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Seymour Hersh
159 quotes
“Bernhardt, short and intense, told his story in staccato fashion, with an obvious sense of relief at finally talking about it. At one point he said to his interviewer: “You’re surprised? I wouldn’t be surprised at anything these dudes (the men who did the shooting) did.”.. Bernhardt also said he had no idea whether Calley personally shot 109 civilians, as the Army has charged. However, he said, “I know myself that he killed a whole lot of people.” Residents of the Pinkville areas have told newspapermen that 567 villagers were killed in the operation.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Hamlet Attack Called “Point-Blank Murder” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 20, 1969
“The Central Intelligence Agency, directly violating its charter, conducted a massive, illegal domestic intelligence operation during the Nixon Administration against the antiwar movement and other dissident groups in the United States, according to well‐placed Government sources.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An extensive investigation by The New York Times has established that intelligence files on at least 10,000 American citizens were maintained by a special unit of the C.I.A. that was reporting directly to Richard Helms, then the Director of Central Intelligence and now the Ambassador to Iran.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As part of its alleged effort against dissident Americans in the late nineteen‐sixties had early nineteen‐seventies, The Time's sources said, the C.I.A. authorized agents, to follow and photograph participants in antiwar and other demonstrations. The C.I.A. also set up a network of informants who were ordered to penetrate antiwar groups, the sources said.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At least one avowedly antiwar member of Congress was among those placed under surveillance by the C.I.A., the sources said.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Other members of Congress were said to be included in the C.I.A.'s dossier on dissident Americans.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Another former official characterized counterintelligence as “an independent power in the C.I.A. Even people in the agency aren't allowed to deal directly with the C.I. [counterintelligence] people. “Once in it,” he said, “you're in it for life.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One former C.I.A. official who participated in the 1969 and 1970 White House‐directed studies of alleged foreign involvement in the antiwar movement said that Mr. Angleton “undoubtedly believes that foreign agents were behind the student movement, but he doesn't know what he's talking about.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The official also raised question about the bureaucratic procedures of the C.I.A. under Mr. Helms and suggested that his penchant for secrecy apparently kept the most complete intelligence information from being forwarded to the White House.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The former C.I.A. official said that he could not reconcile Mr. Angleton's decision to permit the studies, which reported no evidence of foreign involvement, while being involved in an elaborate and secret domestic security operation to root out alleged foreign activities in the antiwar movement”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A number of former F.B.I. officials said in interviews' that the C.LA.'s alleged decision, to mount domestic brew sins, wiretaps and similarly illegal counterintelligence operations undoubtedly reflected, in part, the long‐standing mistrust between the two agencies.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In 1970, Mr. Hoover reportedly ordered his bureau to break off all but formal liaison contact with the C.I.A, forcing lower level C.I.A. and F.B.I, officials to make clandestine, arrangements to exchange information. By the late sixties, one former F.B.I. official said, all but token cooperation between the, two agencies on counterintelligence and counterespionage had ended.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The C.I.A. was never satisfied with the F.B.I. and, can't blame them,” the former official said. “We did hit or miss jobs... “We just went through the motions on our investigation. It was just a brushoff.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“America's most important military secret in 1979 was in orbit, whirling effortlessly around the world every ninety- six minutes, taking uncanny and invaluable reconnaissance photographs of all that lay hundreds of miles below. The satellite, known as KH-11, was an astonishing leap in technology: its images were capable of being digitally relayed to ground stations where they were picked up — in "real time" — for instant analysis by the intelligence community. There would be no more Pearl Harbors.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Carter administration followed Ford's precedent by tightly restricting access to the high-quality imagery: even Great Britain, America's closest ally in the intelligence world, was limited to seeing photographs on a”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The KH-11 was at the time known to be the most significant advance in outer- space reconnaissance. The key element of the sixty-four-foot-long satellite was a down- ward-looking mirror in front of the camera that rotated from side to side, like a periscope, enabling the satellite to track a single location as it moved across the atmosphere. p. 5”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Israel, as the British may have suspected, did have a secret agenda in its constant maneuvering for KH-11 access, but that agenda only became clear to a few top Reagan administration policymakers in the fall of 1981. The unraveling began with a bombing raid in Iraq.