Tipping Our Hand

The anti-American Left has partially succeeded in inflicting another blow to the Nation’s security. Upon suit brought by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act, the Obama administration has rendered public previously classified memos regarding the “torture” applied to enemy combatants captured during the now infamous “war on terror”.
According to these memos, what the Left is all in arm about is the various techniques of enhanced interrogation employed by CIA officers to extract information from our enemy that could prevent another attack against civilian interests in the US.
Some of these enhanced interrogations included the now famous waterboarding (a technique that simulates drowning in the person being questioned and that was applied for just few seconds and under strict medical control), slapping, sleep depravation, exposure to extreme temperatures, stress positions (involving forcing the subject into strenuous positions directed at creating fatigue and not pain), and, my personal favorite, insect-in-the-box (involving locking the subject into an enclosed space and telling him that a stinging insect was in the space, and the insect in question was a caterpillar).

The move on the part of the Left and the reaction of Obama, are based on the campaign promise that Obama made about looking into the allegation of torture on the part of the Bush Administration. The apologists for the Left declare that the investigations are necessary to improve, actually mend, the image of the United States abroad, image that, according to these miscreants, was tarnished by the position taken by President Bush, after 9-11-01, in the attempt to protect the United States from another attack that everyone in America on 9-12-01 was positive was going to happen.

The truth is more likely that the anti-American Left has not abandoned their quest to go after President Bush and other members of his administration in a crusade of destruction that has seen very few equals in the last few decades of American history. The pressure placed by these actions have a multifaceted benefit for the internal enemies of America: first, they allow them to go after Bush and Cheney and Gonzalez etc.; second, they work as a distraction of the American people from Obama’s doings; third, it feeds the anti-conservative/anti-American rhetoric which may help further Obama’s take over of power and Liberal success in future elections.

What the actions of the anti-American Left do not take into account is the potential damage that the publication of thie information may result for American security.
Former CIA director Michael Hayden commented on the release of the documents and said that the action places current and future CIA operatives into a very precarious position, because tipping our hand on interrogation techniques gives the enemy the opportunity to develop countermeasures that could be very costly for the American people. It is obvious that the techniques are going to be discarded by CIA interrogators as their efficiency is ultimately compromised by their divulgement.

In the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks and the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, Congress was informed of these techniques designed to extract information from the increasing number of enemy combatants our Military was racking up on the ground in Afghanistan. Upon learning of it, members of Congress did not express any disagreement with the Administration, as a matter of fact one member of Congress is reported to have asked the question “is this it?”, clearly not believing that the Administration was doing enough to insure the security of the country. That member of Congress was then minority leader Nancy Pelosi. Today some of those who at the time did not voice any opposition are pretending to be appalled by the methods of interrogation. Clearly a shameless display of hypocrisy.

In reality, the danger our operations in the war on terror will be facing in the future, is grave and tangible. Beside the ability to develop countermeasures against these types of interrogations, our enemies will become more and more emboldened by apparent lack of patriotic stance on the part of the country’s leadership, convinced of the division in the country and the unwillingness on the part of Obama to tackle any serious issue across the globe.

According to the White House and the DOJ, the CIA operatives will not be prosecutes for their actions, at least not right now. This move was received with vocal protestations from the Progressive fringe, as they hoped for it as a way to get to the very top of the Bush Administration (they would probably not protest much if waterboarding would be used to get them to implicate Bush and Cheney). Under the prospect of such treatment, why would any of the current CIA officers even agree to conduct any kind of interrogation beyond rank, name and serial number?

In a late development, former VP Dick Cheney is pushing the Obama administration to divulge additional memos that will show the American people some of the results, information, that the enhanced techniques have netted for our intelligence community and the security of the country, move that AG Holder and Obama appear to be reluctant to make. I wonder why? After all, these techniques are no longer allowed by the administration and having compromised them permanently, what are we hiding any more? Maybe the results would make some Americans to think for themselves?


And these are my thoughts!
Frank “Semperpapa”