Torture, the CIA and the Press

[seemslikeadream]

Is this not a recipe for the type of "contractors" who flooded Iraq after the invasion and occupation? The only difference is that a CIA agent under "non-official cover" is no longer referred to as a NOC, but as an OGA, for Other Government Agency.

Before I continue to put in context the persuasive impact of what Hersh said two and half years ago, when he was prodding America to unleash its dogs of war, let me remind you that the agents who drew the CIA into the line of fire over the systematic use of torture at Abu Ghoryab prison ­ as a result, ironically, of Hersh's most recent "explosive" article in The New Yorker ­ were two individuals who fit the "nonofficial cover" bill exactly: Mr. John Israel, a contract US civilian interpreter, working for the company CACI, and ostensibly attached to the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade; and Mr. Steven Stephanowicz, a contract US civilian interrogator, also working for CACI, but not attached to Military Intelligence, and certainly working for the CIA.

The whereabouts of Messrs. Stephanowicz and Israel are currently unknown, and CACI doesn't have to tell, because: 1) as we are told by Hersh, "Exposure could mean death," and 2) because, their trail leads to the CIA people who hired them; and the one thing Bush cannot accept, is having heroic a CIA agent brought up on a murder rap.

Try, if you can, to imagine a trial by jury, or tribunal, in which a CIA officer was sentenced to death for killing an Iraqi civilian.

Then come quickly to your senses, and realize that CIA officers have a license to kill, just as Army snipers can assassinate Iraqi civilians with impunity. The fact is, the war crime of murder is not punishable by death under the Bush Regime, for it was the Bush Regime that lifted all the moral and legal restraints on its soldiers and spies in the first place. So far, murdering Iraqis carries with it only a less than honorable discharges.

more
http://www.counterpunch.org/valentine05082004.html

[DrWeird]

1. damn, I read the title and didn't see the comma

I was going to say "right on."

[cliss]

2. Thanks for posting this, SeemsL.

I just finished reading the article on CounterPunch late last night. I was tired but did not stop until I finished reading the whole article.

I actually ended up reading a few more, while I was there. Unbelievable stuff. Just heinous. The words "Bush's sadistic personality" kept running through my brain, as I started to fall asleep. The stuff that nightmares are made of.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Yes

I read them all too. Didn't know exactly what to do with them. I was up late. Don't miss this http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=542297&mesg_id=542297

[LibertyorDeath]

4. Kick