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Whipsawing the CIA Whipping Dog

By Larry Johnson on August 25, 2009 at 1:35 PM in Current Affairs

The CIA is undermining the President. Get the bastards!! Yes siree. The CIA is bad. But they are bipartisan bad.

Here we go again. When Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity as a covert operations officer was exposed the CIA was undermining President Bush. When the CIA issued National Intelligence Estimates about Iran that did not support the hysterical line being pushed by the Bush White House then the CIA was undermining Bush. Remember Mary McCarthy? Falsely accused of leaking information about CIA secret prisons she became a punching bag for conservative commentators and Republican politicos.

Now it is the Democrats turn to demonize the CIA. Nancy Pelosi says the CIA are liars. They mislead her. The CIA had secret assassination teams and forgot (or were told not to) brief Congress. The CIA tortured suspected terrorists in secret prisons. The CIA gave money to Blackwater. The CIA is undermining President Obama.

Cut me a break.

Frankly, I sick of both parties. Both Republicans and Democrats refuse to take responsibility for anything and delight in finding excuses and justifications for inexcusable behavior. The Republicans did deficit spending and now the Democrats. Neither party showed any restraint whatsoever in handling public monies.

And when it comes to vilifying the CIA? Both parties have a long line of loud mouths lined up to savage the CIA for alleged misdeeds.

On the one hand we have Republicans and staunch conservatives excusing torture because “we’re only doing it to bad guys who deserve it.” Swell. A political group who claim to believe first and foremost in human dignity, personal freedom and limits on government power find it convenient to say it is okay for someone who works for the U.S. Government to do anything to another human being because, without any due process, we declare them an enemy of the state.

Did you lose your minds or did you not have one in the first place? We fought a cold war to defeat tyrants who peddled that bullshit and I will be damned if I standby and let tools like Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh make light of trying to drown people, even terrorists. Cheney’s claim that enhanced interrogation (the euphemism for torture) produced positive results reminds me of the cockroach exterminator who stands proudly beside the smoldering ruins of a 20 story apartment building. He set fire to the building and did not pause to consider how it would affect the people who lived there. Voila!! Succees!! He killed the cockroaches and blithely ignores the fact he destroyed the home for more than a thousand people. Twit.

And the Democrats are not any better. Holder wants to investigate the CIA’s interrogation program? What about the people who ordered CIA officers to carry out this program? No investigation? And feigned outrage over putting together plans to kill the terrorists who murdered Americans and people from dozens of nations on 9-11? That is truly absurd. Of course the CIA and the military were tasked with killing the bastards. The sad reality is that we have been too inept and unorganized to kill Bin Laden or his butt boy, Zwahiri.

Here’s what I know for certain–the CIA that once existed is dead. Our ability to collect effective, relevant human intelligence is disappearing fast. Good human intelligence requires putting trust in people who must act in high threat environments with little means to protect themselves. Trust in their chain of command is critical to their ability to do their job. That trust is now destroyed. Case officers will go about their duties, punch the clock and do what needs to be done to keep their jobs and draw a paycheck but no one is going to take any risk without ironclad guarantees that the White House and the Congress are fully on board. And even then you cannot trust the Congress. They were briefed all along on what the CIA was doing and chose not to challenge when the Agency when they had questions or qualms.

Just like the Republicans, who only held lower level enlisted personnel responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib, the Democrats are launching their witchhunt against lower level CIA personnel rather than go after the political heavyweights who conceived of and ordered the practices.

That’s the reality of Washington. The players in the revolving turntable that takes staffers from the Congress to the White House to the K Street lobbies don’t want to piss on each other. Truth is that Republicans and Democrats are all members of the same disgusting, hypocritical party of sycophants living off of public monies. In order to save their own tawdry political fortunes they will expose the identities of undercover officers, punish officers for carrying out lawful orders and smear intelligence analysts for daring to tell the truth. Beware. Politicians so busy covering their own asses will end up putting in jeopardy the poteriors of all Americans.

strawberry

Seriously, Larry. You guys don’t get paid enough to deal with this crap.
Doc99

Larry, perhaps you’d care to comment on the wisdom of Holder’s law firm defending Gitmo inmates while his DOJ pursues allegations of CIA torture. Exactly what side is he on, anyway?

