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June 16, 2011

Former CIA Officer: Bush Admin Tried to Smear Prominent Academic, War Critic 
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A former top counterterrorism 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, Glenn 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
that 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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