The Council Has Spoken!! This Week’s Watcher’s Council Results - 01.24.14

The Council Has Spoken!, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

 

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.” -Sir Walter Scott, Marmion

“People never lie so much as before an election, during a war, or after a hunt.” ― Otto Von Bismark

“There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.” - Walter Lippmann

 

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s Senate Intel Committee: Benghazi Was Preventable, Al Qaeda Was Involved, And The White House Knew It is my analysis of the long delayed Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the Benghazi debacle. Here’s a slice:

The bi-partisan Senate Intelligence Committee finally issued its long-delayed report on the Benghazi attack, and based on what it said, it’s pretty understandable why some of the Democrats on the committee strung things out as long as they could and fought over the wording. But some things simply give off too foul a stench for any perfume to make a difference.

The committee’s minority Republicans criticized the White House for obstructing the report, which the committee had wanted to complete much earlier, and openly accused Patrick Kennedy, U.S. undersecretary of State for Management of shielding the Obama administration from Congressional oversight.

Of course, Kennedy was also concentrating on covering his own behind. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) who normally votes with the Democrats an dis the very epitome of bi-partisanship angrily made a point of saying that Kennedy “failed to ensure that a facility he personally approved in December 2011 had the necessary security to match the heightened threat environment.”

The committee’s report said that Benghazi was entirely preventable, and that the State Department failed to increase security at the Benghazi consulate in spite numerous warnings. As I’ve mentioned on these pages before,even the Brits and the International Red Cross had pulled their people out because Benghazi, thanks to President Obama’s timely intervention had become a major headquarters for al-Qaeda and other Islamists. Anyone who knows anything about Ansar al Shariah and its connections to al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) understood that a long time ago.

The report states, unequivocally: “Individuals affiliated with terrorist groups, including AQIM, Ansar al-Sharia, AQAP, and the Mohammad Jamal Network, participated in the September 11, 2012, attacks.”

The very fact that mortars and other heavy weapons were used points to long time planning. A mortar isn’t like a Kalishnikov. It takes training, and it takes time to scope out ranges and angles of fire.

Georgia Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss summarized the report, saying,

“In spite of the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and ample strategic warnings, the United States Government simply did not do enough to prevent these attacks and ensure the safety of those serving in Benghazi.”

Another thing that came out is that the entire ‘protest over a video’ narrative pushed by the president, Mrs. Clinton, Jay Carney, Susan Rice and goodness knows how many others was an outright lie…and just like ObamaCare, they lied knowingly, although the report doesn’t put it in such blunt terms.

What we were told – conveniently after the 2012 elections- is that the original fairy tales about the video and a spontaneous protest occurred because the situation ‘was developing.’

It wasn’t.

In fact, the FBI interviewed the Benghazi survivors over a three-day period right after the attack, when they were still being prevented from speaking to anyone. None of them reported a protest or a demonstration.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) said that “The FBI confirmed to me that when they interviewed the survivors on the 15th the 16th and the 17th [of September], not one person ever mentioned anything other than a terrorist attack. No one mentioned a protest outside the consulate.”

“So, how could the Obama administration come up with a protest story if everybody on the ground during the attack said it was a terrorist attack and there was no protest?” he asked.

Trust me, the stench increases. Much more at the link.

In our non-Council category, we had a tie between Neo NeoCon with “Wendy Davis: ‘empowerment’ and the poor little woman; “struggle” and the man” submitted by The Glittering Eye,and Kevin Williamson/NRO for  The White Ghetto submitted by Joshuapundit, a beautiful and haunting portrait of Applachia.

I was torn on this one..I honestly like Wiliamson’s piece a lot more personally, but while the totals were the same Neo Neocon got more individual votes among the Council, and it’s a really nice piece, so I’m calling it that way,

Here are this week’s full results.

