President Obama’s Most Inexplicable Failure
Pepe Silvia
Posts: 3,758
the more things 'change' the more they stay the same....
http://www.truth-out.org/president-obam ... ilure61343
President Obama’s Most Inexplicable Failure by Melvin A. Goodman
President Barack Obama has been a major disappointment to a liberal community that rallied to his call for genuine change. His administration has made no attempt to investigate the crimes that were committed by the Bush administration, including torture and abuse, secret prisons and renditions. President Obama rescued Wall Street, but not Main Street. And he has expanded the self-destructive war in Afghanistan, where there is no end in sight. President Obama cannot be blamed for the failure to close Guantanamo, but he continues to favor preventive detention. But the president's most inexplicable failure, in view of his Harvard Law School background and commitment to constitutional rights, is his unwillingness to name a statutory inspector general (IG) at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
First, some background. The CIA's transgressions in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s led to the creation of a statutory and independent IG, appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. A powerful IG was required because the CIA's internal investigations of its role in the sale of arms to Iran were inadequate in comparison with the investigations of Congressional and independent counsels. Until the creation of the statutory IG, Congressional oversight committees were not given full access to the CIA investigations, and not even the Justice Department received reports detailing suspected illegalities. The efforts of CIA director William Casey to prevent the attorney general from receiving reports on illegalities led Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) and David Boren (D-Oklahoma) to sponsor a bill to create an independent IG.
The most recent IG, John Helgerson, proved to be an effective watchdog. This earned him the ire of the last four CIA directors, who mounted an unprecedented attack on the the CIA's only genuinely independent watchdog. Helgerson retired in February 2009 and has not been replaced. Clearly, CIA management prefers to operate without oversight. But it is less clear why President Obama, apparently with the shocking support of Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-California), has chosen to name no successor to Helgerson.
It is essential to understand the important work of the CIA's IG. In 2004, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) produced the only official and authoritative study of the abuses of the CIA detentions and interrogations program. It also produced seminal studies of accountability for the 9/11 attacks as well as the CIA shooting down of a missionary plane in Peru in 2001 and its subsequent coverup of the shooting down. A former Deputy Director for Intelligence and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, John Gannon, has labeled this work "vindictive," but it is simply the IG doing his job. The current CIA Director, Leon Panetta, has continued the policies of his three immediate successors (George Tenet, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden), ensuring the absence of aggressive internal investigations. These directors have ignored provisions in the 1989 law that required them to inform Congress of attempts to hinder the IG in the execution of his duties.
President Obama is also continuing, if not intensifying, the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush. He is moving aggressively to punish unauthorized leaks to the press and to limit the actions of government whistleblowers. At the same time, the president and the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee have made sure that there are no outlets for legitimate whistleblowers. The Obama administration has resorted to a state security defense to prevent revelations of renditions policies in US courts and has threatened to cut off sensitive intelligence to Britain if a British court reveals details of the CIA renditions in Europe.
The current case of Thomas Drake, formerly with the National Security Agency (NSA), demonstrates President Obama's repressive approach. Drake appears to be a classic whistleblower; his revelations to the media were designed to strengthen NSA's capabilities in the exploitation of email and cell phone information. He did not reveal secret intelligence and did not go to the press until he failed to elicit responses from the IGs at the NSA and the Department of Defense as well as the Congressional intelligence committees. Nevertheless, Drake has been indicted for illegal "retention" of classified information and faces years in prison.
Neither President Obama nor Senator Feinstein has shown any interest in the criminal investigation of the CIA's destruction of videotapes five years ago that documented sadistic interrogations in CIA prisons. They are also fighting the use of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to strengthen Congressional oversight of the intelligence community, which was favored by CIA Director Panetta in the 1980s when he was a Congressman. Today, of course, Panetta opposes the use of GAO in oversight of the CIA.
