Torture Scandal-Plagued CIA Needs Another George Bush
By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
A look back at—until now—the darkest hours at the CIA, from the only CIA director in American history to also serve as U.S. president. The situation was very similar to today's headlines: Congress held hearings into alleged illegal actions by career CIA agents, and the new head of the CIA, who was a former congressman himself, faced a broken and demoralized agency and public outrage.
Here's President Bush #41 on the 1975 congressional hearings known as the Church Committee hearings, when the CIA was under fire for alleged assassination attempts against Fidel Castro:
"I still will never forget the effect those young [congressional] staffers had when they went out there and almost accused everybody there of being a crook—'You know you're guilty, and we're going to find it out!' And it just sent terrible vibrations through the building ... people were down. They were discouraged. They wanted a leader who would stand up for them. That's what I did. I was no expert on intelligence, but they knew that I believed in the importance of their missions, the importance of intelligence for the president, and conforming to the law."
The deputy director of the CIA at the time, Hank Knoche, remembers:
"There were a lot of high-powered people in this country who, at that stage, were wondering whether you could have an intelligence service as part of a free and democratic society. And then your whole career and whole purpose is being questioned—well, I think many good organizations would break.... We did have the feeling we were terribly alone, that there was nobody out there defending us or championing the cause. George brought that to us. He became a champion."
That's the reason the CIA headquarters is named after George Bush. Let's hope this time, Director Panetta doesn't allow the organization to break, either.
[Excerpts are from My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H.W. Bush, by Doro Bush Koch. New York: Warner Books, 2006.]
- Check out our political cartoons.
- Read more by Mary Kate Cary.
- Read more from the Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
- Read more about George H. W. Bush.
Tags: CIA | George H.W. Bush | George W. Bush | torture
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (7) | Print
Reader Comments
The Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions prohibits torture and torturing POWs is considered a "war crime." We are obliged to follow the Geneva Conventions, which is why keeping prisoners up for 11 days, waterboarding, using snarling dogs against POWs, etc. is not allowed. Bush is the reason the country spent 1 trillion dollars on the war. There were no weapons of mass destruction, and waging war with Iraq for a lie shows poor leadership. I am not liberal or conservative, but simply stating the facts. Dear Americans, please believe the facts.
I'm extremely pleased that Obama is the president because he knows that America should be a "beacon on the hill" in establishing democracy. Violence begets more violence; this is a fact. We are not going to stoop to the level of terrorists as Americans and endorse torture, but rather we are going to lead by example.
I wish President George W. Bush was back
President Bush was a strong and courageous leader, like his father before him. I could understand the shameless liberals undermining him for political reasons. They've done their dirty deed with lies and trickery to put a know-nothing, power hungry, egomaniac into the White House and jeopardize our very core. Now get over the Bush bashing and give President George W. Bush the credit he deserves for protecting our country, AND even the very people who want to crucify him now...sound familiar? I only wished he'd had a congress that also cared about this country instead of their own selfish desires. Oh, that's right.. they were mostly liberals too. Does ANYONE truly care about this once great nation anymore?
Wish Bush was Back
President George Bush did what he had to do to keep more Americans safe. Now we have a weak President that puts America down and kisses up to leaders who want us to be like them. I will always be grateful to President Bush. I felt safe with him as my president and now we are in the worst danger than we have ever been. They have opened up this file for all to see and now let them see the REST of the story.
advertisement
