Congressional Leak Suspected in Franks Probe (Hillary!?)

NewsMax.com ^ | 2/10/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Suspicions are swirling that the recent leak of a Pentagon probe into soon-to-be Iraq war commander Gen. Tommy Franks may have come from Capitol Hill - with at least one retired Air Force officer who worked on the military's super-secret black budget programs telling NewsMax that the sensitive information likely emanated from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"My concern is, with a four-star general, especially one in (Franks') position, you could have a Capitol Hill connection because we would send our confidential reports up to certain committees on Capitol Hill," said Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis, U.S. Army Ret., in an interview with Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren on Tuesday.

"Now, if there is a political connection, that's where it becomes vulnerable," Maginnis continued. "If it's inside the (Pentagon Inspector General's) shop, I don't think we have a leak there."

Last Tuesday the Washington Post reported Gen. Franks was under investigation for allegedly assigning a military bodyguard to his wife Cathy and allowing her to fly free on military jets. There are also questions about whether Mrs. Franks may have been privy to information from classified military briefings. The Post cited only anonymous sources for details on the Franks' probe.

But a retired Air Force officer who worked on super-secret black budget programs for the military tells NewsMax that only one congressional committee would have information on the Franks probe.

"The only that would be privy to this info would be the Senate Armed Services Committee, since they have oversight responsibility regarding military personnel," says our source, whose identity NewsMax is shielding.

"The info about the Franks probe has been known to this committee for some time," our source maintained. But it had been kept under wraps until just this month, when four new Democratic Senators, including New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, joined committee.

It's an open secret in Washington that if the Iraq war goes poorly, Democratic Party chances to retake the White House in 2004 would improve dramatically. Five recent polls show that Sen. Clinton is the overwhelming favorite among Democrats to challenge Bush next year.

When she joined the Armed Services Committee three weeks ago, Sen. Clinton acknowledged that at least some of the military information she learned would be incorporated into her attacks on the White House, telling the New York Post that the appointment would give her a louder voice to "criticize or praise" President Bush.

"As I learn more about the operations of our various military services, what I have to say may be better grounded," she explained.

A week later Mrs. Clinton launched a particularly scathing attack on President Bush, accusing him of bungling warnings that might have prevented the 9/11 attacks, "mishandling" the North Korean nuclear crisis and trying to distract the nation from the testimony of FBI whistleblower Colleen Rowley.

Last week NewsMax.com's retired Air Force source revealed that concerns over Sen. Clinton's appointment to the Armed Services Committee were widespread among colleagues who recalled that obvious security risks were routinely given access to information on the Pentagon's black programs during the Clinton adminsitration.

"I am deeply concerned that Hillary Clinton serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee represents a clear and present danger to our national security," said the former USAF weapons officer.

Hear Sen. Clinton's unprecedented attacks on the Bush White House during a Jan. 24 interview on WLIE-NY Radio - in audio made available exclusively to NewsMax readers.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Sen. Hillary Clinton
War on Terrorism

[prognostigaator]

It is time for Bush to unleash Ashcroft and to dust off the 'files' the AG has accumulated on the Clinton-Gore administration.

Fundraising , pardons,WH trashing, etc.

[GOPJ]

bump

[kattracks]

ping

[solo gringo]

The b*t%h has been there about one month and has already started to undermind the United States Of America.How stupid does this heifer think we are.

[dasboot]

Yep...time to protect the US from its domestic enemies.

[TLBSHOW]

Yep...time to protect the US from its domestic enemies.

THE CLINTONS

[arasina]

Sure sounds like Hillary the Hippo-crit to me. I loathe that bug-eyed B****.

[dasboot]

Ethics violations, in service to Hill's political averice, are, as everyone knows, perfectly acceptable.

Is this a private matter, or an indictable offense?

[Blood of Tyrants]

I'll never forgive the morons in NY for electing that hateful, disgusting waste of air.

[txradioguy]

I KNEW IT!!! I knew when I saw that she'd weaseled her way onto that comittee there was gonna be trouble and this has her fingerprints all over it.

[Orbiter]

I'm troubled by Hillary's rapid assent within the Senate's ranks. I thought the Armed Services Committee was reserved for senior legislators? How in the hell did she slip in, almost unnoticed? Did it occur to anyone on the Hill that the one direct link the ChiComs had to our National Security secrets ended with Bush's swearing-in? Who helped her re-reoute the pipe up the Mall past the Washington Monument and into the Capitol? Who didn't see this happening?

[aristeides]

Certainly Hillary might have done this. But why wouldn't the House Armed Services Committee have had access to the same information? And if the committees have had access to this for months, then Cynthia McKinney, who just left the House and the Housed Armed Services Committee, had access to it. Since January, she's had a lot less to lose.

[RightOnline]

"Hear Sen. Clinton's unprecedented attacks on the Bush White House during a Jan. 24 interview on WLIE-NY Radio -"

Oh, the irony.

[ez]

If she tries to bite, indict...

[ez]

I thought the Armed Services Committee was reserved for senior legislators? How in the hell did she slip in, almost unnoticed?

One word...Fundraising.

[Republic]

You make a very good and ominous point.

It is my hope that our current administration is well aware of the klintonian MO and especially their attachment to foreign cash and willingness to do anything to grab that cash.

I pray that a very carefully designed, extremely crafty surveillance upon hillary and her husband and their staffers and cohorts is already functioning.

The moment proof of the suspicions we all hold is confirmed-she will be out of our faces, forever.

[woodyinscc]

Is this a private matter, or an indictable offense

It should be, but the beast will have her
tracks covered completely.
There is nothing, and I mean nothing
that this woman will not do to further
her leftist agenda,and thus her power.
That includes undermining her own country!!!

[desertcry]

The clintons are busy, arn't they. Treachery is their specialty. They will do anything to get power, and money.

[Domestic Church]

"time to protect the US from its domestic enemies."

Time to point the finger and yell at the top of our lungs - TREASON!