CIA Director Panetta Still Trying to Vindicate Bush Administration Crimes
Bill Lindner
August 07, 2009
A recent article in the Washington Post by CIA Director Leon Panetta once again tries to push the Obama administration's attempts to make a case for letting go of the past and moving forward, revealing his delusions that the "reality of 9/11" excused the unconstitutional and criminal acts committed by the Bush administration because the country was frightened and some bad judgments were made.
Some bad judgments were made. That's a huge misconception and understatement. The problem with Mr. Panetta's editorial regarding bad judgments being made is the fact that those 'bad judgments' were planned long before the attacks of 9/11 were allowed to happen. Let us examine Mr. Panetta's statements and explain the problems with his rationale.
According to Mr. Panetta, he was asked why Washington was so concerned about the past when the most pressing national security concerns are in the present and Mr. Panetta is increasingly concerned about the focus on the past, especially in Congress. That's ironic since most of Congress is not concerned about the past because most of Congress is just as complicit as the Bush administration was.
Forgetting about the past and focusing on the future is what led to the problems America faces today. Former Vice President Dick Cheney is living proof of what happens when you look forward and forget about the past. Had President Richard Nixon et. al. been prosecuted as they should have been instead of being pardoned -- a practice that has continued for decades now -- none of what Cheney has so far gotten away with would have happened.
Mr. Panetta claims that the CIA's core missions are intelligence collection, analysis and covert action. The CIA has been extremely successful in carrying out covert actions, as we continue learning. As I've said many times in the past, the CIA is responsible for recruiting, training and financing Al Qaida and many other terrorist organizations and has been for years.
An Atmosphere of Declining Trust in the Government
Mr. Panetta claims that effective Congressional oversight of Intelligence is important but that it depends as much on consensus as it does on secrecy. I could rant endlessly about the dangers of secrecy that have been and continue to be utilized by the Federal government. Secrecy has played a major role in destroying America's Democracy. The only thing that secrecy is being used for now is to cover all the crimes that have been egregiously committed by the U.S. Federal government.
Funding, recruiting and training terrorists to commit acts of war against the United States and its military serves no other purpose than to fund the extremely enormous Military-industrial complex, aside from killing many innocent people to further the illicit intentions of those running the Military-industrial complex. If our Intelligence organizations were as busy collecting intelligence as they are committing egregious crimes against humanity, the world would be a better place. Two endless illegal wars -- in addition to all the financial fraud perpetrated by Wall Street -- has resulted in financially and morally bankrupting America.
Mr. Panetta says that over the past eight years, on specific issues, including the detention and interrogation of terrorists -- otherwise known as the torture of innocent children and people that in reality were not terrorists -- the consensus has deteriorated, which has contributed to an atmosphere of declining trust in government, growing frustration and more frequent leaks of classified information.
There's a reason for that: most of these 'terrorists' that were 'interrogated' were not terrorists at all, especially all the children that were tortured. Many of these alleged terrorists were killed as a result of being 'interrogated.' As far as not trusting the government, well the government has no one to blame for that but themselves when the public is fed nothing but lies for over eight years.
As for the leaked classified information, most of it has been classified so the government could keep crimes they committed covered up. When a patriot leaks information because of the egregious crimes that have been committed by the government, that person should be rewarded, not falsely accused and crucified by the criminals running the Federal government. Documents get leaked because when evidence is presented to law enforcement officials, nothing ever gets done with it and the crimes continue unabated. The Federal government has turned the rule of law into one incredibly dysfunctional oxymoron.
The Bush Administration Specialized in Creating and Capitalizing on Fear
Claims that the Obama administration has made policy changes and that the CIA no longer operates black sites or employs 'enhanced' interrogation techniques have been proven to be not completely true. Claims that the CIA implements Presidential decisions are questionable, especially when death squads such as the ones utilized by Cheney are revealed. A lot of questionable suicides and accidents have occurred over the past eight and a half years, as I've noted before. Obviously, if some in the CIA are still taking orders from Cheney instead of Mr. Panetta, there are major problems that need to be addressed and fixed.
Mr. Panetta is right about the fact that Congress and the CIA need to find a balance between appropriate oversight and a recognition that the security of the United States. As far as the CIA being totally focused on the job of defending America, that's a completely different story as noted above. Again, funding, recruiting and training terrorists to kill our own troops is not defending America. It's quite the opposite.
Now we're getting to my favorite part of Mr. Panetta's article: recognizing the reality of what happened after Sept. 11, 2001. Mr. Panetta claims that the question is not the sincerity or the patriotism of those who were dealing with the aftermath of Sept. 11. Excuse me Mr. Panetta, but you are wrong. The 'sincerity' and the 'patriotism' of those who were dealing with the aftermath of Sept. 11 is extremely questionable.
