Captain Ed of the blog Captain’s Quarters continues to embarrass himself. He just “updated” his post about Gorelick’s 1995 memo with this sterling analysis:
The Deputy AG (Gorelick) issued a policy statement directly to the OIPR [Office of Intelligence Policy and Review ] in 1995 (the “wall” memo) dictating the policy regarding intelligence and coordination with law-enforcement agencies. The DoJ certainly dictated what the FBI could and could not do in any case, and the “wall” memo would have precluded them from coordinating with other agencies regardless of their own disposition — and the FBI was the only national law-enforcement agency available for that kind of assistance.
This is completely wrong. The Gorelick memo imposed no restrictions on information sharing between the FBI and the Department of Defense. It only addresses information sharing between the FBI and the criminal division of the Justice Department. Repeating a false claim doesn’t make it true.
Maybe I should say it in a way a pirate like Captain Ed can understand: Ahoy, the Gorelick memo imposed no restrictions on information sharin’ between the Fbi and the Department o’ Defense. It only addresses information sharin’ between the Fbi and the criminal di’ision o’ the Justice Department. Gar, Where can I find a bottle o’rum?
For good measure Captain Ed throws in an insult to ThinkProgress readers: “If the denizens of Think Progress really cannot connect those dots, no amount of evidence will suffice to dent their dogmatic worldview.”
Yeah. We’re the ones with a problem.
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