Our Very Own Blogger, LL, Has Written A Novel

Did you know LL has written a fictional novel about the CIA's secret war in Laos in the 1960s? And how does LL know about these things? He is not at liberty to say...

I have read White Powder and it is a fast-paced adventure. Here is the book review I wrote for Amazon.

5.0 out of 5 stars White Powder has it all!, February 8, 2010
By Opus #6 (Southern California) - See all my reviews
Have you ever wondered how an up-and-coming young soldier gets recruited by the CIA? Have you ever wondered what CIA spies do when they are running loose in the tropical jungle? Have you ever wondered what the living conditions of American soldiers were like in the 1960s in Southeast Asia? I found this book particularly satisfying because it answered all of my questions and more!

Order the book at Amazon here. This book is not for the faint-of-heart. But then again, the men who are sent to do battle for America overseas are expected to be made of tough stuff.

Afghanistan Suicide Bomber May Have Been Helped by CIA Informant

KABUL--The suicide bomber who killed eight Americans, including seven CIA officers, this week might have been able to get through multiple layers of security at the U.S. compound aided by an Afghan informant with the agency, a Western official said Friday.

If this is true, it suggests insurgents had turned the tables on the CIA and been able to place their own agents close to the facility the CIA used to cultivate informants.

On Wednesday, CIA officials had invited the attacker onto the base with the hopes of recruiting him as an informant. They used an Afghan intermediary to arrange the meeting. The attacker arrived, wearing an Afghan army uniform, officials said.

The assault shows a strategy the insurgency has increasingly employed here in recent months: using the uniforms and vehicles of the Afghan army and police to carry out attacks.

At times, militants strike with the help of sympathizers in the Afghan forces. In November, an Afghan police officer opened fire on Western forces, killing five British soldiers, and a similar incident happened in early December. Insurgent sympathizers in the police force helped plan both attacks, Afghan officials said.

More here at Wall Street Journal.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims and coworkers and also those wounded. I hold you in my prayers. Many thanks for your often thankless labors and the risks you take on behalf of us Americans.

CIA prosecution--a lawyer's perspective

Article by Richard Goolsby, a Georgia attorney and former federal prosecutor.

In my opinion, Mr. Holder’s decision raises serious criminal law and Constitutional issues about the prospect of DOJ attorneys prosecuting CIA agents who were apparently following interrogation guidelines previously approved by other DOJ attorneys.

As a former federal prosecutor, (and currently, as a criminal defense attorney), I believe the Attorney General’s decision to open this new investigation, and any prosecutions that might follow, are also a colossal waste of government resources. Moreover, they are just plain wrong! No one should condone torture, but, in my opinion, unless the CIA agents engaged in a pattern of serious abuses beyond what has been publicized, no jury in this country will ever convict them. As I have indicated before in this blog, the government must prove criminal intent in any criminal case. But if these agents were following approved guidelines, they had no criminal intent. The CIA agents just did their jobs and, in the process, thankfully, saved innocent American lives.

And thankfully, at least CIA Director Leon Panetta is reportedly defending his agents. But this new investigation also raises other serious issues. In spite of Panetta’s support, how will the prospect of political witch hunts and prosecutions affect CIA agent morale? What will be its impact on future interrogations of captured terrorists? What has happened to the “war on terror?” And why have some government bureaucrats already forgotten about 9-11?

And can anybody remember how the terrorists beheaded Daniel Pearl?

Obama's Outrageous Political Act--Cheney

Enhanced interrogation techniques kept us safe from terrorists for 8 years and saved thousands of American lives. It is wrong to prosecute the defenders of our people, when they stayed within the boundaries set up by our government and justice department.