DoD Inspector General's Reports Within The Last 5/6 Years May Have Been Cover-Ups

Jon Gold
5/7/2009

Today, Rawstory reported on New York Times columnist Frank Rich, and his belief that the Defense Department Inspector General's office's investigations over the years may have been cover-ups that were "carried out in response to "orders from above." He said that any report "over the past five or six years during the war in Iraq" may be suspect, and that "there may be a much bigger story here."

Really?

Maybe that's why when the Washington Post reported on 8/2/2006 that "the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public" and that "the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation," a report was released on 8/5/2006 by the Defense Department Inspector General's office that said, NORAD’s mistakes were due to "inadequate forensic capabilities" and "poor record-keeping." A ridiculous excuse within "the past five or six years during the war in Iraq."

Maybe that's why when the New York Times reported on 8/9/2005 that "more than a year before the Sept. 11 attacks, a small, highly classified military intelligence unit identified Mohammed Atta and three other future hijackers as likely members of a cell of Al Qaeda operating in the United States, according to a former defense intelligence official and a Republican member of Congress," a report was released on 9/21/2006 by the Defense Department Inspector General's office, and it was reported that, "a review of records from the unit, known as Able Danger, found no evidence it had identified ringleader Mohamed Atta or any other terrorist who participated in the 2001 attacks." A report that former Rep. Curt Weldon said was created by a an Inspector General that "cherry-picked testimony from witnesses in an effort to minimize the historical importance of the Able Danger effort." Also within "the past five or six years during the war in Iraq."

Most people are comfortable with the idea that the Bush Administration and others lied about the Iraq War, wiretapping, torture, among many other things, but refuse to believe they would lie about 9/11. I think it's time for the world to admit that the 9/11 attacks were covered-up, and there needs to be truth, justice and accountability. Otherwise, the "Post-9/11 World" will destroy us.

It is essential that Able Danger

is recognized in Congress & the public.

Dubious source for this Mother Jones article

Philip Zelikow is cited as someone who challenged the Bush position on torture but had his memo destroyed by the White House. Sorry, but I don't trust a story whose main source is Zelikow, and whose premise is that he challenged Bush.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/139878/is_a_cheney_cover-up_scandal_brewing/

Is a Cheney Cover-Up Scandal Brewing?

Who in the George W. Bush White House tried to shred a memo challenging the use of torture?

On April 21, Philip Zelikow, who was counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the Bush administration, revealed on Foreign Policy's "Shadow Government" blog that he wrote a memo in 2005 disputing the conclusions of Bush Justice Department lawyers that torture was legal. The existence of such a memo was a surprise. But Zelikow also disclosed that the "White House attempted to collect and destroy all copies of my memo."

This story is not over. Zelikow tells Mother Jones that he doesn't know for sure who in the White House ordered the suppression of his memo, but he says that his "supposition at the time" was that the office of Vice President Dick Cheney was behind the cover-up. In an email exchange with Mother Jones, Zelikow notes that Cheney's office did not have the authority to request that his memo be deep-sixed: "They didn't run the interagency process. Such a request would more likely have come from the White House Counsel's office or from NSC staff." But that request did not reach him in written form. "It was conveyed to me, and I ignored it," Zelikow recalls. But he suspected that Team Cheney was probably behind it.

Zelikow, who is scheduled to testify before a Senate judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday Wednesday, also notes that his memo was not the only one raising questions about the administration's legal rationale supporting so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques": "There were a number of papers, mainly arguing for alternative legal frameworks." But his memo, he adds, was "a more direct assault on [the Bush Justice Department's] own interpretation of American law."

Neither do I

'I don't trust a story whose main source is Zelikow, and whose premise is that he challenged Bush.'

You can say that again!

It would be too inflammatory for publication

If I were to verbalize my interpretation of Zelikow, it would be too inflammatory for posting, despite that there would not be a single expletive. Let me make it clear I am in favor of fair trials, not lynchings, and only ask that these guys get trials that are honest and fair. Have always found his comments about what would have ensued had the 1993 WTC bombing been more "successful" to be interesting, to say the least. His comparison of that scenario with Pearl Harbor (gee, from what four-letter acronym of a thinktank have we seen that comparison before?), and his comments about the wider surveillance on US citizens and loss of civil liberties, etc, are chilling and a bit too insightful and prescient for my tastes.

Rotten Apples

It's interesting that even when substantive accusations like this are made in the mainstream, they have a strong tendency to come across as euphemisms and glossings-over as compared with what one senses is actually going on. And the worst "apples" seem to be located near or among the top.

Just how big is that "bigger" story?

IG links

for the 2 mentioned above:

DOD IG on NORAD-FAA misstatements- no indication intentional
http://www.dodig.mil/Ir/reports/06-intel-12.pdf

DOD IG on Able Danger- 9 allegations not substantiated
http://www.dodig.mil/fo/Foia/ERR/r_H05L97905217-PWH.pdf

And IG Joseph E. Schmitz was also responsible for the report that cleared Major Douglas Dickerson (I can't find that report; if you got a link, post it).

VIA CERTIFIED MAIL AND FACSIMILE
http://www.justacitizen.org/articles_documents/DOD_Letters.htm

Profile: Douglas Dickerson
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=douglas_dickerson_1

Profile: Melek Can Dickerson a.k.a. Can Dickerson, Jan Dickerson
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=jan_dickerson

http://911reports.com