Yesterday, I played around with the notion that the McCarthy firing at CIA was the result of an internal agency sting operation using a false story about “secret CIA prisons” in Europe that, we found out yesterday, appear either to have been extremely well hidden or non-existent in the first place.
Circumstantial evidence that the prisons exist or existed at one time is compelling:
The European Parliament’s probe and a similar one by the continent’s leading human rights watchdog are looking into whether US intelligence agents interrogated Al Qaeda suspects at secret prisons in Eastern Europe and transported some on secret flights through Europe.But so far investigators have not identified any human rights violations, despite more than 50 hours of testimony by human rights activists and individuals who said they were abducted by US intelligence agents, de Vries said.
‘’We’ve heard all kinds of allegations, impressions; we’ve heard also refutations. It’s up to your committee to weigh if they are true. It does not appear to be proven beyond reasonable doubt,” he said. ‘’There has not been, to my knowledge, evidence that these illegal renditions have taken place.”
Please note that Mr. de Vries, Chairman of the Commission, has chosen his words very, very carefully. “Illegal” renditions as well as an earlier reference to “no evidence of illegal CIA activities” could very well mean that the detention program existed but that no laws were broken:
Clandestine detention centers and secret flights via or from Europe to countries where suspects could face torture would breach the continent’s human rights conventions.De Vries told the committee no EU-US agreement authorized secret renditions of terror suspects, that hundreds of CIA flights did not occur over Europe as reported by various media organizations, and that he has no news of European countries using intelligence obtained under torture.
So while there is still a possibility that the entire CIA secret prison story was part of a ruse to draw out a CIA leaker, it appears equally probable that the secret prisons may have existed but that EU investigators simply can’t find evidence beyond the eyewitness testimony of terrorist suspects, admittedly not the most reliable evidence.
I’m walking back a bit on connecting those dots – but I haven’t dismissed the idea entirely. The fact is, the Agency could have given McCarthy some incorrect information on a program that actually existed – such as which countries the prisons were in – in order to trap her.
From here on out, I’m going to take a wait and see attitude toward this aspect of the story.
UPDATE
Steve Sturm makes a good point as to why this is probably not a sting (see his comment below as well):
After going out and getting breakfast (drivethrough at McD’s), I thought that were I running such a sting, I would have immediately released information that the allegations were bogus as soon as the story appeared in the Post. Once Dana Priest ran her article, the leak had taken place, the investigation could have gotten underway, and I don’t see the benefit of letting McCarthy and Priest continue to think that the story was legitimate… especially in light of the PR hit the Bush Administration and its allies in Eastern Europe were taking over these allegations. So, just as the dog not barking was a tip off to one fine detective, so too is the lack of a public rebuttal of these allegations a tip off to me that this was no sting operatiion, but the illegal revelation of a real CIA program.
My response would be that it is possible the sting would not be revealed due to additional damage that would be done to our relations with our allies in Europe plus the fallout I mentioned in my original post on the subject from the MSM who would be fit to be tied if it were revealed that they were the unwitting participants in a disinformation campaign to catch a leaker.
UPDATE II
From Dana Priest’s original story published 11/2/05:
The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.
The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents. HT: Doss at LGF)
You can see by the highlighted portions that Priest had more than one source for the information about the prisons. This would seem to indicate that the prisons actually exist but that the EU has been unable to verify any of the information from Priest’s article.
Either that, or Priest is lying through her teeth about “diplomats on three continents” and “foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.” Given that all the sources are anonymous, this is a possibility, one that her superiors at the Post are probably asking her about. However, Priest is a top notch reporter, one of the most insightful national security writers out there and I find it difficult to believe she would simply lie outright in fabricating a story that would have such enormous consequences.
