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The Big Secret Behind the CIA-Congressional Battle
The Deeper Story
You’ve heard that there’s a big battle between the CIA and Congress over the CIA spying on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s review of documents related to the Bush-era torture program.
Many are calling it a “constitutional crisis“. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa calls it potential “treason“.
The congress members complaining about spying by the CIA are right, of course.
But they are hypocrites. Specifically, these same congress members didn’t raise a peep when the government was spying on the people … and instead defended the government’s mass surveillance at every opportunity.
There are hundreds of thousands of Google hits for the search term “Hypocrisy CIA Senate Feinstein“.
High-level NSA whistleblower Bill Binney, Edward Snowden, a very high-level former CIA officer, a former FBI agent and many others are all slamming Congress for the hypocrisy
Even Jon Stewart has lambasted them:
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(And this isn’t the first time that Congress has been hypocritical when the spying was turned against them personally.)
A corrupt CIA is certainly part of the problem. After all, the same guy who was the lawyer for the CIA torture unit – and who was mentioned 1,600 times in the Senate intelligence report on torture – is now the chief counsel for the CIA … the guy working so hard to make sure the torture report is never released. (He was also involved in the destruction of tapes documenting CIA torture … discussed more fully below).
And don’t let Obama fool you: The White House is a big part of the problem as well.
Obama has for years prevented the Senate Intelligence report on torture – what the CIA’s spying is all about – from being declassified.
Glenn Greenwald tweets:
Could someone remind me who appointed [CIA director] John Brennan and to whom he reports? Having trouble finding it in most discussions ….
Obama appointed current CIA-director John Brennan, who – before the appointment – had expressly endorsed torture, assassination of unidentified strangers (including Americans) without due process, and spying on all Americans, and got caught in numerous lies related to national security and defense. (Indeed, Brennan insisted that he be sworn in with a copy of the Constitution which didn’t include the Bill of Rights.)
The White House has also withheld 9,400 documents from the Senate’s CIA torture investigation. McClatchy reports:
The White House has been withholding for five years more than 9,000 top-secret documents sought by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for its investigation into the now-defunct CIA detention and interrogation program, even though President Barack Obama hasn’t exercised a claim of executive privilege.
In contrast to public assertions that it supports the committee’s work, the White House has ignored or rejected offers in multiple meetings and in letters to find ways for the committee to review the records, a McClatchy investigation has found.
And Senator Mark Udall said that Obama knew about the CIA’s spying on Congress.
Not Just the CIA … And Not a New Problem
But it’s not just the CIA. And there has been a constitutional crisis for a long time.
For example, the FBI collected files on everyone. As the New York Times reports:
J. Edgar Hoover compiled secret dossiers on the sexual peccadillos and private misbehavior of those he labeled as enemies — really dangerous people like … President John F. Kennedy, for example.
The NSA has been spying on – and intimidating – its “overseers” in Washington. Indeed, the NSA spied on anti-war Congress members in the 1970s … including the chair of the Congressional Committee investigating illegal NSA spying.
One of the NSA whistleblower sources for the big 2005 New York Times exposé on illegal spying – Russel Tice – says that the NSA illegally spied on General Petraeus and other generals, Supreme Court Justice Alito and all of the other supreme court justices, the White House spokesman, and many other top officials.
The Washington Times reported in 2006 that – when Tice offered to testify to Congress about this illegal spying – he was informed by the NSA that the Senate intelligence committee was not cleared to hear such information:
Renee Seymour, director of NSA special access programs stated in a Jan. 9 letter to Russ Tice that he should not testify about secret electronic intelligence programs because members and staff of the House and Senate intelligence committees do not have the proper security clearances for the secret intelligence.
(And see this.)
Former high-level NSA executive Bill Binney points out how absurd that statement is:
Russ Tice ... was prepared to testify to Congress to this, too, and so NSA sent him a letter saying, we agree that you have a right to go to Congress to testify, but we have to advise you that the intelligence committees that you want to testify to are not cleared for the programs you want to speak about. Now, that fundamentally is an open admission ... by NSA that they are violating the intelligence acts of 1947 and 1978, which require NSA and all other intelligence agencies to notify Congress of all the programs that they're running so they can have effective oversight, which they've never had anyway.
Binney confirmed to Washington's Blog:
The violations of law and the constitution are being openly admitted by both Congress and the NSA.
The Other Story Getting Lost In the Shuffle
And there’s another story getting lost in the shuffle …
Sure, the top independent interrogation experts say that torture is ineffective … and actually harms national security. You’ve probably already heard arguments one way or the other on this issue, and likely have made up your mind about it.
