In the long term of things I believe that this release and many just like it are necessary. The supposed Intelligence network of the US is riddled with incompetence and corruption. The only way to end that and get them to adhere to the ideals that have made and will make the US great once again is to put them on notice that they are indeed employees of the average US citizen and not of a corrupt (both sides) political machine that has proven time and again that the welfare and ideals of the average man are the driving force and must remain so.
On Tuesday, December 9, 2014 1:02:33 PM UTC-6, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michael-gerson-releasing-the-feinstein-report-in-the-middle-of-a-war-would-be-reckless/2014/12/08/e1dd1268-7f15-11e4-8882-03cf08410beb_story.html?wpisrc=nl-headlines&wpmm=1 > Releasing the Feinstein report is an act of exceptional recklessness > > *W*ith the release of the Feinstein report on CIA interrogations > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/feinstein-cia-searched-intelligence-committee-computers/2014/03/11/982cbc2c-a923-11e3-8599-ce7295b6851c_story.html>of > > high-value terrorists a decade ago, let’s consider the situation of > intelligence personnel who have been involved, not in that program but in > drone strikes against terrorists, conducted in a variety of countries > around the world. > > They have four sources of direction and protection: Their strikes are > authorized by the president, briefed to Congress, deemed lawful by the > attorney general and determined useful by the CIA director. > > Michael Gerson is a nationally syndicated columnist who appears twice > weekly in The Post. *View Archive* > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/michael-gerson> > > Yet people in the drone program > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/08/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-drone-debate-in-one-faq/>know > > that co-workers involved in enhanced interrogation had these assurances as > well. And the drone program has some distinctive characteristics. Instead > of employing waterboarding, stress positions and sleep deprivation, the > targets are killed (sometimes with collateral damage to the innocent). > President Obama dramatically expanded the use of drones, increasing the > proportion of attacks that are “signature strikes” — meaning those > authorizing attacks don’t know the identities of the targets, just their > likely value. > > Some may argue a subtle moral distinction between harshly interrogating a > terrorist and blowing his limbs apart. But international human rights > groups and legal authorities generally look down on both. The main > difference? One is Obama’s favorite program. A few years from now, a new > president and new congressional leaders may take a different view. > > At the CIA, these concerns are not hypothetical. “I know the Predator > program > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/06/20/when-drones-fall-from-the-sky/>intimately,” > > a former senior intelligence officer told me. “There have been hundreds and > hundreds of Predator shots, the most carefully targeted in the history of > warfare, but not 100 percent right. What if the next president, [say] Rand > Paul or Elizabeth Warren, comes after people involved in this program?” > > “If you have to worry about a new administration coming along 10 years > down the road,” the intelligence officer told me, “making villains out of > agency officials following the exact letter of the law, it is sobering. We > think about that all the time.” > > This is the scrutiny that comes only with success. For many, the 9/11 > attacks are becoming as historically and emotionally distant as Pearl > Harbor. But if the United States had the equivalent of a 9/11 attack each > year, the range of acceptable responses would expand. V-E Day, after all, > partially resulted from the firebombing of Dresden. V-J Day encompassed > Hiroshima. Both involved tickertape parades and incinerated children. > > > > The U.S. response in the war against terrorism has been dramatically more > selective and focused on combatants. Even so, the CIA is often forced to > operate at the edge of the United States’ acceptable response — currently > with drone strikes and a variety of activities to degrade and dismantle > the Islamic State > <http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/03/us-iraq-crisis-islamicstate-obama-idUSKBN0GY19920140903>. > > The avoidance of “boots on the ground > <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/06/13/obama-says-he-will-not-send-troops-to-iraq/>” > > in the Middle East has placed an additional burden on intelligence services > to work with (often flawed) allies, target enemies and strike from afar. > Political leaders, once again, urge intelligence officials to do what is > necessary. > > > > So the Feinstein report comes in the middle of a war, targeting many > Americans who are still engaged in it. It is an act of exceptional > congressional recklessness. Democratic senators on the Intelligence > Committee interviewed none of the key figures in the program, yet fought > for months to make it easier to identify the targets of their report. > “Those personnel,” said (soon to be former) Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), “if > they have that worry, can be given some legitimate security.” This is > clearly what some committee members intended: exposure and a bodyguard. > > Sen. Dianne Feinstein > <http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=db84e844-01bb-4eb6-b318-31486374a895> > > (D-Calif.), the outgoing chair of the committee, was thought to be more > responsible. But her legacy is a massive dump of intelligence details > useful to the enemy in a time of war. And she knows the likely results. > Secretary > of State John Kerry expressed the concerns of allies > <http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/05/kerry-cautions-feinstein-on-timing-cia-report/> > > about increased violence. A National Intelligence Council report > <http://news.yahoo.com/a-warning-on--torture-report--release-233244652.html> > warned of threats to embassies, installations and individuals, and explored > how partners would react to the disclosure. > > So why has Feinstein donned her Guy Fawkes > <http://www.britannia.com/history/g-fawkes.html>mask? Tension with the > CIA? Simple stubbornness? The main reason, I suspect, is different. > Democrats who approved of enhanced interrogation at the time (such as > Feinstein) must now construct an elaborate fantasy world in which they were > not knowledgeable and supportive. They postulate a new reality in which > they were innocent and deceived — requiring a conspiracy from three former > CIA directors, three former deputy directors and hundreds of others. > > Occam would indicate a different answer: guilt, hypocrisy and betrayal. > > > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "beowulf" <[email protected]> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmdmhxMml0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0MTgxNDkzODY-> > > > > [image: Yahoo! 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