CIA to face “Big Cleaning”
March 12, 2009
The cases of power abuse are so numerous and their details published in mass media are so shocking that American legislators simply cannot ignore this wave of disclosures. If in early 2000 an average newspaper reader did not know what “waterboarding” is now he would look naïve if he asked about it. “Waterboarding” is a widespread “technical method” (a form of torture) used by US security forces during interrogation in order to get confessionary statements. In combination with many other methods “waterboarding” proved to be efficient: there is no terrorist who after pouring water over his face many times and experiencing drowning effect will not admit to many crimes whether he committed them or not.
In order not to spread havoc among CIA structures it is stressed that the check will be made “not to initiate legal proceedings against the agency officers” but “to define how rightful CIA actions were and to make necessary changes in current practices” , according to the brief statements of anonymous sources in Senate. Nevertheless, on the second day after his inauguration president Barack Obama ordered to close secret prisons of CIA and to stop using tortures as a method of interrogation.
In early February 2009 Leon Panetta (born 1938) became the new director of CIA. Before his appointment he had never dealt with the Agency. The milestones of his career are as follows: 1964–1966: served in the US Army; 1971: joined the Democratic party; 1970-1971: assistant of Mayor of New York. In 1976 Panetta was for the first time elected in the US Congress where he was busy with budget and civil rights issues. In 1994-1997 he was President Bill Clinton’s White House Chief of Staff and since 1997 – up to 2009 he was the head of “a family” Institute for Public Policy (together with his wife Silvia). Panetta is an experienced administrator, a strong liberal and flexible politician.
Lack of emotional factor (the fact that he was not involved in CIA before) will definitely help him to work on the Company’s enhancement. Before his appointment Panetta said at the Senate that one of his priority tasks as the director of CIA will be tracking down or liquidation of international terrorist number 1 Osama bin Laden.
Panetta’s appointment does not mean anything good for CIA officers: it is clear that “big cleaning” is on the way and it concerns everyone who under the veil of fighting terrorism contributed to turning CIA into “global ohranka” – “torture security service”. Trying to justify their actions, CIA officers refer to the directives from the government. They admit that there had been mistakes and abuses and sometimes it had been “inexact identification of the enemy” but business is business and war is war. Should you reproach them for it?
Before Iraq was attacked some people in the US government ordered to find evidence of Saddam Hussein links with Al-Quaeda by all means as well as to prove that Iraq has weapon of mass destruction and the components for its construction. President Bush and the “hawks” from his team got only irritated with the true answers of honest American diplomats and intelligence officers: “No links between Hussein and Al Qaeda have been revealed”, “No weapon of mass destruction in Iraq has been found”.
Ambassador Joseph Wilson was publicly criticized for stating that the story with Hussein’s envoys purchasing nuclear stuff in Nigeria was fake. “To punish” him people from Bush’s team (with his consent) organized the leak of information into mass media saying that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame works at CIA in the department of control over the spread of mass destruction weapon. This signal was clear - the instructions of the White House should be carried out by all means. If someone in the government tells you that Iraq has the weapon of mass destruction, the weapon should be found there. The reputation of CIA was affected by so called preventive operations against terrorists on the territory of the countries friendly to the USA.
For example an incident with a Muslim activist who was kidnapped in Italy as well as flights of CIA aircraft with captured “terrorists” in Europe and their sending to numerous secret prisons for tortures. The security services of East European countries, including Poland and Romania, also learnt from CIA new technologies of interrogation.
Justifications of the Company’s officers saying “We were forced!” are unlikely to be accepted by the officials who will check CIA activities. Dragged out war against terrorism, (both real and fictional – I stress it) has discredited the USA in the eyes of the whole world and now it is impossible to do without washing of “white robes” of US democracy and legality. The best object for public lashing is CIA.
People in the Company understand “what is good and what is bad” which is proved by the fact that CIA had burned 92 video tapes with records of tortures of suspected “terrorists” of Al Quaeda. The content of those tapes could have served as uncontroversial evidence to start criminal proceedings against the officers of CIA, who had taken part in tortures and initiated them. The Company continues to liquidate internal documents which could discredit it upon the pretext that they are no longer needed for work. First of all the liquidation concerns the materials which could serve as evidence of operations on neutralization of politicians in the South America especially Venezuela President Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s president Evo Morales, both hostile to the USA.
By now Langley paper trimmers at CIA headquarter have trimmed hundreds of pages of reports on operations in “this field”, which were carried out via CIA spies in DAS (security service of Columbia) and via “paramilitares” from so called AUC (united self-defense forces of Columbia).
It is not for the first time when the Company is to be checked by the Senate – there were several similar checks in CIA history. The most famous investigation was carried out in 1970-s under the chairmanship of Senator Frank Church. Then his commission investigated sharp practices of CIA, secret operations of different kind including physical liquidation of “enemies” of the USA.
