SSS say it ain’t so. The CIA wouldn’t do such a thing.
Do the ends justify the means? Were there even any ends to justify?
Via David Stockman’s Contra Corner
Senator Wyden: Americans Will Be Profoundly Disturbed By Report On CIA Interrogations
By Bryan Denson | [email protected]
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden explained today why he voted to declassify the Senate Intelligence Committee’s apparently scathing 6,200-page report on the CIA’s detention and brutal interrogation of overseas terrorism suspects.
“I believe the American people will be profoundly disturbed by the contents of this report,” the senior senator from Oregon wrote in a news release. “Though I can’t provide any details until that declassification process is finished, I can say that the American people will see that much of what CIA officials have said about the effectiveness of coercive interrogations was simply untrue.”
The Washington Post reported this week that the Intelligence Committee’s report concludes “that the CIA misled the government and the public about aspects of its brutal interrogation program for years — concealing details about the severity of its methods, overstating the significance of plots and prisoners, and taking credit for critical pieces of intelligence that detainees had in fact surrendered before they were subjected to harsh techniques.”
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein called out Director of Central Intelligence on what she perceived as CIA efforts to impede the Senate investigation, offering an excoriation of the agency’s top lawyer. A boiled-down version of her floor speech can be found here.
“I have spoken about the intelligence leadership’s culture of misinformation before and it continues to be a problem to this day,” Wyden said in his news statement. “I have also been asking questions publicly for years about the role that outside contractors played in the interrogation program and I hope the American people will soon get some answers to those questions.”
Wyden, a senior member of the Intelligence Committee, urged the Obama administration to declassify the Senate report swiftly.
“It is going to make many people uncomfortable,” he wrote, “but getting the facts about torture out to the American people will keep these mistakes from being repeated and make our national intelligence agencies stronger and more effective in the long run.”
Sen. Wyden: Americans will be ‘profoundly disturbed’ by report on CIA’s terrorist interrogations
I have read that report cover to cover and it’s full of lies and propaganda. It uses old data that has been disproved many times over. Sen. Ron Wyden is a political hack on a witch-hunt. He has no credibility whatsoever. You numbskulls need to understand that the CIA works FOR the American people, not against it.
@SSS – All of the branches of the federal government currently are working against the people. You will have a hard time convincing me that overthrowing various republics around the globe and playing James Bond with the soviets for 40 years was in the best interest of the American people.
TPC
That SSS comment may be a dopple.
TPC
I can’t convince you because you are an idiot. No hope for you. I went to a Service Academy, where honor, integrity, and truth are taught. Lying is not something I can do. The CIA does not torture people you crazy fool, although on occasion enhanced interrogation techniques are used. It’s no big deal, and it saves American lives. Besides that, I am a Big Dog here. You should trust me just on that basis alone.
Damn
Bunch of doppleganging mangy curs on this site.
I can’t comment on Senator Wyden’s comments because I haven’t been privy, as he has, to the classified Senate Intelligence Committee report to which he is referring. It is highly unlikely that the report will be declassified, as he wishes, except perhaps in a highly redacted format.
Elected national politicians for decades have used the CIA as a convenient whipping boy when they see or hear of CIA activities they don’t like or support, yet conveniently overlook or remain silent on CIA’s spectacular successes when they become known to the public. An example is the hunt for bin Laden.
Were it not for the CIA’s dogged pursuit of that killer, he would still be alive and well in Pakistan. Sure, the Navy Seals actually killed him, but who led the Seals to that compound? The CIA.
Did anyone on the left praise the CIA’s role in that operation? Wyden? Feinstein? Anyone? No, but they sure were quick to heap praise on Obama for his “courageous decision” to give the green light for the operation. How about the CIA officer who recruited the Pakistani doctor who played a key role in helping to put together the pieces of the bin Laden puzzle. Huh? Can we get a shout-out on this guy for that recruitment? Not very likely here on TBP.
I am not trying to act as a blanket apologist for the CIA, just add some balance to the issue. Something that is sorely lacking in Congress and with many of the visitors to TBP.
“I am not trying to act as a blanket apologist for the CIA, just add some balance to the issue. ”
—— SSS
Would you also defend Satan …. just to “add balance”? Some things … Satan and the CIA, for example … are indefensible. So solly. (That’s NOT an attack on you … you’re OK in my book … although you will probably take it that way.)
It took a decade or so to “get Bin Laden” …. and when they did he was a feeble old man on dialysis. Not sure I’d want to hang my hat on that “accomplishment”.
Like with many of our federal divisions, I believe the CIA plays an important role in our nation’s interests, however like all federal divisions, I believe the CIA has sought power for powers’ sake many a time, at an overall detriment to the health of the nation.