Currently, the only entity with real oversight capability over the CIA is the OIG. President Obama's failure to name a statutory IG ensures that there will be neither oversight nor accountability in the intelligence community. The president is unwilling to address the CIA's controversial, possibly illegal, actions and is making sure that no internal oversight body does so. President Obama seems to have succumbed to what his favorite philosopher, Reinhold Niebuhr termed the "false security to which all men are tempted" - the security of power.
http://www.truth-out.org/president-obam ... ilure61343
President Obama’s Most Inexplicable Failure by Melvin A. Goodman
President Barack Obama has been a major disappointment to a liberal community that rallied to his call for genuine change. His administration has made no attempt to investigate the crimes that were committed by the Bush administration, including torture and abuse, secret prisons and renditions. President Obama rescued Wall Street, but not Main Street. And he has expanded the self-destructive war in Afghanistan, where there is no end in sight. President Obama cannot be blamed for the failure to close Guantanamo, but he continues to favor preventive detention. But the president's most inexplicable failure, in view of his Harvard Law School background and commitment to constitutional rights, is his unwillingness to name a statutory inspector general (IG) at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
First, some background. The CIA's transgressions in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s led to the creation of a statutory and independent IG, appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. A powerful IG was required because the CIA's internal investigations of its role in the sale of arms to Iran were inadequate in comparison with the investigations of Congressional and independent counsels. Until the creation of the statutory IG, Congressional oversight committees were not given full access to the CIA investigations, and not even the Justice Department received reports detailing suspected illegalities. The efforts of CIA director William Casey to prevent the attorney general from receiving reports on illegalities led Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) and David Boren (D-Oklahoma) to sponsor a bill to create an independent IG.
The most recent IG, John Helgerson, proved to be an effective watchdog. This earned him the ire of the last four CIA directors, who mounted an unprecedented attack on the the CIA's only genuinely independent watchdog. Helgerson retired in February 2009 and has not been replaced. Clearly, CIA management prefers to operate without oversight. But it is less clear why President Obama, apparently with the shocking support of Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-California), has chosen to name no successor to Helgerson.
It is essential to understand the important work of the CIA's IG. In 2004, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) produced the only official and authoritative study of the abuses of the CIA detentions and interrogations program. It also produced seminal studies of accountability for the 9/11 attacks as well as the CIA shooting down of a missionary plane in Peru in 2001 and its subsequent coverup of the shooting down. A former Deputy Director for Intelligence and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, John Gannon, has labeled this work "vindictive," but it is simply the IG doing his job. The current CIA Director, Leon Panetta, has continued the policies of his three immediate successors (George Tenet, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden), ensuring the absence of aggressive internal investigations. These directors have ignored provisions in the 1989 law that required them to inform Congress of attempts to hinder the IG in the execution of his duties.
President Obama is also continuing, if not intensifying, the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush. He is moving aggressively to punish unauthorized leaks to the press and to limit the actions of government whistleblowers. At the same time, the president and the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee have made sure that there are no outlets for legitimate whistleblowers. The Obama administration has resorted to a state security defense to prevent revelations of renditions policies in US courts and has threatened to cut off sensitive intelligence to Britain if a British court reveals details of the CIA renditions in Europe.
The current case of Thomas Drake, formerly with the National Security Agency (NSA), demonstrates President Obama's repressive approach. Drake appears to be a classic whistleblower; his revelations to the media were designed to strengthen NSA's capabilities in the exploitation of email and cell phone information. He did not reveal secret intelligence and did not go to the press until he failed to elicit responses from the IGs at the NSA and the Department of Defense as well as the Congressional intelligence committees. Nevertheless, Drake has been indicted for illegal "retention" of classified information and faces years in prison.
Neither President Obama nor Senator Feinstein has shown any interest in the criminal investigation of the CIA's destruction of videotapes five years ago that documented sadistic interrogations in CIA prisons. They are also fighting the use of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to strengthen Congressional oversight of the intelligence community, which was favored by CIA Director Panetta in the 1980s when he was a Congressman. Today, of course, Panetta opposes the use of GAO in oversight of the CIA.
Currently, the only entity with real oversight capability over the CIA is the OIG. President Obama's failure to name a statutory IG ensures that there will be neither oversight nor accountability in the intelligence community. The president is unwilling to address the CIA's controversial, possibly illegal, actions and is making sure that no internal oversight body does so. President Obama seems to have succumbed to what his favorite philosopher, Reinhold Niebuhr termed the "false security to which all men are tempted" - the security of power.
don't compete; coexist
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
thanks for posting.
why even mention obamas expansion of the war in afghanistan. anyone that was paying attention in obamas campaign knew that was on the cards. obama made no secret of that.
maybe because so many believe we will be leaving very soon?
he said he expanded the war in afghanistan, which he has, we may still be in iraq but i don't think he's expanded it.
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
but that's just me.
that can't be said of iraq as many believe the end is just over the horizon. something can be a failure and be the message the whole time, it doesn't have to be a failed promise.
i don't necessarily think when someone calls something a failure it HAS to mean it was a broken campaign promise
but that's just me
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
here's me thinking when he was talking about çhange, that was what he was referring to.
