Must-Reads: Massive Intelligence Leak

As November 2010 gets nearer Republicans sense that voting No in Congress may gain them more Yes votes outside it. Does this represent a shift in the mood of the electorate in response to the GOP setting off alarm bells on the ballooning federal deficit? Democrats will undoubtedly have their own counter-arguments. The public will decide the game as the referee. Will 2010 confirm the historic pattern of the president’s party losing ground. If so how much ground? Will 2010 be a reprise of 1994, Gingrich, and the Contract with America? I don’t think Democrats are in for such a major shock.

As a former soldier who had an assignment in the Pentagon during Desert Storm I handled tens of thousands of classified documents. Scarce few were classified to protect the life or health of troops. More common was political expediency. During Desert Storm service members particularly sailors stationed on ships at sea were becoming pregnant. This information was classified “secret”. Why was this classified other than it cast DOD policy in a bad light? A soldier shot himself in the finger to escape his duty. Again this was classified as secret. Many atrocities were committed by Iraqi soldiers in Kuwait. Thousands of these acts were classified. Iraqi POW’s didn’t like the MRE’s we gave them. Again, classified as secret. Our evaluation was that most classified documents are classified to protect someone’s rear-end. Despite this, I and everyone I knew handled every document as it contained state secrets of the highest order. As a retiree living on a government pension I don’t like to see policy failures, diplomatic blunders, and the such hidden under the guise of “that’s a secret”.