(Iran-Israel analysis with additional commentary: Pompeo Channels Peter Strzok; Will Deep State Prevail?)
A Secret Meeting to Plot War? by Philip Giraldi, July 6, 2019
https://americanfreepress.net/a-secret-meeting-to-plot-war/
Phil Giraldi again tells the bitter truth about Israel’s inordinate influence over U.S. policy, a bitter truth not tolerated elsewhere — not at The American Conservative, for example, from which Giraldi has been banned since early September 2017. Those deprived of Phil’s outspoken commentary are left largely to themselves in trying to figure out what is the main factor — by far — behind U.S. policy toward the Middle East. And good luck on that! The “mainstream media,” heavily influenced by pro-Israel bias, make it even harder.
“We Will Stop Him” … Corbyn, This Time
Giraldi’s mention of Pompeo’s determination to “push back” against Jeremy Corbyn in deference to UK Zionists calls to mind Peter Strzok’s assurance in an August 8, 2016 text message to paramour Lisa Page — “We will stop him [Trump].”
The corporate media gave relatively little attention to the “soft coup” implications of that statement by Strzok, who at the time was deputy head of counterintelligence at the FBI and had just played a leading role in letting presidential candidate Hillary Clinton walk, despite her dismissive attitude toward keeping the country’s most sensitive secrets.
Worse still, one could not look to so-called progressive media for more balanced reporting. For example, Democracy Now! chose to highlight Strzok’s lame explanation of what he really meant when he told Page, “We will stop” Trump. Strzok explained that the “we” he referred to was “the American population [which] would not elect somebody” who behaves like Trump. Really.
The context of that text exchange, however, makes it unmistakably clear who the “we” was.
So how could it be that we did not learn until June 2018 of the damning Peter Strzok text message: “We will stop him.” Short answer: That particular text was withheld from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz until a half-year after he released the first batch of Strzok-Page texts — several of which were damning enough.
Robert Parry, founder of Consortium News jumped on the initial release (on Dec. 12, 2017) with an article the following day titled “The Foundering Russia-gate ‘Scandal.” Parry wrote that the Strzok-Page text message exchange “has turned the supposed Russian-election-meddling ‘scandal’ into its own scandal, by providing evidence that some government investigators saw it as their duty to block or destroy Donald Trump’s presidency.” (See: https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/13/the-foundering-russia-gate-scandal/ .)
Most of the Deep-State-friendly media played down the “We will stop him” message and the fact that the FBI had such trouble finding it, but in June 2018 Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R, Virginia), then chair of the House Judiciary Committee singled out this lapse, adding it to other evidence that the FBI was not fully cooperating with the Justice Department. (See: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/06/25/bob_goodlatte_i_am_expecting_honest_forthright_answers_from_peter_strzok_at_deposition.html below ). So Where is the IG Report on FISA
That’s the big one. If Horowitz is able to speak freely about what he has learned, his report could lead to indictments of John Brennan, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, Rod Rosenstein, and Dana Boente — Boente being the only signer of the relevant FISA applications still in office. (No, he has not been demoted to file clerk in the FBI library; he is FBI General Counsel!).
And the grand-jury-indictment process after criminal referrals goes where for action? To the Department of Justice.
The DOJ inspector General’s investigation, launched in March 2018, has centered on whether the FBI and DOJ filing of four FISA applications and renewals beginning in October 2016 to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page amounted to abuse of the FISA process. (Fortunately for the IG, Obama’s top intelligence and law enforcement officials were so sure that Hillary Clinton would win that they did not do much to hide their tracks.)
Journalist Jerry Dunleavy reported Tuesday, “The Justice Department inspector general’s investigation of potential abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is complete, a Republican congressman said, though a report on its findings might not be released for a month.” (See: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/doj-inspector-general-completed-fisa-abuse-investigation-gop-congressman .) Dunleavy continued:
“House Judiciary Committee member John Ratcliffe (R, Texas) said Monday he’d met with DOJ watchdog Michael Horowitz last week about his FISA abuse report. In a media interview, Ratcliffe said they’d discussed the timing, but not the content of his report and Horowitz ‘related that his team’s investigative work is complete and they’re now in the process of drafting that report. “I would expect that a draft of that would be completed in short order,” Ratcliffe said.
