A group of U.S. intelligence veterans chastises the mainstream U.S. media for virtually ignoring a British newspaper’s account of the gripping inside story on how the CIA tried to block the U.S. Senate’s torture investigation.
MEMORANDUM FOR: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Vice Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
SUBJECT: U.S. Media Mum On How Your Committee Faced Down Both CIA and Obama
We write to thank you for your unwavering support for your extraordinarily courageous and tenacious staff in (1) investigating CIA torture under the Bush/Cheney administration and (2) resisting CIA/White House attempts under the Obama administration to cover up heinous torture crimes like waterboarding.
The CIA seal in the lobby of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
We confess to having been shocked at the torture detailed in the version of the executive summary your Committee released on December 9, 2014. We found ourselves wondering what additional behavior could have been deemed so repugnant that the White House and CIA insisted it be redacted; and if the entire 6,700-page investigation – with whatever redaction might be truly necessary – would ever see the light of day. We think you could take steps now to make it less likely that the full report be deep-sixed, and we will make some suggestions below toward that end.
With well over 400 years of intelligence experience under our collective belt, we wondered how you managed to get the investigation finished and the executive summary up and out (though redacted). We now know the backstory – thanks to the unstinting courage of the committee’s principal investigator Daniel Jones, who has been interviewed by Spencer Ackerman, an investigative reporter for The (UK) Guardian newspaper. The titanic struggle depicted by Ackerman reads like a crime novel; sadly, the four-part series is nonfiction:
I. “Senate investigator breaks silence about CIA’s ‘failed coverup’ of torture report”
II. “Inside the fight to reveal the CIA’s torture secrets”
III. ” ‘A constitutional crisis’: the CIA turns on the Senate”
IV. “No looking back: the CIA torture report’s aftermath“
Ackerman’s reporting on Jones’s tenacity in facing down the gorilla CIA makes abundantly clear how richly deserved was the encomium you gave Jones when he left the committee staff in December 2015.
You noted, “Without his indefatigable work on the Intelligence Committee staff, the Senate report on the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program would not have been completed, nor would its 525-page executive summary have been released to the public.”
It seems equal praise might well be due to any Snowden-like patriot/whistleblower who “inadvertently” included the “Panetta Review” in the reams of material given your committee by the CIA.
Remarkably, a full week after The Guardian carried Ackerman’s revelations, none has been picked up by U.S. “mainstream” newspapers. Not the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post – not even The Hill.
(As for alternative media, Charles P. Pierce’s timely piece for Esquire whetted his readers’ appetite for the gripping detail of the Guardian series, explaining that it would be “unfair both to Ackerman’s diligence and Jones’s courage” to try to summarize even just the first installment. “Read the whole damn thing,” Pierce advises.)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California.
And so, the culprits who should be hanging their heads in shame are out and about, with some still collecting book royalties and some blithely working for this or that candidate for president. As if nothing happened. Sadly, given the soporific state of our mainstream media – particularly on sensitive issues like these – their silence is nothing new, although it does seem to have gotten even worse in recent years.
The late William Colby, CIA director from 1973 to 1976, has been quoted as saying: “The CIA owns everyone of any significance in the major media.” Whether or not Colby was quoted correctly, the experience of the past several decades suggests it is largely true. Better sourced is a quote from William Casey, CIA director from 1981 to 1987: “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
In these circumstances, we know from sad experience that there is no way any of us can get on any of the Sunday talk shows, for example – despite our enviable record for getting it right. Nor does it seem likely that any of the “mainstream” media will invite you to discuss the highly instructive revelations in The Guardian. We respectfully suggest that you take the initiative to obtain media exposure for this very important story.
One additional request: As you and your investigators know better than anyone, it is essential to safeguard the integrity not only of the unredacted executive summary but also of the entire 6,700-page committee report on the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program.
And, again, you are aware that as soon as Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, took the gavel from you, he took steps seemingly aimed at ensuring that the full report never sees the light of day. Could you ask him why, as soon as he became chair, he asked the executive branch to transfer their copies to the Senate Intelligence Committee?
Many interpreted that as an ill-disguised attempt to thwart holding accountable those responsible for the abuses. Moreover, if the report cannot be reviewed by those who might be asked to participate in activities like torture in the future, how is it even possible for anyone to learn from the prior unfortunate experience?
