Are the Harman leaks fueled by her dissent on waterboarding?

[cascadiance]

Source: Capital J

By Ron Kampeas · April 20, 2009

Laura Rozen has a superb post up at Foreign Policy's The Cable dealing with yesterday's revelations about U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and allegations that she agreed to intervene in the classified information case against two former AIPAC staffers.

It introduces a fascinating new wrinkle: animosity between Harman and Porter Goss, the former CIA director, might have been informed in part by Harman's dissent on the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique.

Laura casts the leaks in part as pushback from spooked spooks - former and current spies who are concerned that, despite Obama administration pledges to the contrary, the Democratic White House and Congress might yet take law enforcement steps against officials who carried out the Bush era expansions of eavesdropping and of "enhanced" interrogation techniques. She appears to confirm my speculation earlier that these folks are telling Democrats newly in charge: Come after us, and we'll make life difficult for you too.

Now, there are those in the blogosphere who are already casting the usual good guys-bad guys narrative. At Salon, Glenn Greenwald emphasizes Harman's statements favoring the eavesdropping expansions - the original CQ story suggests that this was in part quid pro quo for the Bush administration quashing the investigation into her AIPAC dealings.

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Read more: http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2009/04/20/1004501/did-harman-dissent-from-pelosi-and-goss-on-waterboarding

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Hmm... Now you have to consider the source on this might have some conflicts of interest with AIPAC itself, but it is interesting to see these other variables in this mess too. Sounds like Porter Goss might be pulling a few strings on this to expose Harman now, just when she might be trying to do the right thing for once.

Lessons learned from this though... Once folks like Jane Harman go to the wrong side of the fence, it is AWFUL hard to get back to the right side of the fence if you have things to hide.

This case is another CLEAR example of why public campaign financing and other means of getting lobbying TOTALLY out of Washington now the way it corrupts it now is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!

This situation is being made public, but one can imagine how many other very similar situations are happening right now behind closed doors!

I don't have a lot of sympathy for Harman, but then again, see what happens to the sacrificial lambs it would appear...

And perhaps this is another reason why it is SO hard to get congress to do the right thing when it comes to waterboarding!

Just hoping that the feds questioning Dusty Foggo now before he goes to prison can get the goods on Porter Goss. He sounds like another big evil entity in this whole mess. I often wondered how he got appointed to head up that ethics commission in congress after his reputation had been trashed in the whole Watergate Hookergate scandal earlier that had him step down from his post in the CIA...

[RandomThoughts]

1. It is also a case of perspective.

If single comments are accepted by people because they are said in media, or circulated with people. Then the blackmail, is given more weight.

If you were blackmailed, would you let something wrong go unchallenged, would you give the darkside a future by not saying you believe it wrong, would you hold those responsible to account?

Would you give the Bush Administration, and Cheney a platform for years to come to grow the ideas of using the darkside? Or will you call wrong as wrong, and seek justice?

[cascadiance]

2. I'm not defending Harman at all. I have plenty of other reasons to dislike her...

I just find it a bit ironic that perhaps the reason she might be coming down is that she has some slim sense of ethics that caused her to step out of line with the criminals she was working with, and that perhaps is what is bringing her down.

That's also of concern too, since there are probably many others in her shoes with perhaps even more ethics that she has, that might have a harder time to dissent and fight the system given this. And people with more questionable ethics like Harman, will be more inclined to stay in line with the criminals seeing this happening to Harman, and being less inclined to do the right thing anyway.

[lurky]

3. I can guarantee you this:

EVERY rep in Washington is now looking back at all the phone conversations they have had in the last 8 years and wondering what they have said that might come back to haunt them. That has to be extremely unnerving.

[RandomThoughts]

4. Fear used as a weapon

You might be interested to know, that manuals on torture actually say fear is the most effective method. They actually say the fear of being tortured is worse then the actual event, and surviving a torture event can actually give strength or resolve to the person being tortured.

The use of fear of smear, is no different, and is the same technique as used in torture. But you got to expect that, it comes from the same side.

If you are right, then the claim that calls are recorded, and people might use them, is being used in the same manner torture is used, the 'fear of smear' is used to control them to do what they feel or think is wrong.

[No Elephants]

5. PRIMARY her. That will speak loudly.