Quote:
Originally Posted by Bucco
From the Washington Post's David Ignatius....
"As other countries watch the United States lacerate its intelligence service -- for activities already investigated or never undertaken -- perhaps they admire America's commitment to democracy and the rule of law. More likely, I fear, they conclude that we are just plain nuts.
The latest "scandals" involving the Central Intelligence Agency are genuinely hard to understand, other than in terms of political payback. Attorney General Eric Holder is considering appointing a prosecutor to investigate criminal actions by CIA officers involved in the harsh interrogation of al-Qaeda prisoners. But the internal CIA report on which he's said to be basing this decision was referred five years ago to the Justice Department, where attorneys concluded that no prosecution was warranted.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress are indignant that they were never briefed about a program to assassinate al-Qaeda operatives in friendly countries. Never mind that the program wasn't implemented, or that the United States is routinely assassinating al-Qaeda operatives using unmanned drones. And never mind, either, that Leon Panetta, the new CIA director -- fearing a potential flap -- briefed Congress about the program soon after he became aware of it. There was a flap anyway -- with a new hemorrhage of secrets and a new shudder from America's intelligence partners around the world."
and the article ends with this.....
"Obama understands that the country needs a better and stronger intelligence agency. He wants more information than he gets in his daily intelligence briefings, and he has discussed with Panetta the challenge of building a tougher, smarter, more aggressive CIA. That's a righteous goal, but it begins with depoliticizing the agency and ending the culture of permanent scandal.
If Obama means what he has said about looking forward rather than backward, then he should stick to his guns -- and hope that the attorney general and House speaker agree that it's time to stop kicking this football."
Wouldn't it be nice if this was the place where finally he meant what he said ?
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Good post Bucco.
I am reminded of reading about Chicago's brand of politics. Payback (also known as tit for tat) is standard operating procedure. From what I gather, underneath Obama's cool exterior, there is an intense anger when someone doesn't agree with him. I think you will see it when the press stops treating him like the messiah and they actually get tough with him. One often wonders how he would react to daily insults like the previous administration did.
The President sets the tone whether we like it or not. The biggest criticism directed at Bush was that he didn't fight back at his detractors. Obama has learned not to make that mistake. He has surrounded himself with pit bulls who seem to enjoy payback. I think congress, lead by Nazi Pelousy , have really got the hang of the Chicago ways.