Miller and Chalabi are SO 2004

August 9, 2005 7:14 AM

Slate's Today's Papers went the extra op-ed mile today to discuss an NYT front page story that alleges that DOD intelligence pegged 3 of the 9/11 hijackers as al-Qaeda agents in the U.S. back in 2000. Remember, this is the same DOD that, under Rumsfeld, wants to establish its own intelligence agency outside of the CIA, having bumbled an earlier incarnation. The problem? The article is primarily sourced to Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) and the ubiquitous "unnamed defense official". Weldon's primary source is an associat of Manucher Gorbanifar, "a well-known Iranian exile whom the CIA branded as a fabricator during the 1980s but who was used by the Reagan White House as a middleman for the arms-for-hostages deal with Iran." Oh, and he's got a new book out. The NYT has apparently learned nothing.
posted by mkultra (9 comments total)

Weldon's a pompous douchenozzle who doesn't even take the time to depate his opponents in elections. He spends more time overseas on international politics than he does domestically. His "source" has zero credibility, and shame on any "journalist" who pimps his points without disclosing that...(I didn't RTA).
posted by rzklkng at 7:19 AM on August 9, 2005

Apologies if this seems like a derail, but from the link to the earlier incantation of an intelligence agency:

The OSI would have been a center for the creation of propaganda materials, for the stated purpose of misleading enemy forces or their civilian populations.

That doesn't sound like what a military intelligence agency does. There is an intelligence agency that's already separate from the CIA and has the DoD as its main customer: it's the DIA.
posted by alumshubby at 8:19 AM on August 9, 2005

Damn you, liberal media!
posted by klangklangston at 8:48 AM on August 9, 2005

Just how much of a sucker is Curt Weldon?
posted by johngoren at 9:14 AM on August 9, 2005

If it's any consolation, as soon as Boeing finally pulls the remaining pieces of its military helicopter plant out of Ridley Park, PA, Mr. Weldon will be out of a job — much like a majority of his constituents, unfortunately.
posted by Rothko at 9:33 AM on August 9, 2005

I'm bemused. Why are the BBC going with this?
posted by klaatu at 3:39 PM on August 9, 2005

Weldon's district seems to be within the Senate district that brings us Rick Santorum. Bang up job in choosing your representatives, people.
posted by iron chef morimoto at 4:17 PM on August 9, 2005

Iron Chef, you mean he lives in PA?
posted by drezdn at 5:13 PM on August 9, 2005

I'm bemused. Why are the BBC going with this?

Maybe it's true.
posted by mrgrimm at 5:39 PM on August 18, 2005