The public is entitled to the entire story about the CIA torture program and its lies to Congress, the White House, and to us. Any attempt to bury the fullest investigation of the torture program – an investigation that provides an example of Congressional oversight at its best – would undermine the democratic accountability that is supposed to be provided by the separation of powers.
Furthermore, as you were quoted in the Guardian series, the agency searches “may have undermined the constitutional framework essential to effective congressional oversight of intelligence activities or any other government function . . .”
Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, was exactly on point: “You either have oversight and separation of powers with the checks and balances that come with that, or you don’t. It’s amazing that, once again, no one at the CIA was held accountable.” Consequently, the issue now is not only the cover-up of torture by the CIA but – at least equally important – the “unbridled agency that spied on Americans (including Senate Intelligence Committee staffers) as eagerly as they spied on foreign adversaries,” as the Guardian described it in referring to the Church Committee investigation in the 1970s.
Does American democracy deserve any less than an intense investigation of the CIA’s obstruction of the democratic process in the 2000s?
The Guardian revelations make it still more difficult for the kind of excuses made by those who can hardly pretend to be disinterested observers – former CIA directors George Tenet, Porter Goss, Michael Hayden, for example – who wrote Rebuttal: The CIA Responds to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Study of Its Detention and Interrogation Program, published on September 9, 2015. We published our own (VIPS) critique of “Rebuttal” five days later. And before the final vote on John Brennan’s nomination to become CIA director, we tried to warn you not to trust him.
President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney receive an Oval Office briefing from CIA Director George Tenet. Also present is Chief of Staff Andy Card (on right). (White House photo)
We believe you will agree that more needs to be done to replant the moral moorings of honesty that must anchor the intelligence profession to which we have given so many years. And we think that one step in that direction would be for you to seize this new opportunity to give prominence to the edifying story of how your committee and its staffers stepped up so effectively to their responsibilities in investigating and exposing the very sad and delicate chapter of CIA torture.
The play-by-play provided by the Guardian series, with its appropriate focus on the top investigator Daniel Jones, has created an opportunity we hope will not be squandered; a chance to tell a truly uplifting story sure to encourage others to behave in similarly exemplary manner.
For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
Jean Maria Arrigo, PhD, member of 2005 American Psychological Association task force evaluating the role of psychologists in U.S. intelligence and military interrogations of detainees (associate VIPS)
Eugene DeFriest Betit, Ph. D., DIA, US Army (ret.)
Thomas Drake, former Senior Executive, NSA
Bogdan Dzakovic, Former Team Leader of Federal Air Marshals and Red Team, FAA Security, (ret.) (associate VIPS)
Mike Gravel, former Adjutant, top secret control officer, Communications Intelligence Service; special agent of the Counter Intelligence Corps and former United States Senator
Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq & Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS)
Larry C Johnson, CIA & State Department (ret.)
Michael S. Kearns, Captain, USAF (Ret.); ex-Master SERE Instructor for Strategic Reconnaissance Operations (NSA/DIA) and Special Mission Units (JSOC)
John Kiriakou, Former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and former senior investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Edward Loomis, NSA, Cryptologic Computer Scientist (ret.)
Linda Lewis, WMD preparedness policy analyst, USDA (ret.) (associate VIPS)
David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)
Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst (ret.)
Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Near East, CIA and National Intelligence Council (ret.)
Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (Ret.)
Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.)
Scott Ritter, former MAJ., USMC, former UN Weapon Inspector, Iraq
Peter Van Buren, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) (associate VIPS)
Kirk Wiebe, former Senior Analyst, SIGINT Automation Research Center, NSA
Lawrence Wilkerson, Colonel (USA, ret.), Distinguished Visiting Professor, College of William and Mary (associate VIPS)
Valerie Plame Wilson, former CIA Operations Officer
Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned)
AWESOME
The articles contain much useful detail, and have a window to read the summary report’s summary and table of contents (500+ pages).
That the CIA and admin covered up its own internal report on torture is plainly self-defense not national interest. That they lied to the public that the US does not torture, and obstructed legislative oversight, even denouncing those who discovered their own report, is plainly unconstitutional. As usual, it was lawyers who lied about the Constitution to attack the Constitution. As usual, secret agencies used their secrecy to say whatever Congress wanted to hear to keep them going.
What’s all this Second Amendment nonsense doing here? The report upon which we’re supposedly commenting has to do with the Central Intelligence Agency’s worldwide love of murder and torture, not a bunch of clueless gun nuts from Rocky Mountain Range states who like to play with deadly weapons and pretend they’re a domestic militia. Focus, people!
