Democracy Now!
August 11, 2009
David Wise: “The CIA, Licensed to Kill”
The US drone attacks inside Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq have received bipartisan support in Washington. And when the CIA disclosed the existence of an aborted secret assassination program last month, congressional outrage centered around the fact that lawmakers weren’t properly informed. The open acceptance of assassination as a tool of US policy can in part be explained by the fact it’s been going on for decades.
David Wise, co-author of The Invisible Government, a number one bestseller about the CIA. His other books include Nightmover, Molehunt, The Spy Who Got Away, The American Police State, and The Politics of Lying. David is also the former chief of the Washington bureau of the New York Herald Tribune. His latest piece appeared in the Los Angeles Times last month, called “The CIA, Licensed to Kill.”
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mediagrrl9
August 11, 2009
see
Keeping track of the empire’s crimes by William Blum
U.S. Government Assassination Plots by William Blum
Dandelion Salad 
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The US was involved in assination and assination attempts long before the formation of the CIA and the start of the Cold War under Truman. The CIIA institutionized the immorality and illegitimacy of the US disgovernment. It cannot truly be blamed on the government or “sshadow” government. The bllame lies with the US public for allowing ccorporations to take over control of the govenment. The only morality of corporations is to the bottom line. Unfortunately, this has become the norm for the country.
The CIA is not only licensed to kill. It is licensed to torture, to spread disinformation, to infiltrate organizations to destroy them, to spread vast amounts of money to overthrow a regime not in favor with the US ruling class, to use agent provocateurs, to create despicable events which can be blamed on a regime it wants to overthrow and many more things. Torture by the CIA didn’t start with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. It has existed since its creation after World War 2 and was particularly brutal in Central America in the 1980s. For some of the techniques used read The Sword and the Dollar by Michael Parenti or Bridge of Courage by Jennifer Harbury or Turning the Tide by Noam Chomsky. If you think that perhaps the Spanish Inquisition by the Roman Catholic Church was the ultimate in torture, you will be greatly surprised. I will not describe all the techniques used because it is nauseating to me to believe that human beings could possibly be so cruel. Suffice to say the CIA does much more hideous things than targeted assassinations.