Michael Collins
As he prepares to launch cruise missiles against the sovereign state that poses no threat to the United States, President Barack Obama's administration is spouting leaks of major proportion. (Image)

The Associate Press reports that

"… multiple U.S. officials used the phrase "not a slam dunk" to describe the intelligence picture -- a reference to then-CIA Director George Tenet's insistence in 2002 that U.S. intelligence showing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was a 'slam dunk' -- intelligence that turned out to be wrong." Associated Press, August 29

President Obama couldn't launch even one cruise missile before multiple U.S. officials began undermining the intelligence report that was to form the basis for confidence in military action against the Syrian government.

On Monday Secretary of State John Kerry and anonymously quoted "senior administration officials" indicated that there was "no doubt" that the Syrian government launched the missiles near Damascus, Syria. Kerry called the attack "a moral obscenity."

Just days later, government officials interviewed by the Associated Press raised questions in the form of an allusion to former CIA Director George Tenet's statement to President George W. Bush about "slam dunk" evidence.

The president must be fuming tonight. In the space of a few hours, the British Parliament torpedoed participation in a U.S. strike against Syria. Then, AP made sure that the public had no doubt about dissension within the ranks of knowledgeable government insiders.

Insider Threat Program

McClatchy News broke the story about the administration's Insider Threat Program designed to hold tight government information not cleared for release. The program makes unauthorized releases a felony and attaches the same label to government employees who become aware of leaking by their peers. In an article on this and other disturbing behavior by the president, I posed these questions:

What does Obama fear? Why is he so suspicious of anyone knowing what's really behind his policies? Is he verging on paranoia in this unprecedented level of control? Is Obama Losing It? Agonist, August 8

In view of the sabotage by "multiple U.S. officials," I may have been too harsh on the president. As the U.S. Navy moves across the Mediterranean to deliver the tough love of a Nobel Peace Prize winning president, his own senior officials - insiders - are casting doubt on the basis for the pending action.

The AP report may just be the beginning of a great unraveling that should have taken place when the costliest lies in our modern history went unchallenged -- the lies that lead to the Iraq invasion based on distorted and doctored intelligence findings on weapons of mass destruction that were never found.

It is time for the people to demand answers from President Obama.

Why are you committing an act of war against a nation that poses no imminent threat to the United States?

Surely you cannot carry out this act of military aggression based on evidence that is questioned by your own officials?

Who are these officials and what questions do they have?

Will they be charged with violation of your Insider Threat Program?

Since you were willing to attack Syria against the principles of international law and with doubts serious enough to provoke insider leaks, there must be some other goal.

What is your real motivation for attacking Syria?

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