8:43 am
[...] WUZZADEM CIA VS. THE WHITE HOUSE: WALKING BACK SLOWLY CIA VS. THE WHITE HOUSE: GOOD LEAKS OR BAD? CIA VS. THE WHITE HOUSE: THE LEAKER AND THE SQUEALER ARE YOU “OVER” 9/11 YET? CARNIVAL OF THE CLUELESS #41 THE COUNCIL HAS SPOKEN JOKE OFTHE DAY ANOTHER MORAN TAKES UP THE PEN A DASTARDLY DEED J’ACCUSE: BERNSTEIN MAKES A SERIOUS CASE FOR IMPEACHMENT HARDBALL MORE “ANGER AND DESPAIR” FROM THE LEFT ALL POLITICS ARE LOCAL? DON’T TELL THE DEMS THAT “STAY AT HOME” REPUBLICANS ANTI-AMERICAN? OR ANTI-BUSH? BILMON: A VERY SILLY PERSON SHOULD’VE FIRED RUMSFELD - AND THE GENERALS - LONG AGO RUMSFELD: LONG PAST TIME FOR A CHANGE RANDOM THOUGHTS ON IRAN: HOW ABOUT A QUID PRO QUO? THE COUNCIL HAS SPOKEN DISHEARTENING WORDS FROM BILL KRISTOL IRAN: EVERYBODY PLEASE RELAX AND TAKE A DEEP BREATH FLIGHT 93 PASSENGERS MAY HAVE MADE IT INTO THE COCKPIT BEFORE CRASH CARNIVAL OF THE CLUELESS #40: THE SPRING FEVER EDITION FITZY “CORRECTS THE RECORD” “24″ (54) ABLE DANGER (10) Bird Flu (5) Blogging (80) Books (7) CARNIVAL OF THE CLUELESS (66) CHICAGO BEARS (9) CIA VS. THE WHITE HOUSE (10) Cindy Sheehan (11) Ethics (53) General (272) Government (32) History (51) IMMIGRATION REFORM (5) Iran (20) KATRINA (26) Katrina Timeline (4) Marvin Moonbat (14) Media (77) Middle East (24) Moonbats (45) Open House (1) Politics (163) Science (14) Space (12) Supreme Court (19) War on Terror (105) WATCHER’S COUNCIL (41) WORLD POLITICS (39) WORLD SERIES (14) Admin Login Register Valid XHTML XFN 21 Responses to “CIA VS. THE WHITE HOUSE: THE LEAKER AND THE SQUEALER” [...]
8:51 am
I too doubt that this was a sting operation.
Were I running such a sting, I would immediately have released information disproving the allegations that the CIA was running secret prisons as soon as Priest ran with her story.
Some reasons why: once the leak investigation started, there was nothing to be gained by letting McCarthy continue to think her leak was accurate. Two, while catching leakers is important, the Bush Admin and its allies in Eastern Europe took such a PR hit that I wonder if the sting wasn’t such a phyrric victory that we might have been better off without it. And third, what better way of discouraging others from leaking than to let it be known that there are active sting operations going on? While leakers might not have been deterred by the thought of getting caught, they and/or their reporter sources might have been troubled by the thought that what they were leaking might not have been real.
(reposted from your earlier post… sorry for not seeing this one up first)
8:54 am
Backing off the sting…
So, just as the dog not barking was a tip off to one fine detective, so too is the lack of a public rebuttal of these allegations a tip off to me that this was no sting operatiion, but the illegal revelation of a real CIA program.
9:38 am
I’m not ready to discount the sting operation idea just yet. If I were running a canary trap, I wouldn’t reveal the fiction until I had my songbird well and truly caught. And if I had other sheets of music in the pipeline, I would definitly not reveal that some of them were a bit off-key until I had the whole choir in the box.
9:56 am
Way too early to tell if (a) it was a sting or (b) taking advantage of a specific leak. Think back to the Keating Five time lines.
Imagine you’re tracking a drug ring, you know who the street dealers are but you really want the ring leaders or, at least, to confirm the person(s) acting solo. The only reason to arrest immediately would be to flip the dealer. This group of folks would not flip just by something as simple as an arrest. History since 1992 says it would be highly unsuccessful.
I seem to recall the Administration did disavow the characterization. With the MSM and others, puffing and shouting has zip effect. After all, even Rick thinks something was a-foot although sure what.
However, given a source, then tracking all the linkages in and out of the CIA, accumulating evidence, and vefifying events would be time consuming. If there were/are suspects in in Congress (much less the MSM or worse) a methodical (and time consuming) investigation would ensue. Thus, you’d get about what we’ve seen regarding the time line to today, one way or another. I think the investigators have all they can get from this source and have decided to turn the light switch on.
After all, once you go public, it’s like shining a light into a roach-infested room. And, if one has cameras, it could provide some more evidence as well.
10:01 am
If this was a sting, the WaPo and the Lefties may have to revise their estimates of Dubya’s IQ.
10:16 am
President Bush knows when to hold ‘em. I think he’s been playing this out so that the whole truth and all his explanations/defence of his actions comes out in September. If he peaks too soon, it’s all forgotten or new accusations arise.
Did everyone also notice that it was just earlier this week that Karl Rove’s job description was revised? It seems to me that his work was done…
10:46 am
Mr. Baby Brain:
Your comment was deleted because it was off topic. Plesae stick to the topic of the post if you wish to post a comment.
