A VERY THIN LINE
By Jim Marcinkowski on July 20, 2007 at 8:02 PM in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, CIA, Current Affairs, Pakistan
By Jim Marcinkowski and Kelly Raskauskas
Without sufficient caffeine, I opened yesterday morning’s NY Times to find my local legislator quoted in the front-page story, Bush Aides See Failure in Fight With Al-Quaeda in Pakistan.
“We have to change policy,” said Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, a Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee who has long advocated a more aggressive American intelligence campaign in Pakistan.
Suitably fortified with a second cup of coffee, I re-read the article.
Changing policy? Well, gosh! That’s a GREAT idea!! Though one wonders just how long Mr. Rogers thinks we haven’t been aggressive enough in Pakistan…
Less than a year ago, Mr. Rogers spoke at a Brighton (Michigan) Chamber of Commerce breakfast, touting his credentials as a member of the House Intelligence Committee. He called Afghanistan “a great success story” and Pakistan “a great friend.” He attributed reports of escalating violence in Afghanistan solely to Pakistan’s anti-terror efforts, and noted that progress in the region has been continuou s. He advised local business persons to disregard troubling media reports and made references to Pakistan as “our premier partner in the war on terror.” He concluded this disengenuous dribble with a tear-jerking story of how he carried a message from an undercover CIA officer operating in the tribal areas back home to his wife and small children. (Apparently this CIA officer was so undercover he was unable to communicate with the world and had to rely on a congressman to deliver clandestine messages!). The crowd ate it up.
So what exactly IS the story, Mr. Rogers?. He advised local business persons to disregard troubling media reports and made references to He concluded this disengenuous dribble with a tear-jerking story of how he carried a message from an undercover CIA officer operating in the tribal areas back home to his wife and small children. (Apparently this CIA officer was so undercover he was unable to communicate with the world and had to rely on a congressman to deliver clandestine messages!). The crowd ate it up.So what exactly IS the story, Mr. Rogers?In 2006, you brandished your membership in the House Intel Committee as a license to disagree with news reports, ’cause you had super-secret inside information that things were just swell in Pakistan.
In 2007, though, we find that you’ve apparently been (super-secretly?) fighting the good fight to CHANGE our intel policy in Pakistan… um, that would be the same intel policy that you thought was right on target last fall.
Oh, dear. Flip-flop is SUCH an unpleasant word. And there is such a thin line between being “a great politician” and a stone-cold liar.
Well. . . . sending a few idiot congressmen into the backcountry of Pakistan and Afghanistan to sort out the War on Terror all by themselves might not be such a bad idea. Let Natural Selection kick in and solve a few of our problems back here at home.
YES..
That Thin Line is called INTEGRITY..
Today..It can be Bought and Sold..
Off-topic, but I read this piece by Roberts and found it interesting.
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts07162007.html
Remember, liebschen: Ein Reich, Ein Volk!
I am officially confused. Zawahiri and Bin Laden get tapes made and shipped hither and thither, but our undercover CIA agents have to rely on the off chance that a Congressional delegation just happens by in order to get a message out?
Interesting.
I’m not sure what a more aggressive intelligence campaign in Pakistan would entail, but I’m all for a more aggressive campaign to put intelligence into Congress. Replacing Rogers would be a nice start.
Unfortunately, every time I read about Reyes I have this sinking feeling that replacing him might not be a bad idea either.
I saw him on c-span this am and I most certainly have to agree with you on that one!!!!!!!
What a treat! Well done Jim & Kelly. I have a real problem with Rogers. He’s a dimestore Tom DeLay minus the charm.
bTW - I am proud to have been a supporter, in my small way. And should the need arise again - please know I’ll be there.
Jim, did you see the piece that Mike Cox did in the Detroit Free Press regarding the commutation?(For those not familiar, Mike Cox is the AG here in MI, he’s the presumptive GOP choice for governor, at least from what I’ve heard)
While AG Cox disagreed with the commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence the fact that he stated -
“While it is debatable ( emphasis mine ) whether Plame was a covert agent, no one seriously disputes that Libby lied under oath about divulging Plame’s identity..”
Detroit Free Press
There is nothing debatable about that. When I read it, I thought man, I wish Jim Marcinkowski would have been asked about that by the Freep.
And while I am not the biggest fan of John Murtha, hearing Mike Rogers chide Murtha with his high minded sanctimonious spiel on ethics was pretty hard to take. Rogers was a water carrier for DeLay and voted for the DeLay Rule, which would have allowed DeLay to retain his power, despite being indicted - before public outrage made him vote against it.
Rogers took 20k from DeLay’s now defunct, illegal PAC. What a piece of work.