HARP

Can you say…..Mecca?

carolhaka

Really need to see who gets to go into the back door of the WH!

Lily

Funny you should mention Eric Holder. I just came across an alternative-type publication on Iran-Contra, copyrighted in 2001 and written by a self-described insider, whistleblower named Al Martin. He mentions Eric Holder in his book and claims he was a loyal Republican working for Asa Hutchinson, then a US Attorney investigating narcotics trafficing, Mena Airport, and the Clinton administration in Arkansas. The author claims Holder was a zealous participant in the Iran-Contra coverup. Somehow, Holder became a Democrat and Assistant Attorney General under Clinton. Wikipedia makes no mention of any Republican ties or any involvement in Iran-Contra. Mr Martin offers this assessment of Eric Holder…..”Holder is a real sneaky son of a bitch.” If what Mr Martin says is true, that sounds like a fair assessment to me.

HARP

Mr. Obama told a radio interviewer in 2007 that his Attorney General would investigate Bush executive orders. Naked Emperor News first uncovered the the KJFK radio interview between then Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and host Christiane Brown. Here’s an excerpt:

BROWN: And when you are… if you were to be elected president of the United States, Senator Obama, do you feel that we need to look back if the investigations have been done on this administration find out what happened, because there’s a fear there’s a dangerous precedent being set… the CIA interrogation tapes missing, warrant-less wire tapping, all of these are violations of the Constitution, and people can be forgiven for thinking that it seems like we only enforce the Constitution when its politically expedient.

OBAMA: Well one of things that I’ve said, and I’ve said this repeatedly publicly, since I taught constitutional law for ten years is that…one of my first acts as president is going to be call in my new attorney general to review every single executive order that’s been issued… to overturn those that are undermining the Constitution, undermining our civil liberties, that are promoting this cockamamie theory of Unitary government, that says that somehow the executive branch does not need to obey the Constitution…uhh

BROWN: But, but Senator Obama forgive me…

OBAMA: Let, let me finish…and during that process of review, if it’s determined that laws have been broken, then obviously accountability would be part of my Attorney General’s job.

BROWN: Why, Senator, would it energize them if crimes were revealed? I think it would weaken the Republican Party.

OBAMA: You are assuming that we are not currently trying our best to document and investigate problems that are out there.

Why is Mr. Obama all of a sudden switching gears from health care to this issue? Could it be that he was saving this little nugget for a time he found himself and his agenda sinking in the polls? This is quite the gamble, as the American people are outraged over the release of the Lockerbie bomber and the first thing on their minds is how to pay the bills not CIA interrogators facing down dangerous terrorists immediately after 9/11.

carolhaka

Thank God he started his rant the usual way “Well, one of the things I’ve …………….”

CAROL HAKA

Tammy

I was wondering when you were going to get pissed off about this, Larry.
Both parties are willing to throw the CIA (and this COUNTRY)under the bus for their own political motives.

It makes me sick. Members of the CIA risk their lives every day for this country, and now the politicians are all turning on them?

Both parties disgust me. Throw them ALL out.
I’m completely dumbfounded.
I hope your buddies who are still covert will stay safe.

Docelder

At the risk of sounding like Beck… both parties appear largely the same right now in that neither effectively is representing us. The parties perpetuate the parties. Government has become a self serving entity. At some point we will either get a third party or face an eventual type of a second revolution. Americans aren’t like third world peasants in that having once tasted freedom we aren’t going to lie down as a people and take it forever.

sandi78

Wow, I agree. Party comes before anything else now. I didn’t fully realise that about the Democratic Party until May 31 last year, but now I loathe both of them equally.

ces

Thanks Larry, for YOUR service and your insight. Oh, and this site.
carolhaka

Those who choose to become the enemy of this country by striking it’s citizens should be put on notice that anything deemed necessary to stop them will be used and enjoyed.

