Another reason to love Bernie-- he called for abolishing the CIA in 1974

[Fast Walker 52]

"Bernie Sanders Wanted to Abolish the CIA—Good!"

http://gawker.com/bernie-sanders-wanted-to-abolish-the-cia-good-1760567613

Anyone who didn't understand how dangerous and out of control the CIA was back then, was clueless.

And of course the Clinton camp is using this to bash him.

[PonyUp]

1. I agree, but did you see this post?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511310814

[Fast Walker 52]

2. No, I just saw this story

thanks

I'm not at all surprised the HRC people are pro-CIA, and believe all their propaganda.

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3. I should point out that HRC's absolutely disastrous Syrian policy was CIA-inspired

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/02/14/hillary-clinton-and-syrian-bloodbath

[redstateblues]

4. One more reason he is not fit to be Commander in Chief

It's foolish to think the US doesn't need secret intelligence gathering in places we don't have diplomatic outposts

[Fast Walker 52]

5. that's not what abolishing the CIA is about

obviously you still need intelligence gathering. The point is that the CIA historically has been the source of much evil in this world.

[Wilms]

7. I agree that it's foolish to think the US doesn't need intelligence.

That's exactly why Sanders recommended getting rid of dumb-asses.

[PonyUp]

9. Thank you. How 6 Million People Were Killed In CIA Secret Wars Against Third World Countries

John Stockwell, former CIA Station Chief in Angola in 1976, working for then Director of the CIA, George Bush. He spent 13 years in the agency. He gives a short history of CIA covert operations. He is a very compelling speaker and the highest level CIA officer to testify to the Congress about his actions. He estimates that over 6 million people have died in CIA covert actions, and this was in the late 1980's.


John Stockwell is the highest-ranking CIA official ever to leave the agency and go public. He ran a CIA intelligence-gathering post in Vietnam, was the task-force commander of the CIA's secret war in Angola in 1975 and 1976, and was awarded the Medal of Merit before he resigned. Stockwell's book In Search of Enemies, published by W.W. Norton 1978, is an international best-seller.



"I did 13 years in the CIA altogether. I sat on a subcommittee of the NSC, so I was like a chief of staff, with the GS-18s (like 3-star generals) Henry Kissinger, Bill Colby (the CIA director), the GS-18s and the CIA, making the important decisions and my job was to put it all together and make it happen and run it, an interesting place from which to watch a covert action being done...



http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm

[Jefferson23]

6. It is another reason to vote for Bernie, and I do have differences with him but it is a

short list. I hope we can reach the millions of disaffected voters in time, they
have given up...we must help to encourage them to get involved again.

[drray23]

8. it has to be a joke.

Goes to show how naive he is on foreign policy.
We need intelligence gathering capabilities to keep up with the complex threats arising anywhere in the world.

[Wilms]

11. Question: Which President wanted to break the CIA into a thousand pieces?

We'll be here when you come back with an answer.

[deutsey]

15. Just like that pie-eyed idealist JFK

"I want to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds."

He said that after the Bay of Pigs debacle. Bernie's comment was around the time revelations of CIA abuses over the decades (coups, assassinations, psyops, etc.) were motivating the Church Committee investigations.

Big difference between intelligence gathering and what the CIA has done in its covert actions over the years.

This was from Democracy Now! yesterday with a former CIA agent (author Barry Eisler):

AMY GOODMAN: But as a former person in covert operations at the CIA—

BARRY EISLER: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: —do you share (Sanders') view more, the one he expresses today, more oversight, or the one he expressed 40 years ago, do away with the CIA?

BARRY EISLER: Yeah, I would say, first, that people need to understand Sanders is not an outlier in calling for the abolishment of the CIA. President Truman said he’d get rid of the agency. John F. Kennedy famously said he would shatter the organization into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds. This is following the Bay of Pigs. A lot—Daniel Moynihan said, "Oh, my god! We’re not getting our money’s worth. This thing is doing more harm than good."

AMY GOODMAN: The senator.

BARRY EISLER: Yeah, Senator—former Senator Moynihan. So there have been a lot of prominent people who have had—who have been in a position to weigh the costs and benefits of the CIA’s existence, and have come out thinking that, on balance, national security would be improved if we actually just didn’t have a CIA. So that is a perfectly defensible and respectable position. That’s one thing.

The other thing is, look, at a minimum, if I were advising Sanders today, I would say, at a minimum, you’ve got to detach the covert action arm from the intelligence gathering and analysis arm. It’s just—these are two things that inherently don’t function well together. Just as the NSA is tasked with, on the one hand, destroying encryption, and on the other hand, there’s another part of the organization that is tasked ostensibly with improving encryption, you can’t put—that’s like putting a humidifier and a dehumidifier in the room and telling them to battle it out. It’s just like—it doesn’t work. You’re not going to get good results. And so, with the agency, the covert military arm of the agency really should be put in the military. It shouldn’t be in a position to interfere with the objectivity of intelligence analysis that our policymakers rely on.

[iandhr]

10. Really?

This is just even move evidence that he has no chance to win an election.

[Tarc]

12. Another reason to oppose, for me

This is like the "abolish the Dep't of Education" that used to be a GOP candidate standard in the 80s-90s; not a serious call to action but rather a piece of red meat for the supporters.

Fix the problems that exist without blowing everything up and starting over.

[Nitram]

13. Who would vote to unilaterally bring a halt to intelligence activity?

Not a smart move. Regulate, control, and tighten oversight, but don't ban the CIA. We often learn when they were wrong, but seldom when they were right. That's the nature of intelligence.

[Freddie Stubbs]

14. I'm sure the KGB woukd have loved that

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16. I love how Clinton supporters basically act like right-wingers on "national security"

Oh no! Communists! The Cold War! Spying is awesome! More war! The US can do no wrong!