Prosecuting the CIA

[kg_veteran]

Prosecuting the CIA - link
Eric Holder unleashes a special counsel on U.S. war fighters.


'It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department." –Attorney General Eric Holder, April 2009

"Justice Department Names Prosecutor to Reopen CIA Abuse Cases" –Wall Street Journal, yesterday

Mr. Holder had it right the first time. His about-face yesterday, compounded by his release of a 2004 internal CIA report on that agency's handling of terrorists, opens a political war that President Obama, the CIA and above all the country will live to regret.

This is a trap the Administration set for itself. Mr. Obama and his team have attempted to appease their political left by publicly denouncing the Bush Administration's national security policies, even as they claimed to want to forget the past. Their disparagement has only fed the liberal demand for Bush prosecutions and increased the pressure on Mr. Holder to appoint a prosecutor.

Justice threw kerosene on those politics yesterday with its release of findings compiled by the CIA's inspector general in 2004 about the agency's detention and interrogation of terrorists. The ACLU had won a court order for their release. We were still reading its hundreds of pages at deadline, but most of the supposedly damning details had already been leaked. The new bits include the fact that interrogators threatened terrorists with a gun shot in a nearby room, with a power drill and cigarette smoke, and against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's family. We suspect millions of Americans will be shocked to learn that these unshocking details are all that the uproar over "torture" is about.

The CIA itself commissioned the IG review early in the first Bush term, the agency sent an unredacted copy to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees in 2004, and the entire membership of both those committees was given access to the report in 2006. The CIA also sent the report to the Department of Justice in 2004, referring allegations of abuse for potential prosecution. Current CIA Director Leon Panetta, in a note yesterday to agency employees, pointed out that "career" prosecutors (not Bush appointees) evaluated each of those claims "carefully and thoroughly, sometimes taking years to decide if prosecution was warranted or not."

The DOJ brought only one case, convicting a CIA contractor who beat a detainee who subsequently died. In no other case did Justice attorneys decide that a prosecution was warranted. This is no surprise, given that most of the techniques outlined in the CIA report had been approved by superiors and declared to be legal in official legal opinions.

Yet none of this counted for much yesterday, as Mr. Holder used the report's release as an occasion to appoint federal prosecutor John Durham as a special counsel to re-open the cases for potential criminal prosecutions. His decision was supported by a recommendation from Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility, which has been complaining about CIA practices for five years and now finally has a willing ear in the new Attorney General.

By naming Mr. Durham, who is already investigating destroyed CIA videotapes, Mr. Holder suggested this was merely an expansion of an existing probe and would be limited in scope. He described Mr. Durham's task as a mere "preliminary review" of overseas interrogations, which may not result in any charges.

We hope he's right, but special prosecutions, once unleashed, have often been impossible to control. Mr. Durham may well begin by examining isolated case where CIA interrogators are accused of breaking the law, such as the CIA employee who supposedly fired a gun in a room close to a detainee, in an attempt to make the detainee believe a colleague had been executed. This threat of potential imminent death may have violated some statute, though it was used against men who were thought to have information that could save innocent American lives. But Mr. Durham will be under enormous pressure to investigate everyone up and down the CIA chain of command, starting with those who merely followed the legal opinions, and going all the way to senior CIA officials such as former Director George Tenet and other Bush Administration officials.

Mr. Holder's decision has already re-energized demands to prosecute the Bush lawyers who wrote the legal opinions that authorized enhanced interrogations. As New York liberal Representative Jerry Nadler declared recently, going after the CIA interrogators who "waterboarded" a detainee with "eight ounces" of water rather than the Bush lawyers who decreed they could only use three ounces, would be "terrible."

All of this will further demoralize a CIA that has already been stigmatized by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats as an agency populated by rogues who lied to Congress. This is the same agency that Mr. Obama and all Americans are counting on wage a war against al Qaeda and deter future terrorist attacks. The message that Mr. Holder's criminal probe will send to thousands of men and women is that they had better not do anything remotely controversial on behalf of American safety, even with a lawyer's permission. This war against our own war fighters comes just as President Obama's counterterror escalation in Afghanistan is getting more difficult.

***

By threatening to prosecute CIA officials, the Obama Administration is taking ownership of future troubles in a way that will only do itself harm. Like the Church and Pike probes of the 1970s, Americans will once again see that the Democratic Party cares as much or more about settling scores against fellow Americans as it does about fighting the war on terror. Mr. Holder yesterday acknowledged that his decision to reopen the old CIA wounds would be "controversial." He will soon learn how much.

[Mavdog]

should a cia employee be immune from being prosecuted for illegal acts merely because it would "demoralize" the agency?

[92bDad]

Why can't this be an internal non-public function?

Why does everything have to have a public spectacle?

Internal Affairs police's the police.

UCMJ covers the military.

Can we not deal with CIA, FBI or other government agencies through internal investigations and prosecutions that are only open to those with clearance for a need to know basis...or family members?

We see clearl that public opinion is rather fickel and in many cases highly emotional with little room for rational processing of data.

I suppose I view this as I do Sports Officials (Referees) Let the leagues handle the discipline in-house, this is not a public concern...outside of doing that it is being taken care of.

Personally, I don't want my CIA personnel to be gun shy out of more concern for the ACLU than they are for the safety of Americans.

At some point we have to have some level of faith that these organizations that deal with highly sensitive security issues, not to mention highly volatile international events are in good hands and are following some very core precepts.

The more public we make these groups, the less effective they become.

It's as if the ACLU and others of similar stances are more concerned about the rights of Criminals than they are the safety of those who protect us from criminals.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by 92bDad

Why can't this be an internal non-public function?