Council Winners

• *First place with 4 votes!-Joshuapundit - Senate Intel Committee: Benghazi Was Preventable,Al Qaeda Was Involved, And The White House Knew It
• Second place with 1 1/3 votes –Simply Jews – Bedouins of Negev
• Third Place *t* with 1 vote– The Right Planet – Hegelian Dialectics for Dummies
• Third place *t* with 1 vote –The Noisy Room – Bolstering the Marxist Vote
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote– Liberty’s Spirit – Not Surprisingly US State Department Agrees as UNESCO Cancels Jewish Cultural Exhibit…(Update) Oopsie Foggy Bottom Says “My Bad”
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bookworm Room – Bleeding heart liberal misses football’s important lessons for our boys
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Razor – Facebook’€™s Culture of Like Breeds Conformity
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote –Nice Deb – Analysis of Rocket Used in Syria Chemical Attack Shows “Administration Narrative Not Even Close To Reality”
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! –We Can Pay For an Unemployment Extension with a Day for a Day Delay in Obamacare Mandates
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – Does Barack Obama Seek To Reduce Americans To A State of Slavery?
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Castle Strat
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote –The Glittering Eye - Out Of Sight
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – Arrow gets it right

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 votes! – Neo-Neocon – “Wendy Davis: ‘empowerment’ and the poor little woman; “struggle” and the man” submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Second place with 2 votes – Kevin Williamson/NRO – The White Ghetto submitted by Joshuapundit
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – White House Dossier -The Root of Obama’s Imperious Presidency submitted by Nice Deb
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Caroline Glick – The Truth Hurts submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote - Kimberley A. Strassel/WSJ – IRS Targeting and 2014 submitted by The Noisy Room
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -  Western Journalism – The Problems of Women in Combat – From a Female Combat Vet submitted by Watcher
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes - Mahmoud Salem ( AKA Sandmonkey) – Consequences submitted by Simply Jews
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Rebuilding Freedom – Part1 – Agenda 21, Born in America, Raised by the United Nations submitted by The Right Planet
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Ace of Spades HQ - Common Core is pretty dumb submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - PJ Tattler – Has Wendy Davis’ Charmed Run for Governor Started to Implode? (Update: Meltdown) submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Douglas Ernst – ‘White Privilege’ artist: Does it exist, or do I simply lack critical thinking skills? submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Rick Moran/American Thinker – Think it’s hard signing up for Obamacare? Try getting out of it submitted by VA Right!

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – Protecting Hillary…
• Blue Ridge Forum – NEW: Crucial WSJ Report! Tea-Party-Gag Rule: Will Appropriators Wolf & Harris Push Back?

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

Technorati Tags: Watcher’s Council,Alternative Media,Collection of Articles,Bloggers,Blogosphere,News,News Nuggets,Politics,Knowledge,Protecting Hillary,Tea Party,IRS,Benghazi,Al-Qaeda,Lies,Obamaland,White House,A21,Texas,Wendy Davis,Get-Involved

Alert: Hillary Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff Tied to Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda

This is from a friend of mine, former Marine Intelligence,  who is  an operative who has been working to expose Muslim Brohood… read up!!!

The Clintons have a long legacy of helping the Muslim Brotherhood Penetration in our Government.

FACTS:

Clinton appointed Abdurahman Alimoudy to Muslim Outreach and other positions:

   1. Alimoudi is now serving 23 years  in Federal Prison due to fact he is an Al Qaeda Financier.

   2. Alimoudi wrote the Public School Guidelines on Religion in the Classroom w/ ACLU who the paved way for problems with textbooks.

   3. Alimoudi started Muslim Chaplain Program for US Military -   Can anyone say Nidal Hassan, Pvt Abdo, James Yee...etc

   4. Alimoudi started Prison Muslim Chaplain Programs.- a hot bed of Black gang recruits for future violent Jihad at ZERO HOUR.

Hillary tried to commute Alimoudy's Prison sentence earlier this year

Hillary Clinton Removed Bush era BAN on Tariq Ramadan from entering the USA...WHO IS Tariq...Just THE GRANDSON of the FOUNDER of the MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ... HASSAN AL BANNA.

I can go on and on...But I think you get the point.... HUMA is a Spy and Hillary is one of (3) Things.... 1. Ignorant (doubtful),  2. Incompetent (you decide) or 3. ‘In Bed’ (Ideologically, politically, monetarily, or otherwise… enough said for those of you who can read between the lines.).