I love, love, love the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima – it was appropriate and helped end the war.

When we have the tools necessary to save the lives of innocent Americans they should be used. Enough with the bs about “enhanced interrogations”. They asked for it, we are just obliging.

Again, my son is in LA. If a waterhose had to be put down KSM’s throat – so be it. He has long out lived his welcome.

Choke, Choke, tisk, tisk ………. I wouldn’t lose a seconds sleep if I had the honor of doing it myself.

CAROL HAKA

CentralMass

I agree that those A-bombs were justified but what is there to love about 100,000 people dying a searing death in a matter of seconds?
The torture issue is about breaking the law and covering tracks. It’s about abuse of power. Leaving those who did the dirty work hung out to dry, like Cheney did with Libby.

carolhaka

Consequences ………………… Collateral Damage.

My future dad came home after 3 months in the EAME with 3 bullet holes and frostbite on his feet. He was almost lost the year after he graduated Valedictorian of his high school.

CAROL HAKA

CentralMass

Elected leaders can’t make unilateral decisions that affect the collective morality and will of an entire country with the leagilize of some cheesy lawyers to cover their backsides..

My Father was a marine in the South Pacific, my had uncles were in the european theater. One was a B17 Gunner, another was stationed at Pearl harbor, and luckily survived the attack.

helenk

My father came home on a hospital ship from India. He was part of the CBI theater of war.
They were building the LEDO road through Burma to China. I remember him telling me that they had more problems with the Chinese Warlords killing Americans than the Japanese.
That was covered up by our government. The only time I ever saw anything about it was an old movie called ” Never so Few”

Now China owns us

WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

J.J. (The Puma)

I don’t know if these criminal investigations are the right thing or not(I have to think about that). But, I do know that it is a bad thing when the White House sees itself at war with the CIA. That happened with JFK after the Bay of Pigs and with Jimmie Carter after some of the disclosures that came out in the 1970′s. It didn’t work out too well for them, and it is not going to work out so well for Obama.

If we have prosecutions, it better be of the people who gave the orders rather than the poor slobs who carried them out.

carolhaka

Or allowed it to happen – Pelosi ……….

donjo

The problem was, and still is, is that the CIA has been asked to do to many things NOT in its purview. They’re number 1 job, correct me if I’m wrong, is to gather and analyze intelligence, and not necessarily to spend gazillions of $$ or so-called black ops. I also doubt that beating the hell out of prisoners in order to get a fake confession was not in their “contract.” Playing kill the “enemy” video game through the use of Predators isn’t part of their game plan, either.

That’s what we have the military and police for. But if you read the history of the CIA, you will find numerous occasions where they physically or in other ham handed methods, assassinated people, overthrew governments, etc. in order to further the political aspirations of the US political party currently in power – or at the whim of a CIA director.

The original leaders, such as Dulles, turned the CIA into a tool for relatively nefarious purposes. Why?
I suspect, but I don’t know for sure, that it all goes back to $$ and a thirst for power. Somehow, I hope these hearings, as sham as though they may be and waaaaay off target, allow the CIA to get back to its original purpose of providing useful intelligence to those who run this place. And that goes for the NSA, as well. (Unfortunately, right now, that’s the corporations.)

The CIA is important to this country and needs to get back to it’s original purpose.

http://NoQuarterUSA.net Larry Johnson

Donjo,
I am correcting you because you are wrong. They have or had at least two jobs. Job One–recruit human sources who can provide intelligence on the plans, intentions and actions of our enemies. Job Two–produce intelligence reports based on the info provided by those sources. Job Three–provide all source analysis of existing and emerging threats.

There is an inherent inescapable tension between doing Jobs One & Two vs. Job Three. Analysts want to know as much as they can about the reliability and source of the intelligence. Case officers who have signed up human sources want to protect their identity. Can’t eliminate this tension. Just need to learn how to live with it.

Unfortunately CIA has lost its mandate to do Job Three. That is now farmed out among various agencies. The ability of officers to do Jobs One and Two also are at risk.