Why does everything have to have a public spectacle?

Because a Democracy only works if government functions are transparent enough to be scrutinized by all citizens...

(but judging by your posts, maybe you'd be a little more comfortable living in a totalitarian dictatorship?)

[kg_veteran]

Originally Posted by Mavdog

should a cia employee be immune from being prosecuted for illegal acts merely because it would "demoralize" the agency?

I think it should be handled internally rather than being aired out in the public eye. And, apparently, it was handled internally. This whole thing is politically motivated, and the editorial is right. Obama will regret this move.

[Mavdog]

it should be "handled" in a manner that examines the actions of the cia, and if those actions are shown to have been illegal, they shouldn't be left to be dealt with internally.

there is no reason to be secretive about this situation. we are a country that is secure in our confidence, and if it is proven that some spooks went too far, it will only reinforce that confidence not diminish it.

why is the investigation deemed "politically motivated", when the independent investigator was selected by the previous administration? apparently they felt this individual is an honest, dedicated person who will conduct themselves in a professional manner.

on the contrary, to bury the illegal actions of the cia would be truly "politically motivated", and to deny the application of the law sets a very bad precedent.

how anybody could ask for the law to not be applied to these people is beyond me. nobody is above the law, are they?

[Murphy3]

Obama's a tool.

[Rhylan]

It's politically motivated because of the following reasons. Read 'em forward and then step through them backwards, and you'll see why it appears to be politically motivated.

1. Obama said he wouldn't look into prosecuting past mistakes. Looking forward.
2. Timing. Left is taking a hit on no-huddle offense, C&T, Health Care, clunkers, czars, not reading bills, astroturf, etc.
3. This is an issue that conservatives can't win on because...
a) Misconduct a byproduct of unpopular/mismanaged war(s)
b) Idea that public investigations harm national security/intelligence gathering is indirect and abstract, so by and large the broader population doesn't buy it
c) In spite or because of b, still a large segment of the population who'll believe that doing wrong is doing wrong, and gov't officials, moreso than anybody need to be strung up in public for it.

So if you've got an issue on your hands that suits the criteria of #3, and the current climate fits #2, so you're willing to go against the statment you made in #1.. then yeah. It starts to sound politically driven.

I don't necessarily disagree with 3c myself. I'm sick of people abusing power, I don't care who they are. At this point, so what if it gives us a black eye internationally and makes gathering intelligence more difficult. Our intelligence gathering obviously wasn't that great to begin with, and politicians, bureaucrats and appointees on both sides of the aisle need to start taking some big falls for the crap they consistently pull.

Almost everyone in DC has become arrogant and power obsessed anyway. Time for us to cut them down to size. Let the parties continue assail each other in public, it'll help reinforce the obvious that 90% of them are corrupt and worthless.

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by Rhylan

Almost everyone in DC has become arrogant and power obsessed anyway. Time for us to cut them down to size. Let the parties continue assail each other in public, it'll help reinforce the obvious that 90% of them are corrupt and worthless.

If there's one that ain't going anywhere, it's the two-party system. Yeah, let's go ahead and emasculate 90% of them. We'll do real well from that. Kinda like Parcells said about Crayton: "Yeah, he'll look real good looking over Stroud and Henderson."

In other news, Bela Lugosi's dead.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by Rhylan

Our intelligence gathering obviously wasn't that great to begin with, ..

This wasn't really your main point, and I like what else you wrote, but this is a bit of a red herring.

[Rhylan]

Originally Posted by Usually Lurkin

This wasn't really your main point, and I like what else you wrote, but this is a bit of a red herring.

Well, it was late and I wasn't being as verbose as I could've been... essentially what I was trying to say is that any time anyone breaks a story on what the CIA did or didn't do wrong in the process of gathering intelligence, a good portion of the right cries foul with the usual "talking about this harms national security!"

All I'm saying is that people who live in glass houses can't throw stones. Intelligence gathering isn't a sacred cow. If you're not perfect to begin with, and you screw up and cross a line beating people or threatening someone's family or whatever, then you deserve to be undercut a little bit, I think. That's life.

And as usual Chum doesn't read well - nowhere did I advocate dissolving either party. My point was, they're already 99% focused on just pissing on each other and swapping power, so let them keep cutting each other down and exposing each other's dirty laundry. The worse it gets on both sides, the more likely there will be more public demand for "outsider" candidates from both sides, which is what we need more of.

[ribosoma]

From mega-dosing mentally-retarded orphans with LSD during the MK-ULTRA days, to the political assassinations and death squads in Central and South America, to importing Nazi war criminals for their knowledge in mind control and chemical weapons during the Operation Paperclip years, to the infiltration of all mass media through Operation Mockingbird, the CIA has protected criminals from prosecution in order to maintain Anglo-European hegemony throughout the world. The mass media in this country is one big PSYOP.


The naive assumption that the CIA is protecting the average American is horribly misinformed and indicative of the effectiveness of media propaganda. Perhaps the average American hasn't developed his imagination for evil enough to grasp the fact that his archetypal protectors are, by all definitions, evil beyond his wildest dreams.