This 2nd Amendment fantasizing is just that. The idea that the citizens of America are going take over from the “tyrannical” gubmit by a militia storming their State Capitals with their puny AR-15’s. Pure fantasy my friend John. I agree with you Bryan. History is going to record the 2nd Amendment as the most counterproductive and down right stupid Amendment adopted by the citizenry.
And anybody with an ounce of common sense, and historical reading, knows that the CIA has been literally a tragedy for the Word and all American citizens. It needs to be abolished tomorrow. All of it! Now!
The Second Amendment was intended to distribute military force in proportionate to the population, a good idea. The unconstitutional keeping of standing armed forces in time of peace has made it look useless, and the development of heavy arms has made it much less impractical. But it is clearly wrong to argue that misuse of firearms by individuals makes regulation of government power a foolish idea.
Additional means of regulation of government power are needed, not fewer. The prevention of violence among citizens is better met by removing the many injustices that cause this, than by mere faith that government power will not be abused. Those who seek government power are more sophisticated abusers of power than individuals, and need more regulation. Debate of these issues will reveal many means unexplored due to control of the mass media by oligarchy.
Joe, argue about the “intent” of the 2nd Amendment all you want to. Whatever its intent, it has been a disaster. America is awash with 350 million firearms.
A receipt for disaster. Proven to be so every day in America. Sadly, the horse has bolted. The citizens of America are going to have live with 30,000 firearm deaths per year…forever. Guns have not made us “free”. A failed experiment by any criteria.
I didn’t say anything about storming the state capital with ar-15’s, please show us where I said that in my post….You are changing the focus of my post. The states are what form the great Republic of the United States. It’s easier to corrupt one entity than 50. America’s demise belongs to the corruption of the Federal Government……Again please show where I said storm the State Capitals with at-15’s…..The federal government has and does continue neo-colonialism through – out the entire globe……
You gave the obvious implication.
I have in the past asked the American citizen to take their country back. As noble as that sounds its a wild goose chase. However the realistic goal should be to take back control from the federal government where all the corruption festers daily……The answer is for the states to realize all their power…starting with the 2nd amendment . Every state needs to exercise their 2nd amendment right to form a state militia from the citizens of that state….Remember the states protect the constitution of the United States from all who would do us harm….both foreign and domestic…..Some would say.. even Robert Perry, that the national guard has taken the place of state militias…and I say who gives the orders to the national guard ? The Federal government along with the advancement of neo-colonialism as a world wide cancer can only be stopped by the individual states of this great republic…….State representatives who go to Washington are a total joke……
I’m not sure of Robert Parry’s stand as far as the National Guard is concerned, but it was Ohio National Guardsmen who fired on unarmed students, killing 4 and injured another 9 at Kent State University on May 4th 1970. A minority of the students in the area were protesting peacefully against Richard Nixon’s decision to take the Vietnam war into Cambodia, the rest were just out walking, or observing the protests from a distance.
Though the true figure is still not known, some estimates claim U.S. carpet bombing of Cambodia cost 700,000 – 800,000 lives, mostly civilian. The U.S. involvement in Cambodia is also seen as being responsible for ushering in Pol Pot. The genocide he instigated is believed to have claimed at least 1.7 million lives.
Having said that, the 2nd Amendment has led to far more people dying at the hands of the families, friends, spouses or by accident than defending democracy and justice.
The Kent University victims’ 1st Amendment rights to peaceful demonstration and freedom of speech were clearly breached in the Kent State shooting on May 4th, and four lost the basic right to life. I don’t remember any armed citizens coming out to protect them back then.
The US carpet bombing of Cambodia caused the deaths of about 2 million. The Pol Pot genocide killed 300-400,000 mostly in E Cambodia. See Chandler’s Brother Number One (political biography of Pol Pot). When Vietnam invaded Cambodia and restored peace, the US supported Pol Pot forces attacking the NV forces, under the guise of a “coalition.”
The US had caused another 2 million deaths in firebombing N Korea after being pushed back to the border, over 1 million deaths in Indonesia supporting anti-communist genocide in E Timor, and over 1 million deaths carpet bombing Laos. The US also created AlQaeda in AfPak and caused something like a million casualties there, and a similar number in Iraq War II, and is causing a similar number in Syria.
