he escaped the heaviest stench of Iran-Contra --- as did GHWB those who negotiate with terrorists are scum
On Aug 3, 5:02 pm, "M. Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote: > Who’s Afraid of Bradley Manning?by Karen Kwiatkowski > U.S. Secretary Robert Gates has stated that WikiLeaks has "moral culpability" > for potentially deadly repercussions in Afghanistan and presumably Iraq. > Gates said, "The Taliban can glean a lot about U.S. tactics and sources from > the documents." > I’m delighted that Gates has brought up the topic of morality. He, son of the > Midwest, an Eagle Scout, a trusted CIA operative, and … oops. I should have > stopped at Boy Scout. > We easily recognize corruption and immorality in our elected officials – we > lap up stories of seat haggling by glossy-haired pols in Chicago, we thrill > at the sexcapades of prosecutors and presidents. We marvel at the sheer > criminality of Congressional members and their staffs, even as we shudder > fearfully at its mighty collective lawlessness. > As constituents, we can look at their crimes early and often. We can check to > see if they vote with or against the Constitution, be it state or federal. We > can contact them and even speak to them about what we care about, and when > that has no effect, we can campaign against them, put in a different > criminal, or step away from electoral politics altogether. But we will not be > confused as to what is lacking in our elected representatives. They have a > law to follow – the Constitutions of various states and of the federal > government – and these public documents guide them regardless of creed or > party. With rare exceptions, elected officials will fail to follow the basic > rules they swore to uphold. We are informed, and entertained. > On the other hand, civil servants, particularly at the federal level, have > been given a full pass in the ethics and morality department. We have been > told basically that a professional government workforce was created from the > void and that it is very good. We hear this even of the CIA, an organization > with which Gates is quite familiar. We hear it of the Pentagon, Gates’ > current area of responsibility. > Since its inception, much has been written on the extra-legal activities of > the CIA. This history exists – and is ongoing, as the more recent role of the > CIA in rendition and torture is public knowledge. I’m sorry. Rendition is > kidnapping people, including Americans, and holding them for years without > charges, without evidence, and without legal representation – and lying about > it. Torture, as you may have heard, is something the United States government > does not do, even as its agents systematically drug, deprive, waterboard, > psychologically abuse, physically rough up, maim, wound, rape, threaten and > lie to those we have rendered. > Bob Gates, as a career government civil servant knows all of this, and far, > far more. He shares responsibility forthe evolution of the CIAeven as he > escaped the heaviest stench of Iran-Contra. A senior CIA official as the Cold > War ended and a new mission needed to be found, under George Herbert Walker > Bush, Gates was an indispensable servant. The demonization and manipulation > of former CIA asset and Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein fit the bill, and it > simply boggles the mind the decisions and actions that Bob Gates was > knowledgeable of and involved in between 1986 and 1993. The Iran-Contra > Independent Counsel, with a little help from grand Jury secrecy rules, > predictably found that prosecution of Gates was not warranted. His role in > creating storylines to sell the first Persian Gulf War, in hiding or > adjusting evidence to play the world, and in managing state secrets is > undeniable, and largely unexamined. He was the ultimate trusted agent – the > first CIA career civil servant to ever rise to Director. > There is a heavily promoted myth that professional civil servants, whether in > uniform or in dress suits, are somehow more bound to the constitution and law > and ethics than are politicians, and insultingly, more ethical than the > average doctor, lawyer or car mechanic. But of course, they are not. > Practically speaking, why would they be? Civil servants are extraordinarily > hard to get rid of. Poor performance, lack of ethics, incompetence, > immorality – none of these will generally get a civil servant fired, and > often, these behaviors produce promotions. Now, these tolerated behaviors may > be used to remove a civil servant – but only as needed to make a point of > loyalty, as in the case of Rumsfeld’s persecution of Air Force Lt General > Fiscus,who had the audacity to suggest that the law must limit Rumsfeld’s > desires to detain and torture. > Civil servants – including members of the military – are part of a > loyalty-based crime family, led largely by the executive level and his > appointees, controlled by executive sponsors, backers and funders, and > loyalty is demanded no less seriously than it is demanded by the dons of any > crime syndicate. In this environment, just following orders is not only an > acceptable excuse, it is all that the bosses ever wish to hear. > Professional civil servants and military members know this. They embrace > doublespeak, as Orwell defined it:To know and not to know,to be conscious of > complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold > simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be > contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to > repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was > impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget, > whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again > at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and > above all, to apply the same process to the process itself – that was the > ultimate subtlety; consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once > again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. > Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink.The > small minority of civil servants and military who cannot take the > doublespeak, or over time, find that it is becoming harder to take, > self-eliminate. Sometimes they do so by finding another job where the > doublespeak is less offensive, and sometimes they leave the institution > entirely. Sometimes they self-medicate, or morally or functionally degenerate > to the point where the institution is forced to isolate or expel them. > Sometimes they talk it out, debate, argue and actually try to change things > from within the institution. As the great Daniel Ellsberg discovered, and > many before and after him, introducing ethics and honesty in a system that > runs on carefully constructed lies is quite a challenge. In spite of the fact > that this will predictably destroy your career, possibly your ability to get > a job anywhere, and subject you to scurrilous attacks and storytelling, the > only honest and workable thing to do is to try and expose the lies to the > light of day. > Creating this light of day is the mission of WikiLeaks, and the basic goal of > independent media everywhere. But asDaniel Ellsberg experienced, and as > whistleblowers in the 21st century from Sibel Edmonds, to Joe Darby, Jim > Massey, and Sam Provance, from Joe Wilson andmany morewho sacrificed careers > to speak morally and honestly have all found that the institution is like an > angry grizzly, insulted that one man or one woman has the audacity to be > sane. How dare they? > The institutionalized barbarism we see in the WikiLeaks "Collateral Murder" > was made possible because a 22-year-old soldier could not lie. He was unable > to effectively doublethink, and for some reason of upbringing, character, > intelligence or basic goodness, could not bear the evilness he saw all around > him – in American military behavior, in the institution’s lawlessness, in the > immorality of war. > For his innocence and lack of ethical "sophistication,"Brad Manning is held > in isolation, under a 24-hour suicide watch. For providing a ray of hot light > on the carefully constructed lies of our government, those associated with > WikiLeaks are beingmonitored and harassed, and eventhreatened by various > agentsof the federal government, and its allies. Bob Gates suggests that Brad > Manning is a traitor and that WikiLeaks is morally culpable in sharing > information with Afghans that they can use against us. > As made clear byJulian Assangeand others, the Afghans – while certainly > victims of Washington, DC imperialism – are not victims of our institutional > doublethink. They see what we do, how we do it, and they have relatively > accurate theories as to why we are doing it. And unlike our generals, Afghans > and their neighbors and friends, have developed and are developing a wide > variety of effective strategies to get us to go away. > Instead of keeping us safe, prosperous and free, our government demands that > we stay uninformed and obedient, and keeps its professional servants in a > strict and constant state of doublethink. Gates and Obama and Petraeus are > nervous, with their curious doublespeaking mantra that "The leaks are deadly > dangerous, but not all that serious." Perhaps they know an open secret: > Regular Americans – newly aware, sharply analytical, financially pragmatic > and deeply moral – are nearing their potential to become the most fearsome > enemy of American empire on the > planet.http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski253.html -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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