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media."
--William Colby, former CIA Director, quoted by Dave Mcgowan, Derailing Democracy

"You could get a journalist cheaper than a good call girl, for a couple hundred dollars a month."
--CIA operative, discussing the availability and prices of journalists willing to peddle CIA propaganda and cover stories. Katherine the Great, by Deborah Davis

"There is quite an incredible spread of relationships. You don’t need to manipulate Time magazine, for example, because there are [Central Intelligence] Agency people at the management level."
--William B. Bader, former CIA intelligence officer, briefing members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, The CIA and the Media, by Carl Bernstein

"The Agency's relationship with [The New York] Times was by far its most valuable among newspapers, according to CIA officials. [It was] general Times policy ... to provide assistance to the CIA whenever possible."
--The CIA and the Media, by Carl Bernstein

"Senator William Proxmire has pegged the number of employees of the federal intelligence community at 148,000 ... though Proxmire's number is itself a conservative one. The "intelligence community" is officially defined as including only those organizations that are members of the U.S. Intelligence Board (USIB); a dozen other agencies, charged with both foreign and domestic intelligence chores, are not encompassed by the term.... The number of intelligence workers employed by the federal government is not 148,000, but some undetermined multiple of that number."
--Jim Hougan, Spooks

"For some time I have been disturbed by the way the CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the government.... I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations."
--former President Harry Truman, in a letter to the Washington Post, one month after the JFK assassination, December 21, 1963

The following is a fraction of what they are capable of. If this were a timeline of some other country's secret services, I guarantee most here would be shocked and appalled. But throw out some patriotic rhetoric and some flags and crying eagles, and many Americans will stand in line to support crimes against humanity (as long as they are brown and/or can be labeled as communists).

1929

The culture we lost — Secretary of State Henry Stimson refuses to endorse a code-breaking operation, saying, "Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail."

1941

COI created — In preparation for World War II, President Roosevelt creates the Office of Coordinator of Information (COI). General William "Wild Bill" Donovan heads the new intelligence service.

1942

OSS created — Roosevelt restructures COI into something more suitable for covert action, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Donovan recruits so many of the nation’s rich and powerful that eventually people joke that "OSS" stands for "Oh, so social!" or "Oh, such snobs!"

1943

Italy — Donovan recruits the Catholic Church in Rome to be the center of Anglo-American spy operations in Fascist Italy. This would prove to be one of America’s most enduring intelligence alliances in the Cold War.

1945

OSS is abolished — The remaining American information agencies cease covert actions and return to harmless information gathering and analysis.

Operation PAPERCLIP – While other American agencies are hunting down Nazi war criminals for arrest, the U.S. intelligence community is smuggling them into America, unpunished, for their use against the Soviets. The most important of these is Reinhard Gehlen, Hitler’s master spy who had built up an intelligence network in the Soviet Union. With full U.S. blessing, he creates the "Gehlen Organization," a band of refugee Nazi spies who reactivate their networks in Russia. These include SS intelligence officers Alfred Six and Emil Augsburg (who massacred Jews in the Holocaust), Klaus Barbie (the "Butcher of Lyon"), Otto von Bolschwing (the Holocaust mastermind who worked with Eichmann) and SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny (a personal friend of Hitler’s). The Gehlen Organization supplies the U.S. with its only intelligence on the Soviet Union for the next ten years, serving as a bridge between the abolishment of the OSS and the creation of the CIA. However, much of the "intelligence" the former Nazis provide is bogus. Gehlen inflates Soviet military capabilities at a time when Russia is still rebuilding its devastated society, in order to inflate his own importance to the Americans (who might otherwise punish him). In 1948, Gehlen almost convinces the Americans that war is imminent, and the West should make a preemptive strike. In the 50s he produces a fictitious "missile gap." To make matters worse, the Russians have thoroughly penetrated the Gehlen Organization with double agents, undermining the very American security that Gehlen was supposed to protect.

1947

Greece — President Truman requests military aid to Greece to support right-wing forces fighting communist rebels. For the rest of the Cold War, Washington and the CIA will back notorious Greek leaders with deplorable human rights records.

CIA created — President Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947, creating the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Council. The CIA is accountable to the president through the NSC — there is no democratic or congressional oversight. Its charter allows the CIA to "perform such other functions and duties… as the National Security Council may from time to time direct." This loophole opens the door to covert action and dirty tricks.

1948

Covert-action wing created — The CIA recreates a covert action wing, innocuously called the Office of Policy Coordination, led by Wall Street lawyer Frank Wisner. According to its secret charter, its responsibilities include "propaganda, economic warfare, preventive direct action, including sabotage, antisabotage, demolition and evacuation procedures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world."

Italy — The CIA corrupts democratic elections in Italy, where Italian communists threaten to win the elections. The CIA buys votes, broadcasts propaganda, threatens and beats up opposition leaders, and infiltrates and disrupts their organizations. It works -- the communists are defeated.

1949

Radio Free Europe — The CIA creates its first major propaganda outlet, Radio Free Europe. Over the next several decades, its broadcasts are so blatantly false that for a time it is considered illegal to publish transcripts of them in the U.S.

Late 40s

Operation MOCKINGBIRD — The CIA begins recruiting American news organizations and journalists to become spies and disseminators of propaganda. The effort is headed by Frank Wisner, Allan Dulles, Richard Helms and Philip Graham. Graham is publisher of The Washington Post, which becomes a major CIA player. Eventually, the CIA’s media assets will include ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Copley News Service and more. By the CIA’s own admission, at least 25 organizations and 400 journalists will become CIA assets.

1953

Iran – CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police, SAVAK, is as brutal as the Gestapo.

Operation MK-ULTRA — Inspired by North Korea’s brainwashing program, the CIA begins experiments on mind control. The most notorious part of this project involves giving LSD and other drugs to American subjects without their knowledge or against their will, causing several to commit suicide. However, the operation involves far more than this. Funded in part by the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, research includes propaganda, brainwashing, public relations, advertising, hypnosis, and other forms of suggestion.

