From the “Ain’t this a bitch” file
I don’t honestly know who involved in this is the worse douchebag, the New York Times for publishing this, or the leftist hack in the administration who leaked it.
WASHINGTON — The top American commander in the Middle East has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other countries in the region, according to defense officials and military documents.
The secret directive, signed in September by Gen. David H. Petraeus, authorizes the sending of American Special Operations troops to both friendly and hostile nations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa to gather intelligence and build ties with local forces. Officials said the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate.
Written by Mark Mazzetti, mentions it is a “secret directive”, which to me means the writer damn well knew it wasn’t meant for open dissemination. Hey, cocktail pals at the White House or Pentagon offered it, what’s the harm, right?
The clincher, though, is this part;
The seven-page directive appears to authorize specific operations in Iran, most likely to gather intelligence about the country’s nuclear program or identify dissident groups that might be useful for a future military offensive. The Obama administration insists that for the moment, it is committed to penalizing Iran for its nuclear activities only with diplomatic and economic sanctions.
Nice that the NYT totally short-circuits the military planners at the Pentagon and CENTCOM, not to mention the Spec War teams who may be or are tasked for these ops are now going to have Republican Guards alerted to their plans.
Via Cassy formerly http://www.hardcorpswife.com/2010/05/ny-times-leaks-classified-military-information-from-gen-petraeus.html;
Here’s a question: why does the NY Times get away with this time and time again? It happens over and over again and they’re never held accountable. Will the Obama White House investigate and punish those responsible for this story? Fat chance. Now that this has been leaked, liberals are wailing and gnashing their teeth at the horror of it all. What an outrage! We’ll know who our enemies are, what they’re doing, and we’ll be better prepared to deal with them.
Even when the NYT dumped secret plans under the Bush Administration, nothing was done that was made public to either the leaker or the NYT that I saw or heard.
Uncle Jimbo sums it up;
Publishing this is disgraceful and now has given ammunition to the most dangerous regime on Earth as they avoid sanctions and take the last few steps to become the least stable nuclear power on Earth. Well done you worthless scum. Just what is the justification for releasing this extremely sensitive information? There is no indication any laws are being broken by the military. There is simply disagreement about a policy. That does not and should not justify exposing classified information and endangering our operators in the field.
I’ve hammered out an ending to this and deleted it so many times now; I’m thinking “just hit ‘PUBLISH’ and run”. I bordered on the profane twice above and the more I think about this the angrier I get.
How many might have died in the last year due to info leaks? If they’ll leak to the press for brownie points, how much more likely are they to leak vital security info for cash to someone with connections overseas?
It has to stop.