The country was frightened. The Bush administration specialized in creating and capitalizing on fear. Contrary to Mr. Panetta's claims, political leaders were not responding as best they could. Here Mr. Panetta claims that judgments were made and some of them were wrong. He's right. But, as I mentioned above, those 'bad judgments' were planned long before the attacks of 9/11 were allowed to happen. More on that can be found below. The Bush administration is and was the perfect example of what happens when corrupted "think tanks" -- that own most of the politicians in Washington, including the President -- actually set the country's policies instead of the politicians.
Mr. Panetta says, as does President Obama, that this is not a time for retribution and that we are a nation at war in a dangerous world. He neglects to mention the fact that we are at war in a dangerous world because of a multitude of lies utilized by the Bush administration to start those wars, and the fact that a lot of the terrorists we're fighting were funded, recruited and trained by the CIA. As far as Mr. Panetta's claims that we can learn lessons from the past without getting stuck there, history has repeatedly proven that isn't true. Obviously, after everything we've been through the past eight and a half years, we haven't learned one thing from past mistakes aside from how to exacerbate them. There's a difference between retribution and justice and allowing the Bush administration to get away with all the crimes they committed is a crime.
'Bad Judgments' Planned Long Before the 9/11 Attacks
Despite Mr. Panetta's claims that 'bad judgments were made' after the attacks of 9/11, the facts prove that those 'bad judgments' were actually planned long before those attacks were allowed to happen. As noted by Washington's Blog, Mr. Panetta needs a history lesson.
For starters, the illegal spying conducted by the NSA under the orders of George W. Bush began several months before the attacks of 9/11. Since then, the illegal spying being conducted by the NSA has only gotten worse and more illegal.
The PATRIOT Act -- as well as numerous other egregious pieces of 'legislation' -- was planned and written long before the attacks of 9/11. In addition to being written long before those attacks, not one member of an extremely complicit Congress was given an opportunity to read it before it was forced through Congress by George W. Bush.
The illegal invasion and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq were planned long before the attacks of 9/11. Bush and the upper echelon of his administration used at least 935 lies to justify the illegal invasion of Iraq. Bush wanted to invade Iran too since the decision to invade it was also made before the attacks of 9/11, but our military has its hands full with the other two illegal occupations. The decision to use torture appears to have also been made before the attacks of 9/11 in order to try and create a link between Iraq and al Qaeda. The Bush cabal's sadistic torture program has proven to be completely useless, as well as lethal for over 100 victims of it.
In addition to all the information mentioned above, for eight years Bush and his administration constantly used illegal methods for no other intention than turning Bush's presidency into a dictatorship. Many of those illegally gained powers have not been reversed by President Obama, despite the fact that they were and are illegal.
The Official 9/11 Fairy Tale is Unraveling
All of the illegal activities carried out by the Bush administration were made possible by a corrupt U.S. Supreme Court that illegally appointed George W. Bush to the presidency during the 2000 national elections. They are just as responsible as the Bush cabal is for committing all of these egregious crimes.
In addition to the information above, you have the actual crimes that were committed on Sept. 11, 2001. If nothing else, top officials in the Bush administration were complicit in allowing them to happen. There is a lot of evidence suggesting that there was a lot more than just complicity on the part of the Bush administration in those crimes that happened that day, especially when you consider the fact that Osama bin Laden worked for the U.S. until 9/11, yet there were warnings that Osama bin Laden was determined to strike inside the U.S. according to John Brennan -- who was a senior CIA official on August 6, 2001 -- when the alleged warnings were received. There is something wrong with this picture....why was the CIA claiming bin Laden was going to attack the U.S. when he was working for them?
The official 9/11 fairy tale has been unraveling for quite awhile. When there are so many lies involved, it's hard to keep them all covered up, especially when a national organization such as the BBC admits that the 9/11 attacks have been covered up.
The Bush administration had a lot of help in committing and getting away with their crimes from many in Washington as well as other countries. The only reason Mr. Panetta, President Obama and so many in Congress want to forget about it is because an investigation and the truth about 9/11 will blow the lid off of the corruption in Washington, Wall Street and elsewhere. Looking forward will do absolutely nothing about preventing crimes like these from happening again.
Not One Single 'Bad Judgment' was Accidental
Keep your eyes open for the intentional creation of a crisis on the internet so they can try and push more illegal legislation and regulation through to give themselves more control over human rights and liberties. Until something is done about the corruption, it's only going to get worse.
There are many justifiable reasons the American people do not trust their government. Corruption has permeated politics in Washington for decades and most of Congress quit working for their constituents long ago so they could become millionaires by taking bribes from large corporations for doing whatever these large corporations paid them to do. The culture of corruption and greed in Washington needs to come to an end.