1954

Guatemala — CIA overthrows the democratically elected Jacob Arbenz in a military coup. Arbenz has threatened to nationalize the Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of right-wing dictators whose bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years.

1954-1958

North Vietnam — CIA officer Edward Lansdale spends four years trying to overthrow the communist government of North Vietnam, using all the usual dirty tricks. The CIA also attempts to legitimize a tyrannical puppet regime in South Vietnam, headed by Ngo Dinh Diem. These efforts fail to win the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese because the Diem government is opposed to true democracy, land reform and poverty reduction measures. The CIA’s continuing failure results in escalating American intervention, culminating in the Vietnam War.

1956

Hungary — Radio Free Europe incites Hungary to revolt by broadcasting Khruschev’s Secret Speech, in which he denounced Stalin. It also hints that American aid will help the Hungarians fight. This aid fails to materialize as Hungarians launch a doomed armed revolt, which only invites a major Soviet invasion. The conflict kills 7,000 Soviets and 30,000 Hungarians.

1957-1973

Laos — The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year trying to nullify Laos’ democratic elections. The problem is the Pathet Lao, a leftist group with enough popular support to be a member of any coalition government. In the late 50s, the CIA even creates an "Armee Clandestine" of Asian mercenaries to attack the Pathet Lao. After the CIA’s army suffers numerous defeats, the U.S. starts bombing, dropping more bombs on Laos than all the U.S. bombs dropped in World War II. A quarter of all Laotians will eventually become refugees, many living in caves.

1959

Haiti — The U.S. military helps "Papa Doc" Duvalier become dictator of Haiti. He creates his own private police force, the "Tonton Macoutes," who terrorize the population with machetes. They will kill over 100,000 during the Duvalier family reign. The U.S. does not protest their dismal human rights record.

1961

The Bay of Pigs — The CIA sends 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade Castro’s Cuba. But "Operation Mongoose" fails, due to poor planning, security and backing. The planners had imagined that the invasion will spark a popular uprising against Castro -– which never happens. A promised American air strike also never occurs. This is the CIA’s first public setback, causing President Kennedy to fire CIA Director Allen Dulles.

Dominican Republic — The CIA assassinates Rafael Trujillo, a murderous dictator Washington has supported since 1930. Trujillo’s business interests have grown so large (about 60 percent of the economy) that they have begun competing with American business interests.

Ecuador — The CIA-backed military forces the democratically elected President Jose Velasco to resign. Vice President Carlos Arosemana replaces him; the CIA fills the now vacant vice presidency with its own man.

Congo (Zaire) — The CIA assassinates the democratically elected Patrice Lumumba. However, public support for Lumumba’s politics runs so high that the CIA cannot clearly install his opponents in power. Four years of political turmoil follow.

1963

Dominican Republic — The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Juan Bosch in a military coup. The CIA installs a repressive, right-wing junta.

Ecuador — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows President Arosemana, whose independent (not socialist) policies have become unacceptable to Washington. A military junta assumes command, cancels the 1964 elections, and begins abusing human rights.

1964

Brazil — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. The junta that replaces it will, in the next two decades, become one of the most bloodthirsty in history. General Castelo Branco will create Latin America’s first death squads, or bands of secret police who hunt down "communists" for torture, interrogation and murder. Often these "communists" are no more than Branco’s political opponents. Later it is revealed that the CIA trains the death squads.

1965

Indonesia — The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Sukarno with a military coup. The CIA has been trying to eliminate Sukarno since 1957, using everything from attempted assassination to sexual intrigue, for nothing more than his declaring neutrality in the Cold War. His successor, General Suharto, will massacre between 500,000 to 1 million civilians accused of being "communist." The CIA supplies the names of countless suspects.

Dominican Republic — A popular rebellion breaks out, promising to reinstall Juan Bosch as the country’s elected leader. The revolution is crushed when U.S. Marines land to uphold the military regime by force. The CIA directs everything behind the scenes.

Greece — With the CIA’s backing, the king removes George Papandreous as prime minister. Papandreous has failed to vigorously support U.S. interests in Greece.

Congo (Zaire) — A CIA-backed military coup installs Mobutu Sese Seko as dictator. The hated and repressive Mobutu exploits his desperately poor country for billions.

1966

The Ramparts Affair — The radical magazine Ramparts begins a series of unprecedented anti-CIA articles. Among their scoops: the CIA has paid the University of Michigan $25 million dollars to hire "professors" to train South Vietnamese students in covert police methods. MIT and other universities have received similar payments. Ramparts also reveals that the National Students’ Association is a CIA front. Students are sometimes recruited through blackmail and bribery, including draft deferments.

1967

Greece — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the government two days before the elections. The favorite to win was George Papandreous, the liberal candidate. During the next six years, the "reign of the colonels" — backed by the CIA — will usher in the widespread use of torture and murder against political opponents. When a Greek ambassador objects to President Johnson about U.S. plans for Cypress, Johnson tells him: "Fuck your parliament and your constitution."

Operation PHEONIX — The CIA helps South Vietnamese agents identify and then murder alleged Viet Cong leaders operating in South Vietnamese villages. According to a 1971 congressional report, this operation killed about 20,000 "Viet Cong."

1968

Operation CHAOS — The CIA has been illegally spying on American citizens since 1959, but with Operation CHAOS, President Johnson dramatically boosts the effort. CIA agents go undercover as student radicals to spy on and disrupt campus organizations protesting the Vietnam War. They are searching for Russian instigators, which they never find. CHAOS will eventually spy on 7,000 individuals and 1,000 organizations.

