Thread title ends in question mark because this is the only cite I’ve seen so far.
Is this plausible? (I hope it is not even debatable whether it is advisable if true.)
I don’t think Chavez is the Great Satan like some of our right-wing “friends”, but this smacks of disinformation to me. It sounds like the Venezuelan intelligence service is preparing the groundwork for suppression in case there is domestic protest or agitation after the election. “It’s the meddling Americans doing it, not good Venezuelans!” As we’ve seen in 21st century America, it’s always helpful for authoritarian governments to have evil outsiders to blame for vague, non-disprovable crimes. Plus, I don’t trust anything that an intelligence service says as a rule, no matter who’s side they’re on.
I’d say that both that site and the author are less than credible sources. If the same information is sourced and reported by a more reputable outlet, then maybe we can discuss it. In the meantime, talking about the fantasies of Eva Golinger is a futile endeavor.
I sure hope you’re right. Hate to think my tax dollars would be going for this sort of thing.
Is it plausible that the CIA would conduct a secret and ill-advised intervention in the operations of a sovereign foreign government? Yeah, I wonder.
Not that this particular lunacy is true, but history has certainly shown it to be plausible. Another reason not to engage in these backfire-prone dealings in the first place.
At last, an interesting…
::::looks at OP::::::
Oh. Nevermind.
Yes. Is your source reliable? No.
Based on what? Is this a source you’ve ever caught out in a lie? (Or are you referring to Venezuelan intelligence as the “source”?)
You can rest assured they are.
The latter. And it’s not just because it’s Venezuela, although there would be an pretty obvious reason why Chavez might want to float that misinformation out there.
:dubious: … :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Please BG…wait for something a bit more solid before opening these OP’s. Do you REALLY think that internal CIA memos that are this explosive are just laying about for someone to wander up and grab? Doesn’t this all seem a bit to pat to you? No? Well, it IS Chavez and Venezuela, so I guess I can see why you would buy it hook, line, sinker, reel and arm…
-XT
I’m just waiting for someone to express outrage that whoever leaked the info committed “treason”. You, know, like the “treason” Libby is guilty of.
No, but there are unintentional leaks and interceptions – it has happened many, many times before. Secrets are hard to keep, even for professionals, and the more explosive the harder.
You’d have to prove there was actually information there in the first place and that it was leaked instead of being snatched up by Venezuelan cointel agents fair and square.
Snatched, leaked – what’s the difference? (Unless by “leaked” you mean this is deliberate disinformation on the part of the U.S. CIA, not Venezuelan intelligence – and I can’t imagine what the Company’s motive would be, there.)
Given the total lack of surety that any such memo exists, much less that it was leaked…
Anyway, I sincerely hope there is such a plan, although I doubt it would be laying around an embassy. The CIA better be making plans, like the DoD, for every conceivable contingency.
We’re not talking about a contingency, we’re talking about a plan that would have to be implemented this week if at all – the referendum at issue being scheduled for this coming Sunday. Once again, I hope there’s nothing to it.
The question is not whether we believe the source of the story. The question is “Is this plausible?” In the last half-century, my government has nudged government changes in several countries. The methods have ranged from simple spying and agitprop to outright overthrow of existing governments. So, if by “plausible,” the OP means, “would you believe the US government would plan such a thing,” I have to say yes.
As to the credibility of the source, I have to give a shrug and a :dubious: . I don’t trust Venezuela’s spies any more than ours. Lying is one of the principal duties of a spy.
It’s fake. I can tell because of how awesome “Operation Pliers” sounds. Most of the time it’s either a jumble of letters or, if the activities are super dirty, some non-threatening noun (e.g. Project Shamrock, Operation Mockingbird, Operation Washtub, Operation Charly). The only one I can think up that was “radical” was Operation CHAOS, but that sounds like the villain’s plan from a Saturday morning cartoon.
Speaking of the release of classified material, for most of the 20th century the U.S. government would regularly release formerly secret material to the public. It’d be ten, twenty, or thirty years after the fact and it might be redacted in some areas, but they’d release it. This is the best source of the hijinks our government has been doing since it’s from the horse’s mouth and no one can cry “conspiracy!” That’s not going to happen anymore, is it? Aren’t there laws which make it so the POTUS can now make things secret basically forever? We’re not going to learn about the fun things Clinton and Bush 43 did, are we?
Returning to the OP, I guess we’ll find out how credible it is soon enough, right?
Excellent point, the spanish name is also very cool and spy-like, “Operacion Tenaza”, which means pliers, but also means pincers or forceps, and is somewhat reminiscent of “amenaza” or threat.