But remember, the torture used by the U.S. on the Guantanamo suspects was of a “special” type.
Specifically, Senator Levin revealed that the the U.S. used Communist torture techniques specifically aimed at creating false confessions. And see these important reports from McClatchy, New York Times, CNN and Huffington Post.
In other words, were not just talking about torture. We’re talking about deploying a special type of torture in order to get FALSE confessions.
In addition, the Atlantic notes:
America is likely to torture again, if we aren’t doing it already.
A related part of this underreported part of the torture story is that the CIA’s torture program ended up deceiving the 9/11 Commission. Specifically, the 9/11 Commission Report was largely based on third-hand accounts of what tortured detainees said, with two of the three parties in the communication being government employees. The 9/11 Commissioners were not allowed to speak with the detainees, or even their interrogators. Instead, they got their information third-hand. The Commission itself didn’t really trust the interrogation testimony… yet published it as if it were Gospel.
New York Times investigative reporter Philip Shenon noted in a 2009 essay in Newsweek that the 9/11 Commission Report was unreliable because most of the information was based on the statements of tortured detainees.
NBC News reported:
- Much of the 9/11 Commission Report was based upon the testimony of people who were tortured
- At least four of the people whose interrogation figured in the 9/11 Commission Report have claimed that they told interrogators information as a way to stop being “tortured.”
- One of the Commission’s main sources of information was tortured until he agreed to sign a confession that he was NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO READ
- The 9/11 Commission itself doubted the accuracy of the torture confessions, and yet kept their doubts to themselves
And the CIA videotaped the interrogation of 9/11 suspects, but falsely told the 9/11 Commission that there were no videotapes or other records of the interrogations, and then illegally destroyed all of the tapes and transcripts of the interrogations. (As discussed above, the current head CIA lawyer helped to destroy the tapes.)
9/11 Commission co-chairs Thomas Keane and Lee Hamilton wrote:
Those who knew about those videotapes — and did not tell us about them — obstructed our investigation.
***
Government officials decided not to inform a lawfully constituted body, created by Congress and the president, to investigate one the greatest tragedies to confront this country. We call that obstruction.
In other words, we’ve got a rogue government. That’s the big story behind the CIA-congressional battle.
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Communist torture techniques? you guys are fucking hilarious. we should note that Issa is outraged (shocked to learn gambling is going on) and now that Bush is out of the way, well lets impeach the rascal. so let's agree the spy agencies are spying on everybody, and its not who you know, but who you blow. some people get to access the reports and the some people have their dirty linen exposed. (my guess is Ms F has a few blummers in the wind). and if Obama wants to find out who is with him and who is against him, so much the better for him, the lousy bastard. there's probably enough dirt to put Bush on devils island for 200 years, buts lets move forward here. we can get the current lying sack of shit, and punish him, is that right? (republicans?) these are all people who had the sceptre of power, and who could have stopped a corrupt ideological regime from taking over america, and now they're concerned their rights have been violated? if the objective is to throw pelosi feinstein and boxer out of office, then what we are we to think? god bless the CIA? no but on the other hand me thinks the lady doth protest too much and too late
In Politic's "NOBODY HAS A FRIEND"
Obama, wants dirt on all to control all,
Long ago FIENSTIEN and PELOSI admitted that the GUBMINT had dirt on everybody, and Maxine Waters even mentioned that under OBama the collection power had gone up 10X.
You control people by carrot&stick, given the coming collapse of the USD, there will be NO carrots, only sticks.
Information is the stick to control.
"The NSA has been spying on – and intimidating – its “overseers” in Washington. "
Sure explains how The Patriot Act got passed.... how all those defenders of the Bill of Rights caved...... Warrantless wiretapping started long BEFORE 9/11. No need to burglarize the Watergate when you can read somoen's e-mails and listen in on all their phone calls....... have enough dirt on people and you control them - and there's more than enough dirt in DC.
It's OK, Obama is black and it's all Bush's fault anyways.....
This message brought to you by your Nationalist Socialist Semite Democrat Media Outlet.....
Carry on
Stewart didn't go after Feinstein nearly as much as he could have.
Gee.
I wonder if there's a reason for that.
Dianne Feinstein, born as Dianne Emiel Goldman, is a jew (Source).
as if the last name Feinstein didnt give it away...
JEEEWS. If Jews are running things, why are they backing Neo-Nazi's in Ukraine? Pretty sure Zionists are Nazi's... at least they're two sides of the same coin... a lot like Republicans and Democrats.
