize Obama’s middle name, we know exactly where you’re coming from and why we need not read further.

6. Jack Says:
   June 6th, 2012 at 3:16 pm

   eyeswideshut moves his/her lips, but it is John McCain doing the talking here:

   “The only conceivable motive for such damaging and compromising leaks of classified information is that it makes the president look good,” McCain said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “They are merely gratuitous and utterly self-serving.”

   Maybe McCain got the notion from Sarah Palin? Parrot is as parrot does.
   Wanna cracker?

7. Eleanor Rigby Says:
   June 6th, 2012 at 3:34 pm

   Mitt Romney…“It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.”

8. joe from Lowell Says:
   June 6th, 2012 at 3:53 pm

   Viewing military success for the first time in a generation, eyeswideshut and John McCain are frightened and confused by what they see.

   “OMG, when the leadership of the executive branch isn’t an utter failure in the field of national security, it makes the President look good! That is so unfair.”

   You spike your little football over the fact that the Republicans “only” lost control of the state senate during this round of recalls.

   Meanwhile, the performance of “the biggest celebrity in the world” as Commander in Chief makes George Bush, Dick Cheney, and John McCain look like Beetle Bailey. And that’s why you’re whining about it.

9. Jack Says:
   June 6th, 2012 at 4:00 pm

   Perfect, ER!

   Coming in at #10 of “Mitt Romney’s Top 10 Gaffes” of his 2008 failed campaign.

   This gaffe is more of an insight into the workings of Romney’s mind. The cost/benefit ratio doesn’t pan out. Forget taxes for “a common defense.” Likely, Romney would be more comfortable using a fee structure or a “user toll” for families decimated by AQ killings.

   Beyond the twisted senitment of “drowning gov’t in a bathtub,” Mitt completely fails to see the national threat and the global scope.

   It’s not like Mitt’s gonna pay a flat fee to the UN to hunt OBL. Maybe, Blackwater/Xe/Executive Outcomes? But, not the UN.

10. Jack Says:
    June 6th, 2012 at 4:48 pm

    On a related note, Re: OBL.

    “At the Pentagon, top officers fumed at Brennan’s blow-by-blow description of how the SEALs operated; they believed that the former CIA officer had given away operational secrets never shared outside the tribe. (In fact, it appears no real secrets were divulged.) No one was angrier than Mullen himself, who still fumed about that news conference nearly a year later…

    “By Wednesday of that week, Gates went to see Donilon, offering up a barbed assessment of how the White House had handled the aftermath of the raid.

    “‘I have a new strategic communications approach to recommend,’ Gates said in his trademark droll tones, according to an account later provided by his colleagues.

    “What was that, Donilon asked?

    “‘Shut the fuck up,’ the defense secretary said.”

    It’s tough, as GOPers portray Democrats as ‘Hippy, soldier spitting on, sissy boy, college elitists’ every chance they get.

11. C R Krieger Says:
    June 11th, 2012 at 3:43 pm

    Tasteless of Secretary Gates.

    Of course the President can declassify whatever he wants.  It is his Executive Order—EO 13256.  Section 3.1(d) says:
    

    It is presumed that information that continues to meet the classification requirements under this order requires continued protection.  In some exceptional cases, however, the need to protect such information may be outweighed by the public interest in disclosure of the information, and in these cases the information should be declassified.  When such questions arise, they shall be referred to the agency head or the senior agency official.  That official will determine, as an exercise of discretion, whether the public interest in disclosure outweighs the damage to the national security that might reasonably be expected from disclosure.

    Regards  —  Cliff

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