Bolivia — A CIA-organized military operation captures legendary guerilla Che Guevara. The CIA wants to keep him alive for interrogation, but the Bolivian government executes him to prevent worldwide calls for clemency.

1969

Uruguay — The notorious CIA torturer Dan Mitrione arrives in Uruguay, a country torn with political strife. Whereas right-wing forces previously used torture only as a last resort, Mitrione convinces them to use it as a routine, widespread practice. "The precise pain, in the precise place, in the precise amount, for the desired effect," is his motto. The torture techniques he teaches to the death squads rival the Nazis’. He eventually becomes so feared that revolutionaries will kidnap and murder him a year later.

1970

Cambodia — The CIA overthrows Prince Sahounek, who is highly popular among Cambodians for keeping them out of the Vietnam War. He is replaced by CIA puppet Lon Nol, who immediately throws Cambodian troops into battle. This unpopular move strengthens once minor opposition parties like the Khmer Rouge, which achieves power in 1975 and massacres millions of its own people.

1971

Bolivia — After half a decade of CIA-inspired political turmoil, a CIA-backed military coup overthrows the leftist President Juan Torres. In the next two years, dictator Hugo Banzer will have over 2,000 political opponents arrested without trial, then tortured, raped and executed.

Haiti — "Papa Doc" Duvalier dies, leaving his 19-year old son "Baby Doc" Duvalier the dictator of Haiti. His son continues his bloody reign with full knowledge of the CIA.

1972

The Case-Zablocki Act — Congress passes an act requiring congressional review of executive agreements. In theory, this should make CIA operations more accountable. In fact, it is only marginally effective.

Cambodia — Congress votes to cut off CIA funds for its secret war in Cambodia.

Wagergate Break-in — President Nixon sends in a team of burglars to wiretap Democratic offices at Watergate. The team members have extensive CIA histories, including James McCord, E. Howard Hunt and five of the Cuban burglars. They work for the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP), which does dirty work like disrupting Democratic campaigns and laundering Nixon’s illegal campaign contributions. CREEP’s activities are funded and organized by another CIA front, the Mullen Company.

1973

Chile — The CIA overthrows and assassinates Salvador Allende, Latin America’s first democratically elected socialist leader. The problems begin when Allende nationalizes American-owned firms in Chile. ITT offers the CIA $1 million for a coup (reportedly refused). The CIA replaces Allende with General Augusto Pinochet, who will torture and murder thousands of his own countrymen in a crackdown on labor leaders and the political left.

CIA begins internal investigations — William Colby, the Deputy Director for Operations, orders all CIA personnel to report any and all illegal activities they know about. This information is later reported to Congress.

Watergate Scandal — The CIA’s main collaborating newspaper in America, The Washington Post, reports Nixon’s crimes long before any other newspaper takes up the subject. The two reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, make almost no mention of the CIA’s many fingerprints all over the scandal. It is later revealed that Woodward was a Naval intelligence briefer to the White House, and knows many important intelligence figures, including General Alexander Haig. His main source, "Deep Throat," is probably one of those.

CIA Director Helms Fired — President Nixon fires CIA Director Richard Helms for failing to help cover up the Watergate scandal. Helms and Nixon have always disliked each other. The new CIA director is William Colby, who is relatively more open to CIA reform.

1974

CHAOS exposed — Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh publishes a story about Operation CHAOS, the domestic surveillance and infiltration of anti-war and civil rights groups in the U.S. The story sparks national outrage.

Angleton fired — Congress holds hearings on the illegal domestic spying efforts of James Jesus Angleton, the CIA’s chief of counterintelligence. His efforts included mail-opening campaigns and secret surveillance of war protesters. The hearings result in his dismissal from the CIA.

House clears CIA in Watergate — The House of Representatives clears the CIA of any complicity in Nixon’s Watergate break-in.

The Hughes Ryan Act — Congress passes an amendment requiring the president to report nonintelligence CIA operations to the relevant congressional committees in a timely fashion.

1975

Australia — The CIA helps topple the democratically elected, left-leaning government of Prime Minister Edward Whitlam. The CIA does this by giving an ultimatum to its Governor-General, John Kerr. Kerr, a longtime CIA collaborator, exercises his constitutional right to dissolve the Whitlam government. The Governor-General is a largely ceremonial position appointed by the Queen; the Prime Minister is democratically elected. The use of this archaic and never-used law stuns the nation.

Angola — Eager to demonstrate American military resolve after its defeat in Vietnam, Henry Kissinger launches a CIA-backed war in Angola. Contrary to Kissinger’s assertions, Angola is a country of little strategic importance and not seriously threatened by communism. The CIA backs the brutal leader of UNITAS, Jonas Savimbi. This polarizes Angolan politics and drives his opponents into the arms of Cuba and the Soviet Union for survival. Congress will cut off funds in 1976, but the CIA is able to run the war off the books until 1984, when funding is legalized again. This entirely pointless war kills over 300,000 Angolans.

"The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" — Victor Marchetti and John Marks publish this whistle-blowing history of CIA crimes and abuses. Marchetti has spent 14 years in the CIA, eventually becoming an executive assistant to the Deputy Director of Intelligence. Marks has spent five years as an intelligence official in the State Department.

"Inside the Company" — Philip Agee publishes a diary of his life inside the CIA. Agee has worked in covert operations in Latin America during the 60s, and details the crimes in which he took part.

Congress investigates CIA wrong-doing — Public outrage compels Congress to hold hearings on CIA crimes. Senator Frank Church heads the Senate investigation ("The Church Committee"), and Representative Otis Pike heads the House investigation. (Despite a 98 percent incumbency reelection rate, both Church and Pike are defeated in the next elections.) The investigations lead to a number of reforms intended to increase the CIA’s accountability to Congress, including the creation of a standing Senate committee on intelligence. However, the reforms prove ineffective, as the Iran/Contra scandal will show. It turns out the CIA can control, deal with or sidestep Congress with ease.

