Tuesday, February 17, 2009

FEINSTEIN BLOWS IT

Did you all hear about THIS?

Feinstein blows our Pakistani cover

Until now, most people assumed that the US conducted its Predator strikes on Taliban and al-Qaeda targets from bases in Afghanistan. Now, however, Senator Dianne Feinstein has exposed a Pakistani partnership on Predator launches that the previous administration tried to keep quiet. Her offhand remark may put the entire program in jeopardy:

A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an airbase inside that country, a revelation likely to embarrass the Pakistani government and complicate its counterterrorism collaboration with the United States.

The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.

At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise at Pakistani opposition to the ongoing campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Al Qaeda targets along Pakistan’s northwest border.

“As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base,” she said of the planes.

Until now, that was a closely guarded secret. The drone attacks are incredibly unpopular among the Pakistani public, and the US didn’t want to undermine the current, democratically-elected government in Islamabad. They wanted to give the Yousef Gilani government deniability on their cooperation with the American military in order to keep our options for attack open.

This isn’t the first time Feinstein has blown a sensitive operation by opening her mouth, either. Californians will recall that Mayor Feinstein called a press conference to discuss the Night Stalker case, a string of violent rapes and murders that terrified the entire state. She divulged previously-confidential information about Richard Ramirez’ shoes and gun — and on hearing it, Ramirez promptly dumped them into the bay on his way out of town, eliminating key evidence in the case.

This exposure will cause much greater damage. The Pakistani public will almost certainly demand an end to these Predator flights, which have been highly successful at decimating terrorist leadership in inaccessible areas of the Pakistani frontier. Without that kind of tactic available, we will have to fall back to more intrusive and potentially less effective overflights from Afghanistan. This could allow our enemies breathing room to rebuild their networks in the region, and put us on a collision course with Islamabad on our efforts to fight them. At the very least, Feinstein has just complicated the diplomatic situation for Barack Obama by an order of magnitude. Ed Morrissey * Hot Air

RUHROH......... JUST what we needed. Thanks for the tip. Joey.

z

19 comments:

Greywolfe said...

why is this woman still in charge of her committee? She's a clear and present danger. Talk about a woman that is going to get people killed....Jeese!

Ducky's here said...

Don't blame us, z, you keep electing this DINO.

It's academic anyway, Pakistan announced that it is permitting sharia rule in the territories. In other words they gave in to the Taliban.

You can fly drones for the next 1oo years (and we are foolish enough to do it) and you will not resolve this problem.

Time to think outside the box. This is a big mess.

I.H.S. said...

She should be removed from having access to any more sensitive materials, period. Talk about "BIG MOUTH"...geeeeZ!

Blessings.

Z said...

IHS..glad somebody picks up on the point of this piece.

Greywolfe...I agree.

Ducky..TRUST me, I HAVE NEVER VOTED FOR HER.

Anonymous said...

This is an opportunity I just cannot ignore: Ducky, do help us "think outside the box." Pakistan is a big mess ... what is the solution?

As for Feinstein, this is what happens when we exempt politicians from prosecution. If a bureaucrat provided this information, he or she would go to jail for divulging classified material.

I.H.S. said...

I too would like to know what Ducky's solution to Pakistan would be.

You have the floor Ducky, go for it.

Blessings.

Z said...

Ducky throws that 'box' around quite a bit..it's empty, far as I can see, though.

We're just supposed to think outside it. He has no solutions.

I.H.S. said...

I was wondering along the same lines, Z. Ducky does they that a lot, but never produces the proverbial outside the box solution. Interesting.

Blessings.

Papa Frank said...

The inmates are running the big house now folks!!!

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

Nice Diane. Great way to help bring down a relative ally against the Taliban. Depending on what day it is. Or how the winds are blowing. Or the influence of tidal pull. Or sunspots. Solar flares.

Bottom line is: she's an idioto.

And Ducky, YOU keep electing THEM.

Everyone: you want to read a book about idiots like Feinstein, check out Vince Flynn's Executive Decision.

BZ

BZ

Anonymous said...

Ditto, Mustang!

She should be prosecuted for this!!
This infuriates me.

How uterly irresponsible. I swear. Would she do this if her son or daughter were in the military? Would she put her own at risk like this?

Grrrrrrrr. What a patriot.

Tony C said...

She should have her security clearance pulled or reduced. That would force her out of her chair position.

A military person would be court-martialed for this slip.

Someone needs to remind her that Pakistan HAS nuclear weapons...just what we want the Taliban getting their hands on.

Pat Jenkins said...

your lawmakers are our best soldiers! yours truly osama bin laden.... (ok maybe i need to explain that lame joke! you know when you are playing a sport and a fellow teammate is stinking up the joint. well you say he is the other teams best player. so with di fi spillin the beans by givin away secrets she becomes al qaeda's best player!... you know jokes are never funny when you have to explain them!)

Z said...

Tony, as if today's news, Pakistan is cozying up to the Taliban now.."let's be friends and you put down your guns..OKAY? This'll be FUN!"

Pakistan's starting to sound like Barry Obama.

Karen Townsend said...

Interesting that just a few days after Feinstein talks out of turn, Pakistan negoiates a deal with the Taliban. They'll have free reign in their part of the country, out in the open. Lovely.

Z said...

Oh, MAN, Karen, I did see that Pakistan/Taliban love fest but didn't connect the dots..GOOD on you, girl. You're probably SO RIGHT..sadly.
We are in SUCH deep doo doo.

elmers brother said...

there's an old saying from WWII

loose lips sink ships

Average American said...

That STUPID BITCH should be hung for treason!! That's as bad(actually probably worse) as when NObama was blabbing about his security mans college kid. These frigging people are SO Damned STUPID! Don't they think at all? And they criticize Joe the gaffe for having such loose lips.

Ducky's here said...

No z, I don't have a solution.

Maybe we should just keep flying drones and wasting our time because in that you and mustang don't have a solution either.

So we are all up the junction. Got it? That's the thing with the right, you haven't had a useful idea for a decade but you want to keep on with this failed plan.

I would start with a very firm definition of the goals of the mission. "Killing our enemies" is NOT useful and proof that you are as lacking in useful ideas as I am.


Yeah mustang, we should put politicians on trial. Let's start with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, John Yoo, Lieberman, Gonzales and all the torture boys.