MORE HASH FROM HERSH
nypost.com
May 17, 2004 -- Seymour Hersh is best known for gnawing on the ankles of patriots - not for his comedy writing.
But there's a real belly-laugh near the top of Sy's latest melodramatic melange, out this morning in "The New Yorker."
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The author holds Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally responsible for the Abu Ghraib scandal.
How does Hersh know this?
He says the CIA told him.<font size=3>
"A senior C.I.A. official," writes Hersh "said that the [Abu Ghraib] operation stemmed from Rumsfeld's long-standing desire to wrest control of America's clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A."
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His "senior CIA official" source then complains that Rumsfeld misled America about Abu Ghraib - but that, by God, the Agency wasn't fooled:
"Some people think you can bullsh*t anyone."
But not the CIA, no siree!
There's no BS-ing the very same CIA Which, um, totally missed 9/11!
And which also:
* Failed to convince Bill Clinton that al Qaeda presented a mortal danger;
* Guaranteed President Bush that it a had "slam-dunk" case on Saddam's weapons of mass destruction;
* Had no permanent presence in Afghanistan, al Qadea's home base, before 9/11 - despite al Qaeda's anti-U.S. world-wide depredations;
* Missed North Korea's nuclear fuel-rod reprocessing - until Pyonyong admitted in April, 2003, that it had broken an agreement not to produce weapons-grade plutonium;
* Failed to identify Indian preparations for an underground nuclear test in May 1998 - an event that triggered Pakistan's first nuclear tests and raised regional tensions to red-alert levels.
* Identified the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, as a weapons dump in May, 1999 - causing it to be bombed by U.S. forces and raising tensions with Beijing to near crisis levels.
But mostly it just missed 9/11.
And so Donald Rumsfeld seeks to bring the Agency under control.
Clearly, the CIA is fighting back; Hersh's latest screed is proof of that.
But God bless Rummy for his effort.
A patriot's work is never done. <font size=3>
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