Daily Archives: June 12, 2013

06/12/13

America is Under Attack and At War

By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

The NSA leaker is being protected by China and has a home waiting in Russia. Yet, conservative media personalities such as Glenn Beck are saying that he is a hero. They seem to think that the NSA’s terrorist surveillance program has been used by Obama to go after conservatives, in the same way we have seen in the IRS scandal. There is no evidence this is the case.

If there is evidence that Obama is using the NSA terrorist surveillance program to monitor and harass conservatives, where is it? We have that evidence in the IRS scandal, but not here.

The NSA program is designed to follow and monitor foreign terrorists and enemy agents with U.S. connections. It remains to be seen if the program has been used to go after our real enemies, especially the Islamists, but the outrage against the NSA that has followed the revelations of Edward Snowden is mystifying. The NSA, after all, is a spy agency. The NSA is a front-line intelligence agency that monitors electronic communications. One can argue that we need more, not less, surveillance of our enemies operating on American soil. But that side of the argument is missing from the media coverage.

“The Signals Intelligence mission [of the NSA] collects, processes, and disseminates intelligence information from foreign signals for intelligence and counterintelligence purposes and to support military operations,” the NSA’s website says. “This Agency also enables Network Warfare operations to defeat terrorists and their organizations at home and abroad, consistent with U.S. laws and the protection of privacy and civil liberties.”

There is no evidence, despite Snowden’s claims, that these laws were violated. But there is abundant evidence that Snowden violated several laws, including the Espionage Act. Former Ambassador John Bolton told Newsmax TV that Snowden committed treason and an act of war against the U.S.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey said, “Some wallow in the idea that they are being watched, their civil liberties endangered, simply because a handful of electrons they generated were among the vast billions being reviewed in a high-stakes antiterrorism effort. Of course, many are motivated politically or ideologically to oppose robust intelligence-gathering aimed at fending off Islamist terrorism. Criticism from that quarter can be left to lie where it fell.”

His reference to politically- or ideologically-motivated opposition to “robust intelligence-gathering” is what lies behind the NSA “scandal.” It is significant that far-left Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, a recipient of the “Izzy” award, named after leftist journalist-turned Soviet agent I.F. Stone, was Snowden’s mouthpiece. Greenwald, an American who hates the U.S. so much he lives abroad with his homosexual lover, believes Obama has been too accommodating to the “national security state.”

The “leaker” in this case supported Obama, thinking he would reform the intelligence agencies, and gave money to Ron Paul for president. Ron Paul talks like the far-left on foreign policy issues. As a member of Congress, he appeared on Iranian Press TV and Russia Today (RT). He thinks we are to blame for Muslim terrorism.

Equally important, the political left is using this controversy to subvert, or even eliminate, a program that is designed to protect the American people from terrorism.

That’s why you find the George Soros-funded “Free Press” organization now launching a “Stop Spying on Us” campaign. On June 14, various far-left and Muslim groups are holding a press conference and protest “against FBI and NSA spying,” bringing the FBI into the mix of federal agencies that have supposedly gone too far. These groups include the Defending Dissent Foundation, CODEPINK, Washington Peace Center, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, the Institute for Policy Studies and the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Maryland.

CODEPINK is the Marxist group that worked with and promoted CIA defector Philip Agee, an identified Cuban DGI and Soviet KGB agent. It sends people to Cuba on a regular basis.

Some of these groups constitute Obama’s base. Their target, however, is not really Obama but rather the CIA and the FBI. They want to destroy law enforcement and the intelligence community.

If they undermine this NSA program, there can be no doubt the beneficiaries will be terrorists and foreign agents for China and Russia. That helps explain why China is protecting Snowden and Russia wants to give him a home.

America has conducted intelligence operations from the beginning of the republic. Congress created a panel called the Committee of Secret Correspondence on November 29, 1775, with “wide-ranging duties” that included covert operations, devising codes and ciphers, the hiring of secret operatives, the funding of propaganda, and even “the surreptitious opening of private mail,” according to an account of that critical period of time. America has always had enemies, and always will. And some of those enemies operate within the United States but maintain connections abroad.

It is curious that the NSA revelations came at a time when Barack Obama was meeting with China’s new president, Xi Jinping, and was under pressure from the Defense Department and the intelligence community to confront China over its anti-American cyber-attacks. A January 2013 report from the Defense Science Board said the cyber threat “is serious, with potential consequences similar in some ways to the nuclear threat of the Cold War.” A confidential version of the report said more than two dozen of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers. The evidence indicates that the Chinese stole the plans for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the F-22 combat aircraft, among others.

But rather than insist that Obama confront the Chinese over their thievery, the attention is now turning to our response, which somehow supposedly crosses a line of some sort. And the pressure from “progressives” is now mounting to undercut the agency that is at least partly designed to protect our own people and industries from foreign regimes such as those in Beijing and Moscow.