The Rockefeller Commission — In an attempt to reduce the damage done by the Church Committee, President Ford creates the "Rockefeller Commission" to whitewash CIA history and propose toothless reforms. The commission’s namesake, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, is himself a major CIA figure. Five of the commission’s eight members are also members of the Council on Foreign Relations, a CIA-dominated organization.

1979

Iran — The CIA fails to predict the fall of the Shah of Iran, a longtime CIA puppet, and the rise of Muslim fundamentalists who are furious at the CIA’s backing of SAVAK, the Shah’s bloodthirsty secret police. In revenge, the Muslims take 52 Americans hostage in the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

Afghanistan — The Soviets invade Afghanistan. The CIA immediately begins supplying arms to any faction willing to fight the occupying Soviets. Such indiscriminate arming means that when the Soviets leave Afghanistan, civil war will erupt. Also, fanatical Muslim extremists now possess state-of-the-art weaponry. One of these is Sheik Abdel Rahman, who will become involved in the World Trade Center bombing in New York.

El Salvador — An idealistic group of young military officers, repulsed by the massacre of the poor, overthrows the right-wing government. However, the U.S. compels the inexperienced officers to include many of the old guard in key positions in their new government. Soon, things are back to "normal" — the military government is repressing and killing poor civilian protesters. Many of the young military and civilian reformers, finding themselves powerless, resign in disgust.

Nicaragua — Anastasios Samoza II, the CIA-backed dictator, falls. The Marxist Sandinistas take over government, and they are initially popular because of their commitment to land and anti-poverty reform. Samoza had a murderous and hated personal army called the National Guard. Remnants of the Guard will become the Contras, who fight a CIA-backed guerilla war against the Sandinista government throughout the 1980s.

1980

El Salvador — The Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, pleads with President Carter "Christian to Christian" to stop aiding the military government slaughtering his people. Carter refuses. Shortly afterwards, right-wing leader Roberto D’Aubuisson has Romero shot through the heart while saying Mass. The country soon dissolves into civil war, with the peasants in the hills fighting against the military government. The CIA and U.S. Armed Forces supply the government with overwhelming military and intelligence superiority. CIA-trained death squads roam the countryside, committing atrocities like that of El Mazote in 1982, where they massacre between 700 and 1000 men, women and children. By 1992, some 63,000 Salvadorans will be killed.

1981

Iran/Contra Begins — The CIA begins selling arms to Iran at high prices, using the profits to arm the Contras fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. President Reagan vows that the Sandinistas will be "pressured" until "they say ‘uncle.’" The CIA’s Freedom Fighter’s Manual disbursed to the Contras includes instruction on economic sabotage, propaganda, extortion, bribery, blackmail, interrogation, torture, murder and political assassination.

1983

Honduras — The CIA gives Honduran military officers the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual – 1983, which teaches how to torture people. Honduras’ notorious "Battalion 316" then uses these techniques, with the CIA’s full knowledge, on thousands of leftist dissidents. At least 184 are murdered.

1984

The Boland Amendment — The last of a series of Boland Amendments is passed. These amendments have reduced CIA aid to the Contras; the last one cuts it off completely. However, CIA Director William Casey is already prepared to "hand off" the operation to Colonel Oliver North, who illegally continues supplying the Contras through the CIA’s informal, secret, and self-financing network. This includes "humanitarian aid" donated by Adolph Coors and William Simon, and military aid funded by Iranian arms sales.

1986

Eugene Hasenfus — Nicaragua shoots down a C-123 transport plane carrying military supplies to the Contras. The lone survivor, Eugene Hasenfus, turns out to be a CIA employee, as are the two dead pilots. The airplane belongs to Southern Air Transport, a CIA front. The incident makes a mockery of President Reagan’s claims that the CIA is not illegally arming the Contras.

Iran/Contra Scandal — Although the details have long been known, the Iran/Contra scandal finally captures the media’s attention in 1986. Congress holds hearings, and several key figures (like Oliver North) lie under oath to protect the intelligence community. CIA Director William Casey dies of brain cancer before Congress can question him. All reforms enacted by Congress after the scandal are purely cosmetic.

Haiti — Rising popular revolt in Haiti means that "Baby Doc" Duvalier will remain "President for Life" only if he has a short one. The U.S., which hates instability in a puppet country, flies the despotic Duvalier to the South of France for a comfortable retirement. The CIA then rigs the upcoming elections in favor of another right-wing military strongman. However, violence keeps the country in political turmoil for another four years. The CIA tries to strengthen the military by creating the National Intelligence Service (SIN), which suppresses popular revolt through torture and assassination.

1989

Panama — The U.S. invades Panama to overthrow a dictator of its own making, General Manuel Noriega. Noriega has been on the CIA’s payroll since 1966, and has been transporting drugs with the CIA’s knowledge since 1972. By the late 80s, Noriega’s growing independence and intransigence have angered Washington… so out he goes.

1990

Haiti — Competing against 10 comparatively wealthy candidates, leftist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide captures 68 percent of the vote. After only eight months in power, however, the CIA-backed military deposes him. More military dictators brutalize the country, as thousands of Haitian refugees escape the turmoil in barely seaworthy boats. As popular opinion calls for Aristide’s return, the CIA begins a disinformation campaign painting the courageous priest as mentally unstable.