Don’t Hold Your Breath
“Ratcliffe said he was doubtful that Horowitz’s report would be made available to the public or the Congress anytime soon. ‘He did relay that as much as 20% of his report is going to include classified information, so that draft report will have to undergo a classification review at the FBI and at the Department of Justice,’ Ratcliffe said. ‘So, while I’m hopeful that we members of Congress might see it before the August recess, I’m not too certain about that.’”
Dream on, John. “Declassification” has been one of the Deep State’s favorite tactics to stymie progress — especially when the material it it is free to make “classified” brings embarrassment or reveals crimes. And the stakes this time are huge.
Judging by past precedent, Deep State intelligence and law enforcement officials will do all they can to retain the option of using the “but-it’s-classified” excuse to avoid putting themselves and their former colleagues in legal jeopardy. It is far from clear that DOJ IG Horowitz and Attorney General Barr will prevail in the end, even though President Trump has given Barr nominal authority to declassify as necessary. Why are the the stakes so extraordinarily high?
What Did Obama Know, and When Did He Know It?
Recall that in a Sept. 2, 2016 text to Peter Strzok, Lisa Page wrote that she was preparing talking points because the president “wants to know everything we’re doing.” [Emphasis added.] It does not seem likely that the Director of National Intelligence, DOJ, FBI, and CIA all kept President Obama in the dark about their FISA and other machinations, although that they may have done so out of a desire to provide him “plausible denial.”
I think it more likely that Obama’s closest intelligence confidant, John Brennan, told him about the shenanigans with FISA, that Obama gave him approval (perhaps only verbally), and that Brennan was then able to harness the the top intelligence and law enforcement official behind the effort to defeat Trump and, later, to emasculate and, if possible, dethrone him. Everyone was aware how close Brennan was to Obama.
Indeed, I would not rule out seeing in the coming months a “Obama-made-us-do-it” defense — whether grounded in fact or not — by Brennan and perhaps the rest of the gang. Brennan may even have a piece of paper recording the President’s “approval” for this or that — or could readily have his former subordinates prepare one that appears authentic.
Reining in Devin Nunes
That the Deep State retains formidable power in these matters can perhaps best be seen in the repeated Lucy-holding-the-football-then-pulling-it-away-from Charlie Brown treatment accorded House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member, Devin Nunes (R, California). On April 5, 2019, in the apparent belief he had a green light to go on the offensive, Nunes wrote that committee Republicans “will soon be submitting criminal referrals on numerous individuals involved … in the abuse of intelligence for political purposes. These people must be held to account to prevent similar abuses from occurring in the future.” (See: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/rep-devin-nunes-the-russian-collusion-hoax-meets-unbelievable-end .)
On April 7, Nunes was even more specific, telling Fox News that he was preparing to send eight criminal referrals to the Department of Justice “this week,” concerning alleged misconduct during the Trump-Russia investigation, including leaks of “highly classified material” and conspiracies to lie to Congress and the FISA court. It seemed to be no-holds-barred for Nunes, who had begun to talk publicly about prison time for those who might be brought to trial. ( See: https://consortiumnews.com/2019/04/09/ray-mcgovern-unaccountable-media-faced-with-dilemma-in-next-phase-of-deep-state-gate/ ).
Except for Fox, the corporate media ignored Nunes’s explosive comments. The media seemed smugly convinced that Nunes’s talk of “referrals” could be safely ignored — even though a new sheriff, William Barr, had come to town. And sure enough, now, three months later, where are the criminal referrals?
There is ample evidence that President Trump is afraid to run afoul of the Deep State functionaries he inherited and feels he must live with. And the Deep State almost always wins. But if Attorney General Barr leans hard on the president to unfetter Nunes, IG Horowitz, and like-minded investigators, all hell is likely to break lose, because the evidence of wrongdoing is staring them all in the face.