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Top CIA al-Qaida Interrogator: Obama, Pelosi 'Reinventing The Truth'
Newsmax ^ | Monday, 30 Apr 2012 12:03 PM

Posted on 04/30/2012 12:15:18 PM PDT by Olog-hai

The retired CIA officer who oversaw the tough terrorist interrogation program using waterboarding and other techniques says his methods saved lives by thwarting plots against the United States.

During an interview Sunday night on “60 Minutes”—just days before the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death at the hands of Navy SEALs—Jose Rodriguez also lashed out at President Barack Obama for calling waterboarding torture and criticizing its use, and at congressional Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for dodging responsibility over the issues. …

… The highly charged interview came in the same week Republicans harshly criticized the administration for using bin Laden's death as a campaign tactic. Last week, Vice President Joe Biden said that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would not have made the tough call to kill bin Laden.

But Rodriguez criticizes many Democrats for not backing the tough tactics that he said eventually led to bin Laden.

“Pelosi said that we only briefly mentioned waterboarding and left the impression that it had not been used,” Rodriguez writes, insisting that the California Democrat was fully briefed—by Rodriguez himself—about waterboarding and its use. He says that Pelosi posed no objection to the technique. “I know she got it.”

“There is no doubt in my mind that she, like almost all Americans less than a year after, wanted us to be aggressive to make sure that al-Qaida wasn’t able to replicate their attack.” He writes that “Pelosi was another member of Congress reinventing the truth.”

Many members of Congress have “watched too many episodes of the old TV series Mission Impossible—the part they liked best was the opening, in which the operatives were told that if anything went wrong, their leaders would ‘disavow any knowledge of your actions,’” says Rodriguez. …

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; US: California; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: california; gtmo; nancypelosi; obama; pelosi; waronterror; waterboarding

1 posted on 04/30/2012 12:15:27 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai
So reinventing the truth is the new name for lying.
2 posted on 04/30/2012 12:18:42 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: SandRat

YEAH..


3 posted on 04/30/2012 12:25:09 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (God, family, country, mom, apple pie, the girl next door and a Ford F250 to pull my boat.)
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To: Olog-hai

Yeah, it’s torture. So what?

What did the Brits do to Germans during WW2? They beat the snot out of them.

Mrs. Pelosi is the proverbial Tower of Jello.


4 posted on 04/30/2012 12:26:22 PM PDT by RexBeach (Mr. Obama Can't Count.)
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To: SandRat

I thought the term “Pelosi” is the new word for lying. Silly me.


5 posted on 04/30/2012 12:26:21 PM PDT by jdsteel (Give me freedom, not more government.)
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To: Olog-hai

Mr. Rodriguez should be praised and honored for his difficult, necessary work that not only stopped actual terror plots and saved lives, but made furure attacks less likely to even be conceived. Instead he finds himself being demeaned for political purposes by the most vapid, incompetent people ever to hold the offices of President and Speaker. There is not an endless supply of men like Mr. Rodriguez and the actions of the Obama clown parade make it less likely for such men to come foward and serve.


6 posted on 04/30/2012 12:37:48 PM PDT by allendale
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To: Olog-hai
Last week, Vice President Joe Biden said that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would not have made the tough call to kill bin Laden.

As I recall it was reported at the time that it took Obama 48 hours to make the call to proceed with the OP to get Bin Laden. (If I remember right Obama was on the golf course when he was notified that they believed that they had located Bin Laden’s hide out and he could not be bothered to leave the course to be briefed on the matter).

So Biden saying that Romney would not have made the tough call is laughable considering that Obama dithered for 48 hours. That is time enough that they could well have missed Bin Laden.

7 posted on 04/30/2012 12:50:36 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: Olog-hai
Rodriguez writes critically of Obama's counterterrorism policies today. With no way to capture and interrogate terrorists, Rodriguez says, the CIA relies far too much on drones.

Unmanned aerial attacks alienate America's foreign partners and make it impossible to question people in the know, he says.

Dead men tell no tails.

