Lack
of security concern
Tim Birkel
With all the hubbub Democrats have been making about the outing of a supposedly “covert” CIA
operative, you would think they cared deeply when leaks from or about our nation’s
most
important intelligence service occur.
Unfortunately, the Democrats’ silence at several other more serious events
shows what their true intentions are.
Where was the Democrats’ outrage and demand for investigations when the
New York Times exposed Aero Contractors, a purportedly civilian air charter service,
as a covert CIA operation? Not only was that operation legitimately covert, but
the exposure ruined years of work and millions of dollars worth of investments
in developing our nation’s intelligence abilities.
Right now it should be obvious our nation’s intelligence services are,
by and large, inadequate and everything should be done to improve them, rather
than further reduce their ability to detect and inform us about threats.
This is a legitimate issue of national security, yet there was no outcry, no
special prosecutor appointed to find out what reporters knew and when they knew
it and no shutting down of Congress when Democrats didn’t get the indictments
they wanted.
On Nov. 2, the Washington Post broke a story about secret and covert prisons
where the CIA has been keeping some of its most important captured al-Qaeda members.
According to the Washington Post, these prisons have at times been located “in
eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern
Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.”
I will not ask you to agree or disagree with the existence of these prisons.
They are a part of the CIA’s ongoing effort in the War on Terror, and whether
or not a single person condones the CIA’s methods, we should all agree
this was a legitimate exposure of a genuine covert operation.
This information has been used by Al-Jazeera as propaganda to stir up further
hatred against the United States. In a very real way, this report has directly
benefited those who want to harm America.
Ah, but no outrage from Democrats — that’s reserved for when the
Bush administration tries to correct a known liar, Joseph Wilson, by pointing
out facts about his decidedly not covert wife’s role in his mission to
Niger.
So why are legitimate leaks of classified information glossed over?
It’s because they are designed to do political damage to President George
W. Bush.
CIA officials who disagree with the administration and are more than willing
to use their classified knowledge to bring it down perpetrated each of these
leaks. Democrats seem perfectly willing to allow leaks of secret information,
as long as it harms their political adversaries.
The next time you’re in the voting booth, remember which party is more
than willing to allow our nation’s intelligence service men and women to
be put at risk for political gain. Remember which party puts partisan point-scoring
above legitimate national security issues.
If Democrats want to be taken seriously on national security issues — issues
which arguably cost them the past presidential election — they might want
to try to work up a little outrage when actual crimes have been perpetrated,
rather than trying to create a crime out of whole cloth.
This article originally ran in the Daily News at Ball State University.
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