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January 8, 2009 at 17:45:11
Promoted to Headline (H2) on 1/8/09: by Ray McGovern Page 1 of 5 page(s) |
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At long last. Change we can believe in. In choosing Leon Panetta to take charge of the CIA, President-elect Barak Obama has shown he is determined to put an abrupt end to the lawlessness and deceit with which the administration of George W. Bush has corrupted intelligence operations and analysis. First and foremost, the appointment gives hope that torture and "rendition" (a euphemism for kidnapping people for delivery to foreign torture chambers) is over — or will be in less than two weeks. Character counts. And so does integrity.
With those qualities, and the backing of a new President, Panetta is equipped to lead the CIA out of the wilderness into which it was driven by sycophantic directors with very flexible attitudes toward truth, honesty and the law — directors who deemed it their duty to do the President's bidding — legal or illegal; honest or dishonest. In a city in which lapel-flags have been seen as adequate substitutes for the Constitution, Panetta will bring a rigid adherence to the rule of law.
For Panetta this is no battlefield conversion. On torture, for example, this is what he wrote a year ago:
"We cannot simply suspend [American ideals of human rights] in the name of national security. Those who support torture may believe that we can abuse captives in certain select circumstances and still be true to our values. But that is a false compromise. We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don't. There is no middle ground.
"We cannot and we must not use torture under any circumstances. We are better than that."
Please tell those of your friends who rely solely on the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) that torture is a crime — not only under international law, but also under the War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. 2441) passed by a Republican-dominated Congress in 1996. And besides that, torture can never be counted upon to yield trustworthy intelligence—never.
As for integrity, this is nothing new for Leon Panetta. As head of President Richard Nixon's Office of Civil Rights, he insisted on enforcing laws to protect minorities even under pressure from Nixon to get in line with the Republican "southern strategy" of neglecting civil rights. Rather than buckle to these demands, Panetta resigned and later became a Democrat.
How Did We Get Here?
Political courage -- like that demonstrated by Panetta as a young man -- was what was lacking as the Bush administration turned America's principled repudiation of torture inside out, from the top down.
Unfortunately for President Bush, he cannot feign ignorance of this process, since the White House itself has released a Memorandum for the President dated Jan. 25. 2002, in which his lawyers apprised him of the seriousness of the War Crimes Act and even noted, "punishments for violations of Section 2441 include the death penalty."
That memorandum, signed by then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales (but drafted by Vice President Dick Cheney's lawyer, David Addington) warned specifically of "prosecutors and independent counsels who may in the future decide to pursue unwarranted charges based on Section 2441."
They then told Bush not to worry; that all he needed to do was to make a "determination that the GPW [Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War] does not apply." They added cheerily, "Your determination would create a reasonable basis in law that Section 2441 does not apply, which would provide a solid defense to any future prosecution."
It is a safe bet that Bush now wishes he had gotten a second opinion. Instead, he went ahead and signed an executive memorandum on Feb. 7, 2002, incorporating the Mafia-style advice of his lawyers. He then sent it to Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Chief of Staff to the President Andrew Card, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Condoleezza Rice, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
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| 7 comments |
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Thanks
Thank you for this hopeful note from an insider. Having known a few former Agency people in my wildly plaid past, I know that dedication and a sincere desire to serve is the original motivation for most, and that those who get in are the finest people around. I also know that politics and interpersonal stupid stuff can sometimes discolor that original ideal to varying degrees- but for the past eight years I've watched horrified as the entire shebang turned ugly, reminiscent of all the evil security forces ever created around the world- the Constitution and Geneva removed, that's all it could be. My only gratification came from knowing "VIPS" was out there trying to fight the good fight. Here's hoping the new director gets things straightened out ok, and that VIPS can operate less intensively [but please don't stop- you're needed]. by Jennifer Hathaway (16 articles, 16 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 760 comments [220 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 at 6:35:30 PM  (0+)
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To the heart
and the point! Thank you. by sometimes blinded (4 articles, 106 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 615 comments [51 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 at 7:00:34 PM (0+)
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Steven Kappes
It is apparent some democrats thought Kappes should have been named to head CIA, I applaud Mr Panetta's courage in risking so much to go on the record to denounce the con man from Crawford who spent eight years using the constitution as oval office toilet paper by David Keller (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 6 comments) on Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 at 8:55:46 PM (0+)
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As much as I respect Ray McGovern ...
... I still have my doubts as to just how much cleaning up needs to be done as dismantling of the agency altogether. As compartmentalized the CIA has become any good do has been destroyed by the fact that essentially they are now a huge part and one of the biggest branches of a drug-smuggling and dealing crime syndicate that has been financing our government since Vietnam. The unaccounted huge sums of money made from this world-wide smuggling operations have corrupted near every facet of our government, how one man is going to change all that remains to be seen. It's a good start, and as far as compared to the rest of Obama's picks so far is better than the rest and I wish him well. But after he tackles torture there' are some bigger Boogeymen waiting in the wings, like the systematic corruption that comes from running a smuggling operation and the biggest Boogeyman of them all, the CIA's involvement in 9/11. by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Friday, Jan 9, 2009 at 5:34:18 AM (0+)
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Reply: I also respect Mr. McGovern
and consider him one of the "friendly spooks". But I agree that the CIA generally has been a monstrosity and a terror to the world since its inception, and that only a firehose could clean out that house of horrors sufficiently to make it worthy of trust and pride. Mr. Panetta could begin by forcing the CIA to tell the American people the truth about how--for the best of patriotic reasons, of course--its black operators conspired to murder President Kennedy and orchestrate an ongoing, decades-long cover-up of that treasonous crime. Then he could move on to drug-running and 9/11. by Michael Fury (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 88 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jan 9, 2009 at 7:23:02 AM (0+)
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Reply: More than this...
The National Security Act should be abolished in toto. It is an affront to the Constitution. It is the IRON CURTAIN of the US and should be melted and cast into chains to shackle all the high priests in the cult of Intelligence. Total open and transparent government is demanded by Liberty and Justice. by William Whitten (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4880 comments [1686 recommended, 28 rejected]) on Friday, Jan 9, 2009 at 8:28:47 PM (0+)
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What? No More...
...drugging, torturing, brainwashing, and murdering unsuspecting citizens (Operation MK-ULTRA)? No more subversion of the free press and repression of free speech (Operation Mockingbird)? No importing and enabling mass-murdering fascists (Operation Paperclip)? No more overthrowing duly elected governments, including our own (ZR-RIFLE, Executive Action)? No more waterboarding? No more false Intel? What will become of democracy, now that a good old boy insider isn't running CIA? Tim Fleming by Tim Fleming (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 37 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Jan 9, 2009 at 8:29:02 AM (0+)
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