Obama is doing al-Qaida’s work for them. Once a terrorist leader is identified and located Obama has him killed to prevent his interrogation and further loss of Al-Qaida assets.

Obama is causing the loss of intelligence because rather than capturing terrorist he is using drones to kill them as a matter of policy. Assets that could be captured are not as a matter of policy.

I guess Obama the merciful has decided that the terrorists are better off dead than suffering from enhanced interrogation techniques. How stupid

9 posted on 04/30/2012 1:07:11 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: W. W. SMITH
This would imply that Valerie Jarrett is
really the president of the United States.

Pinocchio is just used for public appearances.


10 posted on 04/30/2012 1:08:43 PM PDT by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, YHvH, Your law is my delight.)
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To: Olog-hai

“Obama, Pelosi ‘Reinventing The Truth’”

No, they LIE and most of the country realizes that they DO LIE. The problem is that about half of the nation’s voters seem not to care that they LIE.


11 posted on 04/30/2012 1:17:18 PM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like it)
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To: W. W. SMITH

Sorry about the first post, this one will be easier to read and I still don’t have an attribution for this.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT??
“What Valerie Jarrett, and the president, did not know is that Leon Panetta had already initiated a program that reported to him –and only him, involving a covert on the ground attack against the compound.” Q: You stated that President Obama was “overruled” by military/intelligence officials regarding the decision to send in military specialists into the Osama Bin Laden compound. Was that accurate? A: I was told – in these exact terms, “we overruled him.” (Obama)

I have since followed up and received further details on exactly what that meant, as well as the specifics of how Leon Panetta worked around the president’s “persistent hesitation to act.” There appears NOT to have been an outright overruling of any specific position by President Obama, simply because there was no specific position from the president to do so. President Obama was, in this case, as in all others, working as an absentee president. (Notice that Panetta is NOT in the room)

This update comes some 24 hours after our longtime Washington D.C. Insider first outlined shocking details of an Obama administration having been “overruled” by senior military and intelligence officials leading up to the successful attack against terrorist Osama Bin Laden. What follows is further clarification of Insider’s insights surrounding that event.

I was correct in stating there had been a push to invade the compound for several weeks if not months, primarily led by Leon Panetta, Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, David Petraeus, and Jim Clapper. The primary opposition to this plan originated from Valerie Jarrett, and it was her opposition that was enough to create uncertainty within President Obama. Obama would meet with various components of the pro-invasion faction, almost always with Jarrett present, and then often fail to indicate his position. This situation continued for some time, though the division between Jarrett/Obama and the rest intensified more recently, most notably from Hillary Clinton.

She was livid over the president’s failure to act, and her office began a campaign of anonymous leaks to the media indicating such. As for Jarrett, her concern rested on two primary fronts. One, that the military action could fail and harm the president’s already weakened standing with both the American public and the world. Second, that the attack would be viewed as an act of aggression against Muslims, and further destabilize conditions in the Middle East.

Q: What changed the president’s position and enabled the attack against Osama Bin Laden to proceed? A: Nothing changed with the president’s opinion – he continued to avoid having one. Every time military and intelligence officials appeared to make progress in forming a position, Jarrett would intervene and the stalling would begin again.

Hillary started the ball really rolling as far as pressuring Obama began, but it was Panetta and Petraeus who ultimately pushed Obama to finally act – sort of. Panetta was receiving significant reports from both his direct CIA sources, as well as Petraeus-originating Intel. Petraeus was threatening to act on his own via a bombing attack. Panetta reported back to the president that a bombing of the compound would result in successful killing of Osama Bin Laden, and little risk to American lives. Initially, as he had done before, the president indicated a willingness to act. But once again, Jarrett intervened, convincing the president that innocent Pakistani lives could be lost in such a bombing attack, and Obama would be left attempting to explain Panetta’s failed policy. Again Obama hesitated – this time openly delaying further meetings to discuss the issue with Panetta.

