Wrapping Up the Russian Illegals Program
[Guest post by DRJ]
The AP summarizes the Russian spy swap story (emphasis supplied):
“The Russian agents had been under observation by U.S. authorities for a decade. The decision to move against them was precipitated by indications that some planned to leave the United States this summer, the official said.
***
Within days of the arrests on June 27, the United States offered to talk with Russia about an exchange of the 10 people in custody for four people held in Russian on charges that they had spied for the United States. CIA Director Leon Panetta and Russia’s spy chief worked out the exchange, the largest spy swap since the Cold War, a separate U.S. official said.Panetta had already developed a sound relationship with Mikhail Fradkov, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, that allowed them to quickly clinch the deal, which traded the 10 Russian sleeper agents for the four prisoners in Russia.”
Credit to Leon Panetta, whose group apparently came up with the idea and helped implement it.
— DRJ
It seems to me that this swap happened very fast for a reason. Why? Shouldn’t we have some interrogation about what they were doing here? I don’t think we got anything for the swap either. Did we get American spies or some Russians who did us favors?
Arizona Bob (f57a20) — 7/9/2010 @ 1:45 pmAnyone who believes the White House explanation should stay away from folks selling Brooklyn Bridges.
The only person we wanted was Metzos, the bag man (control) of the operation and we gave the “go” for the take down too late to get him on US territory. And when he made it to Cyprus he was detained and relesed on bail, and of course slipped away.
This was a muffed operation.
Corky Boyd (922457) — 7/9/2010 @ 2:19 pmCNN was reporting that the talks for a “swap” started before the 10 “sleeper” agents were arrested.
Neo (7830e6) — 7/9/2010 @ 3:01 pmAre you guys claiming the CIA can be cynical? 😉
nk (db4a41) — 7/9/2010 @ 4:10 pmI smell dirty Democrats at high levels neatly covering up their relationships with these good Marxist spies.
Hrothgar (4a5954) — 7/9/2010 @ 4:29 pmWonder if anyone’s been running those names through the FEC lists?
AD - RtR/OS! (2e91a1) — 7/9/2010 @ 4:45 pmI say one of the spies has Obama’s real birth certificate.
Another has a list of his classes and grades from Columbia. His best grades and attendance were for Marxism In America 101.
Another has his signed memo to Blago offering a job as humor czar in exchange for making Valerie Jarrett senator. Blago wanted the government to provide him new suits every day and the deal fell through.
A fourth spy has a picture of Obama standing in front of a map of the U.S. containing 57 states.
Another spy has pictures of Obama spooning various MSNBC anchors, male and female. The CIA laughed as they had the same pictures.
Another spy had video from the last 40 years of Biden saying incredibly stupid things. The CIA laughed as they had forgotten some of them.
Another spy had the original letter to Michelle’s hospital when he was a senator. He asked that Michelle be given a no-show job and raise like he heard others in Chicago got. He admitted she would not be worth a minimum wage position but he felt it would be better for her to stay in Chicago since he would be so busy for the next 6 years being a great senator.
Obama asked that the spies be swapped immediately as he didn’t want Michelle to find the memo about her job. Nah, nothing seems fishy about this swap.
MU789 (f93a34) — 7/9/2010 @ 6:01 pmIs it true that they posed as professors and journalists?
Arizona Bob (e8af2b) — 7/9/2010 @ 6:26 pmWhat would be the difference?
Fritz (9c4a4d) — 7/9/2010 @ 6:31 pmGood thing none of those Russian spies was an American named O’Keefe, otherwise the feds would be threatening them with felony prosecution instead of giving them a ride home on the U.S. taxpayers’ dime.
One more reason to loathe Obama, his party, and everything they “stand” for.
Dave Surls (3f74f5) — 7/9/2010 @ 7:21 pmIf they had been clever enough to assume Muslim names, they would still be here working.
Mike K (82f374) — 7/9/2010 @ 9:52 pmThe Russians should have settled in Arizona if they wanted the Obama administration to leave them alone.
Kevin Murphy (5ae73e) — 7/10/2010 @ 1:05 amI tend to believe that these spies were being watched and their inevitable arrests kept in abeyance until a swap which the US State Dept. deemed to be of utmost importance became necessary. The fact that this investigation spanned two administrations makes it all the more intriguing. But then, I always did like John Le Carre books
elissa (44b15b) — 7/10/2010 @ 8:10 amSlow Joe Biden says he’d thought the Russians would take Rush Limbaugh back.
GeneralMalaise (9cf017) — 7/10/2010 @ 8:29 amWas letting Metzos go part of the deal? If we were planning on swapping for these guys, and he was the leader, why wouldn’t we tell Cyprus to make sure they hold on to him?
MayBee (83f813) — 7/10/2010 @ 10:56 amThere are two absolutely solid “tells” here that the official story is horseshit:
1. The KGB traitors jailed for years that we supposedly got in return? Pardon me, but KGB traitors live as long as it takes to torture the details out of them, and then die a savagely brutal and painful death, as a message to others who might be thinking of similar indescretions. It is beyond belief that Putin would allow the Russian people to see traitors rescued by the West, to live out a life of comfort and safety.
2. The reporting of the US media: when was the last time you recall the MSM talking about Russian sleeper cells as real, as opposed to fevered fantasies of conservative Birchers? When the media reports Russians as actual bad guys, and the US intel folks as the good guys, you have to assume that they are reading from someone’s script, surely not their own.
These spies had penetrated the Democratic Party, and thus the current US government, to some shocking level. They had to be gotten out of US jurisdiction as fast as possible, lest they spill the beans and the names.
Occam says anything else is highly unlikely.
sherlock (62f2cf) — 7/10/2010 @ 7:00 pmNo shit, sherlock. You’re onto it. The timely coincidence of Medvedev’s visit, the unseemly haste, the missing key man, the imbalanced exchange, the silence of the press, Obama’s participation, the whole thing stinks to high heaven.
ropelight (95d5ce) — 7/11/2010 @ 9:02 am