Christopher Hitchens, Meet Philip Giraldi

Hitchens' latest stab at reality in Slate is so wildly dishonest that it resembles a Deroy Murdock piece. In typical sneery Hitchens fashion, the piece argues that someone would have to have his head in the sand to believe that Saddam wasn't supporting anti-American terror in the form of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

As though on cue, today's issue of the American Conservative includes a briefing (not online) by Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, who notes:

The undeclared warfare between the CIA and the Bush administration has continued despite the arrival of Porter goss as Director of Central Intelligence. On Sept. 28, at the Vice President's request, the Agency provided a special briefing on the subject of Jordanian terrorist Mu'sab al-Zarqawi. The CIA's Counter Terrorism Center (CTC) reviewed all of the available intelligence on the subject and based its briefing on a just completed comprehensive intelligence analysis. The CTC concluded that Saddam Hussein had not materially supported Zarqawi before the U.S.-led invasion and that Zarqawi's infrastructure in Iraw before the war was confined to the northern no-fly zones of Kurdistan, beyond Baghdad's reach. Cheney reacted with fury, screaming at the briefer that CIA was trying to get John Kerry elected by contradicting the president's stance that Saddam had supported terrorism and therefore needed to be overthrown. The hapless briefer was shaken by the vice president's outburst, and the incident was reported back to Goss, who indicated that he was reluctant to confront the vice president's staff regarding it. [This, of course, sets a good tone for the beginning of his tenure as DCI, no? -JL] Goss was sent to CIA by the president with instructions to get the place under control and stop the leaking. The White House had earlier been upset by the leak of the most recent National Intelligence Estimate stating that things were not going well in Iraq. The choice of Goss as director was opposed by some of CIA's management, who claimed he was too political. As a result of the sniping, Goss will have to navigate carefully between protecting the integrity of the intelligence process and serving his boss, the president. Reform of the Agency, once seen as a hot-button issue, though only embraced tepidly by Goss, will be seen as a secondary consideration.

Anybody for a vodka martini?

Comments

[praktike]

I liked the Snooty Snitchens article where he said that Shiism was opposed to heredity.

[Dave Hollander]

Well, now that you mention it, I'm reminded that we (and Congress)have yet to see that internal C.I.A report on pre-9/11 intelligence. I wonder why that is?

[Brian]

As I said on another blog, Hitchens' piece boils down to the following claim: "We don't have any major reasons to believe that there were major connections between Saddam, Zarqawi, and bin Laden - in any order - but that doesn't matter to me. I am going to believe what I want." This begs the question, why is he writing this stuff? Better yet, why is Slate publishing it?

[marjo]

gee, Cheney seems a little...what's the word...tense.

do I smell...desperation?