Outings

I am always amused by the variable and hypcritical conservative reactions to the outing of secret agents. In the case of Valerie Plame, the practice was considered perfectly acceptable. But attitudes differ when the topic turns to Richard Tomlinson.

Tomlinson, if you have never heard of him, is a New Zealand-born former agent of MI6 who ran into a great deal of opposition when he tried to publish a book about his years in the service. A list of 116 undercover agents once appeared on a Lyndon LaRouche website, and various voices in the British press insisted that Tomlinson was responsible. He denied the charge and argued that the incident was a set up. (Side note: Various spy agencies have long used the LaRouche organization as a dumping ground for real information, disinformation, and other bits of spook detritus.)

Now the British secret service is making every attempt to squelch and censor Tomlinson's blog, even though he no longer lives in the U.K. You may be interested in what he has to say -- particularly on the subject of British acquiescence in the CIA's "rendition" flights.

While we are focusing on that part of the world, perhaps I should mention that the primary British propagandist crying for war with Iran is "reporter" Con Coughlin, whose first name is very apt. Coughlin has a long history of carrying water for the British version of the miitary/intelligence complex, and has been caught peddling disinformation before.