penner01
May 8th, 2009, 3:47 pm
I’m not defending torture and this piece is not intended to discuss my feelings that water boarding isn’t torture. It’s about duplicity of our leadership. I get frustrated over some of the comments in the threads regarding issues where people assert that the United States should take the “moral high ground” in matters of international relationships. In truth, any detractor of American policy that equates the conduct of our CIA and other intelligence organizations with a representation of the moral standards of the country are simply grandstanding. Intelligence operations by nature are at the fringe of the envelope and commonly beyond. To be less would render their efforts fruitless. Every country on this planet knows this and every country with intelligence capabilities is in the same arena. Intelligence operatives and “spies” live on the dark side.
CIA operatives and independent contractors know full well that they operate at their own peril both physically and legally. It’s the job. That they might keep copious notes regarding some of their activities is perfectly understandable. They well know that their efforts may be challenged and records of what works and what doesn’t work and what was gleaned is not only critical to such challenge; it is also prudent investigative technique. But in respect to the challenge, it is only reasonable that they would fully document any briefing activity they undertook. CYA in such a business is totally understandable simply because the nature of that business is that they can be hung out to dry at any moment.
Now, for some to plead ignorance of the facts is an absolute absurdity. Even beyond personal briefings, to think that those in Congress charged with knowing aren’t fully aware of events and techniques is hard to swallow. In fact, it would be hard to believe that anybody in our congress doesn’t know what intelligence operatives do. Any elected representative that is truly blind to how intelligence agents work should probably not be holding the position. I have no doubt that our congress as a whole has known all along that agents were undertaking efforts we might find unsavory. (and I would offer that our current President is in that mix) That they would take an opportunistic moment of political expediency to attack them for their efforts disgusts me.
Listening to our local Fax affiliate radio this morning a caller made a comparison. He brought up that we charge athletes with lying to Congress about use of steroids so why isn’t it an equal crime for a representative to lie or at least withhold knowledge of what they are now calling a crime? The host surprisingly defended those involved stating that the athletes were probably under oath and people like Pelosi were not. (don’t misunderstand – the host is actually quite conservative) That makes me wonder though – does Congress not have to swear an oath? Should not such an oath mean “always”? It’s not like when they go home at night they aren’t still a Congressional representative. A member of Congress is obligated to do the right thing for the American citizens. In the case of extraordinary measures of interrogation, I hold that silence is tacit approval. With that, I’d say those who used the measures should not be held accountable if in fact there is an effort to “prosecute” or “persecute” anyone involved and that the accountability should go to those who now object but didn’t when it was less convenient.
For the last three years, our Congress has busied themselves at two things. One is pursuit of their coveted political agenda. The other has been an insane pre-occupation with finding anything they could to discredit the previous administration while banking on their own deniability of involvement and culpability. It’s all a charade that does Americans a disservice and now, with a sympathetic president both of those efforts have reached a fever pitch. I regrettably hope the second comes to fruition for one reason – it would be great to see their duplicity bite them in the ass.
CIA operatives and independent contractors know full well that they operate at their own peril both physically and legally. It’s the job. That they might keep copious notes regarding some of their activities is perfectly understandable. They well know that their efforts may be challenged and records of what works and what doesn’t work and what was gleaned is not only critical to such challenge; it is also prudent investigative technique. But in respect to the challenge, it is only reasonable that they would fully document any briefing activity they undertook. CYA in such a business is totally understandable simply because the nature of that business is that they can be hung out to dry at any moment.
Now, for some to plead ignorance of the facts is an absolute absurdity. Even beyond personal briefings, to think that those in Congress charged with knowing aren’t fully aware of events and techniques is hard to swallow. In fact, it would be hard to believe that anybody in our congress doesn’t know what intelligence operatives do. Any elected representative that is truly blind to how intelligence agents work should probably not be holding the position. I have no doubt that our congress as a whole has known all along that agents were undertaking efforts we might find unsavory. (and I would offer that our current President is in that mix) That they would take an opportunistic moment of political expediency to attack them for their efforts disgusts me.
Listening to our local Fax affiliate radio this morning a caller made a comparison. He brought up that we charge athletes with lying to Congress about use of steroids so why isn’t it an equal crime for a representative to lie or at least withhold knowledge of what they are now calling a crime? The host surprisingly defended those involved stating that the athletes were probably under oath and people like Pelosi were not. (don’t misunderstand – the host is actually quite conservative) That makes me wonder though – does Congress not have to swear an oath? Should not such an oath mean “always”? It’s not like when they go home at night they aren’t still a Congressional representative. A member of Congress is obligated to do the right thing for the American citizens. In the case of extraordinary measures of interrogation, I hold that silence is tacit approval. With that, I’d say those who used the measures should not be held accountable if in fact there is an effort to “prosecute” or “persecute” anyone involved and that the accountability should go to those who now object but didn’t when it was less convenient.
For the last three years, our Congress has busied themselves at two things. One is pursuit of their coveted political agenda. The other has been an insane pre-occupation with finding anything they could to discredit the previous administration while banking on their own deniability of involvement and culpability. It’s all a charade that does Americans a disservice and now, with a sympathetic president both of those efforts have reached a fever pitch. I regrettably hope the second comes to fruition for one reason – it would be great to see their duplicity bite them in the ass.