Another Radicalized American Escapes from the Clutches of Justice.
Enhanced Interrogation Techniques May Be Required to Stop this Menace...
Report: Bush White House Wanted CIA to Discredit Blogger
Juan Cole is a University of Michigan professor and Mideast expert who spent years writing nasty things about the Bush administration on his blog. For that, a former CIA official claims, the Bush White House wanted him to STFU, and asked the CIA to handle it.
Glenn Carle, a retired CIA counterterrorism official, tells The New York Times that in 2005, his supervisor at the National Intelligence Council returned from a White House meeting that discussed Cole’s writings - which, at the time, were heavy on invective against the Iraq war and the administration that launched it. “What do you think we might know about him, or could find out that could discredit him?,” Carle recalled his boss, David Low, inquiring.
Shortly after, Carle found a memo from Low heading for the White House that contained what he called “inappropriate, derogatory remarks” about Cole’s lifestyle. Carle took it to his boss, who removed the paragraph on Cole. But Carle soon found out about another inquiry within the agency about Cole. He said he had to warn a different CIA official that he’d go to the agency’s inspector general if it wasn’t quashed.
“People were accepting it, like you had to be part of the team,” Carle told the Times. He’s yet to return a phone call seeking elaboration.
Carle is the only one making these claims on the record. Low told the Times he has no recollection of the incident. CIA spokesman George Little denies that the CIA ever gave the White House damaging information on Cole, an American citizen. (Which, if Carle got information on Cole removed from the memo, is actually consistent with the account provided by the Times‘ James Risen.)
If true, the allegations would be pretty damaging to both the CIA and the Bushies, for two reasons. First, the CIA isn’t supposed to collect information on American citizens, and definitely not for their political views. It’s also potentially illegal: “The statute makes it very clear: You can’t spy on Americans,” ex-CIA lawyer Jeffrey Smith told Risen.
More bewilderingly, all Cole did was say mean things about the Bush team on the internet. He wasn’t a militant, he wasn’t even an activist. He blogged. To devote precious intelligence resources, especially from counterterrorism officials, to silencing him is laughably solipsistic. If you don’t like what someone says about you on the internet, stop Googling yourself. Trolling: Ur doing it wrong.
Full disclosure: Cole is a pal of mine, though we’ve had our differences.
On his blog, Cole writes that he hopes the congressional intelligence committees will investigate Carle’s allegations, as they could turn up other critics who might have been similarly spied upon.
“I know I am a relatively small fish and it seems to me rather likely that I was not the only target of the baleful team at the White House,” he blogs. “It is sad that a politics of personal destruction was the response by the Bush White House to an attempt of a citizen to reason in public about a matter of great public interest.”
University of Michigan professor wants investigation into claim by former official that White House asked CIA to smear him
A professor at the University of Michigan said Thursday "it was criminal" that the White House, under President George W. Bush, reportedly asked the CIA at least twice to dig up negative information about his personal life in order to discredit his views on the Iraq war. And he called upon congressional committees to launch an investigation into what he said was illegal spying on an American citizen.
"The Bush White House request that the CIA spy on me to discredit me clearly violated the American constitution, U.S. law, the CIA charter, and my civil and human rights," Professor Juan Cole told the Free Press. "It was criminal."
According to Thursday's New York Times, a CIA official, under pressure from the White House, asked his staff to spy on Cole, a noted history professor from Ann Arbor who writes a popular blog about the Middle East called Informed Comment. Cole started the blog in 2002 to talk about the war against al-Qaida and in Iraq. At times, he is critical of U.S. efforts in the Middle East, but he is not seen as a radical.
The Times' article was based on the accounts of Glenn Carle, a former CIA officer who was a counterterrorism official. In 2005, his CIA supervisor, David Low, reportedly spoke with Carle after returning from a White House meeting.
"The White House wants to get him," Low said, according to Carle. "What do you think we might know about him, or could find out that could discredit him?"
Low added, according to Carle, "Does he drink? What are his views? Is he married?"
At one point, a memo on Cole was written that included "inappropriate, derogatory remarks" about Cole's lifestyle, Carle said in the New York Times article.
"Carle's revelations come as a visceral shock," Cole wrote on his blog Thursday. The White House and CIA have "no business spying on American citizens."
In Langley, Va., CIA spokesman Preston Golson denied that Cole was targeted.
"We've thoroughly researched our records, and any allegation that the CIA provided private or derogatory information on professor Cole to anyone is simply wrong," Golson told the Free Press on Thursday.
Golson added that: "We value the insights of outside experts, including respected academics. ... Diversity of thought is essential to the business of intelligence analysis."
Cole called upon the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to launch investigations into what happened because it is illegal for the CIA to domestically spy on Americans. But a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Howell, who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said "the Department of Justice is the most appropriate venue to respond." The Department of Justice and the Senate Intelligence Committee could not be reached for comment.