1991

The Gulf War — The U.S. liberates Kuwait from Iraq. But Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, is another creature of the CIA. With U.S. encouragement, Hussein invaded Iran in 1980. During this costly eight-year war, the CIA built up Hussein’s forces with sophisticated arms, intelligence, training and financial backing. This cemented Hussein’s power at home, allowing him to crush the many internal rebellions that erupted from time to time, sometimes with poison gas. It also gave him all the military might he needed to conduct further adventurism — in Kuwait, for example.

The Fall of the Soviet Union — The CIA fails to predict this most important event of the Cold War. This suggests that it has been so busy undermining governments that it hasn’t been doing its primary job: gathering and analyzing information. The fall of the Soviet Union also robs the CIA of its reason for existence: fighting communism. This leads some to accuse the CIA of intentionally failing to predict the downfall of the Soviet Union. Curiously, the intelligence community’s budget is not significantly reduced after the demise of communism.

1992

Economic Espionage — In the years following the end of the Cold War, the CIA is increasingly used for economic espionage. This involves stealing the technological secrets of competing foreign companies and giving them to American ones. Given the CIA’s clear preference for dirty tricks over mere information gathering, the possibility of serious criminal behavior is very great indeed.

1993

Haiti — The chaos in Haiti grows so bad that President Clinton has no choice but to remove the Haitian military dictator, Raoul Cedras, on threat of U.S. invasion. The U.S. occupiers do not arrest Haiti’s military leaders for crimes against humanity, but instead ensure their safety and rich retirements. Aristide is returned to power only after being forced to accept an agenda favorable to the country’s ruling class.

[Flacolaco]

You really ought to link to things you didn't write.

[alexamenos]

kinda gotta agree with ribosoma....maybe more fair to say I very much agree...

The CIA has a long, nasty bloody history. They lie for a living. Whoever gets punished will likely be a no-account scape goat, anyway...

[dalmations202]

Originally Posted by alexamenos

kinda gotta agree with ribosoma....maybe more fair to say I very much agree...

The CIA has a long, nasty bloody history. They lie for a living. Whoever gets punished will likely be a no-account scape goat, anyway...

What's funny is that although people realize that the CIA (or others) own the media, etc.................they still believe they know what is really happening a half a world away because of what they hear from the media.

What do you really know about what is happening (has happened) in Iraq and Afghanistan? I'd bet most people "know" what they are suppose to know and it is no where near the "truth".

[alexamenos]

What's funny is that although people realize that the CIA (or others) own the media, etc.................

Yeah....What's also funny to me is the extent to which people say, 'sure, the CIA used to do those things....but no, not any more.'

Yeah, right.

[Mavdog]

but if the cia owns the media, they control what we hear, and if we hear that they control the media, then clearly their goal is they want us to think they control the media, which means we shouldn't believe that they control the media because that's obviously what they want us to believe.....what a conundrum.

[dalmations202]

Originally Posted by Mavdog

but if the cia owns the media, they control what we hear, and if we hear that they control the media, then clearly their goal is they want us to think they control the media, which means we shouldn't believe that they control the media because that's obviously what they want us to believe.....what a conundrum.

I don't believe I heard that the CIA owns the media from the news media though. In fact, it wasn't the CIA at all that I heard - hence (others): and it wasn't from a media source so why quote it because I have no proof anyway since I can't link to it. Correct?

Although I do agree that it is very hard to know what to believe.

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by Mavdog

but if the cia owns the media, they control what we hear, and if we hear that they control the media, then clearly their goal is they want us to think they control the media, which means we shouldn't believe that they control the media because that's obviously what they want us to believe.....what a conundrum.

I think the goal of a PSYOP is to create that kind of a conundrum. They haven't spent billions of dollars over the past 60+ years learning how to weaponize consciousness so they could sit on it.

"This is what simplistic researchers miss: the function of macabre arrogance thumbing its nose at us while we do nothing except spread the tale of their immunity and invincibility further. That is the game plan operant here.

To the belief system of the modern man it sounds too crazy. Why would the perpetrators want their secrets revealed after the fact? ... This question can only be definitely answered if one has an understanding of the zeitgeist which overseers in the cryptocracy have partly manufactured and partly tailored their own operations to coincide with. As I've pointed out, secrets like this were rarely revealed in the past because traditional people had not yet completed the alchemical processing (of mind control). To make such perverse, modern revelations to an unprocessed, healthy and vigorous population possessed of will, memory adherence to their deepest inner intuition and intense interest in their salvation, would not have been a good thing for the cryptocracy. It would have proven fatal to them.

But to reveal these after-the-fact secrets in our modern time, to a people who have no memory, no willpower and no interest in their own fate except in so far as it may serve as momentary titillation and entertainment actually strengthens the enslavement of such a people."

- Michael A. Hoffman II, Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare

[alexamenos]

I think it's a bit of hyperbole to say that the CIA owns the media -- we all know that a secret cabal of jewish bankers own the media...

It's more precise to say that in decades past the CIA successfully recruited large numbers of important media types to serve it's cause, and perhaps some folks who worked fulltime for the CIA also did a little side-work as journalists.....that is, the CIA didn't own the media, they just used it.

But I'm sure they've stopped. After all, wouldn't they tell us if they were still using the media for propaganda purposes?

[FreshJive]

Two different groups using a skull and bones for a symbol can't be a coincidence. It's too unique. Like pyramids, crosses, and circles.

[mcsluggo]

oh crap.... my 7 year old daughter put a skull and crossbones flag up on her wall this summer....

does this mean I have to kill her?

