Bolton Slams Olbermann on Pantybomber Conspiracy Theory

Former American Ambassador to the UN John Bolton took MSNBC's Keith Olbermann to task last week for accusing US intelligence agencies of deliberately ignoring red flags that led to the failed Christmas day bombing plot (h/t Johnny Dollar).

Olbermann suggested that the CIA and other agencies might have been engaged in some sort of turf war, and allowed the plot to move forward. He insinuated that there was "at least a possibility somebody understood how serious this could be and yet withheld information to make some other part of the counterterrorism system look bad".

Bolton, speaking on the late night Fox News show Red Eye, said Olbermann was making accusations of attempted murder against American intelligence officials. He noted that Olbermann carefully crafted his accusations to avoid legal complications, but that the libtalker's point was quite clear.

Video here.

GREG GUTFELD, HOST: On monday night, Keith Olbermann on his show raised a really odd question, that our spy organizations deliberately buried the intel about the Underpants Bomber despite knowing that he could be deadly, perhaps to make, in Olbermann's words, make somebody look bad. Is this total crazy talk?

BOLTON: Yeah. Among other reasons, our intelligence agencies aren't capable of hiding that kind of information. You know, look, this is something that really, he's accusing these people of attempted murder. if he has some evidence on it, let him bring it out, let's hear what it is. If it's just paranoia, let's find that out

GUTFELD: He couched it very very carefully, but the underlying message is absolutely horrible. I mean, he wouldn't say that about our enemies, but he's basically assuming our government would let 300 people die. It's insane.

BOLTON: Yeah, it was probably couched carefully because the network's libel lawyers were all over the script that he used, but the implications I think were clear, and I think people ought to put it to him. If you've got evidence, put it out there.