THIS IS WHAT I HAD SENT OUT that MY FRIEND RESPONDED TO…. Victoria

CONFIRMED: Huma Abedin connected to Al-Qaeda
Shoebat.com ^| 7/24/12 | Walid Shoebat  l Posted on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 7:25:21 PM by Ben Barrack

I direct you to pages 14-15 of this bombshell report... (see attached)

CONFIRMED: Huma Abedin worked on the editorial Board of the Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA) as Associate Editor from at least 2002-2008. CONFIRMED: Al-Qaeda Godfather Abdullah Omar Naseef served on the Editorial Advisory Board at IMMA from at least 12/02/02 - 12/03/03. CONFIRMED: Huma and Naseef worked together at IMMA AFTER Naseef had been identified as Al-Qaeda one month after 9/11 by the U.S. Treasury. CONFIRMED: Huma worked with Nassef for up to two years after Naseef had been tied to Al-Qaeda. CONFIRMED: Huma left IMMA some time between 9/24/08 - 2/14/09 (to take job at State Department) … Victoria Baer

When you know unequivocally that you have the truth on your side, you are confident enough to make comments like the one made by Rep. Louie Gohmert on the Dennis Miller Show. It is obvious that Gohmert is disgusted by John McCain’s floor speech in which the Senator from Arizona defended Huma Abedin and her family while railing against Michele Bachmann.

Here is what Gohmert had to say on the Dennis Miller Show about McCain via the Huffington Post:

“Well, it’s obvious that John McCain didn’t even read the letter because of what he said in accusing Michele and us of making these ‘horrible’ allegations. There were five letters and there were many things that are stated that are facts in each letter. And I wish some of these numbnuts would go out and read the letter before they make these horrible allegations about the ‘horrible’ accusations we’re making. But we also know that John McCain himself had said back in the early stages of stuff going on in Egypt that he was, in his words, ‘unalterably opposed to helping the Muslim Brotherhood.’ Well, obviously the unalterable person has been altered, so he’s okay with it now.”

Of course, we challenge McCain along with any other spineless Republican to refute anything in our 37-Page report, which proves – among other things – that Huma Abedin worked with al-Qaeda financier Abdullah Omar Naseef for at least one year and long after Naseef had been identified as tied to al-Qaeda by the U.S. Treasury Department.

This is the John McCain speech Gohmert was referring to: read more HERE

We apologize for not including this discovery in the original report posted yesterday but things continued to rear their heads after we published. The latest discoveries include but are not limited to…

• Proof that Hillary Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin served on the Board of IMMA from at least 12/02/02 – 9/24/08.
• Al-Qaeda Godfather Abdullah Omar Naseef served on IMMA’s Advisory Board from at least 12/02/02 – 12/03/03

Here is the REVISED report:  Huma_Brotherhood_Connections_072412

Related:

Michele Bachmann fires off a 16-Page Bombshell to Muslim Congressman, Keith Ellison

Bombshell Report Updated: Huma Abedin Served on Board with Al-Qaeda Godfather

Those Who Mock Bachmann, Are Like Those Who Ignored Nazis | … 

Update on Abedin Report…

Rep. Sensenbrenner the latest to defend Huma / Attack Bachmann

Hillary's chief worked with al-Qaida front man

Anthony Weiner’s Mother-In-Law, Saleha Abedin, Is Connected …

Huma Abedin and the Muslim Brotherhood Closely Connected

CONFIRMED: Huma Abedin connected to Al-Qaeda

JOHN McCAIN IS A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY

Gingrich Defends Bachmann’s Muslim Brotherhood Allegations: ‘What Is It [Her Critics] Are Afraid Of Learning?

Anthony Weiner: Mother-in- Law a Member of Muslim Brotherhood

Anthony Weiner Resigns From Congress… But WeinerGate May Not Be Over

Weiner Fallout and the Muslim Connection

Clinton Admits We Are Now Reaching Out to the Muslim Brotherhood

So… Why was Weiner forced out and not Clinton?

Vetting Obama – “Palling Around With Terrorists”

Frightening! Decorated General: Shariah is here NOW!

Muslim Brotherhood in Our White House and the Murder of SEAL Team Six

Muslim Brotherhood In Our White House – Vetting Obama

Tarek Fatah Talk at ideacity 2011

Silent Running – The Targeting of Americans

McCain says American Citizens Can Be Sent to Guantanamo

Rand Paul and John McCain S. 1867

Senator Carl Levin Regarding NDAA 2012

Louie Gohmert on John McCain: ‘Numbnuts’

Breaking Hillaryland News: New Evidence Shows Hillary a Mastermind Behind Gunwalker as Her Welcome in Egypt Not So Good

Comments

Tom:

Hillary knew/knows this.  Huma is her lover. (For anyone who hasn’t already figured out that angle.)

