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  1. #1
    Alpha Tarheel rufuspaul's Avatar
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    Default McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill...security-leaks

    [Quote]
    Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) went off on the White House Wednesday after press secretary Jay Carney said it was

  2. #2
    Perfectly Calm, Dude KevinNYC's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    Quote Originally Posted by rufuspaul
    http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill...security-leaks




    Is this just political garbage from the Republicans or does Sen. McCain have a legitimate case? I did think it was strange that news about the 2010 cyber attack on Iran would be coming out right now.
    I think it's more that the national security writer for the New York Times has a book coming out. So this story is tied to the publication of the book. And so far it seems pretty routine to me.

    Given how long it would take to get the story, write the book, edit it and prepare for publication, I don't see anything suspicious so far with a publication date of two years after the attacks. So unless McCain has something else to hang it on. Also Stuxnet/cyberwarfare is just one aspect of what the book covers
    Three and a half years ago, David Sanger’s book The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power described how a new American president came to office with the world on fire. Now, just as the 2012 presidential election battle begins, Sanger follows up with an eye-opening, news-packed account of how Obama has dealt with those challenges, relying on innovative weapons and reconfigured tools of American power to try to manage a series of new threats. Sanger describes how Obama’s early idealism about fighting “a war of necessity” in Afghanistan quickly turned to fatigue and frustration, how the early hopes that the Arab Spring would bring about a democratic awakening slipped away, and how an effort to re-establish American power in the Pacific set the stage for a new era of tensions with the world’s great rising power, China.
    McCain is claiming the leaks come from the "highest levels of the White House." We'll see if he has any evidence for that.

  3. #3
    Perfectly Calm, Dude KevinNYC's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    McCain might not be so far off base.

    Tom Ricks who is a great writer on national security has a review of the book up.

    And throughout, Mr. Sanger clearly has enjoyed great access to senior White House officials, most notably to Thomas Donilon, the national security adviser.

    Mr. Donilon, in effect, is the hero of the book, as well as the commenter of record on events. He leads the team that goes to Israel and spends “five hours wading through the intelligence in the basement of the prime minister’s residence.” He is shown studying the nettlesome problems of foreign relations, working closely with the president, and fending off the villains of this story — which in Mr. Sanger’s account tend to be the government of Pakistan and, surprisingly, the generals of the American military. “We fought the Pentagon every step of the way on this,” a “senior American diplomat” tells Mr. Sanger. At another point, a “senior White House official” reports that, “There was incredible resistance inside the Pentagon.” And so on.

    The virtue of this book — its foundation of White House sources who give the author insiders’ material like a transcript of Mr. Obama’s last telephone call with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak — is also its weakness. That is, Mr. Sanger shows us the world through the eyes of Mr. Obama, Mr. Donilon and those around him. But he also tends to depict Washington and the world as they see it. The perceptions of White House officials, especially in the first year of the Obama presidency, which saw a steep learning curve for the president and those around him, are not always dispositive.
    Last edited by KevinNYC; 06-06-2012 at 05:14 PM.

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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    i agree with the criticisms against the white house. they've given out some info that seems like it would risk the lives of the people who helped capture Bin Ladin for example. like the Paki doctor who is being thrown in prison, and i think that was leaked in the story of how we got Bin Laden where we got one of our contacts there(the Doctor) to try and verify Bin Laden was in the compound. And i think they got him from that information that was released in how we caught him. Also there was way too much info in how we went about the whole SEAL team strike, i mean theres a whole virtual reality story on it on History channel or something, and its very specific. Its entertaining but just seems like we're callously revealing too much.

    the thing is the Bush Administration was overly secretive and called everything sensitive information where they weren't open at all, even when it wasn't a big deal if people knew in some cases. They also abused that confidentiality to hide the water boarding torture methods they used, amongst other secrets i'm sure. so its hard to blame the Obama administration for trying to be open about what we do.

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    Alpha Tarheel rufuspaul's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    Quote Originally Posted by Godzuki
    its hard to blame the Obama administration for trying to be open about what we do.

    I think what McCain and others are upset about is that the info was leaked in order to make Obama look like a badass in the war on terror, thus helping his re-election bid.

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    Alpha Tarheel rufuspaul's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    Quote Originally Posted by KevinNYC
    McCain might not be so far off base.

    Tom Ricks who is a great writer on national security has a review of the book up.


    Good info. Thanks.

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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    Quote Originally Posted by rufuspaul
    I think what McCain and others are upset about is that the info was leaked in order to make Obama look like a badass in the war on terror, thus helping his re-election bid.
    they've(republicans) been pissed about that ever since we captured him with Obama getting most of the credit since it was under his Presidency. i see where they're coming from tho and can agree in the respect that the Republicans were the most vindictive in chasing terrorists after 9/11, especially the Bush Administration which got none of the credit for Bin Laden's eventually death, and Al Qaeda's eventual downfall. its funny to me since the Republicans sort of got screwed with that Just like Obama gets so much of the blame for the economy even tho it started before he ever came into office, he undeservedly is getting most of the credit for Bin Laden and Al Qaeda's downfall during his term. Hell the whole white house down to the military hierarchy were heaping praise on Obama right after Bin Ladens death for making the calls he did leading up to it. it had to have made Republicans so mad watch that special on killing Bin Laden, they all give Obama major props.

