Darrell Issa and the House Witch-hunt Committee

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Rep. Darrell Issa dealt another blow to American security yesterday by compromising the identities of several Libyans working with the U.S. government. Josh Rogin reports at Foreign Affairs that Issa, as Chair of the House Oversight Committee, released a “document dump” of State Department communications without consideration of the people named in the “dump.”

Issa posted 166 pages of sensitive but unclassified State Department communications related to Libya on the committee’s website afternoon as part of his effort to investigate security failures and expose contradictions in the administration’s statements regarding the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi that resulted in the death of Amb. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. …

… But Issa didn’t bother to redact the names of Libyan civilians and local leaders mentioned in the cables, and just as with the WikiLeaks dump of State Department cables last year, the administration says that Issa has done damage to U.S. efforts to work with those Libyans and exposed them to physical danger from the very groups that had an interest in attacking the U.S. consulate.

Way to go, genius.

One of the cables released by Issa names a woman human rights activist who was leading a campaign against violence and was detained in Benghazi. She expressed fear for her safety to U.S. officials and criticized the Libyan government.

“This woman is trying to raise an anti-violence campaign on her own and came to the United States for help. She isn’t publicly associated with the U.S. in any other way but she’s now named in this cable. It’s a danger to her life,” the administration official said.

Another cable names a Benghazi port manager who is working with the United States on an infrastructure project. …

… One cable names a local militia commander dishing dirt on the inner workings of the Libyan Interior Ministry. Another cable names a militia commander who claims to control a senior official of the Libyan armed forces. Other cables contain details of conversations between third-party governments, such as the British and the Danes, and their private interactions with the U.S., the U.N., and the Libyan governments over security issues.

Issa is turning into a one-man threat to national security. He’s so focused on trying to find dirt on the Obama Administration regarding national security that he is totally oblivious to, you know, actual national security issues. But you know GOP priorities — they’ll destroy Obama if they have to burn down the whole United States to do it.

A spokesman for the House Witch-hunt Committee said that the Obama Administration hadn’t protected sensitive documents within the Benghazi consulate when it was attacked, so nyah nyah nyah, they leaked first. The State Department says that Issa didn’t consult with them about releasing the documents and apparently gave no consideration to the consequences of the release.

24 thoughts on “Darrell Issa and the House Witch-hunt Committee”

  1. “The State Department says that Issa didn’t consult with them about releasing the documents and apparently gave no consideration to the consequences of the release.”

    So, this assessment sides with the “Stupid,” rather than the “Evil” side of the debate.
    Well, I beg to differ.
    I think the consequences were well thought out. And that this was both stupid AND evil!
    If releasing these peoples names causes them to be kidnapped, tortured, held for ransom, and/or killed, and/or there’s in an uptick, small or large, in violence, then Republicans can scream even louder that the Presidents policies in Libya and the Middle East are worsening things – and that only Mitts steely gaze and firm resolve can fix the mess that Obama created.

    There were times when you could look at something, and see seperate things – “Stupid, or evil?”
    Now, they’re as tight as Koch Brothers.
    And Issa is one of the featured poster boys of “Stupid AND Evil!!!”

    And if evidence can be found that they released the names knowingly, and there is an undermining of America’s security because of this, then Issa, and everyone responsible, ought to be tried for treason. I believe ‘undermining your country and its national security’ would fall under articles that you could use to charge people with treason.

    Republicans: Their lust for power knows no bounds.
    Party over country!
    PARTY UBER ALLES!!!

  2. Isn’t Issa the Rethuglican charged with immobilizing the Obama administration by holding investigations on every topic related to anything that can slow or stop any initiatives or daily functions of government? Somewhere I read that.

