Pliers & Liars

Eva Golinger uncovers CIA plot to destabilize Chavez government.

GOLINGER : "On a scarier note, an internal CIA memorandum has been obtained by Venezuelan counterintelligence from the US Embassy in Caracas that reveals a very sinister - almost fantastical, were it not true - plan to destabilize Venezuela during the coming days. The plan, titled "OPERATION PLIERS" was authored by CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steere and was addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Washington. Steere is stationed at the US Embassy in Caracas under the guise of a Regional Affairs Officer. The internal memorandum, dated November 20, 2007, references the "Advances of the Final Stage of Operation Pliers", and confirms that the operation is coordinated by the team of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) in Venezuela."

-----Shall I shoot the messenger now or later? According to Aleksander Boyd , Golinger is "The most vocal spin doctor of coupster Hugo Chavez in the USA is a person who keeps misrepresenting and lying about her profession, credentials, tax-status and connections to the Venezuelan regime; nothing but prevarications and distortions should be expected from Eva Golinger."

(Boyd is considered by progressive messenger shooters to be a right wingnut blogger/commentator but his statement above is well sourced with links.)

I find nothing on Steere on the State Department's page for Venezuela, nor even a "Regional Affairs" office. Googled references for Steere are referencing Golinger's pliers, and/or her books for sale, The Chavez Code, 2006, and her latest Bush Versus Chavez, 2007.

Granted, CIA operating in Caracas is true; they operate from every embassy as do all intel agencies. But that hardly convinces me Golinger or "Pliers" are legit.

What initially raised my questioning Golinger and Pliers was at the end of her article : "The original document in English will be available in the public sphere soon for viewing and authenticating purposes. And it also contains more information than has been revealed here."

For the full text in Spanish, see: Operación Tenaza: Informe confidencial de la CIA devela plan de saboteo al referéndum del 2 de diciembre."

The "original document in English" is delayed. Hmmm, now let me see, the lady writes for a predominantly English-speaking anglo progressive crowd but withholds the English version of the document and gives them the Spanish one. I have this eerie feeling the English version will never be "authenticated." Or at least not without bias.

It makes absolutely no sense to release an unathenticated Spanish version to the American public first, unless she was still creatively writing the English one.

And honestly, it's not that I enjoy shooting messengers – it's just so many of them are conspicuous targets whose livelihoods depend, completely or partially, on "uncovering" and/or promoting an agenda with little to no proof and no objectivity - and as such - it's open season.