Posted on 01/10/2009 7:20:24 AM PST by BGHater
As President-elect Barack Obama assures intelligence officials that his complaints are with the Bush administration, not them, there are growing hints from Democratic Senate allies that spy agency veterans will not be prosecuted for past harsh interrogation and detainee policies.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein told The Associated Press in an interview this week that there is a clear distinction between those who made the policies and those who carried them out.
"They (the CIA) carry out orders and the orders come from the (National Security Council) and the White House, so there's not a lot of policy debate that goes on there," she said. "We're going to continue our looking into the situation and I think that is up to the administration and the director."
Feinstein declined to comment on whether her committee would take specific action to offer legal cover to those involved in harsh interrogations that some critics say amount to torture.
Obama has not indicated his stance on what information should be declassified and released or whether he thinks those who conducted harsh interrogations should be protected from lawsuits. But when he introduced his intelligence advisers at a news conference Friday, he expressed gratitude for the work and professionalism of intelligence agency employees and promised them pragmatic leadership.
"The men and women of the intelligence community have been on the front lines in this world of new and evolving dangers," he said. "They have served in the shadows, saved American lives, advanced our interests, and earned the respect of a grateful nation."
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he is interested in revealing the origins and sweep of the Bush administration's controversial interrogation program and is willing to sponsor legislation if necessary to release many of the documents about the program.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I guess that they do not know who the enemy really is.
BO hires people who is as stupid as he is.
Ah, a back flip by back hand, to drum up enthusiasm for his stupid Penetta pick. Obama truely IS a master con artist.
That’s not going to make the Left any happier. DU will be upset (again).
Obmama picking Panetta for the CIA reminds me of his picking Biden for VP.
It raises questions about what drugs Obama is taking.
Well, they don’t want to take over a resentful agency. And the fact is that most of the top level people in the CIA already seem to be working for the left. They have been, for some time. It would be foolish to spoil that good relationship.
Not like CIA agents are going to believe that any of these bureaucrat @ss-covering weenies are going to stand up for them if anything goes down in the field. We’ll go back to the 90’s where CIA operatives everywhere in the world wouldn’t take a chance or a risk on anything because they knew that A-holes in the Senate like Robert Toricelli were waiting to put some CIA spooks head on a pike to appease the anti-war, anti-American Left.
When you are in the field and you know that your bosses will quickly blame you if anything goes bad, you are going to spend your career ensure that you cover your OWN @ss. And then we are left with bureaucrats as spies and we get no intelligence, no asset development and more 9/11s
Methinks there will be a witch hunt as the incoming admin. considers the enemy to be US.
uh yeah- just like there was no congressional involvement in witchhunts against the Haditha Marines, the military supervisors and guards at Abu Ghraib, and border agents like Ramos and Compean
At the rate the Dems are going, the next 9-11 won’t be long off.
search engine pre hit
“And the fact is that most of the top level people in the CIA already seem to be working for the left. They have been, for some time. It would be foolish to spoil that good relationship.”
Reading Gertz’ “The Failure Factory” right now - that certainly seems to be his impression, although I’ve had dealings with Mike Hayden and have great respect for his abilities and acumen (Gertz doesn’t like him). A good book overall.
Colonel, USAFR
I guess the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee who gave their blessing to these interrogation techniques (and who are still in the Senate) would fall into the former category, yes?
Petraeus/Palin in 2012!
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein told The Associated Press in an interview this week that there is a clear distinction between those who made the policies and those who carried them out.Ahhhhh. So 'I was just following orders' IS a legal excuse. Good.
Now we can shut down that FBI Special Division who's now regulated to hunting down 87yo German Corporals who were, "just following orders". Wow, just think of all the money we could save.
Right Di-Fi.
(((((( crickets )))))))
Duh, it was all a political stunt. There was never any concern over the actual interrogation policies; they just wanted to stand before their base and scream about Bush torturing everyone - since they’d just eat it up.
Hmm. Time to get my resume together.
I imagine that it will not, it should also make those Nazi symphatizers not happy as well, many were prosecuted for following the orders of their superiors.
Does the Geneva Convention offer cover for those that carry out orders, alleged to go against the letter of that Convention, I think not.
I have always believed however that those people held by us, fall way outside the Geneva Convention, and its’ protection should not be made available to them, regardless of what the liberal Supreme Court granted them.
This of course presupposes these interrogations were illegal. I wonder how the electorate will feel post the next 9/11?
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