CIA Director Leon Panetta, in an unprecedented op-ed in the Sunday Washington
Post, bemoans the relationship our spies have with Congress. He said it is
characterized by “…an atmosphere of declining trust, growing frustration and
more frequent leaks of properly classified information.”
Members of congress need to learn that the Democrats’ war against our
intelligence agencies must be brought to an end. Leon Panetta’s astounding
op-ed is a plea to his former Democratic congressional colleagues to stop
damaging the CIA’s ability to gather and analyze intelligence and conduct
covert operations.
Panetta -- a former California congressman and one-time chief of staff in the
Clinton White House -- is a long-time partisan Democrat. Panetta says his
recent disclosure of a secret CIA program didn’t earn any greater understanding
or cooperation from congress. Instead, he wrote, “the meeting sparked a fresh
round of recriminations about the past.” For him to condemn the Congressional
reaction in these terms shows how desperate the situation has become.
Two people are responsible for this mess: President Obama and Speaker Pelosi.
Obama -- in his eagerness to keep the Bush label on the Republican Party -- has
cherry-picked classified information about the so-called “torture” of terrorist
detainees, and refused to release the other half of the equation, the documents
that prove the “enhanced interrogation methods” produced actionable
intelligence that saved American lives.
Speaker Pelosi has lied -- repeatedly -- about her knowledge that the CIA had
used waterboarding on an al-Quida prisoner. And, when caught in her lies, she
accused the CIA of lying to Congress.
The relationship between the CIA and Congress has become so strained that the
CIA -- as Panetta’s op-ed implies -- can’t trust Congress to perform its
constitutional function of oversight or even to keep its secrets.
Successful prosecution of any war depends greatly on intelligence-gathering,
and this one more than any other in our history. Congress needs to hear, and
learn, that our intelligence community is not the enemy.
Some few members of Congress understand this. Sen. Christopher Bond (R-Mo),
for one. Bond is the ranking Republican on the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence and he’s authored a provision in the 2010 intelligence
authorization bill to compel the CIA to resolve the issue Obama doesn’t want
resolved: by declassifying and releasing four documents which show that the
“enhanced interrogation methods” worked to produce valuable information we’d
not otherwise have.
His fellow senators need to hear grassroots support for Bond’s amendment. And
in the House, there’s no solution other than an investigation into Pelosi’s
accusation that the CIA lied. A public investigation -- by a bipartisan
committee and with a deadline of completion this fall -- is the only way to get
Pelosi off the CIA’s back. House members need to hear this in August. They
also need to be reminded of the Gitmo issue.
The Obama administration appears to be floating trial balloons in news reports
that the administration is readying a plan to relocate inmates from the
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba terrorist detention facility either to Ft. Leavenworth,
Kansas or an about-to-be-closed maximum security prison in Michigan.
Three months ago, the Senate voted 90-6 to deny Obama funds to transfer to the
US and incarcerate there any Guantanamo Bay inmates. But within a day of the
vote, Obama was accusing people of using scare tactics and “…words that,
frankly, are calculated to scare people rather than educate them." Apparently,
the president missed the teachable moment in the Senate vote. Both he, and the
members of Congress, need to be reminded that there’s no good reason to close
Gitmo far less move its dangerous inmates ashore.
It’ll be a busy August for Congress. It should be, too, for every voter.
And one final thought: if your congressman or senator likes the idea of
“Obamacare,” tell him to think of it as “Fannie Med.” Everyone other than
Barney Frank should understand that.
Before the House recessed, they managed to add $2 billion to the “cash for
clunkers” program in about ninety minutes of floor proceedings. At that rate
of spending -- given that there are about 43,200 minutes in a month -- the
House of Representatives saved us about $2 trillion by just going home for a
month. If only we could persuade them to stay home until the 2010 elections.
Mr. Babbin is the editor of Human Events and HumanEvents
FROM AMERICA WITH LOVE.
VIETNAM INVASION & OCCUPATION OF CAMBODIA continues 1979-2009.
US PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN INSISTS ON CAMBODIA INDPENDENCE. 1988
On April 28, 1984, Deng Xiaoping, Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, meets U.S. President Ronald
Reagan in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Photo: fmprc.gov.cn)
Photo Gallery>>>
President Reagan's address to the 43d Session of the United Nations General
Assembly in New York, New York . September 26, 1988.
"Mr. Secretary-General, there are new hopes for Cambodia, a nation whose
freedom and independence we seek just as avidly as we sought the freedom and
independence of Afghanistan. We urge the rapid removal of all Vietnamese troops
...."
"Prime Minister Pham Van Dong called on me and, in the presence of Premier Chou
En-lai, swore in the name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam that the latter
would always respect the land frontiers as well as all islands belonging to the
"Kingdom of Cambodia" March 1970 by Sihanouk . Wilfred Burchett book "The China
Cambodia Vietnam triangle " P-176-177
UN Passes Strong Resolution on Cambodia Human Rights Abuses
Feb. 27, 1982 : UN Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva adopted a
resolution condemning Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia as a violation of
Cambodian human rights. The vote was 28 in favor, 8 against, and 5 abstentions.
5. Oct. 21, 1986 The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution A/RES/41/6, by
vote of 116-21 with 13 abstentions, calling for a withdrawal of Vietnamese
forces from Cambodia.
As of today,Cambodia is still occupied by the Vietnamese troops despite the
call from the US president to Vietnam to cease her occupation of Cambodia since
1988.
Cambodia needs Independence from Vietnam and the Vietnamese invaders.
Vietnam must cease her occupation of Cambodia at once.
BURY
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