CIA Prosecutions

Prosecution of Central Intelligence Agency personnel for following orders issued by the Bush administration is wrong.  These men and women were following orders set by the Commander-in-Chief.  There should be prosecution of the men issuing the orders, not the people who carried them out.  This would send the wrong message to people who actually have to work in the various gray areas we refer to as intelligence.

Attorney General Eric Holder has vowed to prosecute those involved in enhanced Interrogation techniques.  So far, the Obama administration has not denied this.  Anyone who has put his or her tail on the line for this country deserves respect.  Put yourself in the interrogators shoes for a minute, the person you are interrogating may be a high value target, rich with information that you need to pass on to the other intelligence agencies.

Would you be comfortable water boarding a man you did not know, over two- hundred and eighty-eight times in a span of thirty days?  Would your conscience claw at your insides, or would it be all good for old glory.  It is a razors edge, Occam’s razor.

Prosecution of these agents would demoralize them at a time when their service is needed most.  This would lead to decreased numbers of candidates for operatives and an overall decline in our nation’s quiet company.  It also sends a bad message to the public.

It says, “Comply, or the hounds of Hell will be unleashed and led directly to you.”  That is what it should say to the enemy, but not the public.  For every interrogation trick brought to light, you will see a military train to defeat it.  Though it should be noted, that things far worse than water boarding have happened to soldiers, contractors, and innocent people at the hands of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The best thing that could happen to this country is Dick Cheney being barred from speaking, anywhere.  George Bush can yack all he wants, no one is listening to him anymore.