Former CIA officer Robert Baer said on CNN that officials in Washington, D.C. were looking at the Snowden case as possibly being Chinese espionage against the U.S. This explanation makes complete sense in the context of when, how, and why it occurred at this time. “As a counter intelligence investigation,” he said on CNN, “it would default to that [Snowden as a defector] immediately. The CIA and the FBI look at China as a hostile country. It has an active intelligence program against the United States. It would do anything to get a source, like this young man. Right now I’d be very surprised if they’re not questioning him [about] what he knew.” He went on, “…Honolulu is an important relay station for the National Security Agency. All our spying on China would be filtered through there. What did he know, what didn’t he know? What did he have access to, what did he bring out? I mean, the Chinese would be remiss not talking to him right now.”

Instead, however, almost all of the media attention is now on whether the NSA, not the Chinese regime, has gone too far. The Chinese hackers must be laughing at the U.S.

It is significant that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is quoted by Moscow-funded Russia Today (RT) as saying, “We have been in contact with Snowden’s people in terms of the possible advice and support we can give him.”

Who are those people?

The Chinese, the Russians and other adversaries and enemies of the United States have benefitted immensely from the WikiLeaks disclosures, which included classified information about U.S. counter-terrorism efforts. In return, as a show of thanks, the Russians gave Assange a TV show, where he interviewed such figures as Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, U.S. Marxist professor Noam Chomsky, and Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa. The latter gave Assange asylum in his embassy in London, so he wouldn’t have to face sex crimes charges in Sweden.

Assange had always denied having any personal contact with Bradley Manning, the Army analyst on trial for espionage. But that was a lie. Evidence in the Manning trial demonstrated collusion between them and also disclosed that WikiLeaks material was found in the possession of Osama bin Laden.

It is telling that Snowden has a creepy backer like Julian Assange. Conservatives defending Snowden should think twice about what they are doing and the real story they are missing.

Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism and can be contacted at [email protected].

06/12/13

Can the Media Protect Hillary Clinton from Latest State Department Scandal?

By: Roger Aronoff
Accuracy in Media

Hillary Clinton’s approval rating has fallen 12 points in the wake of the Benghazi scandal, especially since some Americans still hold her responsible for the inadequate security in Libya during the September 11, 2012 attack. Now, additional scandals, which may have been covered up by the State Department under Hillary’s watch, could further threaten her approval rating. These scandals, if given enough traction by the media, could possibly jeopardize Hillary’s chances to run for president. It is therefore in the media’s best interest to keep their beloved political candidate away from controversy, and distance the department’s cover-up from her leadership.

Two news accounts do so. CBS News’ groundbreaking story mentions Hillary only once. NBC News’ story mentions Hillary only once, as well.

“CBS News’ John Miller reports that according to an internal State Department Inspector General’s memo, several recent investigations were influenced, manipulated, or simply called off,” reports CBS news. “The memo obtained by CBS News cited eight specific examples” (emphasis added).

So, the State Department, under Hillary Clinton, may have covered up eight different investigations—if not more. These investigations include allegations of prostitution, pedophilia by an ambassador, sexual assault, and drug purchases.

CBS’s reporting is based on a State Department memo issued in October of last year. A draft report for the Inspector General’s office was issued on December 4, 2012. The final report, issued in March 2013, omitted references to the cover-ups, according to the New York Post. The Post aimed its article, “Hillary’s sorry state of affairs,” straight at Secretary Clinton’s leadership.

“The draft report, marked ‘Sensitive But Unclassified,’ cites several examples of undue influence ‘from the top floor of the department, raising serious concerns about the quality and integrity’ of investigations,” reports the Post. “That statement was removed from the final report issued March 15.”

Bloomberg reports that Hillary’s approval rating was at an all-time high in December, at 70 percent. Would it have remained as high had the Inspector General’s report come out with the eight cited cases? It is unlikely.

“Since leaving the state department, Clinton has mostly kept a low profile, other than delivering a few public speeches and releasing a video in March in which for the first time she announced support for same-sex marriage,” reported John McCormick for Bloomberg News. “Even so, she’s done just enough in the political arena to keep potential donors and supporters intrigued by the historic potential of backing a candidate who could become the first woman president.”

According to the recent Bloomberg poll, “47 percent said they disapprove of how Clinton handled the situation in Benghazi, while roughly a third—34 percent—said they approve.” Bloomberg credits Benghazi as the reason Clinton’s favorability dropped 12 percentage points since last December.

It could have been more, as the recent leak by former State Department investigator Aurelia Fedenisn demonstrates.

