CIA: License to torture … and kill
Today, the CIA chief nominee Leon Panetta declared that none of the agents who participated in interrogations of accused terrorists would be held accountable. The Obama administration has no intention of prosecuting CIA agents for following orders, he said. And that seems to be a logical approach. How could agents be expected to commit illegal acts (i.e. kidnapping, operating secret prisons, torture, murder, etc) if they were going to be held responsible and accountable for following the orders of their superiors?
Panetta’s rationale is plausible. However, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Why we love the CIA: James Bond
The history of the CIA is filled with egregious acts of deception, propaganda, kidnappings, secret assassinations, covert wars, etc. In other words, the agency has a license to kill at will.
Americans enjoy reading spy novels that contain lots of intrigue, suspense and adventure. We display equal interest in movies that offer such imaginative distractions from everyday life. Yet, the underlying theme in each of the plots is that the U.S. stands for good and everyone else is evil. We are the good guys. They 9whoever they are) are the bad guys.
And because we have been conditioned to accept and believe such nonsense, the Good Guys have been given a license to do whatever they want, especially to the Bad Guys.
America is good, rest of world is bad
It’s no coincidence that our leaders remind us often of who the Bad Guys are. They are “Muslim extremists,” Islamofascists,” “terrorists,” “communists,” and whoever else our nation is targeting under the guise of a psuedonym. Simply point at an imaginary target, apply the right label and make a demonstrative statement. Voila! Instant support from Christians who claim to love peace and follow the teaching of Jesus Christ, who I assume never offered exceptions to rules for secret organizations created by secular governments.
So the question we must ask ourselves as Americans, is what is our policy? Not what is the policy of the Obama administration, but rather, what is OUR policy?
Americans OK with immorality?
Are we comfortable with 16 secret organizations operating under the power of the Executive Branch, all with a license to do whatever the Executive Branch deems worthy and necessary? Are we OK with outgoing presidential administrations that are responsible for murder and mayhem to not only have zero accountability but to also be held aloft, with multi-million dollar monuments erected in their honor?
Who are we, America?
The men appointed to operate secret agencies within our government conduct operations that defy our sense of right and wrong. They break laws you and I must adhere to. They ignore what we consider moral and absolute. They scoff at the notion that we ought not intervene in the affairs of other nations or undermine foreign governments. These men and women, whoever they are, do not think like you and me. They apparently believe they are doing bad things for right reasons or simply just following orders and getting paid and honored for their work.
You and I disagreed with the Bush administration deliberately deceiving us. You and I disagreed with Bush, Cheney and company initiating another ground war in Iraq. And you and I did nothing to stop it.
Where is accountability?
You and I still do nothing to stop the secret terror agencies that are secretly funded and conduct secret agendas. Congress is the power upon which we rely to intervene when the Commander in Chief and his Executive Branch tilts the balance of power. The Legislative branch is our only option, given that we neither control nor influence the Judicial and Executive branches of government. Yet, 90 percent of Congress is re-seated time and again. And there are no other houses in America filled with more corruption than those two under the dome of Congress.
The American media has failed miserably to educate the American public on the outrageous acts of Congress and its construct the Federal Reserve. The Executive Branch gets a pass in the media as well. When Bush was under fire by a few brave legislators who sought to impeach him, media laughed at the effort, explaining it away as partisan politics and much ado about nothing.
That turned out to be the case, since Bush escaped two years of efforts by folks like Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who was undermined by his own political party, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Judiciary Chair John Conyers.
The death of the effort to impeach Bush ought to have been front page news. The moment Pelosi stated she would not seek impeachment, the nation ought to have been put on notice. Instead, it was all fodder for folks like me, while much of the nation went unaware.
CIA: Lawless agency
Today, we now have yet another top official stating unequivocally that nothing will be done in the wake of crimes committed by this nation’s secretive institutions.
No, I don’t suggest punishing those folks who were following orders. That’s what we do to military personnel in order to promote propaganda to the people when the military gets caught in one of its “thousands of mistakes.” But when secret agencies are outed, we turn the other way and excuse the behavior as merely following orders.
Yes, those folks who have kidnapped, operated secret prisons, killed innocent people and participated in covert battles are all just following orders. So, when will we prosecute those who gave the orders? When will we hold accountable those who made the decisions? When will we stand up as a nation and declare that we will not support the evil perpetrated in our name?
We can only hope for change. That change starts in the church.
Posted on February 6th, 2009 by MikeGreen
Filed under: America in the MidEast, Truth & Christians
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