Weiner was a cover.

And this witch is the SecState.

God help us all. I'll pass this. Thx. Tom

Jim:

Reading 'Why I left Jihad' as we speak.

My heart breaks.  Our country has been infiltrated by Islam in collusion with the far left.

Technorati Tags: Hillary Clinton,Huma Abedin,Huma Abedin Weiner,Muslim Brotherhood,Michele Bachmann,traitors,wake-up America,alerts,IMMA,Al-Queda,Walid Shoebat,Weinergate,Leakgate,John McCain,watch the other hand,you be the judge,politics,Middle East,Abdurahman Alimoudy,Muslim Outreach,Muslims in the White House,radicals in the White House,Alimoudi,Anthony Weiner,Alimoudy,Keith Ellison

Michele Bachmann is being attacked from all sides because she stands up and tells the truth.  She only has about 8-hours left to do her financial report for her campaign.  If you can please donate here:  Not much time remains until their report is due.

The fastest way to support my campaign is with an online donation. Won’t you follow this secure online link to make a contribution today?  Thank you, Michele Bachmann

If you are not familiar with Bachmann’s story: Former  Presidential candidate and representative from Minnesota Michele Bachmann (R-MN), needs your help. She has fought tirelessly against ObamaCare, to keep us save through her position on the Intelligence Committee and as a champion for fiscal and constitutional values.  Because of her outspokenness against corruption in the House under Nancy Pelosi and in Washington DC in general, Former Speaker Pelosi made Bachmann her enemy #1 to unseat and made sure that Bachmann was redistricted so that she would lose her district. Michele Bachmann and her family had to move, after withdrawing from her Presidential bid, in order for her to run in a new district against a wealthy opponent and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is also throwing money and time into defeating Bachmann and other honest patriotic candidates. I just received an ad they sent out about Bachmann that is shameless and untrue. Progressive Republican John McCain recently joined the attacked on Bachmann as well, for requesting a fully justified investigation (along with 4 other members) into the situation above as part of her duties on the Intelligence Committee. Bachmann fought a hard race in a tough GOP primary that was extremely expensive and needs our help now.  Please donate what you can today; everything helps.  It is time to clean house in Washington, but we need to keep the few good guys/gals. M~

Technorati Tags: Hillary Clinton,Huma Abedin,Huma Abedin Weiner,Muslim Brotherhood,Michele Bachmann,traitors,wake-up America,alerts,IMMA,Al-Queda,Walid Shoebat,Weinergate,Leakgate,John McCain,watch the other hand,you be the judge,politics,Middle East,Abdurahman Alimoudy,Muslim Outreach,Muslims in the White House,radicals in the White House,Alimoudi,Anthony Weinereiner,Alimoudy,Keith Ellison

The System ‘Worked Really Very, Very Smoothly’ in Detroit?

Exclusive: The System Failed...Miserably Presidential Policy: Does It Make the Grade?, James Carafano, PhD The administration has a lot to do. Let's hope they get it right before the jihadists get lucky.

Rash of 2009 Homegrown Terror Plots Ends ‘Denial' Steve Emerson How did homegrown radicalization develop? And will the flurry of terror cases in 2009 force the issue?

The System ‘Worked Really Very, Very Smoothly' in Detroit? Daniel Pipes Eight and a half years after 9/11, our counterterrorism apparatus still appears to be in catch-up mode. What needs to be done to bring security in line with 2010 threats?

Homeland Security 101 Frank Gaffney, Jr. Napolitano told CNN that, "Right now, we have no indication [that Abdulmutallab's actions were] part of anything larger." Not "part of anything larger"? Is she serious? Does she take us for fools?

Tightening the Noose on Foreign Policy Herbert London As the plans for American foreign policy are being debated in the White House and the corridors of Congress, it is increasingly apparent that the options are limited.

