or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
May 10, 2007
Congress Not Told Of "Significant Covert Action"
So it seems the House Intelligence Committee may have a little more self-respect than the Senate Intelligence Committee under Jay Rockefeller. Steven Aftergood at the Federation of American Scientists points out this section of the House version of the 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act:
The Committee was dismayed at a recent incident wherein the Intelligence Community failed to inform the Congress of a significant covert action activity. This failure to notify Congress constitutes a violation of the National Security Act of 1947. Despite agency explanations that the failure was inadvertent, the Committee is deeply troubled over the fact that such an oversight could occur, whether intentionally or inadvertently.The Committee firmly believes that scrupulous transparency between the Intelligence Community and this Committee is an absolute necessity on matters related to covert action. The Committee intends this audit and reporting requirement to act as a further check against the risk of insufficient notification, whether deliberate or inadvertent.
Obviously this likely involves Iran. And given its tremendous importance, we can count on the U.S. media never looking into it.
(Via)
OR: Anon points out this might plausibly be about Ethiopia/Somalia
Posted at May 10, 2007 08:04 AM | TrackBackI am actually surprised that Clinton actually got away with saying "WITH THE RIGHT CHANGES"...
Posted by: En Ming Hee at May 10, 2007 09:23 AMWhoops my bad. That was for the other thread
Posted by: En Ming Hee at May 10, 2007 09:25 AMActually, I'd guess this refers to Ethiopia/Somalia since it's become fairly clear that our operations there--basically supporting Ethiopia and/or using them as cover--are significantly larger than anyone thought and they seem to have caught Congress completely by surprise. Didn't, shortly after the NYTimes article discussing how the Ethiopian attacks, and the raids on various camps, were US driven and not really Ethiopian, several Congressmen say "Wha? Wait a minute, wassup with that? News to me."
Posted by: anon at May 10, 2007 09:26 AMActually, I'd guess this refers to Ethiopia/Somalia
Yes, good point. We're always meddling in so many places around the world that it's hard to be sure.
But Iran or Ethiopia, we can be sure the media's determination not to notice will hold true.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at May 10, 2007 09:35 AMWell, I think the issue with Somalia/Ethiopia was that we were participating in bombing raids and/or had troops on the ground. The authorization was a bit sketchy. I don't think anyone in Congress knew what was going on. I think there were rumors of resignations over the Ethiopia/Somalia actions. And, after this NYT article came out, I seem to remember that one or more Congressmen mentioned that that the appropriate oversight committee was surprised and called for closed-door hearings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/23/world/africa/23somalia.html?ex=1329886800&en=acdfb041a4a83284&ei=5088&partner=
OTOH, it could be Iran, or Colombia, or Canada. Who knows?
INVADE NEW ORLEANS!!!! They have OIL, it's become third world, and they would REALLY WELCOME US. (with flowers, parades, and candy)
Posted by: Mike Meyer at May 10, 2007 11:40 AMIt could possibly be related to Venezuela. That wouldn't surprise me at all.
Posted by: Svlad Jelly at May 10, 2007 01:52 PMVenezuela is definitely in their scope. However, the links between intelligence agencies and actual intelligence activities are skewed at best. These agencies are basically the personal army/muscle of the president and his contributors and allies.
The reason the U.S. cannot rule the world entirely has simply to do with the fact that it comprises so little of it. A political movement here a successful uprising there and the imperialists here are back to 1933.
Posted by: at May 10, 2007 03:13 PM
