Posted on 07/10/2010 11:53:15 PM PDT by Nachum
BURBANK, Calif. – Vice President Joe Biden had to convince a skeptical Jay Leno on Friday that the United States didn't get a raw deal from Russia in the biggest spy swap since the Cold War.
Leno asked Biden during a taping of "The Tonight Show" why the U.S. was sending 10 accused spies back to Russia while getting only four in return.
"That doesn't seem fair," Leno said.
"We got back four really good ones," Biden reassured Leno. "And the ten, they've been here a long time, but they hadn't done much."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
This isn’t an issue that should be joked about! Why was this done so quickly, and what did all of the spies (from both sides) know?
Does seem like more incompetent bargaining by Barry - a 10 for 4 swap. Was revolting to see that Biden is turning it all into a comedy sketch with Leno. I imagine that we only caught a tiny fraction of the spies in the U.S. Don’t know why the Administration thinks it’s so funny.
From writer Dan Simmons’s website:
http://forum.dansimmons.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=100552#Post100552
Dan Simmons comments:
My White Horse Souse, the Olde Lampwicke, my last contact in the U.S. intelligence community, tells me that the Russian spies were swapped so quickly that there was no serious interrogation of them, that different agencies weren’t allowed time to discover whom these espionage recruiters had recruited or what the recruits’ missions in the U.S. were, that there was no time to discover who their controllers were in the Kremlin, and — most disturbing (to the Olde Lampwicke and thus to me) — they were exchanged so quickly, without the usual trials and time in jail here, not because of the importance of the Russian nationals being held in Russia for “contacts with American intelligence officials” whom we got in exchange, and not because of fear that American intelligence methods would come out in a trial, but because Vladimir Putin, using a back channel, directly demanded that Obama immediately release these captured Russian spies — one of them a daughter of a former KGB higher-up turned diplomat who was a friend of Putin’s from his old KGB days.
According to my Souse, President Medvedev — our president’s yuck-it-up burger’n’fries pal — wasn’t even in the loop on this demand. The ultimatum (with serious ramifications concerning the Russians stalling the START treaty Obama is so eager to sign) went straight from Putin to Obama with a 24-hr. time period for compliance. Obama is reported to have complied within three hours.
I’ll be curious if any of the Olde Lampwicke’s Putin-related info about a secret ultimatum is confirmed by our news agencies. The frustration of many in the U.S. intelligence community over not being able to properly process the captured deep-cover sleeper agents has already been recorded here and there. (Although others tell CNN and MSNBC that there was no need to keep the Russian agents any longer.)
Either way, it seems to be a hell of a way to run a national intelligence effort.
Agree. And, the fact that Joe Fool Biden is joking off about it on Leno’s show should be cause of alarm. This should have been Breaking News on all news outlets.
Can’t you just see that wuss leaping at the chance to obey Mother Russia? After which he needed another party or night out, to recover from all that effort it took to say “Yes, SIR! Right away, SIR!”
Of course, Biden also thinks we got Cliff Lee and LeBron James in the deal...
Yeah, bowing, after he turned around first.
I don’t Know but I smell a pattern. The pattern is This Country gets screwed.It was touched on, only briefly the haggard beaten ghosts of heroes we get back. Even if they were “spies” subjected to tortures beyond our knowledge.
This is a usual misstep. Because it was important to get back those fresh ones even before the softball treatment a deal was laid out. This,cough, administration declared victory and went home.
Am I the only one who does not know their names?
One would think that there would be a LOT of publicity surrounding them and their return.
Now here is the kicker: The only thing I heard (and it was a short blurb--I think on Fox, but not sure) was that these 4 were......wait for it......RUSSIANS and not "Americans!"
That's right, I may have misunderstood, but I don't think so.
Does anyone have any additional information on this???
Russia acknowledged their spying and demanded their immediate return to the mother country.
Little did they know that the spies would be protected and coddled by the America hater in the White House so they need not have worried.
Not sure which station, probably FNC, clearly identified each of the men who were expelled from Russia.
One was elderly, 90s, IIRC. They were accused of spying for the US.
Two were Brits who went back to England.
One was an arms control expert who was America.
Just from memory so I may not be 100% correct on these but the information was out there. You may be able to find more online.
When this story first broke, the New York media was reporting that at least one of these Russian spies had been working with a high ranking Democrat. That part of the story seemed to have dropped of the radar within 24 hours after the arrests.
Imagine Dick Cheney getting on a late-night comedy talk show and blabbing about matters of national security.
Yeah, I can’t picture it either.
Of course, Biden also thinks we got Cliff Lee and LeBron James in the deal...
I wonder if Obama included cash incentives?
//only caught a tiny fraction of the spies in the U.S. Don’t know why the Administration thinks it’s so funny//
True and I dont know either.
don’t think China was watching.
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