Video: ‘Underwear Bomb' Packed Enough Explosive to Bring Down Flight 253 Radio Interview: Witness Says Terrorist Suspect Aided Onto Northwest Flight Sans Passport Video: Janet Napolitano gets grilled by Matt Lauer about her statement that "the system worked." Video: President's Statement on Terror Plot "this was an isolated terrorist incident" Video: Krauthammer and Stephen Hayes Blast President's Statement on Iran Al Qaeda Leaders Behind Christmas Day Attack Were Released from Guantanamo Bay in 2007 Video: Flight 253 Terrorist Warns ‘More Like Me' Are Coming to America The Imprudent Tyranny of Harry Reid - writes legislation that 'cannot be repealed!' Why Was Umar AbdulMutallab in Houston? Whom Did He Visit There? What Did He Plan? Hail 2010! The year of the American Citizen! Detroit terror attack: Yemen is the true home of Al-Qaeda. America's Latest Wake-Up Call Came on Flight 253 It looks like Sarah Palin is right again, this time on the issue of profiling. Exclusive: Why Worry about a Muslim Center at Ground Zero? Rachel Lipsky Serious questions must be asked of the Imam behind the mosque planned at Ground Zero and essential, unambiguous answers should be demanded, before we engage in self destructive deeds which undermine our own freedom and security.

Health Care Reform: A Modest (Hippocratic) Proposal Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. Congress has a choice: Pass the proposed legislation and risk repeal by those voted into office in 2010 or begin anew with some realistic, low cost, clearly stated initiatives. Which will they choose?

Exclusive: You Can't Make This Stuff Up! (12/29/09) The Editors A daily roundup of idiocy, buffoonery and incompetence - courtesy of your government and its enablers.

We choose, you peruse.

1. Underwear Bomb Revealed as Terror Suspect Warns More Attacks Coming (FOX)
2. Al Qaeda takes credit for plot to down plane (WT)
3. Illinois Congressman Says Obama Official Agreed That Moving Terrorists to U.S. Prison Would Increase Risk (CNS)
4. Homeland Security Touts 2009 Accomplishments, Including ‘Secure Flight' Program (CNS)
5. Al Qaeda's Clear Message - The U.S. has to rethink jihad's global recruitment of terrorists. (WSJ)
6. Six Uncomfortable Answers
7. Preventing the Next Terrorist Attack - by Andrew Cline
8. Cyber-security chief resigns in protest - Calls consolidation of power in National Security Agency 'bad strategy'
9. States Draft Bills Regarding State Sovereignty
10. Key security agencies lack permanent leaders (WT)
11. Putin: U.S. Missile Shield Holding Up Nuke Deal (FOX)
12. Cross the River, Burn the Bridge - Obamacare is the fast-track to a permanent left-of-center political culture. By Mark Steyn
13. The Tipping Point in Iran (WSJ)
14. ‘No Place in Constitution' Gives Congress Authority to Mandate Health Insurance - Is Trampling on Individual Rights (CNS)
15. Justice transfers Panthers pursuer out of D.C. office (WT)
16. Letting The Cat Out of the Bag
17. Forget Supreme Court Challenges to this Monstrosity!
18. Shameless Islamist Doublespeak Rages On (PAJAMAS)
19. How the West Rejuvenated Pan-Islamism and the Global Jihad
20. The Open Hand, Slapped (Richard Perle)
21. Family of Kidnapped U.S. Soldier Urges Taliban to Send Son Home (FOX)
22. Analysis: Detroit terror attack is a major intelligence and security failure (TELEGRAPH UK)
23. Let's Roll 2 [Mark Steyn]
24. Janet Napolitano Made A Fool Of Herself On TV Talkshows
25. Let My Terrorists Go
26. Lying to Ourselves
27. On Planet Janet
28. Obama Acknowledges Flaws in Security, Vows Fixes… But Blames Bush (Again)
29. So What? Why Don’t We Profile? (FOX)
30. What? Nigerian Suspect Given Lawyers, Civilian Trial, Constitutional Rights
31. Republican Congressman Calls on Napolitano to Resign
32. Ooops! Freed Gitmo Alumni Plotted Airline Bombing
33. Lawmakers Spar Over Obama’s Decision to Transfer Gitmo Detainees to Illinois Prison
34. Was the Attack on Detroit Flight Staged?

Thanks To Family Security Matters and Warbird

Cheney’s Speech – The Top 10 Lines

Former Vice President Dick Cheney spoke Thursday on national security at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank. Here are the top ten lines in the speech, as compiled by the editors of FOX Nation:

No. 10:  The administration has found that it’s easy to receive applause in Europe for closing Guantanamo. But it’s tricky to come up with an alternative that will serve the interests of justice and America’s national security.

