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Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, leaking information to the media

Sen. Patrick “Leaky” Leahy to Investigate Top Secret Interrogations



Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy last Wednesday warned Senate Republicans that if they do not back an independent commission to investigate George W. Bush Administration’s detainee interrogation program, he will launch his own committee investigation.

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“If we can’t get a bipartisan commission to do this then we’ll do it in the usual way,” said Leahy, who is affectionately known in Washington as "Leaky" Leahy because of his propensity for leaking secret information to the news media. Leahy's habit of leaking secrets for his own political agenda caused his removal from his vice-chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, has been a driving force for the creation of an independent commission, but Senate Republicans are against such an action. “I’m greatly concerned about reports that the administration may have changed our policy on investigating and possibly prosecuting former administration officials,” said ranking Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida. “This is an extremely negative development, when we need to work together to counter extremist Islamic militants who seek our destruction,” said the staunch conservative congresswoman. In a previous article, I provided readers with a brief history of Sen. "Leaky" Leahy's experience in handling top security information: Senator Patrick Leahy was annoyed with the Reagan administration's military strategy in the 1980s. At the time he was vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Therefore, "Leaky Leahy," threatened to sabotage classified strategies he didn't like. Leahy "inadvertently" disclosed a top-secret communications intercept during a 1985 television interview. The intercept had made possible the capture of the Arab terrorists who had hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro and murdered a American citizen. But Leahy's leak cost the life of at least one Egyptian "asset" involved in the operation. In July 1987, it was reported that Leahy leaked secret information about a 1986 covert operation planned by the Reagan administration to topple Libya's Moammar Gaddhafi. US intelligence officials stated that Leahy sent a written threat to expose the operation directly to then-CIA Director William Casey. Weeks later, news of the secret plan turned up in the Washington Post, causing it to be aborted. A year later, as the Senate was preparing to hold hearings on the Iran-Contra scandal, Leahy had to resign his Intelligence Committee post after he was caught leaking secret information to a reporter. The Vermont Democrat's Iran-Contra leak was considered to be one of the most serious breaches of secrecy in the committee's 28-year history. After Leahy's resignation, the Senate Intelligence Committee decided to restrict access to committee documents to a security-enhanced meeting room. Former Green Beret officer, now columnist and radio talk host, Geoff Metcalf is on record saying Leahy should have been indicted, arrested and tried long ago. So where did the big mouth go? To the Judiciary Committee where he still has access to classified information and documents. He's known as a man who's more than willing to speakout on issues he knows absolutely nothing about. In fact, while attempting to sound as if he were a legal scholar, he's made several flubs. During a debate on the Geneva Conventions, for example, he finally admitted he wasn't familiar with the provisions he was debating. In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, Leahy headed the Senate’s negotiations on the 2001 anti-terrorism bill, the USA Patriot Act. He was more concerned with protecting the civil liberties of the enemy than providing protection for Americans. Patrick Leahy is not known as a very honest man either. When Senator Dick Durbin compared US military personnel to Nazis, Leahy said that Durbin made no such comment. Then when told Durbin indeed made the statement on the floor of the US Senate, Leahy amended his own statement claiming Durbin's comments were taken out of context. When the Durbin tirade was shown to Leahy, he began to denigrate Bush by saying he hurt the Iraqis as much as did Saddam Hussein. Within the Beltway, Leahy is known as an extremely abrasive and "sneaky" man. He's the only senator in recent history to have an otherwise mellow Vice President tell him to "go f--- yourself." "Now this blabbermouth, who walks the line between politics and treason, wants to head one of the Senate's -- and the nation's -- most sensitive senate investigations," said political strategist Mike Baker. "And don't hold your breathe waiting for the news media to remind or inform anyone about Leaky Leahy and his shenanigans."


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Jim Kouri -- Bio and Archives

Jim Kouri, CPP, is founder and CEO of Kouri Associates, a homeland security, public safety and political consulting firm. He’s formerly Fifth Vice-President, now a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, a columnist for Examiner.com, a contributor to KGAB radio news, and news director for NewswithViews.com.

He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at St. Peter’s University and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.

 

Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.


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