A former top counter-terrorism officer at the CIA is claiming the Bush administration sought damaging personal information on a prominent critic of the Iraq War in order to smear him publicly. Speaking to The New York Times, the former officer, Glen Carle, says the Bush administration made at least two requests for intelligence about Juan Cole, a Middle East expert and professor at the University of Michigan. Cole, who has been a frequent guest on Democracy Now!, maintains the popular blog "Informed Comment," which rose to prominence after the Iraq invasion. Carle says he was personally approached by his National Intelligence Council supervisor, David Low, who told him the White House wanted "to get" Cole, adding: "What do you think we might know about him, or could find out that could discredit him?" When Carle responded the spying would be unlawful, Low apparently told him: "But what might we know about him? Does he drink? What are his views? Is he married?" Carle says he refused to carry out the request, only to find out months later of a second attempt to collect intelligence on Cole. Carle says Low personally wrote a memo containing derogatory claims about Cole, but he is unsure if it ever reached the White House. A CIA spokesperson denied Carle’s account. Legal experts say the spying on Cole would violate federal laws barring CIA spying and data collection on U.S. citizens. Democracy Now! reached Professor Cole just before going to broadcast.
Juan Cole: "Well, it’s just outrageous that the Bush administration should be using CIA resources to—not only spy on an American citizen, on American soil—but to direct them to destroy the person’s reputation. This is just sabotage and we should remember that this was a period in which the nation was facing enormous challenges—capturing bin Laden, destroying Al Qaeda, understanding what was happening in Afghanistan and Iraq—and that any resources should be diverted to this kind of political shenanigans at that time is absolutely criminal."Cole is now calling for a Congressional investigation into the Bush administration’s efforts to discredit him.
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Source: Democracy Now!
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