You are wrong Mr. Panetta. Not a single one of these 'bad judgments' was accidental and the reality of 9/11 is that it was planned long in advance by Bush and his allies. The only thing not planned was accountability for their incredible malfeasance. It's long past time to hold Bush and all who aided him accountable for the massive crimes against humanity that they committed, regardless of who those persons are.
Some bad judgments were made. That's a huge misconception and understatement. The problem with Mr. Panetta's editorial regarding bad judgments being made is the fact that those 'bad judgments' were planned long before the attacks of 9/11 were allowed to happen. Let us examine Mr. Panetta's statements and explain the problems with his rationale.
According to Mr. Panetta, he was asked why Washington was so concerned about the past when the most pressing national security concerns are in the present and Mr. Panetta is increasingly concerned about the focus on the past, especially in Congress. That's ironic since most of Congress is not concerned about the past because most of Congress is just as complicit as the Bush administration was.
Forgetting about the past and focusing on the future is what led to the problems America faces today. Former Vice President Dick Cheney is living proof of what happens when you look forward and forget about the past. Had President Richard Nixon et. al. been prosecuted as they should have been instead of being pardoned -- a practice that has continued for decades now -- none of what Cheney has so far gotten away with would have happened.
Mr. Panetta claims that the CIA's core missions are intelligence collection, analysis and covert action. The CIA has been extremely successful in carrying out covert actions, as we continue learning. As I've said many times in the past, the CIA is responsible for recruiting, training and financing Al Qaida and many other terrorist organizations and has been for years.
An Atmosphere of Declining Trust in the Government
Mr. Panetta claims that effective Congressional oversight of Intelligence is important but that it depends as much on consensus as it does on secrecy. I could rant endlessly about the dangers of secrecy that have been and continue to be utilized by the Federal government. Secrecy has played a major role in destroying America's Democracy. The only thing that secrecy is being used for now is to cover all the crimes that have been egregiously committed by the U.S. Federal government.
Funding, recruiting and training terrorists to commit acts of war against the United States and its military serves no other purpose than to fund the extremely enormous Military-industrial complex, aside from killing many innocent people to further the illicit intentions of those running the Military-industrial complex. If our Intelligence organizations were as busy collecting intelligence as they are committing egregious crimes against humanity, the world would be a better place. Two endless illegal wars -- in addition to all the financial fraud perpetrated by Wall Street -- has resulted in financially and morally bankrupting America.
Mr. Panetta says that over the past eight years, on specific issues, including the detention and interrogation of terrorists -- otherwise known as the torture of innocent children and people that in reality were not terrorists -- the consensus has deteriorated, which has contributed to an atmosphere of declining trust in government, growing frustration and more frequent leaks of classified information.
There's a reason for that: most of these 'terrorists' that were 'interrogated' were not terrorists at all, especially all the children that were tortured. Many of these alleged terrorists were killed as a result of being 'interrogated.' As far as not trusting the government, well the government has no one to blame for that but themselves when the public is fed nothing but lies for over eight years.
As for the leaked classified information, most of it has been classified so the government could keep crimes they committed covered up. When a patriot leaks information because of the egregious crimes that have been committed by the government, that person should be rewarded, not falsely accused and crucified by the criminals running the Federal government. Documents get leaked because when evidence is presented to law enforcement officials, nothing ever gets done with it and the crimes continue unabated. The Federal government has turned the rule of law into one incredibly dysfunctional oxymoron.
The Bush Administration Specialized in Creating and Capitalizing on Fear
Claims that the Obama administration has made policy changes and that the CIA no longer operates black sites or employs 'enhanced' interrogation techniques have been proven to be not completely true. Claims that the CIA implements Presidential decisions are questionable, especially when death squads such as the ones utilized by Cheney are revealed. A lot of questionable suicides and accidents have occurred over the past eight and a half years, as I've noted before. Obviously, if some in the CIA are still taking orders from Cheney instead of Mr. Panetta, there are major problems that need to be addressed and fixed.
Mr. Panetta is right about the fact that Congress and the CIA need to find a balance between appropriate oversight and a recognition that the security of the United States. As far as the CIA being totally focused on the job of defending America, that's a completely different story as noted above. Again, funding, recruiting and training terrorists to kill our own troops is not defending America. It's quite the opposite.
Now we're getting to my favorite part of Mr. Panetta's article: recognizing the reality of what happened after Sept. 11, 2001. Mr. Panetta claims that the question is not the sincerity or the patriotism of those who were dealing with the aftermath of Sept. 11. Excuse me Mr. Panetta, but you are wrong. The 'sincerity' and the 'patriotism' of those who were dealing with the aftermath of Sept. 11 is extremely questionable.