Again, nice piece, thanks, Jim & Kelly.
Does anyone bother to proof read this stuff? I guess that question answers itself, but seriously?
This site is losing credibility.
VERC…
I don’t know what planet you just arrived from..But its the G.W. Bush administration that lost Credibility.. so don’t ask anyone to take you to the LEADER..But..on the other Hand..that is where all the ALIENS do hang out..with alot of UFO’S..
Unusual Friggin Objectives..
So a guy like you might be welcome there..you may even be one of them..
Ever Heard of the Men in Black..?
Look into this Light..Closer..ZAP..!!
VERC..
Ah..Its the G.W. Bush administration that has lost all Credibility..
I don’t know what Planet you just arrived from..but thats where the ALIENS hang out..not here..with thier UFO’s..
Unidentified Friggin Objectives..
Did you ever hear of the Men in Black..??
Look up in the right corner of your Computer..
Look Closer…
See that Flash..??
VERC..
Its the G.W. Bush Administration that has lost all Credibility..
Have you seen the Polls..??
Ever Heard of the Men in Black..??
Look closely at the Upper right Corner of your Screen..
SMILE..
Patrick, Sorry about the triple post — I know you were trying but the comment never showed up. Our spam filter creates a few false positives, but it’s learning.
verc,
Most people on this site constantly ask the same question about the Main Stream Media. Nothing written on this site has ever gotten anyone killed, or ruined the career of a government agent, or justified a perversion of justice. Once you’ve admitted that however, it’s Liberty Hall–criticize away!
Rogers calling for a “policy change” in Pakistan, now that the whole Musharraf house of cards is about to undergo some urban renewal, reminds me of the Battle of Roncesvalles in 778 AD. Charlemagne’s army had retreated through the Pyrenees from Spain when the Christian Basques massacred the rear guard at the Pass of Roncesvalles. The legend is that the two Frankish paladins Roland and Oliver were fighting back-to-back against the proverbial horde of enemies when Oliver chided Roland for fighting with the stump of his broken lance instead of drawing his sword. Roland replied, while fighting furiously, “Are you nuts? I’m saving my sword for when things get REALLY desperate!”
Montag:
“…reminds me of the Battle of Roncesvalles.”
Nice to have the literate among us.
Montag,
A slighly different version of Le Chanson de Roland than I read. I like yours.
What remains of Durendal is reputed to be here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rocam_durandal_082005.jpg
Montjoie!
taters,
Yeah, well a lot of people assume that since most of Spain was Muslim at the time then it was the dastardly MUSLIMS who killed Roland and Oliver–when it was the Christian Basques who just didn’t like armies marching through their territory to get at the Muslims without a by-your-leave. There are Ann Coulters in every age I guess.
Montag,
Since The Song of Roland didn’t make it to “print” until almost 1100 AD, we had three hundred years of an oral tradition prior to Roland being written. Which happened to coincide with the first/second crusade.
In Chanson de Roland, Turpin the archbishop is fighting with a papal decree if I recall correctly, this historically came much later than Roncesvalles. {Also during Pope Urban II’s tenure- which allowed those of the clergy in combat as long a blade wasn’t used. A mace fine…)
I think we do the medieval/pre medieval bardic tradtion a disservice by comparing it to Ann Coulter. They were certainly more enlightened. But I hear ya man, fortunately I was able to assess who the “pagans” were in Roland at an early age.In the Italian version, Durendal belonged to Hector. Since Roman lore traced their ancestry to Aeneas, this is logical.
However, Michael Crichton’s false assertion that the Franks were all six footers is blatantly false. Despite Charlemagne’s stature (please see the latin roots of magne, Dr. Crichton) being well above the norm, he conveniently forgets about the lack of height of Pepin. And this “learned” doctor has the benefit 1200 years of hindsight. I’ll take the bards and jongleurs anyday over him. His “work” on climate change is every bit as skewed,and unlike the purveyors of sagas, legends or epics, he’s just a dishonest SOB….
I’m sure there are legends in Muslim lore with their equivalent of El Cid or Roland..nice chattin’ with ya.
Rogers has been a disgrace for years, from the porn-star caterpillar on his upper lip to his craven dishonesty on the war.
Remember when this former FBI agent claimed to have found porn on a library computer and *did not know what to do*?
The man is disgusting.
Thanks for getting us back on topic, JD. Yeah, Rogers is a real piece of work. I have a feeling this will be his last time around. Well said.
Jim, there are hundreds of time that Rogers has been an embarrassment to us 8th District residents (and others in Michigan). You’ve got a good support base to start with–when can we start contributing to your 2008 campaign?
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