Already then the Company had become known for its uncontrolled practices in international and domestic affairs, and the Congress had to publish many revealing facts in order to get control over CIA again. Some former CIA agents told American citizens about illegal operations of their Company, cases of power abuse and the use of antihuman methods. The public attention was drawn to CIA secret laboratory in Fort Detrick. There virulent poisons and psychotropic substances were made which helped CIA to get control over human mind as well as to kill people “without leaving any trace”. There was rush of indignation in the world regarding such practices. Soon a special directive was adopted which prohibited CIA officers to liquidate foreign high rank politicians. But in the time of Bush Junior everything resumed its natural course.
Of course current nervous atmosphere in CIA affects the work of its agents especially those who are working in hot spots of the world. Life in extreme conditions, when you can be killed or seriously injured or arrested by terrorists who take revenge for Guantanamo and other prisons - all this makes the efficient work impossible. Not all CIA officers can withstand constant risk and the cases of suicide among them are more usual thing than among the soldiers of American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even job sharing system which CIA uses in order not to overload their officers with extreme conditions does not work.
Often the company officers use alcohol and drugs to reduce tension and stress and to escape from reality. The number of cases of abuse of office by CIA residents has also increased. One of the latest cases - the case of CIA top officer in Algeria who used psychotropic substances (of those who were made in Fort Detrick laboratory) to “court the ladies”. The story of CIA resident who turned out to be rapist hit the headlines. Though he was taken off the job put under on trial it does not seem that he feels remorse writing bestsellers about his love affairs with Muslim ladies.
Under George Bush Junior those CIA officers were in great demand, who in order to protect US interests could easily, without any moral conflict, cross the line between the good and the bad. When George Tenet was the director of CIA the recruitment of such people became especially popular. Trent said that CIA should not care about doubtful reputation of its new agents and the most important factor was their skills. He said that it was difficult to do dirty work for those who had clean sheet.
These new CIA experts were moved up to the key positions in CIA by the influential neo conservatives from the Bush team. The typical representative here was John Negroponte, ex-director of National Intelligence, the man of quick and cruel decisions. When he was US ambassador in Honduras he supported the activities of death squards in the Central America. Hundreds and thousands victims in Honduras, Guatemala, Salvador and Nicaragua are under his belt. Negroponte wanted the officers of National Intelligence to be as cold-blooded and remorseless as he was. He used to say that the best enemy is the dead enemy.
There were a lot of conflicts inside CIA when some officers refused to execute criminal orders of their bosses – these officers became outlaws, fell from grace and became the object of mockery. Some of them failed to protect their rights themselves and had to address to lawyers. The best known lawyer among CIA officers is Janine Brookner. She is a former CIA officer who in early 1990-s was wrongly accused of abuse of power (it was claimed that when she was in charge of CIA office on Jamaica there were cases of sexual harassment there). In the course of a long trial Brookner managed to prove that the accusations were ungrounded and the reason for accusation was only the fact that she was a demanding boss. After that Brookner became a lawyer herself and her field is the cases related to CIA. However the number of CIA related cases has increased recently and now the whole team of lawyers have to deal with them.
Leon Panetta does not have too much time to get rid of the most notorious masters of torture methods. Some publishing houses in the USA signed contracts with the officers of the Company who decided to tell the truth about the CIA activities under Bush Jr. There is a good precedent for it. In 1970 Philip Agee, CIA officer, published his book: “Inside the Company”. The book was translated into many languages and up to date remains the true evidence of sentiments of CIA “plankton” executives. That means that a new wave of Agee-like disclosures can seriously destabilize CIA functioning. Hopefully Panetta is a good administrator and after getting rid of Bush CIA officers who had enjoyed the use of Gestapo methods to get information he will manage to win back good reputation for CIA.
One more thing which worries the head of CIA is the lack of moral guidelines in the Company’s work, which leads to patriotic disorientation of CIA officers and disappointment in national ideals. Some of these disappointed officers easily betray the Company’s interests and sell top secret materials.
In the times of bipolar world spy scandals in CIA were mainly linked with the Soviet Union. At present the number of “anonymous enthusiasts” who are willing to learn more about CIA activities is bigger. Here is an explanation for it: the global expansion as planned by the neo-cons has definitively failed, and the shadow government of the Empire in the current situation of international crisis and threatening collapse of the economy and the financial system may start the last and decisive battle which can be catastrophic for the world. Heavily armed Empire now may decide attack ignoring its partners and allies. This has been the case many times and US is experienced enough in making excuses to use military forces.
No matter what kind of “cleaning” will be carried out inside the Company it is unlikely that CIA will cease to be global ohranka security agency which plays by its own rules. That is why even security forces of the US allies are now trying (and not without success) to get secret intelligence positions within CIA.