The jews are responsible for the turmoil in Ukraine. "Neo-Nazis" have nothing to do with it.
Akhmetov joins Ukraine oligarchs in pledging to protect homeland
"Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki, spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Dnipropetrovsk, praised Mr Kolomoisky and denied Russian claims that extremists out to persecute Russians and other minorities had taken over power in Ukraine."
"'The Jewish community is very proud of his decision to leave his comfort zone and really devote himself...to protect the homeland and develop the region,' the Rabbi said."
"'What the Russians, with their propaganda on television and in their statements, are doing is trying to show that Ukraine is anti-Semitic, which is not true. It is very safe here for the Jews. This new Ukrainian leadership is not a fascist leadership, they are patriots,' he added."
Despite calls for neutrality in Ukraine protests, young Jews are on the front lines
"Reading about the protests on Facebook and seeing anti-Semitic comments is different from the reality on the ground, Oleynikova added."
The ex-Israeli soldier who led a Kiev fighting unit
"'I don’t belong [to Svoboda], but I take orders from their team. They know I’m Israeli, Jewish and an ex-IDF soldier. They call me 'brother,'' he said. 'What they’re saying about Svoboda is exaggerated, I know this for a fact. I don’t like them because they’re inconsistent, not because of [any] anti-Semitism issue.'"
"But Delta says the Kremlin is using the anti-Semitism card falsely to delegitimize the Ukrainian revolution, which is distancing Ukraine from Russia’s sphere of influence."
"'It’s bullshit. I never saw any expression of anti-Semitism during the protests, and the claims to the contrary were part of the reason I joined the movement. We’re trying to show that Jews care,' he said."
there's simply no question Jews have had a very large role in the coup in Ukraine.
http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2014/02/philip-giraldi-on-the-neoco...
http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2014/03/the-unstable-alliance-of-na...
This doesn't mean that "the Jews" are, or even that the average Ukrainian Jew who's probably barely getting by had fuck all to do with it.
I mean - it's just common sense.
you are probably right. In Hitler times the jewish bankers sucks everything in Weimar time, but all the average jews, the poor ones, payed the price of hatred. The banksters? All timely fled out of Germany. Here would be the same. When the rest of the World payback, only the 99 sheeps, jews includes, would let a miserable lifes. The banksters and others 1% would go to serve the new masters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2v2VSAgFAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awCOSRg-gks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bygn63jZceM
The state hasn't gone off the rails. This is what governments do. When the actors who portray our leaders get out of line and forget who is really in charge, they get treated like the rest of us.
Why the fuck would anyone videotape interrogations that could be construed as torture? And how do you define torture?
It's great whacking material for really sick goat fuckers.
the last time I checked, we've legally defined all sorts of violent acts on fellow humans
We've already legally defined 'torture' and prosecuted people for using it after WWII. The SAME techniques were being used by CIA interrigators.
Why videotape it? Sheer arrogance and a belief they would NEVER be held accountable - a valid belief given the lack of any real investigations, or prosecutions (not so easy when evidence is destroyed and those who SHOULD be doing the investigations have been spied on - do you want YOUR deep dark secrets revealed?)
Power corrupts - and this kind of power is the worst. Warrantless wiretapping was going on BEFORE 9/11. Ever wonder why so many Congressional types who spoke out AGAINST the Patriot Act and such voted FOR it? Have enough dirt on people and you control them. Pretty obvious, isn't it? If they don't go along.... lots of deaths in small plane crashes and other 'accidents' - on rare occasions an outright murder. Look at what's happened to ANYONE calling for more accountability. Look at all the forced resignations of military officers and mysterious crasjhes of helicopters carrying FBI agents, Naval Intelligence officers and others. Seems like a major power struggle is going on behind the scenes - the scope of which we cannot imagine. Was Petraeus put in to rein in the CIA? was he taken out because he WAS a 'threat'? Funny how so many people are ousted over scandals in their private lives.....
That $2.3 TRILLION 'unaccounted for' in the Pentagon's budget was forgotten about after 9/11. Anyone EVER done an audit on CIA spending? bwahaaaaaaaa............
Given the CIA's track record in MISSING critical developments in history - China going Communist, North Korea invading South Korea, Russia going into Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the collapse of the Soviet Union... and far more, and the BLATANTLY ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES OF THE CIA - drug running, providing arms to our enemies, assassinations, and the blowback from things like overtorowing the Iranian government in 1953 and the installation of the Shah, support of countless corrupt and autocratic dictators (including Noriega, Saddam Hussein and more) we SHOULD be asking why is this organizations still in existence? Not to mention the BILLIONS in unaccounted for spending..... But then the last President to try and rein in the CIA was Carter (JFK tried as well) - and look what happened to him.
