CIA Mobsters Raise Pressure on Obama to Exonerate War Crimes

[JackRiddler]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOTk5mUIVTPTRGU5hoR5JJrr38BAD9APTLRG3

Ex-CIA chiefs seek halt to interrogations probe

By PAMELA HESS (AP) – 18 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Seven former CIA directors asked President Barack Obama on Friday to quash a criminal probe of harsh interrogations of terror suspects during the Bush administration. The CIA directors, who served both Democratic and Republican presidents and include three who worked under President George W. Bush, made their request in a letter sent Friday to the White House.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced last month that he was appointing an independent counsel to investigate possible incidents of abuse by CIA personnel during interrogations that went beyond guidelines imposed by the Bush administration. The incidents were referred by the CIA inspector general to the Justice Department during the Bush administration, but Justice officials at the time prosecuted only one case.

"If criminal investigations closed by career prosecutors during one administration can so easily be reopened at the direction of political appointees in the next, declinations of prosecution will be rendered meaningless," wrote the former directors.

The seven former CIA directors included Michael Hayden, Porter Goss and George Tenet, who served under Bush; John Deutch and James Woolsey, who worked for President Bill Clinton; William Webster, who served under President George H.W. Bush; and James Schlesinger, who ran the agency under President Richard Nixon. Tenet also served under Clinton.

(SNIP)

Some of the century's worst war criminals. Every last one of them.

[DURHAM D]

1. Yep. At least five of them belong in the slammer.

Hopefully they will be joined by Tommy Franks after Cuomo gets done with him in N.Y.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Awww! The poor CIA doesn't want to be embarrassed. Tsk, tsk.

[lurky]

3. Hayden, Goss, and Tenet were in charge during torture.

They were the ones giving orders. Doesn't it seem just a little inappropriate for them to lobby the government against an investigation of their own probable crimes?

[JackRiddler]

7. Incredible, but it shows the sense of privilege of the permanent...

governing class. Especially in national security. Hey, they ran a kind of army in war, they can say whatever they like. It's, like, inconceivable that an investigation would implicate them, right? Only lower-level "bad apples," right?

Chutzpah - and a good dose of open threat, I daresay.

Quoth Michael Ledeen:

Monday, January 05, 2009

Panetta to CIA

In the very early days of the Bush administration, Karl Rove asked a Washington policy wonk what personnel changes he'd recommend to newly arrived George W. The wonk said "there is one matter of life and death: he must replace Tenet at CIA and put in one of his own people, someone he absolutely trusts." Rove said "well, good luck with that one." Obama knows better, and he's putting Leon Panetta in Langley.

I always liked Panetta. He served in the Army and is openly proud of it. He seems to be a good lawyer (oxymoronic though it may seem). He's a good manager. And he's going to watch Obama's back at a place that's full of stilettos and a track record for attempted presidential assassination second to none. But Italians know all about political assassination; you may remember Julius Caesar. Or Aldo Moro. The self-proclaimed cognoscenti will deride his lack of "spycraft," and he's never worked in the intel bureaucracy or, for that matter, in foreign policy or national security. But he's been chief of staff, which involved all that stuff.

I think it's a smart move.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjZhOTc2MDM1OWJjNmQ0NmJkYTMwMjhlYWM0NjI2MDY=

[EFerrari]

4. Criminals with pensions. n/t

[wildbilln864]

5. k&r! nt

[DCKit]

6. In Other News: Wall St. CEOs Petition for Outrageous Compenstation as a Human Right

Further claim: "Forcing us to fly commercial and drink domestic wines is against the Geneva Conventions prohibition of torture."

[spanone]

8. it's like the criminals petitioning the warden to set them free...oh puhleeeeeze

[JackRiddler]

9. Uh, no. It's like the criminals threatening the prosecutor, which is what it is.

It's like John Gotti intimidating the jury.

[lib2DaBone]

10. The Golden Rule: He who has the gold..makes the rules...

We had a special session of Congress to release the Big Pharms from any liability from the Swine Flu Vaccine...

By all means.. why not pardon any criminals in the CIA Death/Torture Squad? We wouldn't want Obama or the DEMS to have to stand up for the majority of Americans....

[Jennicut]

11. Which begs the question, what are they so afraid of?

Makes them look even more guilty.

[JackRiddler]

12. Unaccountable absolutists cannot tolerate even potential limits on their power.

[Octafish]

13. Why would the fellahs who hired the Mob and Blackwater for wet work be worried?

It's not like they have anything to hide from the enemy.

[JackRiddler]

14. morning kick...

As horrible as the right-wing attacks on Obama are, the greatest threat to any kind of reform program, in fact to the ideals of freedom and democracy, comes from the permanent national security state, especially its secret branches.

These guys are mobsters and they've issued a warning to the president.

[troubledamerican]

15. Meanwhile, Operation Gladio U.S. Version is being prepared by all 7

behind the scenes.

This is all according to plan. Letting Obama have 10 months of "freedom of movement" without sleeper-cell activation reinforces the mythology that a Potemkin Democracy wasn't handed over to him in January.

Let the kidnappings & beheadings begin: "... and under Obama's administration, powerlessness reigned".

[JackRiddler]

16. I think that's the implicit threat...

and most likely he will find a face-saving way to fold, as is usual.

But if he should show the backbone, I'm not so sure these guys are so all-powerful that such a course is guaranteed. Can we hope that resistance will be encountered in the rank and file of this machine? They've lost their old religion (Cold War anti-communism), haven't they?

[troubledamerican]

17. Pakistani ISI Cheney Sleeper Cells activated 18 Sept 09

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4068022

Just a glimpse of movement beneath the surface

[JackRiddler]

18. morning bump