thought the Administration was opposed to harmful disclosure

justabubba · #1 (**permalink**) 04-09-2006, 02:47 PM

Quote:

US leak of Zarqawi letter riles Israelis

ISRAELI military intelligence officials have accused President George W Bush’s administration of undermining their attempts to infiltrate Al-Qaeda’s operations in Iraq by revealing the contents of a secret letter written by Osama Bin Laden’s second-in-command, writes Uzi Mahnaimi.
Israel passed the letter — in which Ayman al-Zawahiri outlined his Middle East strategy to Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, the Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq — to Washington last October on condition of strict anonymity.

Israeli officials were dismayed, however, when John Negroponte, the US director of national intelligence, made it available in both English and its original Arabic on his office web site. {emphasis added}

Bush then referred to it during his weekly address. “The Al-Qaeda letter points to Vietnam as a model,” the president declared. “Al-Qaeda believes that America can be made to run again. They are gravely mistaken. America will not run and we will not forget our responsibilities.”

Israeli intelligence sources said officials who had worked on “Operation Tiramisu” inside Iraq took emergency steps to protect their sources, but it was not clear how successful they had been in averting the damage to their intelligence network.

They said Bush’s indiscretion had undone months of painstaking effort.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...125730,00.html

Good job, Brownie! political spin trumps the preservation of intelligence sources or are we just trying to alert Al-Qaeda that there is a spy in their midst? neither answer is a good one

JP5 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-09-2006, 04:33 PM

First of all, this is old news. Wonder why it's being brought up again now?

Secondly, passing it to "Washington last October on condition of strict anonymity" isn't the same as saying, "in strictist confidence".....OR "on condition they not share it publically."

Besides....or Director of National Intelligence press release on this states that the letter was......

"....obtained during counterterrorism operations in Iraq."

He also states......

"The letter from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi is dated July 9, 2005. The contents were released only after assurances that no ongoing intelligence or military operations would be affected by making this document public."

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