No. 9:   In the category of euphemism, the prizewinning entry would be a recent editorial in a familiar newspaper that referred to terrorists we’ve captured as, quote, “abducted.” Here we have ruthless enemies of this country, stopped in their tracks by brave operatives in the service of America, and a major editorial page makes them sound like they were kidnap victims, picked up at random on their way to the movies.

No. 8:  If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move them, the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field. And when they see the American government caught up in arguments about interrogations, or whether foreign terrorists have constitutional rights, they don’t stand back in awe of our legal system and wonder whether they had misjudged us all along. Instead the terrorists see just what they were hoping for – our unity gone, our resolve shaken, our leaders distracted. In short, they see weakness and opportunity.

No. 7: Yet having reserved for himself the authority to order enhanced interrogation after an emergency, you would think that President Obama would be less disdainful of what his predecessor authorized after 9/11. It’s almost gone unnoticed that the president has retained the power to order the same methods in the same circumstances. When they talk about interrogations, he and his administration speak as if they have resolved some great moral dilemma in how to extract critical information from terrorists. Instead they have put the decision off, while assigning a presumption of moral superiority to any decision they make in the future.

No. 6:  To completely rule out enhanced interrogation methods in the future is unwise in the extreme. It is recklessness cloaked in righteousness, and would make the American people less safe.

No. 5: This recruitment-tool theory has become something of a mantra lately, including from the President himself. And after a familiar fashion, it excuses the violent and blames America for the evil that others do. It’s another version of that same old refrain from the Left, “We brought it on ourselves.” It is much closer to the truth that terrorists hate this country precisely because of the values we profess and seek to live by, not by some alleged failure to do so. Nor are terrorists or those who see them as victims exactly the best judges of America’s moral standards, one way or the other.

No. 4: Intelligence officers of the United States were not trying to rough up some terrorists simply to avenge the dead of 9/11. We know the difference in this country between justice and vengeance.

No. 3: To the very end of our administration, we kept al-Qaeda terrorists busy with other problems. We focused on getting their secrets, instead of sharing ours with them. And on our watch, they never hit this country again. After the most lethal and devastating terrorist attack ever, seven and a half years without a repeat is not a record to be rebuked and scorned, much less criminalized. It is a record to be continued until the danger has passed.

No. 2: In the fight against terrorism, there is no middle ground, and half-measures keep you half exposed. You cannot keep just some nuclear-armed terrorists out of the United States, you must keep every nuclear-armed terrorist out of the United States. Triangulation is a political strategy, not a national security strategy.

No. 1: Critics of our policies are given to lecturing on the theme of being consistent with American values. But no moral value held dear by the American people obliges public servants to sacrifice innocent lives to spare a captured terrorist from unpleasant things. And when an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them.

The West Coast Plot: An "Inconvenient Truth"

Critics of the CIA program are desperate to convince Americans that no valuable information came from the interrogations of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and other senior terrorists.  They know that if our citizens learn the details of how enhanced interrogations stopped terrorist plots, most would support the CIA program.  A recent Pew poll showed that 71% of Americans believe that there are circumstances under which torture (not just enhanced interrogations, but actual torture) is justifiable to get information from captured terrorists.

This is why Timothy Noah of Slate (with Andrew Sullivan cheerleading him on his blog) is at such pains to debunk the story of the West Coast plot.

This was a KSM plot for a “Second Wave” attack using East Asian operatives to use shoe-bombs to hijack an airplane and fly it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles.  Noah states in a blog post that this plot was never realistic.  Here is his rationale:

The first reason to be skeptical that this planned attack could have been carried out successfully is that, as I've noted before, attacking buildings by flying planes into them didn't remain a viable al-Qaida strategy even through Sept. 11, 2001. Thanks to cell phones, passengers on United Flight 93 were able to learn that al-Qaida was using planes as missiles and crashed the plane before it could hit its target. There was no way future passengers on any flight would let a terrorist who killed the pilot and took the controls fly wherever he pleased.

Really?  Planes were off the table after 9/11?  That would come as a surprise to every passenger in the past three years who had their liquids confiscated in an airport security line.  Those security measures were instituted because in 2006 we foiled an al-Qaeda plot to hijack airplanes leaving London’s Heathrow airport and blow them up over the Atlantic (a plot our intelligence community says was just weeks from execution).  Apparently al-Qaeda didn’t get Noah’s memo explaining that hijacking airplanes for terrorist attacks is “no longer viable al Qaeda strategy.”

