Keith Olbermann: “Thank you, Sir, for admitting, obviously inadvertently, that you did not take a serious first look in the seven months and 23 days between your inauguration and 9/11. For that attack, Sir, you are culpable, morally, ethically. At best you were guilty of malfeasance and eternally-lasting stupidity. At worst, Sir, in the deaths of 9/11, you are negligent.”
I am refraining from an analysis of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s comments on national security yesterday, primarily because I hope that his speech — which should be treated at most as self-justification — will just go away. This is hope rather than expectation, however. Despite Dan Drezner’s comment that President Obama has “adversaries more boneheaded than himself”, Cheney’s words will be treated as Tablets from the Mount by his supporters in the broadcast and print media.
So, as a pre-emptive strike against the upholding of Cheney’s views as the thoughtful alternative in US homeland security and foreign policy, here are video commentaries from Lawrence O’Donnell and Keith Olbermann, followed by a thorough exposure of the former Vice President’s distortions and deceptions by McClatchy News Service’s Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay:
So much for the Obama Administration putting a check on the Pentagon and its ambitions. Writing in The Intelligence Daily, Tim Burghardt reveals the expansion of the military “black budget”. Next year’s expenditure on covert operations will be close to the entire military budget of Britain, France, Japan, or even China,the next supposed superpower rival to the US.
Big Increases for Intelligence and Pentagon “Black” Programs in 2010
Continuing along the dark path marked out by his predecessors in the Oval Office, President Barack Obama’s Defense and Intelligence budget for Fiscal Year 2010 will greatly expand the reach of unaccountable agencies–and the corporate grifters whom they serve.
According to Aviation Week, “the Pentagon’s ‘black’ operations, including the intelligence budgets nested inside it, are roughly equal in magnitude to the entire defense budgets of the UK, France or Japan, and 10 per cent of the total.”
Iran’s Press TV is a bit over-the-top with its proclamation of “simmering talks of war”, but the attention to Tehran, rather than other Middle Eastern issues, is more than justified. While interchanges between Israeli and American military leaders, as part of Tel Aviv’s special relationship with the US, are commonplace, the presence of Ross at the discussions is significant. So is the timing. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the sharpest, strongest reactions to the withdrawal of the nomination of Charles Freeman (pictured) as head of the US National Intelligence Council has come from Stephen Walt in his blog on the Foreign Policy website. I generally share his views, but a reader offers further useful critique: “All good points, but a bit polemical. You know how this game works: I don’t think Walt does Freeman any favours by framing the appointment as a victory over Zionists or as a balance to [the appointment of the State Department's Dennis] Ross. It would have been better to explain why Freeman was a worthy choice in the first place with his other experience and ability.”
On Chas Freeman’s withdrawal
STEPHEN WALT
First, for all of you out there who may have questioned whether there was a powerful “Israel lobby,” or who admitted that it existed but didn’t think it had much influence, or who thought that the real problem was some supposedly all-powerful “Saudi lobby,” think again. Read the rest of this entry »
For many people, this story will never be known. They will not have heard of the American diplomat, Charles Freeman, or the National Intelligence Council, which he was nominated to lead. The withdrawal of that nomination yesterday will not make CNN Headline News or the front pages of US newspapers.
Make no mistake, however. As a story of how US foreign policy is limited and re-structured — courtesy of Congress, a network of private groups, and American political culture — it offers an essential lesson. “Israel” continues to set limits on the “acceptable” in US foreign policy. Read the rest of this entry »
The Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair (pictured) —- on the same day that the Obama Administration had to withdraw the nomination of Charles Freeman as Chair of the National Intelligence Council — has just set the scene for another political battle in Washington.
The overall situation — and the intelligence community agrees on this — [is] that Iran has not decided to press forward . . . to have a nuclear weapon on top of a ballistic missile. Our current estimate is that the minimum time at which Iran could technically produce the amount of highly enriched uranium for a single weapon is 2010 to 2015.
Blair’s assertion that Israel was envisaging a “worst-case scenario” about Iranian plans for nuclear energy was echoed by the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Michael Maples, “The Israelis are far more concerned about [the Iranian programme].” Read the rest of this entry »
There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week the US intelligence community released The Annual Threat Assessment 2009, presented by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
The report not only underlined Iran’s past attempts in acquiring nuclear weapons but also pointed to Iran’s ongoing uranium enrichment efforts. Blair stated that “Israel and Iran are liable to enter into a confrontation or crisis” some time this year because of the Iranian nuclear programme. Blair also expressed his specific concern regarding a possible Iran-Israel war with Iran-backed Hezbollah reinforcing its weapons in southern Lebanon.
So much for the Obama Administration putting a check on the Pentagon and its ambitions. 
Here’s a story that has set a few tongues wagging and minds racing on the Internet.
One of the sharpest, strongest reactions to the withdrawal of the nomination of Charles Freeman (pictured) as head of the US National Intelligence Council has come from Stephen Walt in 
For many people, this story will never be known. They will not have heard of the American diplomat, Charles Freeman, or the National Intelligence Council, which he was nominated to lead. 
The Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair (pictured) —- on the same day that the Obama Administration had to withdraw the nomination of Charles Freeman as Chair of the National Intelligence Council — has just set the scene for another political battle in Washington.
There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States.
Last week the US intelligence community released 
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