1:14 pm
Why would the White House show their hand as soon as the canary started singing to the press? It makes more sense to me to let the fires burn a while longer to encourage more traitors like McCarthy to expose themselves.
1:39 pm
[...] Also follow Rick Moran’s posts on the dubbed war against the White House. Thus far there are three posts (one, two and three) not including a previous post on McCarthy alone. [...]
1:50 pm
The other thing, of course, is this:
if there are no secret prisons, where the hell are these guys being held?
The only thing in any doubt is whether there were any in Europe. Unless multiple sources of Priest’s AND Human Rights Watch’s separate information AND ABC’s separate information are all wrong, there were. But the evidence there is not an absolute slam dunk.
As far as whether the CIA is operating secret prisons where it’s allowed to waterboard detainees, there’s no reasonable doubt at all.
4:03 pm
Plugging The Pulitzer Leaks
Reporters often cite "the public’s right to know" as the catch all auspice under which they publish classified information from government officials. There are others: "whistleblowing," "voicing concerns," "hol…
4:14 pm
Great minds must think alike, as I too was just re-reading Dana Priest’s story and being reminded that she had more than one source – at least four by my count. If it were a sting, it was very well orchestrated.
11:41 pm
As part of the intelligence community, I very seriously doubt this was any kind of sting operation. The CIA would never compromise an actual operation, especially a controversial and politically sensitive one such as this.
And one thing to note – people are assuming that McCarthy, on her own volition, told the reporter about this program. A perfectly reasonable scenario is that the reporter learned of the prisons from another source and McCarthy verified the information. I haven’t read anything that indicates McCarthy was the original source of the leak. If I’ve missed it, please let me know.
12:14 am
Strange that the Priest has multiple sources and the European commission can’t find any.
10:11 am
If you want to make a false story stick even for a while it has to have multiple sources.
Read “Bodyguard of Lies” about WW2 deception.
Nothing has been changed except the names.
9:23 pm
Andrew,
The best way to do what was done is to “blow” a false story.
If the story is false you can control the leaks and very few are in a need to know position.
In this case the fact that the story is false directly plays into the “harming American interests” claim. No whistle blowing possible.
I have more to say here.
1:00 pm
“However, Priest is a top notch reporter, one of the most insightful national security writers out there and I find it difficult to believe she would simply lie outright in fabricating a story that would have such enormous consequences.”
Like Dan Rather and Mary Mapes?
You really need to grasp the “Will to Power”.
9:59 pm
[...] So extensive is the crackdown on leaks, and so adamant has Goss been about plugging them since becoming DCI in 2004 (and with good reason), that some bloggers wondered whether the story about secret prisons might have been floated to McCarthy intentionally as part of a sting. The sting theory stems from the fact that a recent EU probe into the prisons uncovered no evidence of illegal CIA activity there – which some took to mean that the prisons were fictional, and Priest’s story bogus. Not so; as Rick Moran explains, Priest had multiple sources for her report. What’s more, it simply beggars belief to think that CIA higher-ups would have concocted a story as incendiary as one involving secret prisons in the expectation that it might end up in the Washington Post. In all likelihood, it was the fact that she worked in the rarefied air of the IG’s office that led investigators to her. Quoth WaPo: “[Some intelligence officials] pointed out that the information in question was known by so few people that the number of suspected leakers was fairly small, enabling investigators to work swiftly.” (emphasis mine) There was no sting; McCarthy simply got caught. [...]
6:32 pm
My suspicion is that Priest got the story wrong, she blew it out of proportion, and there really were no “secret CIA prisons” but instead an informal network where al Qaeda terrorists were “remanded” to the CIA for interrogation by the host countries. They question someone who was identified to them as al Qaeda, if they feel the story checks out they send him on to Guantanamo where they have extensive resources for completing the interrogation.
Remember a month ago when the US announced an “air assault” campaign against insurgent strongholds North of Baghdad? The Lame Stream Media interpreted this as bombing strikes and went into hysterical tirades against the US, claiming this meant the US had lost the war in Iraq because they were reduced to “carpet bombing” neighborhoods. Well, “air assault” actually meant, “flying troops by helicopter to hot zones” and there were very few, if any air strikes called agianst insurgent positions.
In the same sense Priest interpreted CIA interrogation programs as “secret CIA prisons” instead of what these really were.
12:49 am
hindi polyphonic ringtone
hindi polyphonic ringtone
You may be recognized soon. Hide.