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    werewolfdolphin Dolphin's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    Quote Originally Posted by rufuspaul
    I think what McCain and others are upset about is that the info was leaked in order to make Obama look like a badass in the war on terror, thus helping his re-election bid.
    I wish the public was collectively intelligent enough to call out politicians who complain about this.

    If there was a book of phrases tied into politics, this sort of complaint would be used as an example next to "pot calling the kettle black".

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    Sugar. Give me. Sugar. QUIZZLE's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    My name's John McCain. I'm a butt-hurt old man that got destroyed by Obama at every debate.

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    Alpha Tarheel rufuspaul's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    Quote Originally Posted by Dolphin
    I wish the public was collectively intelligent enough to call out politicians who complain about this.

    If there was a book of phrases tied into politics, this sort of complaint would be used as an example next to "pot calling the kettle black".


    That's just the thing. It's impossible to separate legitimate security concerns from political grandstanding. The fact that Carl Levin (Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee) wants to have hearings lends some legitimacy to McCain's view though.

  11. #11
    Perfectly Calm, Dude KevinNYC's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    Quote Originally Posted by rufuspaul
    I think what McCain and others are upset about is that the info was leaked in order to make Obama look like a badass in the war on terror, thus helping his re-election bid.

    Here's a response from the NY Times, imo, it lends credence that the Republicans are upset that it make Obama look badass.

    The controversy stems from two front-page Times stories last week.

    On May 29, reporters Jo Becker and Scott Shane wrote a 6,000-word piece delving into Obama's hands-on role in counterterrorism operations, which was based on conversations with three dozen advisers and included details such as the existence of a set of "baseball cards" containing information about suspected terrorists.

    Three days later, the paper ran a piece by David Sanger about how Obama had stepped up cyberattacks on Iran, an excerpt from his new book, "Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power."

    "I reject the notion that they were leaks," Baquet said, arguing that "leaks" come with "the implication they were access journalism and someone in the White House called up and said, 'Let me give you something that makes the president look good.'"

    Baquest said that Sanger's piece "had been in the works for 18 months," while the Shane/Becker piece was reported over several months.

    "It was deeply reported," Baquet said of the latter. "[Becker] is the reporter who wrote compellingly about Dick Cheney for the Washington Post. Scott Shane is one of the two or three reporters involved in our Shadow War project."

    "The two perfect reporters decided to do it months ago and we decided to publish it when it was ready," he added.

    While some may view the stories as positive for Obama's re-election campaign, suggesting that they cast the president as decisive and hawkish on national security, Baquet rejected the idea that the articles could only be seen in a flattering light.

    "We've gotten lots of comments," Baquet said, including from "people who are critical of the White House for escalating the use of cyberattacks, and others who were critical of the president's deep involvement in drone strikes."
    That last part is not something that McCain's side of the debate is going to worry about. They would be worried it made Obama look good.

  12. #12
    Perfectly Calm, Dude KevinNYC's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    I'm reading the NY Times piece on Obama and the drone attack decisions.

    [QUOTE]Mr. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret

  13. #13
    NBA lottery pick IcanzIIravor's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    Quote Originally Posted by rufuspaul
    That's just the thing. It's impossible to separate legitimate security concerns from political grandstanding. The fact that Carl Levin (Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee) wants to have hearings lends some legitimacy to McCain's view though.
    Not really. It's politically astute on Levin's part to hold the hearings to kill any further whining from McCain. I doubt much will come out of the hearings though. Here is how it will go:

    McCain accuses the WH of leaks.

    Conservatives raise hell and demand hearings, hoping that the hearings won't happen so they can keep raising hell.

    Levin says he will hold hearings. Hold's half-assed hearings in which each side does more grand standing than getting to the truth.

    End of hearings and on to the next fake outrage.

  14. #14
    Perfectly Calm, Dude KevinNYC's Avatar
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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    strike 1

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    Default Re: McCain accuses White House of leaking info to NY Times

    "National Security" is a catch-all excuse for the government to go Big Brother whenever it pleases them. These phony arguments between the parties is just to pit the public against each other instead of uniting together against people in office. Its the oldest shit in the book, seriously, and people treat phony, contrived rifts and bickering betwen the two parties like some important development that needs analysis.

    The polticians in Washington all have the same financial backers. They work together and see each other in the cafeteria. They often share business interests.

    Their partisan mudslinging is for SHOW. The people need to be more focused than act like an armchair play-by-play commentator or wannabe tv show host refereeing a political shouting match. "The war on terror" "National Security" "Al Qaeda" they love for these concepts to be an ingrained part of everyday discussion. These polticians are not a bunch of mother theresas selflessly doing what is in the best interest of the population and having legitimate disagreement on how best to do it. Theyre ambitious people trying to advance themselves and leverage power. And they often have similar personal views but have to pander to the public and keep them divided.

    Fools eat this shit up just to have something to talk about. People dont wanna get real about how the government works. Just live the charade. Pretend everything is exactly how its presented. Goy vei.
    Last edited by Akrazotile; 06-24-2014 at 01:19 AM.

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