Could Dick Cheney be right about the CIA Probe? I can't even believe that I'm asking the question as I've always had an issue with Darth Vader and his side-kicks, but Cheney, who recently said that President Obama's and Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to look into CIA interrogation techniques during the Bush Administration years was "politically motivated", might have a point.
I haven't been able to figure out exactly why the Obama Administration is looking into supposedly past CIA transgressions. After all, we are talking about "The Company", "The Spooks" (not my friend Chenjerai's former rap group but the name given to CIA operatives), the very people who's job success requires deception.
The micromanagement of CIA Operatives in the field has never been, and should never, in my opinion, be an important goal for the Attorney General to shoot for. The CIA shouldn't work under it's own rules, that's not what I'm saying, but it should work under guidelines that keep it separate from other organizations. Why? Because by it's very nature the CIA is another organization. It's sole purpose is to gather intelligence that keeps the United States number one in the world. How it does it may need to change and the Obama Administration can do that, but spending time, money and effort on figuring out the rightness or wrongness of what happened in the past makes no sense to me.
Would it be possible to glean information from prisoners with different interrogation methods? Maybe, but by opening a can of worms that could quickly become the size of the Capitol Building, the Obama Administration can only be hoping for one thing, deflection. That has to be the word, right? Deflection from the fact that unemployment is rampant in our cities and we haven't made any headway in Afghanistan?
The Obama Administration cannot be faulted for either one, but by playing a Bush Administration "card", blaming the past administration for not being able to solve present day issues, the Obama Administration has already proven themselves to be no different than the Bush Administration when it comes to explaining why, after more than 200 days in office, nothing has really changed. Nothing at all.
But, I digress. The truth is that the CIA is the CIA for a reason and I have to agree with Cheney on one respect - - there hasn't been a terrorist atttack on American soil since 9/11.
That's a fact. Maybe, we should leave the CIA alone and let it do its job. Nobody likes to be micromanaged, after all.
There are bigger issues to solve than punishing the CIA for what they did under Cheney's and Bush's watch, much bigger. Let bygones be bygones is what I say.
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Well I can say I am not impressed with boy wonder at all. I keep waiting for anything to transpire that shows he is really about what he claimed in his campaign, but he has fallen short on all accounts. I know it is still early, so I haven't given up hope totally, but from what I have seen to date, lets just say I am not holding my breath!
ReplyDeleteWhat do they hope to gain? To find out some deep dark secret that has been kept away from the common folks? I have to agree. I think everyone already knows that at times the CIA uses less then legal methods of drawing information out of people. We may not like to acknowledge it, and morally may not agree but keep a blind eye to it. So doesn't that make us just as guilty by looking the other way as those using the "methods"? Deflection? Possibly.. or maybe someone desperately trying to find something that will make his administration stand out in the history books, regardless of the reason or content other than being the first black president.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's not so much interogation tatics he is wanting to look into and more internal corruption? Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteI think this says it all...
ReplyDelete"Cheney is right to question Obama's short-sighted, partisan tactics. Presidents have close legal advisers to whom they seek counsel on just about every decision they make as president. In many cases, presidents must have quick answers if they want to act decisively in the best interests of the country. Wasting time could mean wasting lives. By exposing these decisions, and the actions of those acting on the president's behalf, to future litigation or even possible criminal prosecution, Obama is inviting legal recourse against himself and his entire administration -- as well as generations of administrations to come." http://usconservatives.about.com/b/2009/08/31/cheney-is-right-to-criticize-obamas-cia-probe.htm
I am still waiting for this health care reform! I think Obama best start putting his efforts towards the promises he made and leave the other stuff to tend to when there is an actual problem.
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