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was a Sunday afternoon in early June 1981, and Richard V. Allen, President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser, was taking it easy, sipping iced tea on the sundeck of his suburban Virginia home and shuffling through a week's worth of unread cables, many of them highly classified.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The next morning, according to Allen, there was a meeting of Reagan's high command at which Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger proposed canceling the F-16 aircraft sale. Others at the meeting, including Vice President George Bush and Chief of Staff James A. Baker III, agreed that some sanctions against Israel were essential. Reagan glanced at Allen at one point and with a gesture made it clear he had no intention of taking any such step: "He rolled his eyes at me," Allen said.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That afternoon the State Department issued a statement, said to have been cleared by the President and Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig, Jr., formally condemning the bombing, "which cannot but seriously add to the already tense situation in the area." Nonetheless, recalled Allen, "Reagan was delighted . . . very satisfied" by the attack on the reactor at Osirak. "It showed that the Israelis had claws, a sense of strategy, and were able to take care of problems before they developed. Anyway, what did Israel hurt?" Haig similarly was forbearing in private.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Israeli bombing triggered worldwide protest, and a few days later the White House announced the suspension of a scheduled delivery of four more F-i6s, a continuation of the 1975 sale. Two months later, with little fanfare, the administration's real policy emerged: the suspension was lifted and the aircraft were delivered without incident.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was controversy inside Israel, too, over the bombing, which had been debated at the highest levels of the Israeli government since late 1979. Yitzhak Hofi, the director of Mossad, and Major General Yehoshua Saguy, chief of military intelligence, both opposed the attack, primarily because there was no evidence that Iraq was as yet capable of building a bomb.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“America's policy toward the Israeli arsenal, as we have seen in this book, was not just one of benign neglect: it was a conscious policy of ignoring reality.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In September 1988, Israel launched its first satellite into orbit, bringing it a huge step closer to intercontinental missiles and a satellite intelligence capability — no more Jonathan Pollards would be needed to steal America's secrets. Scientists at Z Division concluded that the rocket booster that launched the Israeli satellite produced enough thrust to deliver a small nuclear warhead to a target more than six thousand miles away. Epilogue p. 319”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Israeli physicists are still at the cutting edge in weapons technology and involved, as are their American and Soviet counterparts, in intensive research into nuclear bomb-pumped X-ray lasers, hydrodynamics, and radiation transport — the next generation of weaponry. Epilogue p. 319”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After a year of bitter infighting, the Bush Administration remains sharply divided about Iraq. There is widespread agreement that Saddam Hussein must be overthrown, but no agreement about how to get it done.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The President has given his feuding agencies a deadline of April 15th to come up with a "coagulated plan," as one senior State Department official put it, for ending the regime.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is strong debate over how many American troops would be needed, whether Baghdad should be immediately targeted, which Iraqi opposition leader should be installed as the interim leader, and—most important—how the Iraqi military will respond to an attack: Will it retreat, and even turn against Saddam? Or will it stand and fight?”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is also no certainty about how Israel will respond if Saddam launches weapons of mass destruction toward Tel Aviv and Jerusalem—as many officials believe he will do, or try to do, once an American invasion takes place.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The normal planning procedures have been marginalized, according to many military and intelligence officials. These usually include a series of careful preliminary studies under the control of the National Security Council and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But now there is far less involvement by the Joint Chiefs and their chairman....”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Pentagon's conservative and highly assertive civilian leadership, assembled by Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, has extraordinary influence in George W. Bush's Washington. These civilians have been the most vigorous advocates for early action against Saddam Hussein...”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pentagon officials, in turn, accuse Secretary of State Colin Powell and his deputy, Richard Armitage, of a loss of nerve.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's the return of the right-wing crazies, crawling their way back," one of Armitage's associates said, referring to Wolfowitz's team”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In return, one of those detractors depicted the State Department... Their attitude is that we're yahoos—especially those of us who come from the far right. The American Enterprise Institute"—a conservative think tank in Washington—"is like Darth Vader's mother ship for them.