In a piece today, the Washington Post’s Greg Miller reports on a CIA base that will be used to conduct drone strikes in Yemen:
The agency is building a desert airstrip so that it can begin flying armed drones over Yemen. The facility, which is scheduled to be completed in September, is designed to shield the CIA’s aircraft, and their sophisticated surveillance equipment, from observers at busier regional military hubs such as Djibouti, where the JSOC drones are based.
The Washington Post is withholding the specific location of the CIA facility at the administration’s request.
The existence of the base has been reported elsewhere–the New York Times noted on June 15 that an “American official would not disclose the country where the CIA base was being built.” The Times pointed out that the shift to CIA control was important, since with “the operations under CIA control, they could be carried out as a ‘covert action,’ which can be undertaken without the support of the host government.” Meaning the U.S. could bomb Yemen without the approval of Yemen’s government, in the event that the current government were to fall.
The story seemed to have been broken by the Associated Press (6/14/11), which, like the Post, is not telling readers what it knows about the base: “The Associated Press has withheld the exact location at the request of U.S. officials.”
This is reminiscent of the Post‘s decision in 2005 to report on CIA secret prisons (“black sites”) in Eastern Europe–without disclosing the location of those sites, where terrorism suspects were taken to be interrogated (Extra! Update, 12/05).
It obviously makes senses for any White House to want to keep its secret programs under wraps–particularly when there’s a chance that laws are being broken, or civilians are being killed. (Recall that the U.S. Navy launched a cruise missile loaded with cluster bombs into Yemen in 2009, reportedly killing 41 civilians.)
It does not make sense, however, for news outlets to assist them in these efforts.
“It obviously makes senses for any White House to want to keep its secret programs under wraps–particularly when there’s a chance that laws are being broken, or civilians are being killed. (Recall that the U.S. Navy launched a cruise missile loaded with cluster bombs into Yemen in 2009, reportedly killing 41 civilians.)
It does not make sense, however, for news outlets to assist them in these efforts.”
What, you expect them to investigate?
I would expect this type of article under a Bush presidency.It must set a lot of you libs scratching your heads in consternation.I mean the guy you elected would never do such a thing as start down this path.At least thats what he would of said during his last election run,and you would of parroted to anyone in earshot.No even to you lot he is like jello.Always heading left,but willing to pull a 180 if his election ass is on the line.He is now -as he was going in, out of his depth. Intellectually(you did not really believe that nonsense of his brilliance did you)and experience wise he is always the least qualified man in the room.He reacts to one disaster after another.Never really leading.His only forward actions are massively negative.
Dear Fair,
I take your point, Yes, $3.45 trillion has already been spent, as Bailoutsleuth.com details:
* $2T Emergency Fed Loans (the ones the Fed won’t discuss, as detailed here)
* $700B TARP (designed to buy bad debt, the fund is rapidly transforming as we’ll discuss in an upcoming segment)
* $300B Hope Now (the government’s year-old attempt at mortgage workouts)
* $200B Fannie/Freddie
* $140B Tax Breaks for Banks (WaPo has the details)
* $110B: AIG (with it’s new deal this week, the big insurer got $40B of TARP money, plus $110B in other relief)
So since that money did the economy so much good, who wants to shell out another few billion to the auto industry and the credit card industry and the home builders?
Keep up the good work