Article Entry
21 Apr 2009
Comments:3
Cheney Comes Out Swinging After Obama Visits C.I.A. HQ
Added by USGIF Category: Daily Intelligence Brief, General
The political drama, and some would say fall-out, continues for the Obama administration in the wake of releasing “secret memos” last week about interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration. First up, President Obama made a special trip out to CIA headquarters yesterday to urge intelligence agents to hold themselves up to a “higher standard” when dealing with the most unscrupulous of enemies.
President Obama made the special trip out to Langley after many current and former intelligence community leaders voiced their opinions against the decision to release this information. Check out our coverage of former CIA Director Michael Hayden’s very pointed Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal.
Finally, former Veep Dick Cheney came out of hiding to share his views on this topic on Fox News last night. Cheney claims that there are a substantial amount of memos that show the “success” that these interrogation techniques had in the past. He also claimed to have made a formal request to CIA leadership to make public these particular memos.
We typically have not been covering the interrogation issue, but since it is such a major story these days, we felt the need to highlight it. So, it brings up some big questions. Should Obama have made this information public? Of course, this is a sticky issue. On one side, it sounds like human rights were violated. On the other side, we were dealing with — as President Obama said — an unscrupulous enemy, and drastic measures may have been necessary. We seriously need to hear you all regarding this issue! Please feel free to post comments!
Tags: Cheney on Fox News, CIA Interrogation Memos, GEOINT, geospatial intelligence, Intelligence Community, President Obama Visist CIA, Vice President Cheney
I’ve been trained by the USAF and the International Red Cross in the law of armed conflict. The standards we had previously applied protected our prisoners in an effort to also protect ourselves.
What conditions will future USG personnel, service men and women confront given the context of treatment the Bush administration applied to their enemy combatants and detainees?
Further, accountability is a requirement of reconciliation. This requirement applies particularly to policy makers not the instruments of policy application.
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/awc-law.htm#treatment
The louder someone complains, the closer you are to the truth. I anticipate a lot of ad hominem complaints from statists here. Do not let them talk you out of reading this book.
In any given generation, there are but a few authors and thinkers whose creations can survive the ravages of time and the shifting sands of societal evolution. It is rarer still when a key book is written, recognized, and celebrated contemporarily. This is one such book.
Mark R. Levin logically lays out what has made the United States of America different from all other nations in the history of humanity. He re-introduces us to the founders and framers, and those people who inspired them long ago. At its most basic elements, our country was founded on the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…and that we have these rights conferred on us, not by man or government, but by Natural Law, which originates with the Creator. Mr. Levin puts us back in touch with our founding doctrines, which are the at the very heart of what conservatism is and has always been.
For too long, Conservatives have let themselves be defined by the media. Mr. Levin’s book recasts what it is to be a proud Conservative, and gives voice to those who are often silent in the face of ideological slander. If you believe in this great country, if you believe in truth and honesty, if you believe in life and principles, if you believe in freedom and patriotism, if you believe that all people are created equal and it is up to the individual to succeed according to their talents and interests, and if you believe in a smaller efficient government, and lower taxes, then this book is for you.
NY Times Best Seller – Hardcover Nonfiction – #1 for 3 weeks running!
Amazon.com – all categories – #1 for 29 days and counting.
Over 900,000 in print, in its 15th printing.
…and all the while, a deafening silence from the major media outlets – until now, April 20th, when the MSM champions an anti-American book.
http://tinyurl.com/mlevinbook
This book is perfect for the individual who has always “felt” conservative, but couldn’t quite explain herself. Mark Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny” begins with an excellent overview of where our country is as a constitutional republic and how we got here. He then states clearly his book’s theme and rallying cry — Conservatives must know the philosophical foundations for the principles they purport to advance in order to defend liberty from the “soft tyranny” of modern liberalism.
Levin goes on meticulously (many more than 300 endnotes), but plainly explaining the principles of classic conservative philosophy of “prudent” progress, a government that is subservient to the people (rather than the other way around), the fundamental truth that rights are not derived from the government but from a higher power, that the free market system more than any other in history provides the best, most efficient and most just opportunity for individual prosperity as well as for the general welfare, and much much more.
Levin’s book provides ample evidence of government encroachment on individual liberty and our country’s descent into the soft tyranny warned of by Alexis de Tocqueville in our country’s earliest years. Economic regulation, environmental extremism, the usurpation of representative government by the judiciary, unprecedented and uncontrolled illegal influx of people into out country, and the like threaten our economic viability. Finally, Levin’s book details how the liberal (and some so-called conservative) political elite rejects the notion of American Exceptionalism and seek to surrender voluntarily the sovereignty our forefathers fought and died to give and to preserve for us.
UPDATE: This book is currently on sale at Amazon. Now is a great opportunity to pick up this book, if you haven’t already.
http://tinyurl.com/mlevinbook
I am a disabled veteran with an opinion that might surprise many, or even most. There is typically substantial political drama when there are such strong opposing views on a topic that has been so politicized. I support President Obama’s and his Administration’s decision to release “memos about interrogation techniques used during President Bush’s Administration”. Based on that decision, the memos were instantly declassified. Opponents would of course disagree. Our intelligence agents and the entire IC must hold ourselves up to a “higher standard” when dealing with even the most unscrupulous of enemies. What is so different about this enemy from any of those we’ve faced in the past? Nothing! The size and scope of the attack on 911 does not warrant the need to change the standards that we’ve lived up to for so many years. Those standards / values are simply what make us different from those we’ve opposed. We are Americans and should act like Americans. Those favoring the decision to use those techniques would argue that they did just that. I beg to differ.
I am not even the slightest bit surprised that nearly the entire IC leadership disagrees with the President’s decision. THE REAL ISSUE IS THAT WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE AUTHORIZED NOR ENGAGED IN THESE TACTICS, REGARDLESS OF THE RESULTS ACHIEVED. Unfortunately, you don’t hear that issue being discussed as prominently as it should be.
You said that former VP Dick Cheney claims that there are a substantial amount of memos that show the “success” that these interrogation techniques had in the past. THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS IF THE MEANS WERE WRONG IN THE FIRST PLACE (and I believe they were certainly wrong in the first place). If VP Dick Cheney had also made a formal request to the CIA leadership to make these particular memos public, then what is his gripe since he was apparently attempting to release them also? This one leaves me confused.
As William Theuer so apropriately wrote, “accountability is a requirement of reconciliation.” This is what we seek. Thank you for covering the interrogation issue and for your post. Once again, yes, President Obama should have made this information public, BUT THE LARGER ISSUE IS THAT HE SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO DO IT SINCE WE SHOULD NOT HAVE ENGAGED IN THE DISCUSSED TECHNIQUES. Human rights were definitely violated. Dealing with — as President Obama said — “an unscrupulous enemy, and drastic measures” does not justify it.