US Intel Community Unhappy with Obama

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Yesterday, I wrote my views on whether the president knew about the monitoring of foreign leaders' communications and other secrets the National Security Agency (NSA) been keeping in the name of the security of America. I argued that it is common for the Intel Community (IC) to do clandestine activities behind the government's back in the name of national security, and I used some of the past events (on clandestine activities) to support my argument. Today, however, the LA Times - a left-wing newspaper in California, and one that had been in the pocket for president Obama since his inception, shuttered my argument in a very direct way. In fact, the heading of article says it all. The Obama administration knew and approved the spying (on foreign leaders). The article deals a huge blow to the credibility of the president who always resort to blaming everyone, but himself, for all the mess surrounding his administration; whether its the Fast and Furious scandal, IRS targeting opponents and journalists, or the attack on a US outpost in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the death of American diplomats. It someone else' fault, not his! He usual claim is that he either learned of these events by Television shows, or by reading the newspaper, which seems quite odd for a man briefed (told, informed) on world and domestic issues by his adviser on a daily basis. Apparently, his reply to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel shocked the IC to a point that they decided to voice their concerns to the media.
The heading of the article - "White House OKd [approved] spying on allies, U.S. intelligence officials say"- is a public confession by an important community thrown under the bus by the man they placed their trust on, president Obama. The article starts with:

The White House and State Department signed off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Monday, pushing back against assertions that President Obama and his aides were unaware of the high-level eavesdropping.

One of the first things, looking back, that president Obama did - after his inauguration - was going after the controversial program known as "Water-boarding" which his administration branded as "torture," as part of his socalled 'fundamental transformation' of America. The Obama administration vehemently chased the culprits of the the program called the "Enhanced Interrogation Methods" which they argued had institutionalized torture in an apparent violation of the Geneva Convention (which bans torture of every form). The Obama administration and the Democrat party blasted the Bush administration for signing off on the EIM; pointing out that agents on the ground would not have acted that way if they weren't permitted to. The IC community and officers in the Bush administration were paraded before committees, prior to this, by the Democrat party in which they blasted them. Some were reprimanded, others had their legacy destroyed, another went to jail. They tried all kinds of tricks in the book against Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney but failed.
Using this same Democrat standard, the Obama administration is equally guilty of signing off on a major, international scandal. According to this report, the Obama administration had reviewed the NSA spying program and signed off on it - meaning the administration agreed with what the IC is doing on behalf of the government. Besides, the insistence from the White House that the president didn't play a darn thing about this whole spying saga is a further indication that the Obama administration is extremely dishonest about fundamental issues such as this. It shows that the administration can drop anyone that works with them in a heart beat to protect the president and his legacy, but for what? Since that Obama promised to bring, or at least restore "transparency" and "accountability " to America, scandal after scandal littered his White House and overshadowed the nation's credibility in the eyes of the international community he claims to amend. The article went on:

Professional staff members at the National Security Agency and other U.S. intelligence agencies are angry, these officials say, believing the president has cast them adrift as he tries to distance himself from the disclosures..

As with Fast and Furious, the Obama administration lied about its inception. The Attorney General (AG) appeared before the House and Senate "Oversight Committees" and lied about when the administration learned of the organization, but blaming the previous government for the program. As evidence surfaced that the Obama administration took on a program the Bush administration scrapped and revived it under code-name "Fast and Furious" - the administration denied vigorously any involvement in to the program. AG stated:

The notion that somehow or other this thing reaches into the upper levels of the Justice Department is something that. ... I don't think is supported by the facts... the notion that somehow or other high-level people in the department were involved. As I said, I don't think that is going to be shown to be the case -- which doesn't mean that the mistakes were not serious. Full Article 

Speaking before the committee, the AG argued that such programs (which crossed international lines) never reached the top office, is absolutely ridiculous, since agents on the ground would know the legal ramifications of such criminal activities, and if caught, they would want their AG stand behind them. He essentially threw those who carried out this government approved program under the bus to save his butt and that of the president who was facing a tough presidential race.
For the president of United States who would be accused of allowing his nation to smuggle in firearms that killed hundreds of Mexicans and a US border agent (Brian Terry); he claimed the scandal was news to him. Unbelievably claimed that he learned of the scandal from the TV. It is unlikely that a major operation which would have severe consequences could not have the approval of the president himself. But he insisted he didn't know. His spin-masters in the media denied that the president was informed of the scandals.
As in the case of Benghazi: the president, AG and the former 'Secretary of State' Hillary Clinton, all denied ever been told or aware of the Benghazi attacks. As it turned out, there was a meeting about the "security of US embassies world wide on the eve of the attack on Benghazi compound which killed these men.
So when a person told so many lies, the next real truth maybe treated as a lie. In this case, the Obama administration threw the IC under the bus to save Obama's face while meeting Merkel of Germany; the leader of the country which Obama stood, as a presidential candidate, and promised a new America that would restore the confidence of the world on America. And it is apparent from these string of scandals, that the government president Obama brings to the world, is far worse that any in US history. Having implemented some of the controversial programs he constantly attacked as a senator, Obama had driven America down a road many president never did.
The fall of this scandal will take take a far more lasting effect than the effects than many would imagine. The notion that the world's superpower is now engaging in "cyber espionage" is not going to stick well with the countries of NATO who had been taking so much blames and many lives in support and pursuit of enemies who hurt America on 9/11. The article revealed:

France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Sweden have all publicly complained about the NSA surveillance operations, which reportedly captured private cellphone conversations by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, among other foreign leaders... On Monday, as Spain joined the protest...In Madrid, Spanish Foreign Ministry officials summoned the U.S. ambassador to object to the alleged NSA communications net in Spain. Citing documents leaked by Snowden, El Mundo, a major Spanish daily, said the U.S. spy agency had collected data on more than 60 million phone calls made in just 30 days, from early December 2012 to early January 2013.

Brazil, Germany, France, Japan, Mexico, and Spain are just the tip of the ice-berg of this NSA saga. There's no doubt that these countries will team up against the US in the future which will greatly jeopardize US interest in Europe and the ME and support for the War Against Terrorism. If the government continues to lie about it, and the infighting between the IC and the Obama administration continues, the future of this country will be seriously hurt and confidence in America, which Obama promised to restore, will continue its gradual descent and it will be a matter of time before everything goes plunging to the ground.