The country was frightened. The Bush administration specialized in creating and capitalizing on fear. Contrary to Mr. Panetta's claims, political leaders were not responding as best they could. Here Mr. Panetta claims that judgments were made and some of them were wrong. He's right. But, as I mentioned above, those 'bad judgments' were planned long before the attacks of 9/11 were allowed to happen. More on that can be found below. The Bush administration is and was the perfect example of what happens when corrupted "think tanks" -- that own most of the politicians in Washington, including the President -- actually set the country's policies instead of the politicians.
Mr. Panetta says, as does President Obama, that this is not a time for retribution and that we are a nation at war in a dangerous world. He neglects to mention the fact that we are at war in a dangerous world because of a multitude of lies utilized by the Bush administration to start those wars, and the fact that a lot of the terrorists we're fighting were funded, recruited and trained by the CIA. As far as Mr. Panetta's claims that we can learn lessons from the past without getting stuck there, history has repeatedly proven that isn't true. Obviously, after everything we've been through the past eight and a half years, we haven't learned one thing from past mistakes aside from how to exacerbate them. There's a difference between retribution and justice and allowing the Bush administration to get away with all the crimes they committed is a crime.
'Bad Judgments' Planned Long Before the 9/11 Attacks
Despite Mr. Panetta's claims that 'bad judgments were made' after the attacks of 9/11, the facts prove that those 'bad judgments' were actually planned long before those attacks were allowed to happen. As noted by Washington's Blog, Mr. Panetta needs a history lesson.
For starters, the illegal spying conducted by the NSA under the orders of George W. Bush began several months before the attacks of 9/11. Since then, the illegal spying being conducted by the NSA has only gotten worse and more illegal.
The PATRIOT Act -- as well as numerous other egregious pieces of 'legislation' -- was planned and written long before the attacks of 9/11. In addition to being written long before those attacks, not one member of an extremely complicit Congress was given an opportunity to read it before it was forced through Congress by George W. Bush.
The illegal invasion and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq were planned long before the attacks of 9/11. Bush and the upper echelon of his administration used at least 935 lies to justify the illegal invasion of Iraq. Bush wanted to invade Iran too since the decision to invade it was also made before the attacks of 9/11, but our military has its hands full with the other two illegal occupations. The decision to use torture appears to have also been made before the attacks of 9/11 in order to try and create a link between Iraq and al Qaeda. The Bush cabal's sadistic torture program has proven to be completely useless, as well as lethal for over 100 victims of it.
In addition to all the information mentioned above, for eight years Bush and his administration constantly used illegal methods for no other intention than turning Bush's presidency into a dictatorship. Many of those illegally gained powers have not been reversed by President Obama, despite the fact that they were and are illegal.
The Official 9/11 Fairy Tale is Unraveling
All of the illegal activities carried out by the Bush administration were made possible by a corrupt U.S. Supreme Court that illegally appointed George W. Bush to the presidency during the 2000 national elections. They are just as responsible as the Bush cabal is for committing all of these egregious crimes.
In addition to the information above, you have the actual crimes that were committed on Sept. 11, 2001. If nothing else, top officials in the Bush administration were complicit in allowing them to happen. There is a lot of evidence suggesting that there was a lot more than just complicity on the part of the Bush administration in those crimes that happened that day, especially when you consider the fact that Osama bin Laden worked for the U.S. until 9/11, yet there were warnings that Osama bin Laden was determined to strike inside the U.S. according to John Brennan -- who was a senior CIA official on August 6, 2001 -- when the alleged warnings were received. There is something wrong with this picture....why was the CIA claiming bin Laden was going to attack the U.S. when he was working for them?
The official 9/11 fairy tale has been unraveling for quite awhile. When there are so many lies involved, it's hard to keep them all covered up, especially when a national organization such as the BBC admits that the 9/11 attacks have been covered up.
The Bush administration had a lot of help in committing and getting away with their crimes from many in Washington as well as other countries. The only reason Mr. Panetta, President Obama and so many in Congress want to forget about it is because an investigation and the truth about 9/11 will blow the lid off of the corruption in Washington, Wall Street and elsewhere. Looking forward will do absolutely nothing about preventing crimes like these from happening again.
Not One Single 'Bad Judgment' was Accidental
Keep your eyes open for the intentional creation of a crisis on the internet so they can try and push more illegal legislation and regulation through to give themselves more control over human rights and liberties. Until something is done about the corruption, it's only going to get worse.
There are many justifiable reasons the American people do not trust their government. Corruption has permeated politics in Washington for decades and most of Congress quit working for their constituents long ago so they could become millionaires by taking bribes from large corporations for doing whatever these large corporations paid them to do. The culture of corruption and greed in Washington needs to come to an end.
You are wrong Mr. Panetta. Not a single one of these 'bad judgments' was accidental and the reality of 9/11 is that it was planned long in advance by Bush and his allies. The only thing not planned was accountability for their incredible malfeasance. It's long past time to hold Bush and all who aided him accountable for the massive crimes against humanity that they committed, regardless of who those persons are.
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