Those C.I.A Tapes
Destroying those C.I.A. tapes was a big mistake.
It it really was an issue of security, you know there is this thing called video editing. It is easy enough to do at home with free software. The C.I.A, I am sure has that capability about a hundred times better.
But it wasn’t about security. It was a cover up. Even if somehow by chance people are wrong and it was innocent and even more unlikely there was nothing on them incriminating, the whole world now thinks you covered up torture.
The was a blot on the US and whats left of its its reputation. Also it makes garnering international aid to fight terror a lot harder
I think many careers need to end and if I was Congress I’d invoke the prisoners dilemma and make it clear, the biggest rat gets his job and stays out of jail.
The rest can go the Hague for trial. This was we purge the sociopaths from out intelligence service and restore a lot of good will we have lost.
Larry Johnson over at TPMcafe sums it up this way
Let’s be clear why these were destroyed–the chief of the Operations Division, Jose Rodriguez, understood that this was video evidence of torture. It was not the exposure of clandestine identities that had him fretting. It was the fear that CIA officers and contractors could be standing before a tribunal in the Hague trying to explain why the images of torture were not torture.
We need the C.I.A. but they must for the most part be moral actors. I know its hard to be a White Hat in the Spy Game. But the closer you stay to that goal the better off you will be.
I am not saying dirty deeds won’t be done or shouldn’t be done, only that we require a moral baseline. No torture, no narcotics sales, no innocent people and no kids would be a good start.
Congress of course either tacitly approves of this behavior and is simply to insipid to take responsibility to boot. For that reason I doubt anything will happen other than the usual dithering.
I am starting to see it Pelosi and her older than dirt, out of touch crowd need to go. We need a Congress that actually gives a damn and is smart and together enough to take the risks necessary to do their job.
Than we can restore the Republic to its full strength.