As the international community continue to impatiently await the Obama administration's long overdue explanations of improper use of its surveillance capabilities, U.S. officials scramble for another believable lie. And it better be a doozy since Chancellor Angel Merkel is unlikely to have been hiding ties with Osama bin Laden or any of his Al Qeada buds.
Whatever story they come up with, its gonna be a tough sell no matter how good it sounds. Undoubtedly, most will want to know how the President can assure anybody of anything when he claims to be so far out of the loop. Doing its best to balance plausible deniability, while still maintaining the Obama administration actually has a clue as to what's really going on beyond the West Wing, is turning out to be mission impossible.
With all of Europe marching to Washington demanding answers, President Obama has been forced make promises he can't possibly keep. He has to assure the world he can and will control the rogue National Security Agency, that appears to be operating without any credible oversight whatsoever.
Even if the administration could reign in renegade elements determined to chart their own course, how can the President every prove beyond a reasonable doubt, the appropriate changes have been made. Considering the United States refuses to hold anyone of any stature accountable for poor performance by firing and or very public demotions, the world will simply have to trust that America did the right thing.
This week, Americans and the international community will be listening intently to President Obama's national security team as they return to Capitol Hill to give heavily redacted and sanitized testimony about snooping on friends and allies.
Since Congressional stooges like Senators Dianne Fienstein and Saxby Chambliss of the Senate Intelligence Committee, charged with keeping an eye on those responsible for intelligence gathering have already been as thoroughly discounted as those they intend to query, it might be difficult to discern any real value from their appearances. After all, both James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence and Gen. Keith B. Alexander, Director of the National Security Agency have both been outed as flagrant liars.
If decisions of this magnitude can be made without the President's knowledge and or consent, the world needs to have a conversation with the real decision makers. If President Obama has elected to be delegator in chief, then "We the People" need only deal with those who know what the hell is really going on.
Bottom line: If the President truly didn't know the extent of the snooping, that's a major problem. If the President did know and did nothing to curtail the overreach, then he's a major problem.
The Podcast:
Comments
Post a Comment