October 27, 2007

The CIA is losing credibility. And, yes, you should care.

Former analyst Melvin Goodman reaches out to youngest generation

An ex-CIA spook was going to be giving a talk about how the CIA has been screwing up national security for a college class in Cincinnati. So I went to sit in.

The lecturer has written several books including “The Wars of Edvard Shevardnadze,” which he co-authored, and “PowerTrip: U.S. Unilateralism and Global Strategy After September 11”. However, his most recent books, “Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neo-Conservatives are Putting the World at Risk,” slated for February of '08, “The Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA,” were most alluded to in his lecture.

Before the professor allowed Melvin Goodman to take the stage, he also dropped the spotlight on me. “We also have a member of the press with us today," said Mr. Grundy. "So keep in mind that your questions are on the record.”

Perhaps city council candidate Justin Jeffre -- who was scheduled to speak after Goodman -- didn’t get the memo. He must have arrived late because he popped up in the back of the room toward the end of Goodman's talk with some bizarre question. He asked about the CIA’s involvement in toppling banana governments in the 1980s. He continued, rambling about the CIA being the President’s secret army.

I found his interrogation of the speaker entertaining. We can barely get Americans to care about what is happening in this decade. Who cares about Noriega?

As Jeffre continued his questions, I looked over at a slumbering student, who at least showed up to class with a pen and was probably taking notes in dreamland.

And who seriously cares about this decade? The Bush administration shows no sign of being held accountable for a mess that the next three presidents will inherit. Not to mention deficit spending for the war that’s being taken away from education, health care and social security.

The midterm elections turned out to be a joke. Congress and the Senate are sitting in a bathtub, voting on issues of harsh language and stern finger-shaking. This country is not getting better. So who cares?

I was thinking about this while Goodman spoke about the biggest CIA failures.

The majority of us already understand that there were intelligence failures that led to a preventable September 11. We already realize that the Iraq War was started with faulty intelligence.

Those of us who have been paying attention to the news already identify the Bush administration as a government of warmongers. We know them as only validated by a continuing war in Iraq. Once the war stops, we will openly question why we went. And by that time, Bush will be golfing in Texas in a baseball cap monogrammed “Ex-Prez.”

So, when I got my chance for a one-on-one follow-up Mel Goodman, my first question was, “Who cares?”

On behalf of all disaffected compatriots of ours, who cares? Shouldn’t we just move on?

Well these actions are being conducted in your name. You take on some responsibility for the government. If the government is torturing people, you’re torturing people.

When you look at the money that’s allocated for these events, you see how money’s being misallocated. So when you get a measure to expand health insurance for children, it’s going to be vetoed by the president — who’s probably going to be able to sustain the veto because, frankly, we’re running out of money.

We’ve got very basic decisions we need to make with regard to the environment, social security, healthcare ... These decisions are all driven by the money that’s being sucked into the Pentagon, by a war that has now driven the defense budget to over $600 billion. The intelligence budget is over $50 billion a year. And a Homeland Security budget that’s over $40 billion a year. And you’re not becoming any more secure. Your defense is no better.

In fact, in terms of the threat out there, it’s increased in terms of what’s happening in the Middle East.

In terms of our country and what’s happening, where’s the outrage?

There is no outrage in this country. It’s basically a mood of “I’m all right, Jack”. Some people are making a hell of a lot of money and doing quite well.

Whenever you go to war, a lot of people make money. When the war started, Lockheed Martin’s stock was selling at $30 a share. Lockheed’s stock is now $97 a share. And I find that interesting because the price of a barrel of oil was $30 when the war started … and my guess is that it will hit $90 today.

Some people are making a hell of a lot of money on this war. There are merchants of death out there.

So until you get the people involved, you’re not going to have an anti-war movement. And I think it says something about the United States that we haven’t developed an anti-war movement.

And when I travel abroad, I’m embarrassed to say that I represent the United States in terms what’s been conducted in my name.

There seem to be two views of the CIA: One is that it’s a clandestine organization that meant to function beyond the law. The second view is that the CIA is a surgical tool preventative defense. How would you categorize the CIA right now?

The CIA is an institution that has lost its moral compass. It’s got a director who’s lobbied for torture on Capital Hill, which is a violation of the mission and charter of the director of the agency.

Its engaged in acts that I think are violations of law in regard to ghost detainees, torture and abuse, secret prisons and renditions. The CIA needs to be cleaned out the way the Justice Department needs to be cleaned out.

But this is the old problem of how we’re going to deal with the detritus of the Bush administration. There’s been terrible corruption. And the sad thing is I think too many people believe, particularly students, that this is business as usual. This is the way politics is practiced.

But that is just not the case.

These are incredible excesses beyond anything we’ve ever had in government. And I think it was Katrina that brought it all home. The government doesn’t function. We had a disaster in New Orleans, and the government couldn’t deal with it.

Forget the disasters overseas that we created; the government had one that was homegrown that we couldn’t deal with.

…

Goodman did say one thing in the seminar that we can all take with us. One student asked, “Well, what can we do?”

Goodman answered. And his answer reminded me of why I started writing articles in the first place.

“To people who have asked question like that: Have they ever written a letter to the editor? Have ever visited a Congressional office? Or even just made a call to a Congressional office? What active role have they taken? Have they ever marched in a protest? There are so many outlets in this country … Stepping back or standing back and criticizing is not active policy.”

In other words, let your voices be heard. To write your U.S. House representative, visit www.house.gov/writerep. To write to your U.S. Senator, go to www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm. Your opinion is important.

editors@queencityforum.com

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