The only direct reason for the title of this diary is that to this day I still recall the intense anger I felt as I read most pages of “And The Band Played On.” That same anger engulfed me today as I read each paragraph of The Guardian’s Inside the fight to reveal the CIA’s torture secrets . The first of a three part report.
One really good guy, a few okay people, and a raft of disgusting people, completely unacceptable for public employment. I’ve found a new loathing for … No, I’ve decided not to name those names because I don’t want to deal with any apologists that may show up to comment here. Nor will I post any excerpts (teaser abstracts) from the article because … Just go read the whole thing. Not amazing that Spencer Ackerman wrote it, but amazing that any traditional newspaper would publish it.
(Good thing I have very low blood pressure and therefore, expect that my heart can take reading the next to parts.)
Meet the good guy — Daniel Jones. Recommend reading this and viewing the video after reading part one of Ackerman’s three part article.
Update – Part Two – ‘A constitutional crisis’: the CIA turns on the Senate
Update 2 – Part Three – No looking back: the CIA torture report’s aftermath
USA Today – 9/6/16 – CIA director misled FBI about how agency spied on Pentagon Papers leaker
Only took forty-two years to get this gem out of the CIA. They knew. Not so different from the “Panetta Review” covered in The Guardian article that, of course, remains hidden.
Public integrity? What is that? Indeed, Nixon-age Republicans showed more than I’ve seen in our politicians or elites in ages. Even Reagan’s budget guy, Stockman, became convinced of his error and publicly admitted it.
Holder is tool-ier than Ashcroft was. Republicans managed to try elites that went too far, even their friends like Lay. Reagan hired William Black. Obama looked forward, not back, and said he would not try to enforce the law. He might have looked for someone who could.
All our “morality” these days is wrapped up in political correctness, not risk taking for the right reasons. Snowden makes pygmies of our politicians and legal experts.
This dude is another hero.
And credit to Feinstein. Surprised to be writing THAT.
She’s one of those I put in the “okay” category in this instance. Inconsistent with her usual stance; so, that suggests to me that there was something personal to her about this issue that led her to push on exposing it and a more fundamental principle wasn’t at stake for her. Perhaps an atonement impulse for her yea vote on the IWR because this review only concerned torture under the Bush administration.
I may be the only person that sees a corollary between this and the SC decision on the publication of the Pentagon Papers. The two justices that strongly supported the NYT were Black and Douglas, both appointed by FDR. Four that fell on the side of “doing the right thing,” but were conflicted — Brennan (IKE), Stewart (IKE), White (JFK), Marshall (LBJ). And three with Nixon guys – Harlan (IKE), Burger (Nixon), Blackmun (Nixon).
They got far enough up Reid’s nose, too.
This is quite a statement…””Mr President,” Reid said, “I wish you could hear yourself.””
Feinstein shifted up into “good guy” territory in Part Two and pulled Reid up with her. But Reid’s quote summarizes the Obama administration on this and warrants repeating again and again because this sheds a light on the real Obama and not the one that many believe he is:
Have made a note to myself to go back and take another look at that 2014 CO Senate race.
This article supports the fact that evil occurs when one has power over another individual and there is no accountability. Amazing that a government creates such an agency like the CIA and then its leaders become intimidated and fearful of it. The Repubs on the Senate Intelligence Committee sure show their usual uncooperative behavior when dealing with this issue. Luckily I also have low blood pressure, because I found the article very disturbing.
But I expect that of Republicans. It was all the Obama administration people that obstructed the investigation that was sickening. Covering up for what was done during the GWB administration.
I’m reminded of the Russian peasant’s firm belief that their Papa, the Tsar, knew nothing of the evils of his government and would surely correct them if he did.
I heard that was expressed by good Germans. Probably not true in either case, but excuses the “poor peasants” because they’re just dumb.
Heh, it pays to play dumb.
Obama is an accessory after the fact. Period.
Can’t disagree with that. Seemed only slightly apparent in real time as the news about this Senate report made its way into reporting on it. No “slightly” interpretation is possible from Ackerman’s coverage.
No one ever investigates what box the national security agencies put President in. There is always the assumption that the President is Caesar, when it seems clearer and clearer that there is rule by the Praetorian Guard. No other reason is there for why candidates hug the deep state and the military so tightly.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer has become very apparent in the last decade.
I think Clapper made it clear how assured they were that even their farcical scenarios would be swallowed by the WH.
Wonder where McD pops up in the next admin. A useful fellow.
Whatever, whoever, hope Part Three is a doozy.
Excellent. Spencer’s a great reporter. Left pondering the reference to Obama’s decision to “look forward” along with Trump’s vow to “bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding”. Such a weak, cowardly decision.
Looking forward to the next piece.
Thanks for the link, hadn’t seen it widely distributed yet. Spencer has definitely lost favor with the “liberal” blogosphere. The CIA needs to be disbanded. Such a position was mocked in the primary, given Sanders’ previous calls to do just that, but it’s clear that such an institution cannot operate without corroding the very government it exists to “protect”.
Given that it takes 278 votes plus the acquiescence of the President to do anything with the CIA, it is easy to see why its powers are easier created in crisis than revoked in normalcy. Especially when it has the capabilities of creating a crisis from scratch.
I’ve been angry since I read Trevor Paglen’s Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World and realized the extent to which each of these secret mechanisms corrupts democratic governance in subtle ways. Capturing oversight committees is only one of the tactics; blocking court action with general claims of “state secrets” where there are none is another. The original precedent, U.S. v. Reynolds is shocking in how the courts legislated powers that had not previously existed and allowed their assertion falsely over a period of years.
Until the entire authorization for secrets is repealed, we will continue to have it used more to dodge accountability than the protection of information that might “enable our enemies”.
As long as the Espionage Act of 1917 is on the books even members of Congress are caught in a box on exercising public oversight over national security agencies.
You will notice what members of Congress can say and cannot say, which causes their allegations to seem less serious than they actually are and denies the the chance to cite specific instances of wrongdoing.
This band has played for 69 years and the continual whipping up of fear among the public maintains it in force.
In practice, it has made a mockery of the public’s right to know and equal justice under law. Just consider the cases of Richard Cheney and Scooter Libby as contrasted with Chelsea Manning.
I hope some day there is investigative reporting or solid history into how the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson led to the agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. Or who exactly benefited from Valerie Plame wilson being taken off of investigation of nuclear proliferation.
This one is somewhat more subtle than the first two parts. Adds two more names to the not-good-guys list: Senator Richard Burr (R – NC) and once and future Senator Evan Bahy (D – IN). There is one part that IMO warrants extraction because it’s infuriating:
Brennan who made sure that the full 6,700 page report is locked away and never to be seen, at least not before all the principals are dead, has the chutzpah to tell the world that it’s not objective, etc. And we’ll have to take the word of this documented liar on this. Why would anyone want to do that when he can prove he’s telling the truth by releasing the full report? If history is any guide, Brennan is still lying and eager to keep his job as HRC’s CIA Director.