[alexamenos]

Originally Posted by mcsluggo

oh crap.... my 7 year old daughter put a skull and crossbones flag up on her wall this summer....

does this mean I have to kill her?

Yeah, you probably should. The odds of her growing up to be a genocidal nazi are admittedly pretty slim, but I don't see how we can take such an unncessary chance with so many lives at stake.

Best Case Scenario if we act: Hatred is eliminated from the human condition, you save oodles on college tuition

Worst Case Scenario if we don't act: Your daughter starts a reign of terror that lasts for several millenia, human civilization as we know it is lost forever, you've got to pay for her braces too.....

It's really a no-brainer when you stop and think about it.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by mcsluggo

oh crap.... my 7 year old daughter put a skull and crossbones flag up on her wall this summer....

does this mean I have to kill her?

Yes, but it has to be a ritual killing - you'll need 6 people to create a hexagon and chant "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" before you send her to the Dark One at the tip of a bile-etched Athame Dagger...

(kinda like a death-metal version of Abraham...)

[92bDad]

Originally Posted by mcsluggo

oh crap.... my 7 year old daughter put a skull and crossbones flag up on her wall this summer....

does this mean I have to kill her?

No don't do it, abortions are not legal after birth...besides, she migh become Speaker of the House

[dalmations202]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to alexamenos again.
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Underdog again
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to 92bDad again.

Good stuff guys, but you'll have to accept virtual rep because that's the way the system works.

[FreshJive]

Originally Posted by mcsluggo

oh crap.... my 7 year old daughter put a skull and crossbones flag up on her wall this summer....

does this mean I have to kill her?

No way dude she's been chosen. She's probably even got a belt buckle. Golden Ticket for you.

[mcsluggo]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Yes, but it has to be a ritual killing - you'll need 6 people to create a hexagon and chant "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" before you send her to the Dark One at the tip of a bile-etched Athame Dagger...

(kinda like a death-metal version of Abraham...)

wait... everyone knows that it should be a pentagon instead... right?

Do you you just invite that sixth person so that you get to kill somebody ELSE also? Kind of an hors d'œuvre?

[mcsluggo]

Originally Posted by alexamenos

Yeah, you probably should. The odds of her growing up to be a genocidal nazi are admittedly pretty slim, but I don't see how we can take such an unncessary chance with so many lives at stake.

Best Case Scenario if we act: Hatred is eliminated from the human condition, you save oodles on college tuition

Worst Case Scenario if we don't act: Your daughter starts a reign of terror that lasts for several millenia, human civilization as we know it is lost forever, you've got to pay for her braces too.....

It's really a no-brainer when you stop and think about it.

I would be so proud if one of MY daughters single handedly started a millenium of terror. I get misty eyed just thinking of it...

(I need to start putting together some sepia tone pictures of myself for all the ominous future documentarians.)

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by mcsluggo

wait... everyone knows that it should be a pentagon instead... right?

Do you you just invite that sixth person so that you get to kill somebody ELSE also? Kind of an hors d'œuvre?

You're thinking of a pentagram - that's for those little girlie Satanists...

Are you sure your daughter has a skull'n'bones poster on her wall??? (I won't go so far as to call you a "poser" but you're starting to sound like a fair weather doomsday fan to me...)

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by Underdog

You're thinking of a pentagram - that's for those little girlie Satanists...

Are you sure your daughter has a skull'n'bones poster on her wall??? (I won't go so far as to call you a "poser" but you're starting to sound like a fair weather doomsday fan to me...)

I've heard that if you draw a hexagon with powdered camel scrotum while uttering Crowley's incantations to the demons of the Qlipoth, you might end up here.

[DirkFTW]

[dude1394]

Just so...
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009...fenders/print/

Now, not only are some of those policies being abandoned, but Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. also is making an effort to demonize and, possibly, place in the docket those who conceived or carried them out. It will be a watershed in American history if lawyers from the current administration prosecute lawyers from the previous administration because they disagree with their legal opinions. In America, it used to be sufficient for one party to defeat the other at the polls. Jailing political opponents was regarded as excessive...
....
It is likely to be a long time before a captured terrorist will again tell an American interrogator what he knows. It also may be a long time before another terrorist is captured. For now, at least, it is still permissible to use drones to kill terrorists in such remote corners of the world as Waziristan. Though how would you like to be the CIA operative pulling that trigger?

[aquaadverse]

Originally Posted by dude1394

Just so...
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009...fenders/print/

We're involved in a struggle unlike any other in our short history. There isn't any government to sanction, no people to sit around a table to preen and posture and play diplomatic poker. It transcends sovereign borders and the state of our shiny tech has allowed international meetings with no stamping of passports or purchasing of plane tickets, Disposable cell phones. Cafes that show a single IP address to the world. Mail that will never see a box you can stakeout and you can have a completely new address in seconds from any number of domains. A headset and Skype and voice over IP. Get a warrant for that.

Waterboarding is evil but a drone can blow up a village. We can't threaten detainees but handing them over using rendition, when we know stuff will be done that makes Gitmo a day at Disney World with a $1000 gift certificate to Baskin Robbins when you leave, gives us an ethical high ground. We can carbon credit and pay someone to be environmentally responsible for us and outsource all that distasteful interrogation.

I can understand Clinton downsizing intel assets after the fall of the Soviet Union and the corralling of Saddam. Satellites can read license plates, we don't need no stinking spys. I disagreed with it but it wasn't totally insane.

But Holder is insane to do this. Even if the people who believe in the Easter Bunny and there is no political agenda are correct. Intel is the single best weapon we have. It's the Crusades with the roles flipped. America is the twilight zone trading on old rep. Let's just break our weapons over our knees.