Consider yourself corrected.

donjo

Can’t disagree with what you said as you’ve been there and I haven’t. But I notice that torturing prisoners is not on the list, nor is operating a “virtual” war in Pipelineistan. Nor farming out ops to the thugs of Blackwater (XE) I think you’ll agree that something needs to be done to straighten things out. I don’t know what it is and I doubt if these hearings will do any good, except nail some guy on the bottom rung of the ladder. I wonder if the 2 guys with no experience in interrogation who were the CIA’s “advisers” on torture will get indicted. They’re “experts” now and, quite likely millionaires thanks this work and other contracts they have received. Conveniently, the guys at the top who started this whole mess will get away unscathed and with their middle fingers raised high in the air.

Isn’t that the way it always is?

SoCalDem

Thanks Carol for bringing Pelosi into the mix, cause she sure as hell a big part of the problem. The Democrats spent 6 years telling us we were going to have Impeachment hearings as soon as we had the majority. In 2006 we reached the majority, and Pelosi took Impeachment off of the table. I believe they didn’t want it to come out that they supported and helped the Bush administration. Same thing with that jacka$$ Conyers. The New Democratic Party sucks!!

Country before Party!!
http://noquarter foxyladi14

be safe Larry.thanks for your service
and this site..
Doc99

Morale plummets at CIA. Ya think?
Carmen

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams

This is the problem with BOTH PARTIES and I would say what 30% of the American people.

Docelder

it is interesting that Obama has on his reading list the John Adams book. Of course not everybody is buying into him actually reading it. To quote Daniel Hannan:

Nope, sorry, I don’t believe it. Barack Obama’s choice of holiday reading has been concocted by a spin-doctor.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100007471/barack-obamas-holiday-reading-list-rings-false/

carolhaka

Why isn’t he reading the Senate and House bills regarding the take over of Health Care?

CAROL HAKA

Katmoon

Right on the mark Carmen, I agree. Is there nothing in the Constitution that keeps us from firing the whole group of them? Is it always wait till elections? Surely there has to be something where we the people, can regain our voice, and our country away from these greedy, soul-dead, spineless self serving over-lords! Each party is its own self perpetuating business, with nary a thought to the country nor the people. This is the nastiest, partisan behavior, I have seen, ever. It has gone on too long and too often.

helenk

My belief is that the CIA is needed by this country. These are people who took an oath to protect this country. The do the things nobody wants to talk about. Congress wants the protection but wants to keep their hands clean and look good .
Fighting for liberty is not pretty and not always fair but it is necessary.
Are all CIA people wonderful? No. Any group of people has the good, the bad, and the ugly. I believe that they police themselves quietly and in ways we will never know.
Have mistakes been made? Yes as with any group of people sometimes orders are given that suck.
I sleep better knowing that we have a CIA and a trained military. I thank them both for their service.

WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE
candymarl

Apparently using people to gather real intelligence is either dead or dying. What are they thinking? No agency is pure or perfect.

But I agree with Mr. Johnson on this. What about those that gave the orders? What happened to the “The Buck Stops Here”? There will be no such thing now. Sigh.
tzada

Why should torture ever be used? Are there not drugs ? Or is truth serum the fantasy of pulp fiction and bad movies?

Yes, I agree with the assesment that both parties are the same. There will be no one to save us, but ourselves.

However the current administration is by far the most blatant, contemptuous I have ever seen. For that we can be grateful. Their arrogance “woke up the sleeping giant.” Can we change the course they have set upon? Yes, yes we can.
Peggy Sue

I have this awful feeling that this new “concern” about CIA interrogations is a stupid distraction from the sinking economy and health care reform campaign and/or a way to feed the Far Left, who have been hopping mad that multiple indictments of the prior Administration didn’t start on Day 1.

I’m against torture. I don’t care who does it. But if you zero in on CIA operatives then bring in the big fish, too, right at the top–Bush, Cheney, the whole damn cabinet, the military brass. And start lining up the Dems, too, who allowed these abuses to happen.

This announcement feels: oh so convenient.