A brief meeting was held at this time with other officials, including Secretary Gates and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but Gates, like Panetta, was unable to push the president to act. It was at this time that Gates indicated to certain Pentagon officials that he may resign earlier than originally indicated – he was that frustrated. Both Panetta and Clinton convinced him to stay on and see the operation through.

What happened from there is what was described by me as a “masterful manipulation” by Leon Panetta. Panetta indicated to Obama that leaks regarding knowledge of Osama Bin Laden’s location were certain to get out sooner rather than later, and action must be taken by the administration or the public backlash to the president’s inaction would be “…significant to the point of political debilitation.” It was at that time that Obama stated an on-ground campaign would be far more acceptable to him than a bombing raid. This was intended as a stalling tactic, and it had originated from Jarrett. Such a campaign would take both time, and present a far greater risk of failure.

The president had been instructed by Jarrett to inform Mr., Panetta that he would have sole discretion to act against the Osama Bin Laden compound. Jarrett believed this would further delay Panetta from acting, as the responsibility for failure would then fall almost entirely on him. What Valerie Jarrett, and the president, did not know is that Leon Panetta had already initiated a program that reported to him –and only him, involving a covert on the ground attack against the compound. Basically, the whole damn operation was already ready to go – including the specific team support Intel necessary to engage the enemy within hours of being given notice.

Panetta then made plans to proceed with an on-ground assault. This information reached either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates first (likely via military contacts directly associated with the impending mission) who then informed the other. Those two then met with Panetta, who informed each of them he had been given the authority by the president to proceed with a mission if the opportunity presented itself. Both Gates and Clinton warned Panetta of the implications of that authority – namely he was possibly being made into a scapegoat. Panetta admitted that possibility, but felt the opportunity to get Bin Laden outweighed that risk. During that meeting, Hillary Clinton was first to pledge her full support for Panetta, indicating she would defend him if necessary. Similar support was then followed by Gates.

The following day, and with Panetta’s permission, Clinton met in private with Bill Daley and urged him to get the president’s full and open approval of the Panetta plan. Daley agreed such approval would be of great benefit to the action, and instructed Clinton to delay proceeding until he had secured that approval. Daley contacted Clinton within hours of their meeting indicating Jarrett refused to allow the president to give that approval. Daley then informed Clinton that he too would fully support Panetta in his actions, even if it meant disclosing the president’s indecision to the American public should that action fail to produce a successful conclusion. Clinton took that message back to Panetta and the CIA director initiated the 48 hour engagement order.

At this point, the President of the United States was not informed of the engagement order – it did not originate from him, and for several hours after the order had been given and the special ops forces were preparing for action into Pakistan from their position in Afghanistan, Daley successfully kept Obama and Jarrett insulated from that order. This insulation ended at some point with an abort order that I believe originated from Valerie Jarrett’s office, and was then followed up by President Obama. This abort order was later explained as a delay due to weather conditions, but the actual conditions at that time would have been acceptable for the mission. A storm system had been in the area earlier, but was no longer an issue. Check the data yourself to confirm.

Jarrett, having been caught off guard, was now scrambling to determine who had initiated the plan. She was furious, repeating the acronym “CoC” and saying it was not being followed. This is where Bill Daley intervened. The particulars of that intervention are not clear to me beyond knowing he did meet with Jarrett in his office and following that meeting, Valerie Jarrett was not seen in the West Wing for some time, and apparently no longer offered up any resistance to the Osama Bin Laden mission. What did follow from there was one or more brief meetings between Bill Daley, Hillary Clinton, a representative from Robert Gates’ office, a representative from Leon Panetta’s office, and a representative from Jim Clapper’s office. I have to assume that these meetings were in essence, detailing the move to proceed with the operation against the Osama Bin Laden compound.

I have been told by more than one source that Leon Panetta was directing the operation with both his own CIA operatives, as well as direct contacts with military – both entities were reporting to Panetta only at this point, and not the President of the United States. There was not going to be another delay as had happened 24 hour earlier. The operation at this point, was in effect, unknown to President Barack Obama or Valerie Jarrett and it remained that way until AFTER it was already underway. President Obama was literally pulled from a golf outing and escorted back to the White House to be informed of the mission. Upon his arrival there was a briefing held which included Bill Daley, John Brennan, and a high ranking member of the military. When Obama emerged from the briefing, he was described as looking “very confused and uncertain.” The president was then placed in the “situation room” where several of the players in this event had already been watching the operation unfold.