NO president since then has gotten in without prior vetting by the CIA - Bush I and II wer neck deep, Clinton was as well - Google Mena Arkansas) and Obama's maternal family has some interesting ties.....
The Republic is dead and those running the Empire are doing a godawful job - they hold on by knowing the dirt on those charged with overseeing them. We're seeing the final stages of looting the Treasury by those who can - knowing that the collapse in inevitable. How much money is stashed overseas by CIA employees in 'official' and private accounts?
I still can't believe how many Americans were and are in support of torture programs. Anyone who supports torture is one of two things; a foaming at the mouth psychopath or a complete idiot, usually its a combination of both. Some seriously spooky psychophathic currents running through this country... Even now, 'ts hard not to be shocked by the fact that.... we have a government justifying torture. Are those of us still living in the US, basically the equivalent to Germans that didn't flee Nazi Germany because they didn't have the capacity to see what was coming? I sure hope not. Until then, fuck all psychopaths and friends of torture..... you are the lowest grade of a human that is possible.
As with all things, the "Either/Or" acolytes are wrong.
Torture has a place in human interaction. IF you cannot think of many situations where torture is necessary then you've got a problem in the Wernicke/Broca area of your brain.
If u need help to learn where and in what instances torture is not only justified but mandatory, let us know.
I'm certain if you stop your jerking knee u can drop the false choice scenario.
Human beans even at the highest level of evolution among us are little more than creatures who have emerged from the estuaries and swamps, and must be treated as such.
I'll start you off with one example:
Your teenage daughter has been kidnapped (your dog, cat, or gerbil) and you are in the company of one of the kidnappers, so you,
1) let your child die cause you can't provide what the nappers need (let's leave out that the teenager is beridden with spiked pumpkin colored hair, in a mohawk; wears nipple, lip, nose, and penis (labia) ring and is on heroin)
2) apply physical pain to the napper until he tells you all you need to know to get your child back
3) do nothing because someone will call you an animal.
Dear Comte, your example is probably the ONLY justification. Still, the torture victim may (gasp) lie! This is the real issue, that torture is INEFFECTIVE. If one knows it's ineffective, and still does it, that is clearly psychopathic behavior.
I love these "theoretical scenarios", they are such bullshit. You like to say how the world isn't black and white, its shades of gray. Then to prove your point, you give us a scenario that is 100% black and white.
Fuck you you fucking psychopath.
Ah, the 'ticking time bomb' justification, like this EVER happens. Maybe someone should torture you.
I'll put it to all of you idiots who think torture never works. Who raise your exceptions and then deny them.
Torture has likely done more than you will ever know or find out about in obtaining critical information to stop terrist attacks.
You all need to put your common sense to work and think about the variety of human beans who possess vital information and the variability in their willingness to undergo more than yanked fingernail b 4 giving it up.
What a buncha of ignoramuses to say that torture never works. Lemme guess: you don't think the Death penalty is helpful in obtaining heretorfore unattainable information either.
Got news for you. They both work, not all the time but certainly enough times that they both need to be in the arsenal of Law Enforcement.
You've been watching too many reruns of '24'
I don't care if it work or not.
I don't want State power using it under any circumstance.
I can accept/deal with terrorists.
No one can deal with State power run amok.
So it should never be given that opportunity.
Very recently 5 cops in Oklahome beat and unarmed innocent father to death in fromt of his family. This is your unregenerat State police apparatus in action.
Of course you don't care because you're an idiot riding the short bus.
That it (or any other invention of man) is misused is a puny argument since EVERYTHING in life is misused, including the Death Penalty.
That does not mean that Gein, Dahmer, Luther, and all the serial killers, and the rapists, freed after 5 yrs and get to rape again and again, should not be executed.
The State, if anything, is just to0 capricious in their use of torture, and capital punishment. The arbitrariness and other faults in the systems can be subject to strict oversight, a solution that is not even considered. These things can be done without giving up any of the benefits that derive from them.
Cars, knives, guns, Woody Allen and Oliver Stone movies, medicines, music, art, philosophy, popcorn, and cotton candy are all misused, abused, and otherwise not optimally employed,
That is no reason for them to be banned.
Perhaps it's just my experience, but isn't capitalism basically based on narcicism and sociopathy? In hind-sight it feels like America was created to create a country of sociopaths... those that lack empathy tend to do best in highly competative environments, they're also more likely to take risks --i.e. leave their home country and travel across the ocean to a whole new country.