Either the President was completely disingenuous when he said: he wanted to look forward, not backward. Or this is just another political ploy to deflect the heat and bad PR on all these other sloppy mistakes, bad policies and an inability or unwillingness to make a clear, consistent argument for any of right here, right now trillion+ dollar programs.

I hated what Bush & Co. did. But I don’t like the present Administration any better.

Docelder

It is more bringing back the effigy of Bush-Cheney so that the ongoing campaign for the Presidency can resume. Clearly, the job in itself isn’t working out… but if they can campaign against Bush indefinitely then the message will be… at least we aren’t Bush. Which is pretty much what got him elected minus the change component. People are pretty much over the change part anyway by now.

OxyCon

I find the Obama administration and Eric Holder’s singular obsession with putting the CIA on trial to be quite puzzling and wonder what’s really behind his motivations, especially when you look at all of Obama’s closest associates and mentors…the people he has sought out on his own, and you begin to notice a pattern of them all being radicals in the Black Power movement. I mean Rev Wright came right out and accused the CIA of genocide against Blacks, did he not? What’s really going on here? Obama and Holder appear as though they are on a mission to destroy the CIA.
Think about it. A new administration takes over Washington and the appointed Attorney General immediately sets out on an obsessed mission to investigate the CIA for criminal conduct. Am I missing something here? Aren’t we at war with a shadowy group of people who are plotting mass violence and death against us? Shouldn’t our Attorney General be focused on killing and capturing the enemies that are trying to destroy us? So why is he instead focusing on the agency that is charged with defending us from that threat? It doesn’t make a damn bit of sense…unless the reason Obama and Holder are attacking the CIA runs deeper.
tzada

Well once more into the breach comes ABC News.
Now where did they get that information?

Deaths, Missing Detainees Still Blacked Out in New CIA Report

Inspector General Reportedly Discovered Three Died, Many Unaccounted For by CIA

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8410340
Diana L. C.

Well, Larry, thanks for your insight. I am now truly depressed about the future of our country.
tzada

CIA Memo’s Released – More Evidence Why We Need To Support Our Intelligence Community, Not Throw Them To The Wolves

http://www.floppingaces.net/
carolhaka

Yesterday in California a student entered the school with weapons and pipe bombs.

A teacher gave him a bear hug and threw him to the ground, saving numerous lives and property distruction.

Obviously, the teacher is in violation of the student’s rights under the Obama administration. He should have first turned down the music from his boom box (no loud music allowed any longer) and then offered him a cot and down pillow for a nap (no stress positions or sleep deprivation allowed).

Thank God some spit or sweat from the teacher didn’t violate the “terrorist’s” nasal cavity or esophagus!

CAROL HAKA

Looking forward to the teacher’s trial.

Tammy

Now THAT’S funny.
And sadly true.
I hope the poor ex-student/alleged bomber/chainsaw operator is okay.
LOL!

graywolf

The CIA (and the State Dept.and DOJ) did plenty to undercut Bush; leaking like sieves.
Sometimes their self-righteous zealotry seemed over the top; ANYTHING to put Bush/Cheney is a bad light.
They wanted a leftwing Democrat admiistration that would bow to their primacy over their private playground – the government.
They got it.
Now, live with it.
Besides, I don’t think this bunch has added that much value anyway.
9/11 didn’t happen because they were good at their jobs.

Tammy

No, the CIA were good at their jobs.
But Clinton ignored them.

Get it straight, buddy. If CLINTON had ordered Osama out, it would have happened. He had his chance to take out that terrorist MANY times, but he was too chicken to take it.

Thank Clinton for 9-11.

TeakWoodKite

The appointment of John Durham as special prosecutor has already sparked a political firestorm in Washington that may rage for months, possibly creating a dangerous distraction for Mr Obama as he tries to revive his faltering healthcare reform package. It also adds considerable to the miseries of an already-battered CIA.

Its director Leon Panetta finds himself trying to maintain morale while also separating himself from what happened under the Bush-Cheney watch. In an email to worried staff he said his “primary interest… is to stand up for those officers who did what their country asked and who followed the legal guidance they were given.“

.

