Panetta’s Pathetic Attempt to Get Lawmakers to Ignore CIA Crimes

see, also, carincross' post: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x468422

Panetta’s Pathetic Attempt to Get Lawmakers to Ignore CIA Crimes

By Melvin A. Goodman
The Public Record
Aug 1st, 2009

The ideological partnership between the Washington Post and the Central Intelligence Agency is becoming despicable. For the past several weeks, the Post has carried a series of editorial and op-eds that were designed to prevent the release of the Justice Department memoranda that permitted the use of CIA torture and abuse and to prevent any rigorous examination of these practices that went beyond the permitted guidelines.

Today’s Washington Post carries an op-ed by CIA Director Leon Panetta that accuses the congress of seeking “retribution” from CIA officials who were simply implementing “presidential decisions.”

Panetta’s views are similar to those of former director Richard Helms who, in defending the CIA’s role in overthrowing the elected government in Chile, said that “we are all honorable men.” The following year, Helms was fined $2,000 and given a two-year suspended prison sentence for lying to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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Unfortunately, President Obama has made the journey toward an investigation of torture and abuse more difficult by appointing Panetta as CIA director and John Brennan as deputy director of the National Security Council. Brennan was a major player in the era of cover-up at the CIA, serving as Tenet’s executive assistant and playing a public role in selling renditions and secret prisons to the media, including the Washington Post.

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http://pubrecord.org/commentary/3151/panettas-pathetic-attempt-cia/