‘A Rogue CIA’ That Can Bully the President
John Glaser,
July 23, 2012
Assuming Mayer’s account is correct, consider the implications of the country’s main intelligence agency – an unaccountable group whose actions are secret mostly because they’re illegal – bullying a new president into not applying the rule of law to themselves or their preceding superiors.
I tend to think the Obama administration didn’t prosecute the Bush administration because they wanted to be able to continue many of those policies without much legal burden. But I don’t doubt the CIA put pressure on elected officials to sweep their crimes of torture under the rug.
Jose Rios
July 23rd, 2012 at 8:45 pm
I like to think they didn’t prosecute illegal behavior so that they could do the same without pesky legality, but maybe this rogue group pressured him instead? Yea this sounds about right…
RParker
July 23rd, 2012 at 9:37 pm
Too bad JFK was killed before he was able to disband this despicable agency back in 1963. If the CIA was that bad back then under somebody like Dulles, imagine what a Beast (yes, with a capital 'B') it is now with Perfumed Prince Patraeus. He'll probably run for President in 2016 just like former CIA Director George H.W. Bush did in 1992. Bush was pretty much the President for all eight years of Ronald Reagan's tenure, but that is another story.
RParker
July 23rd, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Oops–I meant 1988 and 1992.
Roger Lafontaine
July 24th, 2012 at 2:59 am
Rogue CIA – that about sums it up. And they do assassinate within the country as well as outside too. If they 'have to'. No politician dares question them.
Bruce Richardson
July 24th, 2012 at 5:12 am
The CIA is the "tail that wags the proverbial dog", the Government of the United States. Were one administration to investigate the preceeding one, a new, expanded facility would be needed to house all the rascals. As far as oversight is concerned, there is too much money to be made from "secret programs" cast as "National Security" programs. It has been claimed that Members of Congress increase their respective net worth by a factor of 10 while in office…do you suppose that is why investigations into government malfeasance go nowhere?
unicornpoo
July 24th, 2012 at 8:35 am
We need to stop looking at the CIA as a part of the government. The CIA is the intel and policy arm of the Financial Powers. The government is now a franchise of those same Financial Powers and has been for a couple of generations at least, if not longer.
MoT
July 24th, 2012 at 10:25 am
How can an agency "bully" a man who is its very own "product"? That's like saying Beria "bullied" Stalin.
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July 24th, 2012 at 10:26 am
Right away I am going to do my breakfast, when having my breakfast coming again to read further news.
camus10
July 24th, 2012 at 10:52 pm
can anyone challenge these stats. nsa , dia share of intel funding far exceeds the cia. look at the house intel committees stacked with reps who are known for their connection to financial powers
Democrats
Republicans
Dianne Feinstein,
California
Chairman Saxby Chambliss,
Georgia
Vice Chairman
John D. Rockefeller IV,
West Virginia Olympia J. Snowe,
Maine
Ron Wyden,
Oregon Richard Burr,
North Carolina
Barbara A. Mikulski,
Maryland James Risch,
Idaho
Bill Nelson,
Florida Daniel Coats,
Indiana
Kent Conrad,
North Dakota Roy Blunt,
Missouri
Mark Udall,
Colorado Marco Rubio,
Florida
Mark Warner,
Virginia
Phil Giraldi
July 25th, 2012 at 4:18 am
As ex-CIA myself, I would have to observe that the process is generally one of cooption rather than using actual bullying as every new president quickly falls in line with the defense-security establishment. But the real problem is that the entire government is completely corrupt and unaccountable, not just the Agency. Who has been punished since 2001 for malfeasance relating to policies that have been disastrous for the country?
theCL Report: Obama’s Economy – and Ours
July 25th, 2012 at 7:32 am
[...] 'A Rogue CIA' That Can Bully the President [...]
dale thorn
July 25th, 2012 at 9:12 am
There is an unfortunate and misleading overlap between what the CIA agency (the official CIA) does and what is done by their tentacles that can be denied. Long term I think the official CIA is far more dangerous, given the incremental legislation that authorizes the president (and by extension the CIA) to murder anyone they like. The other stuff, even the murder of president Kennedy by the various tentacles, pales in comparison to what's coming.
camus10
July 25th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
i dont recall any hearings on CIA complicity in the heroin & cocaine trade in afpk, columbia and evidently in mexico. It appears the afpk war goes on for that primary reason. iran-contra hearings changed nothing, they ply their trade with impunity
Latoria
August 5th, 2012 at 4:24 am
without admitting as much, is that THEY FAILED and their handiwork is now biting them in the ass.
bakken
August 6th, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Absolutely scary the new powers being granted or obtained by the fed government these days. Aside from torture, and random drone bombings of anybody they want, we can look forward to drones above our heads soon too. Crazy stuff.
dale thorn
August 6th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
It's really ironic, isn't it? Remember how Connally said "They're going to kill us all" ? Soon many of us will be saying the same thing when the drone causes one or more of us to become collateral damage.
John
September 11th, 2012 at 11:01 am
I totally agree with you about the Obama administration not prosecuting war crimes because they wanted to continue to do the same things. They've even extended them beyond what Bush did, now even claiming the right to assassinate U.S. citizens.
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