All of these deaths are directly attributable to US militarism without a cause, as there was no substantial US security interest in any of these areas, and it had no humanitarian goals, and knew that no political advance was possible by military means. That militarism is the result of the US bully culture; it has no good intention and no good effects whatsoever. It is gangsterism pure and simple.
Joe B,
Your two million matches my memory. I have a very good memory because I interviewed a refugee who everntually went back. By the time I interviewed her she’d been over here long enough to raise her five children, to become a now-famous Buddhish nun
Bryan and Joe B. See my link above to MLK, it was Bill Pepper’s reporting in Ramparts that alerted Dr. King to the Vietnam atrocities and started Dr. King down the anti-war path. Yes, Dr. King was controversial for racial reasons, but I think he was far more dangerous to the powers that be because of his opposition to Vietnam.
His appearances on Face the Nation and Meet the Press were heroic and courageous particularly for just that reason.
Thanks Gregory…
This Guardian story was truly fascinating. It is a chronicle of a rare episode in Washington, DC – a contest of profiles in courage versus evil incarnate.
I have to admit I was surprised at Dianne Feinstein’s role in this saga. Her position on Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning – https://consortiumnews.com/2013/07/11/a-citizens-letter-on-snowden/ – and other issues put her on my S-list, but this epic was a reminder that people who are deficient in one instance can be admirable in another.
If only members of the Senate Intelligence Committee had someone of exemplary courage in the run-up to the War on Iraq and revealed the lies of the Bush administration and their lackeys in the media we might have avoided that monumental disaster and the current chaos in the Middle East.
Daniel Jones should be given a civilian medal that is the equivalent of the medal of honor other than the presidential medal of freedom that was tarnished by George W. Bush and his awardees for service in Iraq. Such a recognition for Daniel Jones, however, is not likely to happen during Obama’s administration. Remember him? He’s the guy who keeps telling us “no one is above the law.” Nor will Jones get any honor from the next president regardless of whether it is Clinton or Trump leading this nation on another march of folly or extending the current one.
…and G.W, Bush just had a school named for him in Dallas suburb. Lead article in Metro section with photos. “Inspiration Leader” Dallas Morning News, Sept 9.
It’s seems to me that this letter is going to torture supporters.
Nice sentiment, but won’t go anywhere. Torture is important to Empire to intimidate and discourage the opposition.
https://therulingclassobserver.com/2016/09/04/paradise-suppressed/
Years ago when I truly thought that Richard Nixon would be imprisoned for his role in Wategate, an attorney friend of mine who actually worked for Peter Rodino told me how Nixon wouldn’t suffer any to bad, since that was the way Washington worked. You see everyone has something to hide. Your grandfather always joked about people having skeletons in their closet, well he was right….they all do! When the judge, and the prosecutor, are as guilty as the defendant, then what kind of verdict should we all expect.
File this CIA torture escapade next to Hillary’s email server, and be glad if your free and on the outside yourself. On the other hand, if anyone has any luck breaking open this crime, then continue on and investigate the assassinations of the sixties, and start with JFK’s.
I can’t just say what I have said, and not say more. Over the years I have developed a cynicism towards our American political system, which is sad. When I was young, I actually believed there were good guys, and bad guys. There was even a time where I thought that one day the country would uncover who killed the Kennedy’s and King, and that justice would be served. For a very brief moment I thought that in 2006 with a Democratic majority in the House and Senate, that maybe Bush and Cheney might be held responsible for the war in Iraq. So, one day you wake up with a little more gray in your hair, and there are joints in your body that suddenly hurt a little bit due to the weather and old injuries, and then you watch the news only to realize the world’s crazier today than it was yesterday, and here you are.
I would like to applaud the excellent work that the VIPS are doing. This group of veterans is a fine example of what concerned citizens should stand for, and be held up to our young people as models for how to conduct their own lives when dealing with government. So I just had to compliment the VIPS, and only hope that their efforts be rewarded somehow. The success of the VIPS would be a win win for all of us.
Joe thanks as always for your sincere response. My experience is similar to yours but I’m a bit more optimistic. My feeling is that there IS a continuity of government but it is an illegal government. There is a second generation of facts and long-time research now being published that will chip away at the powers that be, and is, in fact, doing so as we write. I’m linking you and those interested in the latest findings by Dr. William Pepper on MLK. We’re nearing crisis point and this very activity by VIPS is a large part of it. Thanks for always being there.
https://www.amazon.com/Plot-Kill-King-Behind-Assassination/dp/1510702172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474116193&sr=8-1&keywords=William+Pepper
Bob thanks for the book reference.