Another interesting tidbit regarding this is that the Vice President was already “up to speed” on the operation. A source indicated they believe Hillary Clinton had personally made certain the Vice President was made aware of that day’s events before the president was. The now famous photo released shows the particulars of that of that room and its occupants. What that photo does not communicate directly is that the military personnel present in that room during the operation unfolding, deferred to either Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates.

The president’s role was minimal, including their acknowledging of his presence in the room. At the conclusion of the mission, after it had been repeatedly confirmed a success, President Obama was once again briefed behind closed doors. The only ones who went in that room besides the president were Bill Daley. John Brennan, and a third individual whose identity remains unknown to me. When leaving this briefing, the president came out of it “…much more confident. Much more certain of himself.” He was also carrying papers in his hand that quite possibly was the address to the nation given later that evening on the Bin Laden mission. The president did not have those papers with him prior to that briefing. The president then returned to the war room, where by this time, Leon Panetta had personally arrived and was receiving congratulations from all who were present.

In my initial communication to you of these events I described what unfolded as a temporary Coup initiated by high ranking intelligence and military officials. I stand by that term. These figures worked around the uncertainty of President Obama and the repeated resistance of Valerie Jarrett. If they had not been willing to do so, I am certain Osama Bin Laden would still be alive today. There will be no punishment to those who acted outside the authority of the president’s office. The president cannot afford to admit such a fact. What will be most interesting from here is to now see what becomes of Valerie Jarrett. One source indicated she is threatening resignation. I find that unlikely given my strong belief she needs the protection afforded her by the Oval Office and its immense powers to delay and eventually terminate investigations back in Chicago, but we shall see.


12 posted on 04/30/2012 1:20:36 PM PDT by W. W. SMITH (Maybe the horse will learn to sing)
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To: UriÂ’el-2012

This would imply that Valerie Jarrett is
really the president of the United States.
******************************************************

Now who is Jarret’s handler?


13 posted on 04/30/2012 1:24:13 PM PDT by W. W. SMITH (Maybe the horse will learn to sing)
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To: W. W. SMITH

Thanks. I remember reading (this or) something similar to this at the time.


14 posted on 04/30/2012 1:24:59 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: Olog-hai
… The highly charged interview came in the same week Republicans harshly criticized the administration for using bin Laden's death as a campaign tactic. Last week, Vice President Joe Biden said that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would not have made the tough call to kill bin Laden.

Mitt will lose big unless he gets down and dirty with these shameless liars. There is no lie or misrepresentation they will not make.

15 posted on 04/30/2012 1:27:35 PM PDT by dennisw
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To: W. W. SMITH

This is the most detailed narrative that I have seen. Where is it from?
If it could be confirmed it would be the end of hussein’s reign.


16 posted on 04/30/2012 1:39:20 PM PDT by Eagles6
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To: W. W. SMITH
Now who is Jarret’s handler?

haSatan ?

17 posted on 04/30/2012 2:01:40 PM PDT by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, YHvH, Your law is my delight.)
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To: Eagles6

I found this on another web site. There was no name with it. It sounds like it came from someone right there in person and maybe they don’t want to be known as the source? Communists/socialists have been known to commit murder to hide or further their agenda.

Note that Daley is no longer chief of staff. He helped keep Jarret in the dark.


18 posted on 04/30/2012 3:55:04 PM PDT by W. W. SMITH (Maybe the horse will learn to sing)
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To: Olog-hai

The great female experience is over! Flood the world with men who will protect us! Not hide under his mom’s skirt!!


19 posted on 05/01/2012 11:09:23 AM PDT by PROTESTBYPROXY (We are screaming! I am Breitbart!! Invictus Maneo)
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