Gerald Ford's Mixed Legacy (ROBERT PARRY)

[laststeamtrain]

Gerald Ford's Mixed Legacy

By Robert Parry
December 29, 2006


<snip>

Historians can trace the start of the long comeback for the imperial presidency to when Ford’s team started to push back against congressional and citizen initiatives for reform.

Another key figure in that resistance was George H.W. Bush, who Ford picked to be CIA director. Bush paid lip service to cooperation with Congress, but beneath the surface, he torpedoed many of its efforts. For instance, Bush led a successful lobbying campaign in 1976 to block the release of a report on past CIA abuses by Rep. Otis Pike, D-N.Y.

While fighting to conceal historic misdeeds, Bush built new walls of secrecy around ongoing intelligence abuses, such as Operation Condor, an international assassination ring run by South American military dictatorships that worked closely with Bush’s CIA.

With Ford’s approval, Bush also granted a team of hard-line Cold Warriors, including neoconservative academic Paul Wolfowitz, access to the CIA’s raw intelligence on the Soviet Union capabilities, enabling this so-called “Team B” to challenge the CIA’s nuanced assessment of Soviet strength.

Though the intelligence pointed to serious – and worsening – Soviet deficiencies, “Team B” emerged with an alarmist vision of Soviet power and intentions. In late 1976, Bush largely adopted this dire assessment, which restricted the maneuvering room of Ford’s successor, Democrat Jimmy Carter.

<more>

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/122806.html

[groovedaddy]

1. Yeah, it certainly was "mixed."

I don't buy the crap that Ford "helped to heal the nation's wounds" that resulted from Watergate.
While Pike & Church led investigations into Cointelpro and other breaches of our rights, much was swept under the rug, as evidenced in the above article. I guess Ford helped the nation heal by returning us to "ignorance is bliss" mode.