A Craven Congress Criminalizes CIA

[ScreamingEagle]

Not surprised to see "Baghdad Jim" McDirtbag one of those behind this...

2-26-10 National Security: While Americans were distracted by the noisy health care debate, congressional Democrats tried to pass a bill that would have decimated our intelligence capability. We're all lucky they failed.
...
Specifically, the Democratic amendment sought to impose prison time and huge fines on CIA and other intelligence operatives who treated their captives in a "cruel, inhuman and degrading way."

Sounds very high-minded. But of course, "cruel, inhuman and degrading" are in the eye of the beholder.

Among the transgressions the bill would have outlawed were "exploiting the phobias of the individual," "depriving the individual of necessary food, water, sleep, or medical care," or even "cramped confinement" or "prolonged isolation."

These are so vague as to be meaningless. A lawyered-up terrorist suspect, working through one of Attorney General Eric Holder's lenient civil courts, could have a field day with this new law.

Think about it: Virtually any agent who in the line of duty did anything to anyone — ranging from shaking a suspect to handcuffing someone in an uncomfortable position to even keeping the air conditioner too low during a terrorist's interrogation — could serve hard time for the crime.

And yes, we do mean hard time. The minimum prison sentence under the bill was 15 years. Imagine spending a quarter of your adult life behind bars because you shoved some terrorist dirtbag a bit too hard into a CIA paddy wagon.

The real outrage is that no one even knew this was in the bill. It was slipped in at the last moment by Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott, obviously with the connivance of the Democratic leadership and Intelligence Committee Chairman Sylvester Reyes.

Several bloggers and writers, in particular Andrew McCarthy at the National Review Online and Byron York at the Examiner, kicked up a fuss.
...
Once alerted, Hoekstra and other Republicans moved fast to kill the provision. That it was removed so quickly by the Democrats with very little fuss indicates that they knew they were trying to pull a fast one on the American people, and got caught.

Investors.com - A Craven Congress Criminalizes CIA

 

[Claudette]

Well. If this kind of bs passes there won't be anyone out there willing to be in the CIA or any other intelligence gathering entity. I sure wouldn't.

I guess the country would just have take its chances. Jeeze.

 

[Contessa_Sharra]

Actually, dollar for dollar, they likely cost the taxpayers a whole lot more than they are worth.


Even the super duper MOSSAD cannot manage to get their shit together.

Dubious in Dubai
20/02/10


FROM TIME to time I ask myself: what would happen if the world’s governments decided to abolish all their spy agencies simultaneously?

True, it would be a great blow to the authors and movie producers who make their living from secret service stories. Their products would lose their appeal.

It would be a disaster for the huge army of fans which gobbles up spy adventures, the enthusiastic consumers of books and movies about superhuman heroes like James Bond and super-devious geniuses like John La Carre’s Smiley.

But what would be the real damage if Washington stopped spying on Moscow and Moscow stopped spying on Washington, and both on Beijing? The result would be a draw. Immense sums of money would be saved, since a large part of the efforts of every spy agency is devoted to obstructing the intrigues of the competition. How many diseases could be overcome? How many hungry people fed, how many illiterates taught to read and write?
The popular books and movies celebrate the imaginary successes of the intelligence agencies. Reality is much more prosaic, and it is replete with real failures.

THE TWO classic intelligence disasters occurred during World War II. In both, the intelligence agencies either provided their political bosses with faulty assessments, or the leaders ignored their accurate assessments. As far as the results are concerned, both amount to the same.

Comrade Stalin was totally surprised by the German invasion of the Soviet Union, even though the Germans needed months to assemble their huge invasion force. President Roosevelt was totally surprised by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, even though the bulk of the Japanese Navy took part in it. The failures were so fantastic, that spy aficionados had to resort to conspiracy theories to explain them. One such theory says that Stalin deliberately ignored the warnings because he intended to surprise Hitler with an attack of his own. Another theory asserts that Roosevelt practically “invited” the Japanese to attack because he was in need of a pretext to push the US into an unpopular war.

But since then, failures continued to follow each other. All Western spy agencies were totally surprised by the Khomeini revolution in Iran, the results of which are still hitting the headlines today. All of them were totally surprised by the collapse of the Soviet Union, one of the defining events of the 20th century. They were totally surprised by the fall of the Berlin wall. And all of them provided wrong information about Saddam Hussein’s imaginary nuclear bomb, which served as a pretext for the American invasion of Iraq.

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[Montrovant]

If all the world's spy agencies were abolished simultaneously? Why don't you go ahead and start trying to accomplish that, let us know how it turns out.

 

[CMike]

The Obama regime is not just stupid they are dangerous for america.

 

[CMike]

It's this attitude from the Obama administration that led us to have 3 Al Qaida attacks within the US in Obama's first year, when the previous 7 years we were protected from Al Qaida attacks within the US.

 

[uscitizen]

It's this attitude from the Obama administration that led us to have 3 Al Qaida attacks within the US in Obama's first year, when the previous 7 years we were protected from Al Qaida attacks within the US.

And I have a force field that has protected my home from metoric impacts for many years.

Then there is my mystic swiss army knife which has kept me safe from terrorists for all my life.

Perhaps the morman magic underwear helped as well?

 

[California Girl]

thank you very much

You're beginning to freak me out. 8 posts and every single one of them just says 'thank you'. How odd.

 

[mudwhistle]

It's this attitude from the Obama administration that led us to have 3 Al Qaida attacks within the US in Obama's first year, when the previous 7 years we were protected from Al Qaida attacks within the US.

And I have a force field that has protected my home from metoric impacts for many years.

Then there is my mystic swiss army knife which has kept me safe from terrorists for all my life.

Perhaps the morman magic underwear helped as well?

Don't forget your tin-foil hat that protects you from receiving mind melting microwaves from space aliens.

I was trying to figure out who the USMB member was that started busting caps in the Pentagon yesterday. Word has it he was a truther. Maybe it was Curvelight.

 

[CMike]

It's this attitude from the Obama administration that led us to have 3 Al Qaida attacks within the US in Obama's first year, when the previous 7 years we were protected from Al Qaida attacks within the US.

And I have a force field that has protected my home from metoric impacts for many years.

Then there is my mystic swiss army knife which has kept me safe from terrorists for all my life.

Perhaps the morman magic underwear helped as well?

Thanks for sharing

 

[beowolfe]

thank you very much

You're beginning to freak me out. 8 posts and every single one of them just says 'thank you'. How odd.

Unaccustomed to people being polite?

 

[uscitizen]

Umm anyone else remember when we had to make assisination of leaders in south and central america illegal?
Anyone remember why?

 

[Charles Stucker]

Umm anyone else remember when we had to make assisination of leaders in south and central america illegal?
Anyone remember why?

Assassination is a pretty well defined term.
To be guilty you have to actually Kill someone.
Abuse is not so well defined.
To be guilty all you would have to do is interact with someone who got angry about it.