The scandal reaches up to Hillary’s right-hand man Patrick Kennedy, at the very least, and involves her own guards.

NBC News opted not to identify the ambassador who has been accused of soliciting minors and prostitutes. “Top State Department officials directed investigators to ‘cease the investigation’ into the ambassador’s conduct, according to the memo,” reports NBC News. However, the New York Post identifies the ambassador as Howard Gutman, ambassador to Belgium.

Gutman is a long-time Barack Obama supporter who raised $500,000 for Obama and helped fund the inauguration, according to The Weekly Standard.

While the NBC story didn’t identify the ambassador, it did quote his denial of any wrongdoing: “‘I am angered and saddened by the baseless allegations that have appeared in the press,’ the ambassador said, adding that to see his time in the country where he served ‘smeared is devastating.’”

It is no surprise, then, that Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy interceded on the ambassador’s behalf. “Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy ordered the investigation ceased, and the ambassador remains in place, according to the memo,” reported the Post.

In addition, “At least seven agents in Clinton’s security detail hired prostitutes while traveling with her in various countries, including Russia and Colombia.

“Investigators called the use of prostitutes by Clinton’s security agents ‘endemic.’

“The liaisons with prostitutes allegedly occurred in the same hotel where Clinton slept, according to sources familiar with the incident.”

Also, the Special Investigations Division was unable to interview Brett McGurk, President Obama’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Iraq, because long-time Clinton loyalist Cheryl Mills “interceded,” according to the memo. Mills has been working for the Clintons “on and off” since 1992 and was the general counsel and chief of staff to Hillary Clinton during the Benghazi attack, reported The Washington Free Beacon, which called Mills “The Whistleblower Blocker.”

It is not surprising that these allegations did not make it into the Inspector General’s March 15 report. After all, the State Department influenced the CIA into doing 12 different revisions of its talking points before it was satisfied with the outcome, according to ABC News. During these revisions the talking points were scrubbed of terror references, a vital clue as to the origin of the attacks.

Since these allegations of terror might have hurt the State Department’s reputation, they were deliberately hidden from the public view. Instead, the attack was blamed on an anti-Islam video. Similarly, the current scandal’s true aspects were hidden from public view to save the department’s reputation.

Internal notes demonstrate that this may have been the case. “At a December 2012 meeting to prepare the report, Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell said he was ‘stunned’ by the findings, and requested that the cases should be omitted,” reports the NY Post, using notes from the meeting supplied by Fedenisn.

“Fedenisn, the whistleblower, did not take the notes but was charged with keeping them, according to her lawyer.”

“Boswell said putting the subject in the report would ‘generally damage [Department of State],’ would ‘probably damage the Department,’ and would be used by ‘every defense lawyer around,’” according to notes from the meeting.

In other words, as was true for Benghazi, politics trumps the truth at the State Department. What else can we really expect from Hillary’s Department of State?

The media, such as NBC and CBS, should be more responsible and demand accountability from Hillary for her leadership of the State Department. Instead, they act like she wasn’t in charge and shouldn’t be held accountable.

After all, we have Hillary’s guards soliciting prostitutes, her right-hand man overlooking alleged pedophilia, and a long-time Clinton loyalist intervening in Iraq. Shouldn’t this put the nail in the coffin for a Clinton presidency, or will the media cover for her as it has the Obama Administration?

Roger Aronoff is the Editor of Accuracy in Media, and can be contacted at [email protected].

06/12/13

Loudon Book Teaser: Liz Warren and the DSA Marxists

By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal

My new book “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress,” will include profiles of more than 60 serving Congress members and Senators – including Massachusetts Freshman Senator Elizabeth Warren.

The book will look at Warren’s extensive ties to socialist organizations, particularly the U.S.’s largest Marxist organization, Democratic Socialists of America.

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What is Elizabeth Warren doing here with well known DSA supporter Heather Booth and Chicago DSA member Roberta Lynch? And Bob Creamer to the left? Convicted felon and husband of Illinois Congresswoman and long-time DSAer, Jan Schakowsky.

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What’s Elizabeth Warren doing here with prominent Massachusett’s activist and former Orange County DSA leader, Tim Carpenter?

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And what is Elizabeth Warren doing at the Midwest Academy? A DSA run school established to train thousands of young “community organizers” in the techniques of the notorious Saul Alinsky.

These and many other questions will be examined in my upcoming book.

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“The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress,” will be officially launched on August 20th in Washington, D.C.

However, if you are a U.S. resident, you can be one of the very first to own a copy by clicking on the button below.




New Zealander, Trevor Loudon, Editor of Trevorloudon.com and the author of Barack Obama and the Enemies Within, will tour his new book, The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress, across America this Fall.

Trevor’s work has been featured in numerous books and articles, thousands of blog posts and many interviews.