Masters of reality

The chief of the CIA's Osama Bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer, has resigned from said CIA, so that he can openly tell America how bad the government screwed up!

In yesterday's Washington Post:

"I have concluded that there has not been adequate national debate over the nature of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and the force he leads and inspires, and the nature of the intelligence reform needed to address that threat," Scheuer, whom the CIA banned from speaking publicly in July, said in a statement issued by his publisher.

Astonishingly, the CIA had already let him anonymously write a book called "Imperial Hubris" wherein he complained about the administration, their duplicitous abandonment of the hunt for Bin Laden, and their focus on the despotic but contained Saddam Hussein.

But when his criticisms expanded to include his own Agency, it was clear it was time to go.

But he became a critic of the war in Iraq, saying it inflamed anti-American sentiment among Muslims, and eventually his name was published. After some White House officials and pundits asserted that the CIA had allowed Scheuer to act as its surrogate critic on the war, CIA officials forbade him from speaking publicly.

At first glance, it might appear that he was following the administration talking point "That danged CIA, if they had only given us good intelligence."

But no:

The statement, issued in the name of Scheuer's publicist, Christina Davidson, said Scheuer criticized the CIA leadership for allowing "the clandestine service to be scapegoated for pre-9-11 failures -- failure more properly placed at the door of senior members of the U.S. intelligence community and senior policymakers, for whom, in Scheuer's view, saving lives has seldom appeared to be the top priority."

How many does it take?

Richard Clarke wasn't enough.

Paul O'Niell wasn't enough.

John DiIulio wasn't enough.

How many insiders spilling their guts will it take for enough people get the idea? Up is down, black is white, if their mouths are moving they're lying, and every other cliche I can think of right now and I still can't express how soulless and wretched this administration is.

Maybe this time Michael Scheuer will finally be enough. But I doubt it.