Bush's Plan to Build a Better Octopus

[Minstrel Boy]

Bush's Plan to Build a Better Octopus
George LoBuono, 12/08/2004

Bush’s nomination of Republican Congressman Porter Goss to be CIA Director raises questions far beyond those of the 911 Commission Report. Criticized as “partisan” by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, among others, Goss, like his predecessor Tenet, has no prior experience running a large organization. Goss was a co-sponsor of the much-feared Patriot II proposal.

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Ironically, pursuant to his role in intelligence oversight, Goss and Sen. Bob Graham were meeting with Gen. Mahmud Ahmed, head of Pakistan’s ISI, when news of the 9-11 attack on the twin towers broke. The ISI reportedly gave $100,000 to al Queda shortly before the attack.

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Rather than rush to create yet another secret office within the alphabet soup of black budget agencies that have proliferated since Truman’s time, Congress needs to plan out a better, long-term strategy for global security. Rather than concentrate power within a Fourth Estate run by old-industry aristocrats, yet another opportunity for retreads like Admiral Poindexter and Elliot Abrams to do their dirty work, Congress needs to step back and plan for a better, albeit more complex, human future.

For those who remember the CIA’s Operation Chaos, which used criminal methods to sow disorder among critics of the Vietnam war, here at home, and the CIA’s trafficking of heroin during the same time period (there were other crimes, later, of course), Congress’ sudden urge to create a taller spy palace isn’t comforting. When a president who rarely reads newspapers wants to consolidate all intelligence into an octopus that he can more easily manage, Congress should remain deeply wary. Apparently, however, it hasn’t said much. Why not?

http://www.cmaq.net/fr/node.php?id=17822