Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Why Revealing CIA Techniques is So Wrong.

We have a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) because we need to have our ears and eyes on the world to search out and uncover those who would do this country harm.

Forgetting about harsh interrogations for the moment, almost everything that the CIA does is illegal. They plant bugs, eavesdrop, and spy on the activities of other countries. They access and steal a country's classified documents. They have, in the past, conducted covert operations that could result in the overthrow and possible death of some of the world's nastiest leaders. And, yes, they have "taken people out" for strategic reason that would benefit this country. Because what they do is so illegal, their own lives are at constant risk.

When Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Russia, a key CIA operation of U-2 overflights was exposed. Besides taking a big P.R. hit on the world stage, the exposure of the U-2 capability completely obsoleted that spying capability. In the same way, the release of the Bush-era interrogation memos have killed the effectiveness of any interrogations in the future. Like the U-2 exposure, we have just had another hand tied behind our backs.

Furthermore, the CIA is now on notice that illegal activities won't be tolerated by Obama and the Democrats. What message does that send to an agency who almost exclusively operates outside the law. The last time I checked, I couldn't find any country in this world who has made spying on them a legal activity. In most every nation, spying is punishable by death. In this country, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953 for spying on our atomic weapons program.

Thanks to Obama and his release of those interrogation memos, we have now emasculated all of our CIA operations. Almost everyone in the CIA, or anyone even involved with the CIA, will not be willing to take any risk, even if they know that risk could produce results that would protect this country. To the nonsensical Democrats, they seem to think this will make our country stronger. But, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Furthermore, I believe those memos are probably the best Taliban and Al Qaeda recruiting tools that have ever been designed. Prior to those memos, we had a form of psychological leverage because the enemy didn't know what techniques were actually used to "crack" the likes of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Now, they know that we had doctors in attendance and that we severely limited those techniques so no physical harm took place. In their minds, now, they know they have nothing to fear if ever captured by the United States. Additionally, the purveyors of propaganda against this country will use those memos (and the photos to be released later next month) as a rallying cry against this country. Those memos and pictures will be used to show that America hates Muslims and that this is what they do to all Muslims. Just mark my words!

Lastly, I think if we are attacked again, it's Obama and the Democrats who can shoulder all the blame for it.

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