This Continuity of Government you refer to is a contingency plan written so that a government may operate after a devastating event, such as a nuclear attack. Every nation has one, but are we still feeling the effects of ours since 911? It’s like we are always at war, and always living inside of one big war game. In this war game the average citizen is to act stupid of the real events, but at the same time the citizen is forking over well earned tax dollars to aid in the war cause. It’s an on going battle, with little known goals to be achieved. In fact, we are not even sure how all these wars may even benefit America. Now, if you pull up a map you then might begin to see who really may profit from these Middle Eastern adventures. The only ones in America who profit otherwise are the arms manufacturers.
Joe, I appreciate your comment but if you begin reading the longer versions, I think you will be surprised and congratulate our Senators and especially Jones, who was under growing pressure for six years. I still haven’t gotten to the end of the saga. Quite a Saga. I never realized that the Senators (mainly Democrats) and Jones had to work so hard. I think I might have a semi-permanent headache from just reading slowly and carefully the first report, which has the Senate caulking in an important win that was way whittled down by the CIA from a Ph.D. to a B.S.
Of course, it’s difficult with the President going full bore for secrecy as well as Secretary of State Kerry. The Senate and Jones were under tremendous pressure. I need at bartconsortcommunion1942 At gmail. I need, you need, we need, they need, the CIA needs…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enapENIhdcs
Yesterday, when we were young
In dreams of Camelot, so many songs were sung
The future seemed so bright, and we would win the game
The torch of freedom blazed, we owned the future’s flame
A thousand dreams we dreamed, and splendid things we planned
We poured it all away, into the desert sand
Abandoned it for greed, in hopes that war would pay
Now only fools believe the things our wise men say
So today, the dreams are left undone
The best and brightest minds were silenced with a gun
So many failed adventures pave the long and ruined road
The tragedy of empire’s dream continues to implode
Belligerance persists, and time is running out
Precious chances fade, while experts slander doubt
Every tool of empire’s lust augments impending thrall
Misinformed approval cheers and cheers the empire’s looming fall
Yesterday, we travelled to the moon
We would conquer space and cure diseases soon
Our science was a magic wand enlightening the world
A future made of dreams, we promised miracles unfurled
The helpless and downtrodden still could look toward that light
The shining beacon on the hill would not ignore their plight
All the empty promises and arrogant debate
Compound the ruination as the lies accumulate
There are so many hollow words in lyrics of today
The bitter taste of irony unfolds as titans play
I’m only glad that I won’t live to see the debt we’ll pay
For yesterday, when we were young
Shirley Bassey, Roy Clark and others made this tune famous, but Charles Aznavour made it painful. What can I say, Joe, I feel your pain.
When I was twenty almost twenty one, I was a sailor enjoying his liberty in a cafe in Gulf Juan France. Over and over again this Roy Clark song you speak of was playing. I remember at that time how I felt like I was in a movie filming a flashback of my own life. There I was slamming down the brews, with a thirty four year German beauty hanging off my arm. Those were the days when I was young.
Thanks F.G. For cheering me up with your post….you are cool!
Joe, I also went to FG Sanford’s link and as I listened to the song…had as always the same reaction. It’s a mental exercise in confession , of lost loves….and halcyon days of yore. Much the same as your reminisce…. I too was in the USN and I think I met that lovely blond Fraulein at a bar in Genoa. Our Sub did a tour in the Med in ’64. Cheers !
“Heidi”
Normally I won’t ever say the name, but after 40 years, and no giving last name,,,well “Heidi”
that was around 70 and into the spring of 71. Golfe-Juan France back then was a sleepy little town…kind of cozy, and affordable. It was kind of off the beaten path, but it fit the song by Roy Clark. I think it was a hit back then in France. I turned 21 right after we left Golfe-Juan….yesterday when I was young…see ya later mate!
Talk about a good short story :)
In all fairness LongGoneJohn, sailors have lots of Sea Stories, just ask one. Thanks for the kind reply….there is a shortage of kind remarks in this world, and I value getting all the kindness I can get…peace JT
Thanks for this poignant gift F.G. Your verses resonate — especially after one listens to the song…no, twice, as I did. ray
Thank you !
Frederike,that is a great black chow pic! !
I would suggest starting with 9/11 THEN go to the JFK assassination and others.
Another 9/11 Truther.
