Mad Kane on the what is reportedly the latest Democratic screw-up.

I don’t care if you can’t override a veto, the Shrubbery can’t allocate funds. If he wants the money, make him compromise. Stop enabling this idiot.

The Associated Press is reporting that: Bush declassifies bin Laden intelligence

President Bush, trying to defend his war strategy, declassified intelligence Tuesday asserting that Osama bin Laden ordered a top lieutenant in early 2005 to form a terrorist cell that would conduct attacks outside Iraq — and that the United States should be the top target.

[snip]

The Bush White House has intermittently declassified and made public sensitive intelligence information to help rebut critics or defend programs or actions against possibly adverse decisions in the Congress or the courts. On a few occasions, the declassified materials were intended as proof that terrorists see Iraq as a critical staging ground for global operations.

It’s proof that neither he, nor his staff have the slightest clue as to the purpose of intelligence. This isn’t political opposition research. People are put at risk gathering this data. Releasing information from a couple of years ago can provide the clues necessary to pin point the source of the information, and that source is lost.

They just don’t understand security. You don’t release classified information for political purposes. There are intelligence committees in both the House and Senate that are cleared to review classified information. If there is an issue that is dependent on Congressional agreement, that’s where you take classified reports. This is just outrageous behavior.

EDB at Anecdotes from a Banana Republic in Beirut talks about Dubious Militants & the Violated Sanctity of the Bathroom. Her life is again disrupted by explosions and gunfire in Lebanon and the misinformation of the Lebanese government.

She remembered the Seymour Hersh article in The New Yorker [03/05/07], The Redirection, that mentioned the raise of Fatah al Islam, whom she calls a “kooky Salafist group”.

While you should read the entire article, the short form is Cheney and the Saudis are trying to offset the gains made by Iran as a result of US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and one of their moves was to have the Saniora government invite members of various “kooky Salafist groups” to Lebanon to offset Hezbollah.

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