Cole said that the Bush administration's efforts may have succeeded in blackballing him from certain conferences attended or sponsored by the U.S. government.
Report: Bush White House Wanted CIA to Discredit Blogger
Juan Cole is a University of Michigan professor and Mideast expert who spent years writing nasty things about the Bush administration on his blog. For that, a former CIA official claims, the Bush White House wanted him to STFU, and asked the CIA to handle it.
Glenn Carle, a retired CIA counterterrorism official, tells The New York Times that in 2005, his supervisor at the National Intelligence Council returned from a White House meeting that discussed Cole’s writings - which, at the time, were heavy on invective against the Iraq war and the administration that launched it. “What do you think we might know about him, or could find out that could discredit him?,” Carle recalled his boss, David Low, inquiring.
Shortly after, Carle found a memo from Low heading for the White House that contained what he called “inappropriate, derogatory remarks” about Cole’s lifestyle. Carle took it to his boss, who removed the paragraph on Cole. But Carle soon found out about another inquiry within the agency about Cole. He said he had to warn a different CIA official that he’d go to the agency’s inspector general if it wasn’t quashed.
“People were accepting it, like you had to be part of the team,” Carle told the Times. He’s yet to return a phone call seeking elaboration.
Carle is the only one making these claims on the record. Low told the Times he has no recollection of the incident. CIA spokesman George Little denies that the CIA ever gave the White House damaging information on Cole, an American citizen. (Which, if Carle got information on Cole removed from the memo, is actually consistent with the account provided by the Times‘ James Risen.)
If true, the allegations would be pretty damaging to both the CIA and the Bushies, for two reasons. First, the CIA isn’t supposed to collect information on American citizens, and definitely not for their political views. It’s also potentially illegal: “The statute makes it very clear: You can’t spy on Americans,” ex-CIA lawyer Jeffrey Smith told Risen.
More bewilderingly, all Cole did was say mean things about the Bush team on the internet. He wasn’t a militant, he wasn’t even an activist. He blogged. To devote precious intelligence resources, especially from counterterrorism officials, to silencing him is laughably solipsistic. If you don’t like what someone says about you on the internet, stop Googling yourself. Trolling: Ur doing it wrong.
Full disclosure: Cole is a pal of mine, though we’ve had our differences.
On his blog, Cole writes that he hopes the congressional intelligence committees will investigate Carle’s allegations, as they could turn up other critics who might have been similarly spied upon.
“I know I am a relatively small fish and it seems to me rather likely that I was not the only target of the baleful team at the White House,” he blogs. “It is sad that a politics of personal destruction was the response by the Bush White House to an attempt of a citizen to reason in public about a matter of great public interest.”
University of Michigan professor wants investigation into claim by former official that White House asked CIA to smear him
A professor at the University of Michigan said Thursday "it was criminal" that the White House, under President George W. Bush, reportedly asked the CIA at least twice to dig up negative information about his personal life in order to discredit his views on the Iraq war. And he called upon congressional committees to launch an investigation into what he said was illegal spying on an American citizen.
"The Bush White House request that the CIA spy on me to discredit me clearly violated the American constitution, U.S. law, the CIA charter, and my civil and human rights," Professor Juan Cole told the Free Press. "It was criminal."
According to Thursday's New York Times, a CIA official, under pressure from the White House, asked his staff to spy on Cole, a noted history professor from Ann Arbor who writes a popular blog about the Middle East called Informed Comment. Cole started the blog in 2002 to talk about the war against al-Qaida and in Iraq. At times, he is critical of U.S. efforts in the Middle East, but he is not seen as a radical.
The Times' article was based on the accounts of Glenn Carle, a former CIA officer who was a counterterrorism official. In 2005, his CIA supervisor, David Low, reportedly spoke with Carle after returning from a White House meeting.
"The White House wants to get him," Low said, according to Carle. "What do you think we might know about him, or could find out that could discredit him?"
Low added, according to Carle, "Does he drink? What are his views? Is he married?"
At one point, a memo on Cole was written that included "inappropriate, derogatory remarks" about Cole's lifestyle, Carle said in the New York Times article.
"Carle's revelations come as a visceral shock," Cole wrote on his blog Thursday. The White House and CIA have "no business spying on American citizens."
In Langley, Va., CIA spokesman Preston Golson denied that Cole was targeted.
"We've thoroughly researched our records, and any allegation that the CIA provided private or derogatory information on professor Cole to anyone is simply wrong," Golson told the Free Press on Thursday.
Golson added that: "We value the insights of outside experts, including respected academics. ... Diversity of thought is essential to the business of intelligence analysis."
Cole called upon the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to launch investigations into what happened because it is illegal for the CIA to domestically spy on Americans. But a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Howell, who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said "the Department of Justice is the most appropriate venue to respond." The Department of Justice and the Senate Intelligence Committee could not be reached for comment.
Cole said that the Bush administration's efforts may have succeeded in blackballing him from certain conferences attended or sponsored by the U.S. government.