Dear vie, I think you are confusing CAPITALISM with CORPORATISM.
Vie makes some good points. Psychopaths do have an advantage over the general population derived from their lack of empathy and ruthlessness. I don't think it has to be that way though. Their advantage is lost when properly identified and dealt with accordingly. Remember their first trait is superficial charm. You know this because you have worked with some of them and maybe even dated a couple. I heard an interesting partial solution to the psychopath problem once. Apparently, a person of normal human psychology has a physiological response to seeing videos of children, people or animals physically abused. The malignant narcissist or psychopath type on the other hand, will completely flat line, zero, zilch, nada. It was suggested that people be tested before holding office. If you think about it, we are just now realizing the huge impact these malignants have on social structure and how many of them there are... maybe they have always been the problem and the solution is simple.... identify them. Then maybe the people who are actually human can get on with the spirit of competition within reasonable moral boundaries.
And for guys on here pondering that woman from times past who played the sweet, harmless maiden in distress then gutted your life like a pig with amazing calculation.... yep she was one.
must just be your experience, because you're completely fucking wrong.
Implying that one must be a sociopath to be competitive, or improve oneself, or simply travel the world is way fucking wacko.
Why am I having Manchurian Candidate flashbacks?
Such a great fucking film
the original that is
yes, much better than the "real-life" remake currently showing.
Bullish for popcorn tho. Especailly non-GM.
you have to understand how polls operate. question: would you rather live under Shia law, or allow torture of a few extremists to prevent the subversion of the american dream
ROFL......meh...
Bush and Cheney - the biggest boosters of all this - Bush used to blow up small animals. Cheney.... that's one closet I do NOT want to look in. There's some serious evil going on with these people.......
Funny how Obama 'moved on' - and Never looked back. What kind of deal was cut? any threats made? There was NO ACCOUNTABILITY for any of the illegal acts that occurred in the Bush Administration (saves the need for embarassing pardons like those for Iran CONTRA figures). Illegal war, torture, blatantly illegal financial fraud... all got a 'Get out of jail free' card. WHY?
What do they have on Obama?
Besides all the usual threats?
His entire life is a CIA fraud.
Not a Natural Born US citizen,
therefore Not Constitutionally eligible to be President.
Obama could lose Everything he has now.
how often does the king ever stand trial?
If and when the people ever recover contol of this great nation, it would be nice to see the presidential pardon kicked down the road.... then of course the clown car supreme court restocked with attorneys and judges that actually have long records of upholding the constitution and protected the people... a free market would be nice too. Shit, could be here all day... keyboard is being interesting again.
How many revolutions against the state succeed? Less and less over the course of history as the state gains more and more power. THAT is waht all this spying is about - those with power desperate to hold on and avoid accountability for their behavior.
Look how scared they were of Occupy Wall Street - a bunch of disoganized leaderless types fed up with things - they knew SOMETHING was wrong but clueless as to exactly what or how to change things - but you had a full out effort to infiltrate, discredit and a nationwide COORDINATED effort to suppress them.
Well of course they weren't scared of Occupy Wall Street-- it was small, ineffective, and they most likely ran it. Controlled Opposition.
Anyone using or justifying torture fails the test of being truly human, IMHO.
"Anyone using or justifying torture fails the test of being truly human, IMHO." I agree with your sentiment, but in fact, humans are one of the ONLY animals who torture. I think cats torture, but that is with prey. I can't think of any other animal.
Anyone who fails to understand the necessity for using the threat of torture, torture itself, AND the death penalty to obtain vital information to stop a greater tragedy has an IQ in double digits.
Where do you clueless people come from that you cannot see there is no black and white when deciding on tough issues?
The correct posture is: SOMETIMES anything goes to get life saving information. Work on it. You too will think of justified coercion in certain instances.
All of the top independent experts DISAGREE with you.
And people all over the world have know for thousands of years that Torture is a Form of TERRORISM.
Hey Comte, I have a fresh bottle of lube and I have rented Caligula..... wanna come over later?
Troll repeats itself
I remember watching "Mission Impossible" as a kid. They used their brains to get what they needed from their adversaries. Outsmarting and outperforming to get results. Now the IM team would just be a bunch of thugs with wiretaps and torture paraphanelia.
Duh! That was TV Buckaroo, even the bad guys never killed anyone. The IMF had perfect timing no matter what they did.
Torture will never be replaced by outsmarting or outperforming.