LJ, can you explain if Leon is so concerned about morale, why he ran like Forest Gump up the hill to fetcha pail of CYA and is two faced?

TeakWoodKite

John Durham

Tapped by Bush administration Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey in January 2008 to investigate the CIA in the 2005 destruction of interrogation videotapes. He serves as acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia for the purposes of that matter.
He also evaluated, prepared and prosecuted major racketeering cases directed at the Gambino, Genovese and Patriarca crime families in Connecticut

.

The videotapes went nowhere and he missed the Bush crime family in Connecticut. Hell all the other familes just had vacation property in the state and knew better than to shit were you sleep.

Just Me

As others on here have mentioned, I truly believe this investigation is all about obscurentism, designed to distract attention from everything else that has, and is, transpiring. Further burying inquiry, and audits, re the treasury raids.

As soon as news of it hit the scene, healthcare reform was relegated to a lower notch on the MSM priority list. Same for the failure aspects of cash for clunkers. etc.

I can see this, if the Obama needs it for cover, as being one of the longest, most drawn-out investigations ever. It will move along incrementally, with sensationalism arising as needed, such as now.

I would not be at all surprised to see this convenient investigation, timing wise, on-going throughout the rest of Obama’s current tenure.

It is the only way he, and Axelrod, can continue to permanently use Bush and Cheney as shields, and can be expanded to any level they desire, at anytime they desire, to suit their need for distraction.

Simply put, I see it as a new way of wagging the dog, and believe anyone but Obama would already be called on it.

I guess he could either attack Iran, or start a permanent investigation. He chose the latter, keeping the former in reserve. Heaven help us if this investigation goes awry.

* I apologize for my verbosity.

tzada

Here is someone else that agrees with you. I also think you are spot on. However that said, I think he is gunning for Bush. He said he would pre election. It will be symbolic, a huge get “whitey”

The ethics of ferocity

The Obama Administration, aware that everyone outside of union bosses, and interest groups looking for billion-dollar ribeye steaks of taxpayer money, is having trouble remembering why they voted for Obama, has decided to drag CIA interrogators and Bush Administration officials into court, where they will be persecuted for their role in defending America from terrorist attacks. Apparently Obama and his accomplices decided to distract their liberal base from the fiery Hindenburg crash of socialized medicine, by offering them a relaxing cruise on the Titanic of leftist foreign policy. As with everything else the current Administration does, it’s a remarkably foolish move: dangerous for America, and self-destructive as a strategy.

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/08/25/the-ethics-of-ferocity/
tzada

What the President’s Attack on the CIA Really Means
By Herbert E. Meyer

There is now just one group of people exempt from President Obama’s worldwide ban on torture: the men and women of the CIA.

By authorizing Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to determine whether a full criminal investigation of CIA employees and contractors is warranted for the manner in which they interrogated captured terrorists, the President has thrown his power and support behind those far-left ideologues — in Congress and elsewhere — who believe that the CIA is a bigger threat to our country than al Qaeda.

I know the men and women of the CIA — I had the honor of working with them during the Reagan Administration — and they would rather have their fingernails pulled out with pliers or have holes drilled into their knees (neither of which they did to captured terrorists, as the Justice Department’s hot-shot investigators will learn) than be thought of as anything other than honorable patriots doing their best, under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, to protect our country from its enemies. It will be excruciating for them to face their colleagues each morning under the strain of looming criminal prosecutions that will destroy their careers and deplete their meager savings accounts — and, even worse, to come home to their families each evening with the stench of President Obama’s contempt for their honor in the air.

A Bone to his Base

By launching this latest attack on the CIA, the President has done more than merely throw a bone to his base. He has removed all remaining doubt about how the US now plans to confront the global threat of radical Islam. Simply put, we have reached one of those hinges of history whose swings alter the course of world events. The best way to understand what President Obama has done is to put aside this week’s headlines and, for just a moment, press the rewind button:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/what_the_presidents_attack_on.html

tzada

The So-Called Cheney Documents

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/08/the_socalled_cheney_documents.asp
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