THE NON-WATERGATE

Something's a scandal only if the newspapers make it one. On the matter below they have averted their eyes. The NY Sun (excerpt below) is the one paper to have mentioned the matter -- although the blogosphere has known of it for years

That was quite a scoop yesterday by our Josh Gerstein in respect of how the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in its investigations of leaks of our national secrets, has been stonewalled by none other than agencies of America's own government. The disclosures on which Mr. Gerstein reports came in response to litigation Mr. Gerstein filed under the Freedom of Information Act. He obtained FBI documents indicating that our intelligence agencies have been "uncooperative" in investigating leaks. The FBI documents refer to unreturned phone calls, cancelled meetings that weren't rescheduled, and the concern that lawyers from the agency whose information was leaked would "stonewall." And it looks like cases were dropped rather than force government officials and agencies to cooperate with the investigation and produce evidence.....

All this underscores the likelihood that we have had agencies of the American government breaking the law to defeat a military campaign into which the American Congress, by an overwhelming vote, sent our GIs. These implications were sensed immediately by the blogosphere, where Powerlineblog.com lit up on Mr. Gerstein's story at the crack of dawn, and on the airwaves, where Rush Limbaugh devoted part of his broadcast to Mr. Gerstein's story. Said Mr. Limbaugh, "It's become more and more obvious that there is a symbiotic relationship between these agencies - we're talking about State, we're talking about the Pentagon, CIA - there's a symbiotic relationship between these agencies and the drive-by media now, and they're not going to let an election get in their way . They've got their own agendas. . If they have to destroy the policies of a particular administration, they'll do it via leaks, and then when these criminal leaks are investigated, they don't participate."

************************

IRAN STRIKE COMING?

Excerpt below from a comment by Australian columnist Greg Sheridan

A US military strike against Iran must now be considered formally on the international agenda, following George W. Bush’s sombre, calm, but in substance extraordinarily bold address on Iraq. Bush accused Iran of providing material assistance for attacks on US troops in Iraq. It is hard to imagine a more serious accusation. What’s more, Bush promised to stop such Iranian actions. Whatever you think of Bush, he has a very high level of credibility when it comes to carrying out any threat he makes of military action.

No matter how scornful Bush’s Western critics may be, the powerbrokers in Tehran, and tosome degree in Damascus (forhe also called out Syria), aretoday contemplating the President’s words with sombre apprehension.

In a broader sense, Bush’s speech was aimed at all of America’s enemies and potential enemies in the Middle East and beyond. My presidency may be wounded, he was saying, but it is not dead. Bush will not leave the initiative to the terrorists or to the US’s other enemies. As President, he still wields enormous power and he intends to use it.

This was an unusually calm and direct speech from Bush. It eschewed soaring rhetoric and grand statements. It is likely to be more effective for that. It laid out the consequences of US defeat in Iraq and said that the Bush administration simply refuses to accept defeat. It was a very Ronald Reagan speech in the way it defied every arbiter of conventional wisdom and even public opinion....

The substance of Mr Bush’s speech was encouraging, more for the change in US emphasis than for the sheer increase in troop numbers. It is moving the US much closer to a classic counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq. Such a strategy always gives its top priority to providing security for the civilian population. Amazingly, this is the first time such an objective will be the top priority for the US military in Iraq. The Bush speech represents neither the eclipse nor the triumph of the fabled neo-conservatives. Rather, it represents the liberation of American policy following the departure of former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld....

America’s enemies know that democracies tend to be impatient and certainly, after all the misery of Iraq, the American electorate appears impatient. Yet it is highly unlikely that even the Democrat-controlled Congress will actually cut off funding for US troops in Iraq. It may be too late, it may be too little, but Bush has given US strategy at least a fighting chance of success.

*****************************

Brookes News Update

Kevin Rudd's economic illiteracy and his attack on Hayek: Firmly convinced of his moral and intellectual superiority Kevin Rudd slime free market economics tells us that Friedrich Hayek hated charity and lacked compassion. And this ignorant bigot wants to be Australia's Prime Minister
The audacity of apostasy: Barack Obama's Muslim links: So far the media have avoided drawing attention to Obama's Muslim past. But sooner the later the media will have to deal with this complication. If they don't - Hillary will
Augusto Pinochet: Chile's reluctant dictator: General Pinochet and his administration were possibly the most reluctant authoritarian regime in all of history. Nevertheless, the left and their corrupt supporters in the media wages a relentless campaign of vilification against the regime. These are the same people who refuse to condemn the sadistic Castro's crimes against women and children
Australian Labor Party's welfare fallacies and interventionism: Although Kevin Rudd now leads the ALP the social democratic myths that Mark Latham promoted still underpin Labor's domestic policies - particularly those relating to welfare and economics
President Bush ain't no friend of Israel's. And Olmert: With the total lack of leadership in Israel, the Islamofascist murderers have reason to celebrate. And, they already are. Fatah is now able to use the kidnapping and killings of IDF soldiers as a precedent to achieve the release of all prisoners
Managing the consequences of Iraq: It is becoming increasingly likely that some form of break-up will be the fate of the nation-state of Iraq. Such a break-up will reflect the relationships among Iraq's Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish groups, and the relationships of these groups to the central government, which in turn should have major consequences for the region.

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

**************************

"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

R.I.P. Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet deposed a law-defying Marxist President at the express and desperate invitation of the Chilean parliament. He pioneered the free-market reforms which Reagan and Thatcher later unleashed to world-changing effect. That he used far-Leftist methods to suppress far-Leftist violence is reasonable if not ideal. The Leftist view that they should have a monopoly of violence and that others should follow the law is a total absurdity which shows only that their hate overcomes their reason -- Details here and here

Comments? Email me here (Hotmail address). If there are no recent posts here blame Blogger.com and visit my mirror site here or here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

****************************