  3. Now, if you want to see “Evil” with a heavy, heavy dose of stupid, how about the Republican operative who threw completed voter registration forms in a dumpster behind the store?
    The owner became suspicious of a man throwing stuff into the dumpster,called the cops, and they locate the car and the guy, and he’s now under arrest.
    “Colin Small, 31, was working as a supervisor as part of a registration operation in eight swing states financed by the Republican National Committee. Small, of Phoenixville, Pa., was first hired by Strategic Allied Consulting, a firm that was fired by the party after suspect voter forms surfaced in Florida and other states…. Strategic Allied is owned by Nathan Sproul, an Arizona political consultant for Republicans…”

    Evil?
    Yes!
    Now, here’s where TEH STOOOOOPID over-rides da evil.
    I’ve registered voters – most recently, in NC in 2008. We were part of the Obama campaign, and, regardless of what party the people registered as, we brought the forms back to headquarters to be forwarded to the state. And that’s what we did in NY in prior elections when I registered voters as part of a particular politician’s campaign.

    Now, if the Republicans and “Sproul the Ghoul” had any brains, and they wanted to destroy registrations without dumping them in public like this operative did, why not invest in a couple of paper shredders back in the office, and when the forms are brought home, slice ‘n dice ’em up, mix vigorously, and throw them in the trash? Maybe the Koch Brothers even own a paper shredder company? And if not, I’m sure they can afford to spring for a few, in their efforts to undermine representative democracy, and replace it with a Plutocracy.

    It’s a good thing that so many of our Conservatives are feckin’ idjit’s, or we’d already be walking around, saluting one another with, “Heil Koch!”

    Here’s the full story:

    http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-voter-registration-gop-arrest-20121018,0,5352175.story

  5. But Issa didn’t bother to redact the names of Libyan civilians and local leaders …

    To a conservative, what’s the harm? They’re not US citizens, so who cares?

    the Obama Administration hadn’t protected sensitive documents within the Benghazi consulate when it was attacked, so nyah nyah nyah, they leaked first.

    What a false equivalence. The docs were protected, albeit in a limited fashion, by virtue of being inside the consolate; this is quite different from broadcasting this information to the world from your own little Congressional committee.

  6. Silver lining: The last presidential debate is on foreign policy, isn’t it? So much for Romney trying to use Libya as a cudgel to bash Obama with.

    Is it politicizing the issue to hope this helps the Democrats in the election? (Well, of course a Republican would never even ask that question.)

  7. they’ll destroy Obama if they have to burn down the whole United States to do it.

    They’re determined to run that nigger down..Gitt’em boys! Where’s Joe Walsh and brother Mitch? How can they miss a potential lynching party?

    Bible says..no weapon formed against me shall prosper.

  9. Hmm . . . maybe it’s time for Harry Reid to call for a Senate investigation of Representative Issa.

  10. I’m surprised Issa isn’t re-openning the White Water investigations..We Americans need to know the truth!

  11. As a religion-addled student said in GRAD SCHOOL once, “The facts don’t matter when you know the truth.”

  13. If they want a real witch hunt they should head up to Bachmann’s neighborhood. I’ll get you my pretty! St.Michelle she drove the homosexuals out of America. In hoc signo vinces?

  17. Ok let me start by stating the obvious: issa is an asshole! (sorry about the cussing)

    I would like to explain a few things to the GOP and their rotting minds: One can only hope someone tells them what they are doing. Terrorists WANT TO TERRORIZE. Everytime the right wets their pants and make a big fat HUGE deal out of it they give those bastard terrorists JUST what they want. I am sick and damn tired of watching my fellow Americans be the terrorists MONKEYS. Why on earth are they giving those bastards the exact reaction they were hoping for?

    Mittwitt is all in a tiff because the evil Obama didn’t call out the terrorists by name, or didn’t call it enough of a terror attack to suit his little magic panties. But what mittwitt wanted from Obama was the same piss your pants fear and drama that the terrorists wanted from him. Obama’s reaction to the testy and ever present terror problem is the best response a President can have.