In his post, Noah calls the West Coast plot “Thiessen’s claim” and Anderw Sullivan calls it“Thiessen’s LA Tower Canard.”   What these two fail to appreciate is that the story of how enhanced interrogation broke up the West Coast plot is not my story — it is the official position of the intelligence community.

In my Washington Post piece, I was citing the very documents which President Obama released, which quote the CIA saying that interrogation with enhanced techniques “led to the discovery of a KSM plot, the ‘Second Wave,’ to ‘use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner into’ a building in Los Angeles.”  The memo released by Obama goes on the explain that “information obtained from KSM also led to the capture of Riduan bin Isomuddin, better known as Hambali, and the discovery of the Guraba Cell, a 17-member Jemmah Islamiyah cell tasked with executing the ‘Second Wave.’ ”

Again, those are not my words.  That is the position of our intelligence community.

And not just in the released memos.  In his September 2006 speech revealing the existence of the CIA program, President Bush described specifically how the interrogation of KSM led to the capture of the key operatives in this attack.  This was the most carefully vetted speech in presidential history — reviewed by all the key players from the individuals who ran the program all the way up to the director of national intelligence, who personally attested to the accuracy of the speech in a memo to the president.  And just last week on Fox News, former CIA Director Michael Hayden said he went back and checked with the agency as to the accuracy of that speech and reported:  “We stand by our story.”

In numerous subsequent speeches, President Bush said that the West Coast plot was disrupted because of the CIA program.   Each of those speeches was carefully reviewed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — and each time the DNI provided the White House with a classified memo stating that the contents of the speech was accurate and did not compromise sources and methods.  So the Director of National Intelligence has repeatedly affirmed the accuracy of the statement that the West Coast plot was disrupted because of the CIA program.  And Noah himself acknowledges in his post a CIA spokesman affirmed the accuracy of the story.

So bottom line: The intelligence community says it is so.

In his blog, Noah cites the fact that Fran Townsend, the Bush administration’s homeland-security adviser, told reporters in a February 2006 press briefing that a key cell leader in the West Coast plot was arrested February of 2002.  This, Noah points out, is before KSM came into CIA custody and underwent enhanced interrogation.  He also notes Townsend said that after the cell leader’s capture other cell members “believed” that the plot was not going forward.

I hate to break it to Noah, but this does not refute the fact that KSM’s interrogation disrupted the West Coast plot.
It is true that a key cell leader in the West Coast plot was detained in February 2002.  According press accounts, his name was Marsan bin Arshad. What is also demonstrably true is that the captured terrorist did not lead us to the members of the cell tasked with carrying out the West Coast plot. Indeed, when KSM was captured 13 months later — in March of 2003 — almost all of the key operatives in the plot were still at large and operating with impunity.

This is what happened next:

·     *   In March of 2003, the CIA captured another key operative in the West Coast plot — a terrorist named Majid Khan.

·     *   When KSM was captured later that same month, he knew that Khan was in CIA custody — and assumed that Khan had given us the details of the West Coast plot.

·     *   KSM refused to provide any information about active plots, telling his interrogators: “Soon you will find out.”

·     *   After undergoing enhanced-interrogation techniques, KSM revealed that Khan had been told to deliver $50,000 to individuals working for a terrorist named Hambali — the leader of al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian affiliate Jemmah Islamiyah and KSM’s partner in developing the West Coast plot.

·     *   CIA officers then confronted Khan with this information from KSM.  Khan confirmed that the money had been delivered to an operative named Zubair.  He provided both a physical description and contact number for this operative — which led to the capture of Zubair in June 2003.

·     *   Zubair then provided information that led to the capture of Hambali in August 2003, along with another key operative, a JI terrorist named Bashir bin Lep (aka “Lillie”).

·     *   Told of Hambali's capture, KSM then identified Hambali's younger brother Rusman Gunawan (aka "Gun Gun") as Hambali's conduit for communications with al-Qaeda, and the leader of the JI cell that was to carry out the West Coast plot.  This information led to the capture of “Gun Gun” in September 2003 in Pakistan.

·     *   Hambali's brother then gave us information that led to a cell of 17 JI operatives — the Guraba Cell — that was going to carry out the West Coast plot.

All of these operatives were captured because of information gained from the interrogation of KSM using enhanced interrogation techniques.