As a retired CIA deep cover intelligence officer I am very interested in seeing that many of the CIA’s past dirty tricks are finally being “outed” and shared with the general public. Obviously there are some actions which should never be revealed, but there are others that need to become public in order to help our nation come to grips regarding what things the CIA has done and how to judge whether those actions should, or should not, have been done. It is only then that we, and the world, can “judge” the correctness or error of our actions.
The worst of the CIA dirty tricks are the many coups they’ve pulled off in other countries where we had no justification for being. And every coup has come back to bite us. The USA ousts every democratically elected president or prime minister for the same reason: those people cared about the welfare of their people rather than multinational corporations; either that or they were standing in the way of foreign investment, meaning the US. If any country wants to keep their resources for themselves, why that simply can’t happen and the CIA will come in and disrupt the country, hire thugs to tell lies about the leader and pull off a coup, installing a truly corrupt person in the ousted leaders’ stead, one who will be the puppet of the US. Iran in 1953 installing the Shah and forecasting a revolution in 1979, Guatemala in 1954, Vietnam 1956, Brazil 1964 and 2016, Indonesia 1965, Chile 1973, Australia 1975, Brazil 1964 and 2016, Haiti 2009, Venezuela 2002, Ukraine 2004, Honduras 2009, Mali 2010, Syria 2013 ongoing, and others I can’t think of right now….I read 80 since the end of WWII. The CIA should have been disbanded years ago, but our increasingly autocratic war-mongering presidents want to keep the CIA in conjunction with the AUMF which apparently is here to stay. The USA thinks it’s so exceptional that it automatically has an inalienable right to all the world’s resources, just as the Israelis actually think they are god’s chosen people. It’s time for the rest of the world to turn its back on both countries.
Wow, quite a list of CIA disruptions, nice work Mr Roy. Wouldn’t it have been nice if the CIA had went on to just simply collect intelligence to keep the president informed. Instead, thanks to Allen Dulles the CIA would go on to become the world’s biggest instigator and troublemaker like none before it. Dulles thought nothing as to his hiring the Gehlen Organization, which raises all sorts of questions to what cultural effect they had towards forming the CIA. After JFK’s death, Harry Truman wrote an op-Ed which was only published in the afternoon edition of the Washington Post, where he regretted to how the CIA had turned out. Truman claimed his intention was for the CIA to be strictly information gathers, and not covert spooks. Dulles made the CIA Wall Streets thugs, and this is most regrettable, since it has so many more talented people who could do so much more….and mostly for the good.
Here is a article written by Ray McGovern which says it so much better than I ….
https://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/22/trumans-true-warning-on-the-cia/
When ever the subject of torture comes up I like to mention a couple names that you all should google….
Hanns Scharff & Sherwood Ford Moran
When we talk about interrogation there are other methods available that are way better than torture. Accepting information taken under duress would always mean deciding an outcome based on a probable fabrication of the crucial facts. The only thing I think where torture would have any value would be to use it as an asset to scare the enemy. What do you think?
Wasn’t the CIA originally set up to serve the President?
It is way past time to cut the CIA’s nose off and to, at a minimum, reconfigure it and make it an agency serving Congress and NOT the Executive.
Jill Stein would do this.
Stein also said she would make Medea Benjamin her Secretary of State.
One thing we know for sure, with Benjamin as SOS everything would run as intended with FOIA requests honored quickly. And the world would be at PEACE for once!
I am voting for Jill Stein for President on November 8th.
I’m with you on the Jill Stein presidential candidacy. Read the link I left where Ray McGovern explains the original role that Truman had in mind for the agency, when he brought the CIA about. Also in Mr McGovern’s article he talks about the torture report before it was released. The article is from 2013, and everything Ray talks about happened pretty much the way it all turned out to eventually be. This is more proof that much of what is presented on this site is pertinent in it’s attempt to display reality in it’s most honest form. Like O’Reilly says, the spin stops here. Well at consortiumnews it does.
James A. Everett, It will be worth your time to read the whole report in the Guardian, especially the first Installation. It reads like a fictional account of great intrigue, with Jones and Feinstein on the side of the angels and the CIA WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA on the side of Evil. It’s hard to believe–Obama who was indignant on the Evil of torture and demanded that a full torture report be made, came out strongly against the torture report even seeing the light of day. Do you think the CIA had some of his skeletons?
It should be noted that the US military (not just the CIA) was heavily involved in torture.
Abu Ghraib, for example, was a US Army torture camp.
Keep up the great work VIPS !!