Former CIA Director Rails Against Dems Who 'Didn't Know' About Interrogation, Swine Flu, Planes in NY?

1) Security Before Politics This article is excellent and a must-read so I am going to post much of it here… Since leaving my post as CIA director almost three years ago, I have remained largely silent on the public stage. I am speaking out now because I feel our government has crossed the red line between properly protecting our national security and trying to gain partisan political advantage. We can't have a secret intelligence service if we keep giving away all the secrets. Americans have to decide now. A disturbing epidemic of amnesia seems to be plaguing my former colleagues on Capitol Hill. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, members of the committees charged with overseeing our nation's intelligence services had no higher priority than stopping al-Qaeda. In the fall of 2002, while I was chairman of the House intelligence committee, senior members of Congress were briefed on the CIA's "High Value Terrorist Program," including the development of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and what those techniques were. This was not a one-time briefing but an ongoing subject with lots of back and forth between those members and the briefers (emphasis mine). Let me be clear. It is my recollection that:  -- The chairs and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, known as the Gang of Four, were briefed that the CIA was holding and interrogating high-value terrorists.  -- We understood what the CIA was doing.  -- We gave the CIA our bipartisan support.  -- We gave the CIA funding to carry out its activities.  -- On a bipartisan basis, we asked if the CIA needed more support from Congress to carry out its mission against al-Qaeda. …Circuses are not new in Washington, and I can see preparations being made for tents from the Capitol straight down Pennsylvania Avenue. The CIA has been pulled into the center ring before. The result this time will be the same: a hollowed-out service of diminished capabilities. After Sept. 11, the general outcry was, "Why don't we have better overseas capabilities?" I fear that in the years to come this refrain will be heard again: once a threat -- or God forbid, another successful attack -- captures our attention and sends the pendulum swinging back. There is only one person who can shut down this dangerous show: President Obama. …The suggestion that we are safer now because information about interrogation techniques is in the public domain conjures up images of unicorns and fairy dust. We have given our enemy invaluable information about the rules by which we operate. The terrorists captured by the CIA perfected the act of beheading innocents using dull knives. Khalid Sheik Mohammed boasted of the tactic of placing explosives high enough in a building to ensure that innocents trapped above would die if they tried to escape through windows. There is simply no comparison between our professionalism and their brutality (emphasis mine).  See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403339.html 2) Swine flu epidemic enters dangerous new phase MEXICO CITY – The swine flu epidemic entered a dangerous new phase Monday as the death toll climbed in Mexico and the number of suspected cases there and in the United States nearly doubled. The World Health Organization raised its alert level but stopped short of declaring a global emergency. The suspected number of deaths rose to 149 in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak with nearly 2,000 people believed to be infected. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090428/ap_on_he_me/med_swine_flu What makes me suspicious is that in early articles it was noted that this virus has avian, swine, and human genetic material. Now, that is no longer mentioned. It is merely referred to as the “swine flu.” Avian, swine, and human genetic components don’t just get together by happenstance. I suspect this is a designer virus. Others suspect terrorism also; see: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=96299.  3) Quake jars already-nervous Mexico City residents See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090428/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_earthquake 4) Plane stupid: Mayor Bloomberg outraged over military photo-op involving low-flying presidential jet Juse plane dumb. A perfect storm of idiocy led to a frightening 9/11 flashback for thousands of New Yorkers Monday when a jumbo jet and an F-16 fighter jet buzzed lower Manhattan without warning.  A "furious" Mayor Bloomberg denounced the dunces who dreamed up the stunt - and the NYPD officials and bureaucrats who never told him about it.  By day's end, an obscure City Hall deputy named Marc Mugnos, who makes $60,000 a year, was taking the fall for not telling Bloomberg that the low-flying planes were coming. He was reprimanded.  But there was plenty of blame to go around. …"It's like someone coming up to you, sticking a gun to your head for 15 seconds, walking away and hearing 20 minutes later it was an undercover cop posing for a photo," said Wall Street worker Bill Privett. See: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/04/27/2009-04-27_plane_stupid_mayor_bloomberg_outraged_over_military_photoop_involving_lowflying_.html 5) Palestinians don't accept Israel as 'Jewish state' PA president issues harsh remarks days before meeting with Obama TEL AVIV, Israel – Just days before he is scheduled to meet President Obama in Washington, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas today declared his U.S.-backed organization will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.  "Jewish state, what is that supposed to mean?" Abbas asked in a speech before student delegates of his Fatah party.  "You can call yourselves as you like, but I don't accept it, and I say so publicly," he said. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=96282