Outrage for Plame, but not for troops
The Washington Times reports that the US is on alert for reactions from the perpetually outraged Islamists in regards to the portrayal of what they call “torture” in the upcoming “0-Dark-Thirty” movie. But scrolling down the story is the report that a special operator’s name was given to the movie makers;
The Pentagon inspector general determined this week that Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers provided Ms. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal with the restricted name of a U.S. special operations officer who helped plan the raid.
The inspector general referred the case to the Justice Department. The Pentagon denies any public disclosure to the filmmakers about intelligence-collection methods and downplays its level of cooperation with the filmmakers.
Now, I remember years of incessant outrage over the release of Valerie Plames’ name to the media during the Bush Administration, even though it was Democrat Richard Holbrooke who gave her name to the press, and even though she had been “outed” as a CIA spook in the pages of Vanity Fair months before, but no one is getting upset about the “outing” of a soldier who took part in the killing of bin Laden and now lives a life of guarding against an attack on himself and his family for a political campaign ad? The religion of peace won’t be seeking his death for revenge of the death of their leader?
It seems to me that this is more of a violation of national security than the outing of a socialite, cashiered covert agent.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden
My oh my. Wasn’t Vickers some sort of a super duper, brilliant special forces or G.B. back in the day? The same Vickers that helped the muhjagedin(sp) get the shoulder fired rockets they used to knock the snot out of Russian aircraft and armor? How nice of you to do such a thing, Michael Vickers.
So I have a thought on this and I’d appreciate honest feedback on it.
How much of a pain would it be to get folks in the Special Operations community name changes similar to the way the SAS does? That way, when a reporter discloses “Alexander Simpson, US Navy SEAL’s” identity, no one can find his face or name anywhere.
The only downside I can see is the extra hassle of paperwork and it gives the posers an extra avenue of approach.
Pax, that it would (posers.) But if the current administration has an agenda and a victory lap to do for the next four years (which didn’t even slow down after Benghazi, go figure) the operators better be covering each other’s ass, because they just got left swinging in the wind for the sake of politics.
C’mon, libbies–defend this one. I dare you to even try.
@2
You’d think that the high level operators would automagically have a secondary identity for this kinda thing. One they don’t even tell their family. So “Robert Johnson” is still Robert Johnson to his friends, family, DMV, etc and Alexander Simpson is the standard name given to journalists, politicans, officials, etc where professional activities take place. Effectively the two names don’t join up anywhere except classified documents. I mean the whole nine yards, so uniforms, SRB, etc would all be in the Simpson name.
Richard Holbrooke or Richard Armitage? Either way it was a Democrat and the only one to go to jail was a Republican…go figure.
@3 & 4: So the main nightmare is updating paperwork, creating new IDs as well as nametapes and hoping that the operator remembers his damn name in the first place.
As for the posers, the only solution I would see is not making the policy of pseudonyms public knowledge.
What else do you expect from people who operate on a level of consistent idiocy? With no thought to the consequences?
Maybe they should find out what it’s like to live under a constant threat of whatever, in exchange for letting us know just how dumb they are.
Actually, there is a mechanism for doing this within the intelligence community, but can’t be discussed here for obvious OPSEC reasons. Even still, it’s curious why the practice hasn’t been embraced more broadly if it’s already being done in certain cirlces.
It really helps when the mainstream media is wholy owned by the administration. Kinda like an American Pravda, which means ironically “truth”. lol
@5 It was Armitage.
But…but…but…the Administration pinky swore the film makers weren’t provided classified information…
I hope the officer doesn’t need a semi-automatic rifle to defend his family, besides giving out his name, the Regime will take that away from him.
UpNorth, the administration is too dimwitted and inept to be called a regime. Don’t give them credit that they don’t deserve. We are in for another four years of stupid, limelight-grabbing, nitwit activities.
After all, the NDAA was passed and signed into effect 3 years ago, and nothing has happened other then more da shtoopid shtuff.
Now if someone could just hack Bo’s Blackberry…..
This is the worst kind of betrayal. These operators sacrifice so much for so little in return. They don’t become rich or famous for putting their lives on the line. Their brief probably included something to the effect of “don’t get caught or you’re fucked.” In this specific instance they went in and killed America’s most notorious enemy in my lifetime.
They are first greeted with questions and investigations. Followed by scrutiny and suspicion. Those of us who cheered them and gave not 1 shit about their methods were/are in the minority, and now this…
I’ve got the outrage right here in my ulcer, and I’m going to vent a fraction of it inarticulately right now.
How the fuck can you betray these men who risk everything to clean up your mess?! They place their lives in your hands and travel the world as your fist, doing your dirty work, and watch you stand in front of our country and take the credit for their actions. Hunt the source of the leak with malicious intent, execute the traitorous fuck for treason, and give the man whose life you so selfishly risked again and again a secret service detail for the rest of his life. Show some fucking gratitude. Beg his pardon. Show them a fraction of the dedication they show you. This is less outrage and more disgust.