May 13, 2009
Democrats say CIA out to get them
After watching for 8 years as the Central Intelligence Agency sought to bring down the Bush Administration, the Democrats have decided that the spooks attacking politicians is not a good idea.
Funny how "whistelblowers" turn into "leakers" almost overnight:
Democrats charged Tuesday that the CIA has released documents about congressional briefings on harsh interrogation techniques in order to deflect attention and blame away from itself.
"I think there is so much embarrassment in some quarters [of the CIA] that people are going to try to shift some of the responsibility to others - that's what I think," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who sat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and was briefed on interrogation techniques five times between 2006 and 2007.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said he finds it "interesting" that a document detailing congressional briefings was released just as "some of the groups that have been responsible for these interrogation techniques were taking the most criticism."
Asked whether the CIA was seeking political cover by releasing the documents, Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said: "Sure it is."
The CIA has long been on the receiving end of harsh rebukes from Congress - on intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq, on secret prisons abroad and on the harsh interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects. But with the release of records showing that it briefed members of Congress along the way, the CIA has effectively put lawmakers on the defensive.
The above quote from Politico's Manu Raju could have been taken almost verbatim from 2005-06 interviews with Republican members. Then it was more of a partisan hit than self defense on the part of the spooks. Some CIA personnel simply didn't care for Bush policies and sought to undermine them at every turn.
This time out, they appear not to approve of the towering hypocrisy of Democrats who weep crocodile tears about the immorality of torture while failing to mention they knew all about it and approved of it at the time.
So the spies play the old Washington game of leaking damaging documents through friendly reporters and watch as their targets squirm.
Somewhere, the world's smallest violin is playing a sad tune.