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By June, a Presidential decision on how to proceed against Saddam should have been made. But there are some Administration supporters who see little evidence of long-range thinking.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The central American premise is that you deal with Iraq and everything else will fall in place," said Geoffrey Kemp, the N.S.C.'s ranking expert”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...Iraq is a proud country that has been humiliated, and it's madness to think that these people, while hating Saddam, are in love with the United States. Latent nationalism will emerge, and there will be those who want to hold on to whatever weapons they've held back...”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Officially, the Pentagon says that about five thousand American troops are stationed in Kuwait, but a senior Administration consultant told me that by mid-February there were, in fact, many times that number on duty there, along with an extensive offshore Navy presence.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The President's "axis of evil" language in the State of the Union Message and the steadily expanding American arsenal have prompted many anxious diplomatic inquiries in recent weeks from the Middle East and Europe. One of Cheney's goals will be to explain the U.S. position to allies and attempt to build a coalition for another invasion of Iraq—a daunting task... The only likely ally at this point is Tony Blair's Britain.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With regard to the attack on Iraq, not everyone on the inside is sure that the President can get what he wants: a successful overthrow with few American casualties and a new, pro-Western regime.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“George W. Bush... his national-security advisers have consolidated control over the military and intelligence communities’ strategic analyses and covert operations to a degree unmatched since the rise of the post-Second World War national-security state... The C.I.A. will continue to be downgraded, and the agency will increasingly serve, as one government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon put it, as “facilitators” of policy emanating from President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney...”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bush and Cheney may have set the policy, but it is Rumsfeld who has directed its implementation ... [Rumsfeld's] reappointment as Defense Secretary was never in doubt... In interviews with past and present intelligence and military officials, I was told that the agenda had been determined before the Presidential election, and much of it would be Rumsfeld’s responsibility.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The President has signed a series of findings and executive orders authorizing secret commando groups and other Special Forces units to conduct covert operations against suspected terrorist targets in as many as ten nations in the Middle East and South Asia.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The President’s decision enables Rumsfeld to run the operations off the books—free from legal restrictions imposed on the C.I.A. Under current law, all C.I.A. covert activities overseas must be authorized by a Presidential finding and reported to the Senate and House intelligence committees. (The laws were enacted after a series of scandals in the nineteen-seventies involving C.I.A. domestic spying and attempted assassinations of foreign leaders.)”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Pentagon doesn’t feel obligated to report any of this to Congress,” the former high-level intelligence official said. "...They’re not even going to tell... the regional American military commanders-in-chief. (The Defense Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment on this story.)”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Rumsfeld will no longer have to refer anything through the government’s intelligence wringer,” the former official went on. “The intelligence system was designed to put competing agencies in competition. What’s missing will be the dynamic tension that insures everyone’s priorities—in the C.I.A., the D.O.D., the F.B.I., and even the Department of Homeland Security—are discussed.”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most insidious implication of the new system is that Rumsfeld no longer has to tell people what he’s doing”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's pathetic, they are more than obsequious, they are afraid to pick on this guy [Obama]... It used to be when you were in a situation when something very dramatic happened, the president and the minions around the president had control of the narrative, you would pretty much know they would do the best they could to tell the story straight. Now that doesn't happen any more. Now they take advantage of something like that and they work out how to re-elect the president...”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Duncan Campbell [the British investigative journalist who broke the Zircon cover-up story], James Bamford [US journalist] and Julian Assange and me and the New Yorker, we've all written the notion there's constant surveillance, but he [Snowden] produced a document and that changed the whole nature of the debate... Chicken-shit editors who wouldn't touch stories like that”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[[Edward Snowden|He [Edward Snowden] ]] changed the whole ball game... But I don't know if it's going to mean anything in the long [run] because the polls I see in America – the president can still say to voters 'al-Qaida, al-Qaida' and the public will vote two to one for this kind of surveillance, which is so idiotic...”
Seymour Hersh (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source