    Lets just think about terror on a bit smaller scale. Think about the columbine thing in Littleton Colo some years ago. Can you almost here those dweebs saying how people would always remember their names after they completed their plan? They wanted to be famous. They not only wanted to terrorize their victims, they wanted to create fear that there might be others like them within us all. Well fuck those two little pin dicks. Their names will NEVER be spoken by me. I am not their monkey and I won’t give them what they want. They can burn in hell. They are NOTHING and they never will be. Or how about that recent theater thing with the clown look a like shooter? I don’t know that piece of shit’s name and I don’t care what it is -he is a nobody. His goal was to terrorize us all, not just his victims. He wanted his name to cause fear. I am not his monkey and he doesn’t have any power over ANYONE. I go to the movies in defiance of what he represents without fear..he can kiss my old white ass.

    Mittwitt and the right FEED terrorism with their actions and their re-actions to inhumane events. There are always going to be bad, evil people and as long as terrorism works for terrorists it will continue.They want a big huge giant pant pissing / sky falling reaction. So how long are we going to be their Monkey’s? How long before the right decides to STOP giving them what they want?

    I don’t want my President to do nothing. But listen to what they want. They want Obama to basically give shouts out to these evil mother fuckers so they can sit around the tv and celebrate the attention, the fear. At a time when we should condemn it then shut the hell up and hunt those pieces of crap down and waste em. The fit mittwitt and issa are throwing, the 24/7 harping on it on faux and KKKanity that is EXACTLY what the terrorists want! So now you know who to thank for the next attack.. this one was NOT working out well for the terrorists..What fun is it to terrorize if you are not going to end up a face card in the deck of cards righties create to amuse themselves? What fun is it to terrorize someone who won’t stop the world to recognize their evil acts?

    I want… no, this country NEEDS to hear this from Obama. He should spend the entire debate scolding mittwitt for this most harmful and un presidential behavior.
    Mittwitt runs his mouth without a care (or a clue) and he should be called out over and over and over again about the damage it does when dealing with the terrorist element. He and issa are HELPING THE TERRORISTS TO MEET THEIR OBJECTIVE.
    If this is how he plans to deal with a couple of nobody terrorists how the hell is he going to deal with world leaders on the big boy stage?.. By now one can assume by the rights reaction to this they would be carpet bombing all the places involved by now to “send a message”, because they are dead set on being Monkeys to the terrorists..WTF? Talk about a threat to national security!

  19. my comment had too many swear words I guess…sorry..issa and his buds giving props to terrorists pisses me off..I tried to say so as nice as I could, certainly kinder than he and mittwitt deserve..if you think my comment was bad, you should have heard what I was thinking.

    Have any of you ever seen the show on com.central called Key and Peele? They do a re- occuring skit with Obama sitting in a chair, talking nice and calm(the way he really seems to be) but behind him, pacing back and fourth is a angry black man who says all the things Obama cannot say– the concept is a riot and it kills me. The latest one is not as funny as normal but I still wish real life Obama could borrow the fake Obama’s angry black man for the last debate…can you just picture a angry black man pacing back and fourth behind a nervous mittwitt , waiting to pounce on him(with words only but in a way that makes him unsure that will be all). Maybe he could stare him down and tell him” Don’t make me come over there and fact check your ass!”

  20. http://news.yahoo.com/ryan-slams-president-energy-policy-saying-obama-keep-170511909–abc-news-politics.html

    “If he’s reelected we know exactly what the next four years will look like,” Ryan said. “We’ll have more of the same failed policies. More taxes, more spending, more debts, and four more years of these disastrous energy policies. Look, gas prices are more than double what they were four years ago, who knows what they’re going to be if he got four more years.“

    Paulie is parging the dimwits with a nice coat of BS.How can you trust someone who you know is giving you a line of BS.?

  21. ..Obama sitting in a chair, talking nice and calm(the way he really seems to be) but behind him, pacing back and fourth is a angry black man who says all the things Obama cannot say..

    wow, what a great idea. Glad someone is putting this on theatrically (well, on a TV show). All of us would like to see more of this “inner Obama” come out; it kills the wingnuts when he lets it out just a little – as he did with debate #2.

  22. see the you tube video” Key and Peele; Obama loses his shit”….Luther is my hero! GO..LAUGH!

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