C.I.A. Officer Denounces Agency and Sept. 11 Report

[shraby]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 - A senior officer for the Central Intelligence Agency who led the unit that tracked Osama bin Laden has written a blistering letter to the Sept. 11 commission, attacking both the C.I.A. and the commission itself over what he sees as a failure to punish "bureaucratic cowards" in the intelligence agencies.

The officer, Michael F. Scheuer, has written a best-selling book under the pseudonym "Anonymous" that is sharply critical of the way the United States has pursued its global campaign against terrorism.

In a signed e-mail letter sent to the commission, he lashed out in angry and highly personal tones at the failure by the commission and the C.I.A. to hold anyone directly accountable for Sept. 11 failures and aimed sharp criticism at George J. Tenet, the former director of central intelligence, without mentioning his name.

In the Sept. 11 commission's final report, "you never mention that the D.C.I. starved and is starving the bin Laden unit of officers while finding plenty of officers to staff his personal public relations office, as well as the staffs that handled diversity, multiculturalism, and employee newsletters," he wrote in a letter that was sent July 31.

(more)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/17/politics/17intel.html?ex=1093758799&ei=1&en=fb1b9366525b1470>

[DeepModem Mom]

1. Anonymous's publisher says he has now been silenced by the CIA --

NATIONAL DESK | August 5, 2004, Thursday

THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE C.I.A.; Agency Curbs War Critic Author

By JAMES RISEN (NYT) words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 12 , Column 1

DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF WORDS - A senior official of the Central Intelligence Agency who has written a best-selling book critical of the Bush administration's handling of the war on terror has been ordered to sharply curtail his interviews with news organizations in connection with the book, his publisher said on Wednesday...

(full text available from NYT archives)

[H2O Man]

2. The book is out, though

and so people should be reading it even though the CI is reportedly trying to suppress it. I had postedinformation on it on one of the Plame threads earlier .... people may find the other to be extremely riht-wing in many areas. However, the information in the book is extremely important.

[AgadorSparticus]

3. he was on randi rhodes a while back. this sounds like a good book tho.

i will get this book too if it is written well.

[alfredo]

4. I recommend it.

It will anger you and it will scare you.