Blogswarm - Online Political News Magazine

Sun Nov 14th, 2004 at 11:59:01 PST

[From the Diaries - MB]

This is not freaking believable.  When I first saw an article about purges in the intelligence community, I (naively) thought it was a purge of those responsible for intelligence failures.  My mistake.  The story which follows is not unique, only we are used to hearing about it after military coups in countries whose names many of us are not entirely sure how to pronounce.  But this is happening right here.

I am not one easily given to hyperbole, and I have avoided words like "junta" in the past, but does this sound like the behavior of a democratically elected leader of a free nation?

EDIT: (The direct source is here)

WASHINGTON -- The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.

"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

Purging the intelligence community of those disloyal to the president?  Purging liberal Democrats?

Scared yet?  You should be.

Bush likes to operate in secret.  Information is the enemy.  Write your senator.  Write your congressmen.  Write all your newspapers.  If Bush is intent on behaving this way, do not let him do it in the dark.