To buy Noah’s argument that the plot was over before KSM’s capture, you would have to accept that premise that if Zubair … and Hambali … and Lillie … and Gun Gun … and the 17-member Guraba cell were all left at large and unmolested, they would not have eventually carried out the West Coast plot.

This flies in the face of logic — and the official position of the intelligence community.  And it is contrary to everything we know about the way al-Qaeda operates.  If we have learned anything from recent history, it is that once al-Qaeda develops a plot for a major attack, it never gives up until that attack has been carried out.  Al-Qaeda’s modus operandi is to continue going after the same target time and time again until they succeed.

In 1993, al-Qaeda tried to blow up the World Trade Center, and failed.  In 2001, al-Qaeda finished the job.

In 1995, KSM hatched the “Bojinka Plot” to hijack multiple passenger planes and blow them up over the Pacific.  The plot failed — and so al-Qaeda tried it again over the Atlantic in 2006.

From this experience, Noah takes the lesson that because one al-Qaeda cell leader in the West Coast plot was captured, al-Qaeda just gave up.  Indeed, he claims, they not only gave up on the Library Tower, after 9/11 they decided they would never try to fly a plane into a building again.  But in the same briefing Noah cites, Fran Townsend says that “the intelligence tells us that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed began to initiate [the attack on the Library Tower] in October 2001” — a month after 9/11.  She also states that “KSM, himself, trained the leader of the cell in late 2001 or early 2002 in the shoe bomb technique” — again after the 9/11 attacks.

The fact is Noah and Sullivan’s claims are absurd.  But put aside the West Coast plot off for a moment.  What about all the other plots that were stopped as a result of enhanced interrogations?

Here are some facts: On Fox News last weekend, General Hayden declared that after enhanced interrogation techniques were used on Abu Zubaydah “he gave up … information that led to the arrest of Ramzi Bin al-Shibh.”  Bin al-Shibh was KSM’s right-hand-man, and a key 9/11 plotter.  At the time of his arrest, Bin al-Shibh was in the midst of planning a 9/11-style attack on Britain, in which al-Qaeda operatives would hijack planes in Europe and fly them into Heathrow airport.  According his CIA biography, “as of his capture, Bin al-Shibh had identified four operatives for the operation.”

Enhanced interrogations also helped us capture an al-Qaeda terrorist named Ammar al-Baluchi.  Ammar had prepared Jose Padilla for his plot to blow up apartment buildings in America (which was foiled thanks to information from Abu Zubaydah), and was the one who had sent Majid Khan to deliver the $50,000 to Zubair for the West Coast plot.  According to Ammar’s CIA biography, “From late 2002, Ammar began plotting to carry out simultaneous attacks in Karachi against the U.S. Consulate, Western residences, and Westerners at the local airport…. He was within days of completing preparations for the Karachi plot when he was captured.”

These are just a few of the plots that were broken up because of information gained from CIA interrogations.  According to the intelligence community, terrorists held in CIA custody also provided information that helped stop a planned strike on U.S. Marines at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti using an explosive laden water tanker.  They provided information the helped us uncover al-Qaeda cell from developing anthrax for attacks against the United States.  And according to the memos released by the Obama administration “intelligence derived from CIA detainees has resulted in more than 6,000 intelligence reports and, in 2004, accounted for approximately half of the [Counterterrorism Center's] reporting on al Qaeda.”

General Hayden calls these facts an “inconvenient truth.”  He put it this way in his Fox News interview: “Most people who oppose these techniques want to be able to say: I don’t want my country doing this – which is a purely honorable position – and they didn’t work anyway.  That back half of the sentence isn’t true.  The facts of the case are that the use of these techniques against these terrorists made us safer.  It really did work.”

Former CIA Director George Tenet has said, “I know that this program has saved lives. I know we've disrupted plots. I know this program alone is worth more than [what] the FBI, the [CIA], and the National Security Agency put together have been able to tell us.”

Former National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has said, “We have people walking around in this country that are alive today because this process happened.”

And even Obama’s director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, said in a letter to the intelligence community on April 16, 2009: “High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al-Qaeda organization that was attacking this country.”

So you can believe Hayden, Tenet, McConnell, and Blair … or Tim Noah and Andrew Sullivan. 

By Marc Thiessen

Posted:  Daily Thought Pad