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."
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.
"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."
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.
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