Been a bit of a buzz around this WaPo article by Ignatius, Revolt Of The Professionals.
But the intelligence professionals who have daily responsibility for waging the war against terrorism don't seem particularly surprised or unhappy to see the emergency structure in trouble. They want clear rules and public support that will allow them to do their jobs effectively over the long haul, without getting second-guessed or jerked around by politicians. Basically, they don't want to be left holding the bag -- which this nation has too often done with its professional military and intelligence officers.
Lord. Where to start? Myself, since I work in a fairly large corporation, I see this kind of shit all the time. The blokes at Firesign Theatre perhaps summed up the phenomena best: "They think he's crazy - yet he out ranks them".
Well, I got news for y'all in the NSA, CIA, FBI and whatever god forsaken TLA we have involved in this crap: The administration left a flaming bag of shit on your doorstep and you've been stomping it out for the past three years. You're not just holding the flaming bag of shit, you're covered in it.
It's been four years guys. It's not like this all just happened yesterday and you're punch drunk - unable to get your bearings in the fast paced change. You let a war happen even though you knew there were no weapons of mass destruction. You tortured people. You've been holding American citizens without charges or access to consul. It's you people who have been wiretapping and data mining the communications of American citizens without warrants.
Don't tell me you thought it was all legal.
Sorry. You don't get to blame it on Bush. You swore an oath to uphold the constitution and serve the American people - not Bush. More than anyone else in this country, you shoulder the blame. Intimidated by Cheney? Threatened by Rumsfeld? Cowed by Bolton? Manipulated by Rove?
Too Fucking Bad. It's you're job to stand up to this crap and hold the line.
That's why you're there. That's why we train you. That's why we drill the constitution and the bill of rights into your spine. You're the firewall between democracy and authoritarianism, between freedom and despotism.
Sorry dudes. No free pass. Been way too long and you've been timid little schoolmarms shuddering in the corner. If it wasn't for you, these jokers wouldn't have been able to do jack.
So, glad to see you're finally waking up and doubly glad you're "happy to see the discussion regarding civil liberties". But look around. We're in a precariously dangerous position. A position you helped us into. And it's going to be damn hard to get out of it.
Maybe you can salvage your soul by pulling our fat out of the fire - lord knows I hope you can. But given your stellar performance so far, I've got as much faith in your abilities to do the right thing as I have Karl Rove's ability to tell the truth.
You don't get off that easy.
Update: Beyond the imperial presidency.
What we have now is not a robust executive but a reckless one. At times like this, it's apparent that Cheney and Bush want more power not because they need it to protect the nation, but because they want more power. Another paradox: In their conduct of the war on terror, they expect our trust, but they can't be bothered to earn it.
Just remember guys, it happened on your watch
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