When journalists and Human Rights Watch workers reported that they had discovered a cache of documents found in Tripoli showing that the CIA had contracted out torture to Libya's External Security Organization, CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood commented: "It can't come as a surprise that the Central Intelligence Agency works with foreign governments to help protect our country from terrorism and other deadly threats. That is exactly what we are expected to do."
Reading that is like having a finger shoved down my throat. The fact is, many of that agency's former employees would beg to differ with the atrocious-- and disingenuous-- assumption she uses to rationalize war crimes.
What doesn't come as a surprise is that the official CIA position is still, like our former VP, claiming torture is legitimate (and useful).
Every time I think I'm cynical enough that nothing will come as a surprise, I get hit with something like the Bush-era CIA working with Libya even though our government's public stance was hostile to Libya. I wasn't surprised that we sent people to allies we knew would do dreadful things, but that we used U.S. enemies in our rendition program shocked me. I wonder if we sent anybody to Iran?
ReplyDeleteWe certainly sent Iran weapons during the Reagan years because as everyone (in the CIA and government) knows, a small mixed economy state in Latin America is more threatening than a religion dictatorship.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Rebecca, that speaks volumes about who feels threatened by what.
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