Red Meat For the Left

As the economy worsens from the actions of Obama and the Democrats and as the poll numbers begin to drop the administration needs to shore up support in its base. When a series of corruption scandals hit some time ago we saw the President distract everyone by hinting at at show trials to appease his supporters. Additionally the Democrats in their efforts to protect Pelosi need to paint the CIA as some rouge unit undermining us all. We have two stories floating around, one connecting Cheney to a program that was never put into place the other about prosecutions:

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday

The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy.

Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day.Efforts to reach Mr. Cheney through relatives and associates were unsuccessful.

The question of how completely the C.I.A. informed Congress about sensitive programs has been hotly disputed by Democrats and Republicans since May, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the agency of failing to reveal in 2002 that it was waterboarding a terrorism suspect, a claim Mr. Panetta rejected.

Of course this has nothing to do with Pelosi being briefed and her subsequent lies on the subject. But by painting the whole CIA as deceitful it provides the political cover to keep her in office. So what actually happened:

The law requires the president to make sure the intelligence committees “are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity.” But the language of the statute, the amended National Security Act of 1947, leaves some leeway for judgment, saying such briefings should be done “to the extent consistent with due regard for the protection from unauthorized disclosure of classified information relating to sensitive intelligence sources and methods or other exceptionally sensitive matters.”....

Members of Congress have differed on the significance of the program, whose details remained secret and which even some Democrats have said was properly classified. Most of those interviewed, however, have said that it was an important activity that should have been disclosed to the intelligence committees.

Intelligence and Congressional officials have said the unidentified program did not involve the C.I.A. interrogation program and did not involve domestic intelligence activities. They have said the program was started by the counterterrorism center at the C.I.A. shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but never became fully operational, involving planning and some training that took place off and on from 2001 until this year.

In the tense months after Sept. 11, when Bush administration officials believed new Qaeda attacks could occur at any moment, intelligence officials brainstormed about radical countermeasures. It was in that atmosphere that the unidentified program was devised and deliberately concealed from Congress, officials said.

The program, whatever was never got off the initial training stage and its termination by Panneta when he took office was met with a shrug at the CIA since he was killing an effectively dead program I am sure wild speculation will scream across the internet, but lets sum this up. Following 9/11 the admin thought about some program that it never actually put into use and never bothered to inform Congress since it barely left the drawing board. Wow, worse then Watergate! After Cheney destroyed the Obama admin during their competing debates its clear this admin needed extra ammo destroy him, hence this latest's non-scandal. The other meat thrown to the left was this stupidity which I thought we had finally left behind:

WASHINGTON – Contrary to White House wishes, Attorney General Eric Holder may push forward with a criminal investigation into the Bush administration's harsh interrogation practices used on suspected terrorists.

Holder is considering whether to appoint a prosecutor and will make a final decision within the next few weeks, a Justice Department official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on a pending matter.

A move to appoint a criminal prosecutor is certain to stir partisan bickering that could create a distraction to President Barack Obama's efforts to push ambitious health care and energy reform.

Obama has repeatedly expressed reluctance to having a probe into alleged Bush-era abuses and resisted an effort by congressional Democrats to establish a "truth commission," saying the nation should be "looking forward and not backwards."

Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said Holder planned to "follow the facts and the law."

Contrary to Obama, yeah right. This is about keeping the base happy. Obama's continuation of so many Bush policies from the wars to Gitmo need to papered over. The easiest way is to use the government to destroy opponents and give the left wing fever swamp something to chew on. As Obama's economic policies further destroy the wealth and credit of this country expect even more attacks against hie political enemies, real or imagined.