McCarthy as CIA Scapegoat
24 April 2006 5:23 pm by Taylor Marsh
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Well, well, well, isn't this interesting. Mary McCarthy “categorically
denies” being the source of Dana Priest's article on black sites, according
to Andrea Mitchell and Newsweek. Glenn
Greenwald and Crooks
and Liars are all over it, which is only fitting because this scuttles one
of the issues going against Ms. McCarthy. See, if you leak classified information
after taking a pledge to keep these types of documents secret you've broken
the law. That's why whistleblower status is so important, because it protects
the person releasing important information that the public needs to know from
being abused for having a conscience. He or she still pays a price by losing
a job and perhaps a pension and other benefits, including health care. But without
whistleblower status, the person releasing information for the common good is
just a lawbreaker with no protection, left to twist in the wind, with possible
jail time at the end. As for whether McCarthy can be charged with a crime is
another matter, because of the polygraph evidence that simply can't be used.
However, now we find out that all this could now be moot.
So much for carting McCarthy away in hand
cuffs, with a little traitorous talk from Mark
Levin, which I talked
about at length this weekend. The Republican wingnuts want someone's head because they're getting more desperate by the day. Just look at the latest bad news for Bush. Not good: he's down to 32%. AWWWWWWWWWW.
The fired official, Mary O. McCarthy, “categorically denies being the
source of the leak,” one of McCarthy’s friends and former colleagues,
Rand Beers, said Monday after speaking to McCarthy. Beers said he could not
elaborate on this denial and McCarthy herself did not respond to a request
for comment left by NEWSWEEK on her home answering machine. A national security
advisor to Democratic Party candidate John Kerry during the 2004 presidential
campaign, Beers worked as the head of intelligence programs on President Bill
Clinton’s National Security Council staff and later served as a top
deputy on counter-terrorism for President Bush in 2002 and 2003. McCarthy,
a career CIA analyst, initially worked as a deputy to Beers on the NSC and
later took over Beer’s role as the Clinton NSC’s top intelligence
expert.McCarthy's lawyer, Ty Cobb, told NEWSWEEK this afternooon that contrary to
public statements by the CIA late last week, McCarthy never confessed to agency
interrogators that she had divulged classified information and “didn't
even have access to the information” in The Washington Post story in
question.Mary
McCarthy ‘categorically denies’ being the source of the leak on
agency renditions
McCarthy had “unauthorized contact” with reporters. What in the world
does that mean? It meant McCarthy couldn't talk to reporters unless her boss
approved it before the fact. It's a firing offense. Porter Goss is sending a
message. No doubt, it was just received. Secrecy wins.
So, here's the deal. You can blow a war with “slam dunk” idiocy like
George Tenet and get the Medal of Freedom. But if you have “unauthorized
contact” with a reporter, after you've already quit prior to your retirement,
which would have been Sunday for McCarthy, you can be fired. I get it. Ethics
in the age of Republican control of Washington. Another CIA scapegoat bites
the dust.
George W. Bush and Deadeye, with the help of their man Porter Goss, are eviscerating
the CIA. We should all remember this going forward when our intelligence goes
from bad to worse to the propagandized. Oh, yeah, we're already there.
Today's podcast will be up soon (found here).