The CIA’s issues are the symptom of a deeply flawed US foreign policy whose roots extend back to the Victorian era.
“Commerce with all nations, allies with none.” – Thomas Jefferson
A bit of a blanket statement, as we can obviously not remain trade partners with some nations, and should maintain strong ties with others (Canada springs to mind), but I think its a goal worth shooting for.
It took a decade or so to “get Bin Laden” …. and when they did he was a feeble old man on dialysis. Not sure I’d want to hang my hat on that “accomplishment”.
—-Stucky
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TPC ….. excellent comments overall, but I would modify somewhat “I believe the CIA has sought power for powers’ sake many a time, at an overall detriment to the health of the nation.”
The CIA’s “power” is derived directly from the president. No more, no less. Some presidents (Ike, Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, and both Bush’s) actively used the CIA to advance their foreign policy goals, whether by hook or crook. Other presidents (Carter and Clinton) deeply disliked the CIA and kept it at arm’s length. I wouldn’t use the word power, but rather influence.
That looks like you after you loose a drug-war argument.
Was it worth it, sss? A trillion dollars? Destroying two countries. Tens of thousands of dead, including out own young people. For one man?
oops …. LOSE …. I’m smokin’ a doobie right now.
If you want to hammer the CIA, try using the very recent case of former Acting Director Mike Morrell. He is a lying, duplicitous piece of shit who has utterly disgraced the mandatory political neutrality of the intelligence and defense communities.
After the Benghazi fiasco, Morrell personally and deliberately presented “talking points” to officials of the Obama administration to fit THEIR preconceived notion of what happened, ie. the attack in Benghazi was the result of a mob infuriated by some obscure anti-Islamic video posted on You Tube. He completely ignored cables from the CIA’s chief of station in Tripoli that emphatically stated that the attack was a pre-planned, al Qaeda-led operation, which it was.
That goes way beyond unprofessional. Morrell is a sniveling, politically compromised sack of camel dung.
Give it a rest, Stucky. I’m not biting on any more of your incendiary, unhinged comments.
Awww, c’mom SSS. WAS IT WORTH IT?? Yes or no.
I’m all for keeping the CIA division that deals with analysis as they can and have prevented at least one war. It was a report that stated that Iran did not have an atomic bomb program that stopped Dubya from attacking that country ten years ago and he said so himself.
As for the covert operations part, I’d get rid of it completely.
I would hope the CIA would use any means necessary to get information from these terrorists.The CIA has saved thousands of lives over the years but you never here about it in the media.Listen to the special forces units and they will tell how important it is to get good information.Most of it coming from CIA assets on the ground.This nation has enemies here and overseas that want to do us great harm and they will if given the chance.Wake up.my little children on the BP.This is not Alice in wonderland.
SSS
Congrats. You are winning over ‘hearts and minds’ …. you have bb as an ally. WooHoo!!!
“I’m all for keeping the CIA division that deals with analysis as they can and have prevented at least one war. ……. As for the covert operations part, I’d get rid of it completely.”
—-Zara
CIA analysts are in the Directorate of Intelligence, Zara. The people who COLLECT the intelligence from human sources are in the Directorate of Operations (the “covert operations” part you’d get rid of completely). Please explain to me how the CIA intelligence analysts would do their job if there were no information to analyze.
SSS, I know nothing about your former world. Ask some retired CIA analysts. They are all old fucks so maybe you know some of them:
Phillip Giraldi
Ray McGovern
Paul Pillar
According to the book of Joshua (Joshua 2:1-7), when the Hebrews were encamped at Shittim, in the “Arabah” or Jordan valley opposite Jericho, ready to cross the river, Joshua, as a final preparation, sent out two spies to investigate the military strength of Jericho. The spies stayed in Rahab’s house, which was built into the city wall. When soldiers of the city guard came to look for them, she hid them under bundles of flax on the roof. After escaping, the spies promised to spare Rahab and her family after taking the city, even if there should be a massacre, if she would mark her house by hanging a red cord out the window. …
bb is right, spies are an important part of warfare; hot or not, war is ongoing.
Zara
The Directorate of Intelligence (analysts) is full of closet liberals who have willingly politicized National Intelligence Estimates (NIE), which are sent to senior policymakers in the executive and legislative branches. I mentioned one such individual above, Mike Morrell. You named two more, Ray McGovern and Paul Pillar.
I don’t know anything about Philip Giraldi.
hmm, CIA saved you from Binladen and terrorist threat etc. So who created these terrorist threats un the first place? who gave them training, who had them on the payroll?
who claimed evidence for WMD in iraq? what organization is responsible for the entire middleast being fucked?
what organization experimented on american citizens for brainwashing and other unethical acts?