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
i felt a great disturbance in the force.
Godfather.
Are these Sean Hannity estimates?
:?
no wise guy they were pictures and I just kinda guessed at the numbers, I was shocked at the amount of people that were there.
Godfather.
I looked on the net for images, but couldn't find anything. It was suppose to be in Vegas right? The info I got was that the event was canceled. Not sure if I got the right info.
I cam across a lot of Tea Party websites.... ... those websites sure are interesting.... :silent:
http://www.8newsnow.com/global/story.asp?s=12214959
Organizers had said up to 10,000 people might come; around 1 p.m., police estimated the crowd was about 7,000.
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
I watched, as my generation got swept up in some "gaga for obama" nonsense. thinking one man could fix everything, and that he actually cared enough. that he was unlike every single politician in history. i wasnt swept up and didnt vote for obama.
Ultimately, the lesson is that one person cant fix everything. we all wish there was a MLK or Malcolm or JFK or RFK to come in and fix everything. But the thing is, their success was based largely on the work of people whose names will never be in history books. grandmas who walked miles to work in support of the montgmery bus boycott, average everyday workers on strike, soldiers in the military who say "throw me in jail, i dont want to be sent to afghanistan again".
The point is, obama is a failure. but all politicians are. There is something about the act of being a politican that makes one lose all sense of morality and conscientious thought. Politicians view themselves as gods and therefore act like them.
Obama has been in office over a year. yet democrats still whine about how its all bush's fault. Bush hasnt made any executive decisions since January 19, 2009. Obama decided to send troops to afghanistan and expand the war. Obama decided to bail out wall street and ignore average citizens. Obama decided to not follow FDRs example and create an infrastructure like the New Deal that would put millions of people to work.
Electoral politics is a joke. whats important, even if i am not an activist, is the daily work of the millions of folks who are, who are cleaning up the BP spill, who are working tirelessly to bring the troops home, who are unable to find work and are being evicted because they cant pay the mortgage. Those are the real heroes. those are the people who never let us down and never will.
We all have a role to play. whether thats on the front lines with molotov cocktails at the barricades, or whether its merely the act of living, of keeping on and keeping going in a world, in your own life, in the face of life's trials.
Obama is not a hero to me and never will be. And in many ways he isnt a failure. Obama is no different than the other 40 plus presidents who lived at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. the difference this time though was people genuinely believed for some insane reason that this guy was different. A failure is a failure only if the possibility existed that things could have been better or improved, that a different outcome could exist. Obama is a multimillionaire, who has lived a privleged life for years, in mansions. His bank account will never be impacted by the economic crisis. his kids will never want for anything. they can get into harvard. his family is set for eternity. sasha and malias kids will be set. and so on. Why SHOULD a guy like that care? How many times a day do you think he interacts with normal folks who lost their farms or are being evicted? How many times a day does he deal with parents of soldiers who died in afghanistan?
if a politician says something, i think its best to tune them out. hopefully people wise up and engage in this behavior the next time.
True on the former, but tuning those in charge out altogether would be a huge mistake. People all too easily forget that govt is supposed to work for the People, not to operate with our ears conveniently closed. Now just if we'd step up and voice ourselves, like we're supposed to...
Plus, Dennis Kucinich is very much worth listening to.
just curious.... I liked Clinton.
Godfather.
FDR though is probably the ultimate. obamas major mistake and this will haunt him the rest of his life, is his inability to work out some New Deal type thing for our country in the middle of this economic crisis. Good presidents have been few and far between.
My sense of Obama is that he is as clueless as Bush ever was. Both sincerely believe we can achieve some sort of win and can achieve some goal, by military prowess in the middle east. who are we fighting? Who is the enemy? Is their any difference in the militaries mind between suicide bombers and average citizens of the middle east fighting back against a military power that invaded their homeland?
How can we expect 18 year old kids to have the presence of mind to not only see death firsthand, but to process it, and to sort out the split second decisions necessary in the military?
I am not a fan of obama, and in fact what ZDLR said about Bush applies to the current president.
There is something off about someone who thinks that sending other parents kids to die is not only wise but is neccesary and justified. Something is not quite right in that persons head.
No one should ever die in a war, but its different if sasha and malia are called up, or volunteer. then its personal. Obama doesnt deal with that. His family isnt impacted. His family hasnt lost another member of the family due to the war.