Halal leaks — brought to you by Washington’s biggest crooks

The Pentagon leaks are America’s hot political story nowadays. Secret documents have been leaked showing how the US intelligence community has been deep inside the Russian war effort in Ukraine. Americans have been listening in to private conversations of important Russian officials and have known the minute details of Russian war efforts in Ukraine. The leaked documents have left Ukrainians happy because they confirm what the Ukrainians have been saying for years now; that they needed support in the form of weapons and money in order to fight against the mighty Russian army.

The Biden administration has aggressively started to hunt down the source of this leaked information. Too many people inside the Pentagon had access to such sensitive information and it would be very hard to pinpoint the exact source of the leak. However, I am sure they will finally find it. What is rather thought provoking is the fact that just about 3 years ago, another whistleblower or leaker had leaked information about the dealings of another US president related also to Ukraine. President Trump had been trying to get the Ukrainian president Zelensky to find dirt on Biden’s son so as to help Trump’s re-election campaign in return for Trump’s promise to provide Ukraine with weapons and other support.

Lt Col Alexander Vindman was an official in the National Security Council in 2019. He heard the conversation that Trump had with Zelensky and immediately reported his concerns to his boss. His job description did not involve him being concerned over foreign policy matters. Lo and behold, he testified in Congress during Trump’s impeachment trial. He proudly and openly touted his act of leaking sensitive information. The conversations an American president holds over phone calls with foreign leaders are top secret. Yet, the Democratic party and CNN, to be very precise, treated his act as a godsend in their never ending fight against Trump. The Republicans are bad enough. They do not believe in climate science and continue to deny climate change. They are horrible on a host of other issues as well. However, when it comes to lies and hypocrisy, the Democrats outpace and outmaneuver the Republicans by a ridiculously heavy margin.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the time had called Vindman a “patriotic person”. Similarly, the same Democratic party and its president in 2013 did not believe that the leaking of information that shows how the American president was spying on American citizens made Edward Snowden a “patriotic person”. They rather revoked Snowden’s US passport forcing him to be stranded at the Russian airport from where he had to apply for Russian asylum.

Let me get this straight: it is all ugly business. Trump tried to abuse his power for his personal selfish gain. Obama spied on all Americans and foreign leaders in order to help him gain more power. Obama must have read somewhere that knowledge was power and he perceived it differently than the rest of us would. Biden is secretly spying on the Russian war effort in Ukraine to help him establish military credentials even though the United States should have nothing to do with Ukraine. It’s the Russian backyard. How would the Americans feel if the Russians came to aid Cuba or some other country in the American backyard? The American effort in Ukraine helps sell a lot of guns that some private weapons makers in America make. Furthermore, it provides a good distraction from the daily hardships that the American people face from rising inflation and low paying jobs.

At some level, all the leaks reflect anger at the selfish acts of an American president. But where do you draw the line between patriotic and unpatriotic leaks? There is only one difference though: In both Biden’s and Trump’s leaks, the target of the abuse of presidential power was a foreign country. In Obama’s case, the abuse of presidential power targeted the American citizens and their liberties. Yet, Snowden did not testify in Obama’s impeachment.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2023.

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