Between Dianne Feinstein’s adulation of the drone program (and her lies that civilian deaths were in the single digits) and the Republican filibuster of Chuck Hagel (based on his non-existent relationship with the non-existent “Friends of Hamas”), there actually was a confirmation hearing this past week from our lazy, incompetent Congress. John Brennan, who some may remember was blocked in 2008 due to the objections of civil libertarians, is on schedule to become President Barack Obama’s newest right-wing torture-happy appointee to the head of the CIA. He will continue to perpetuate myths of national security and intelligence work, the merits of extreme rendition and shady intervention in foreign affairs.
Mother Jones‘ Adam Serwer has compiled a great list of the unanswered questions of accountability and transparency in this hearing, what has now become a hallmark of the Bush/Obama era and will certainly be the norm during Brennan’s tenure.
via Mother Jones by Adam Serwer:
Did torture lead to the capture of Osama bin Laden?
Feinstein began the hearing by asking whether Brennan had read the Senate intelligence committee’s recently completed investigation into coercive interrogation techniques used by the Bush administration. After Brennan said he had read the 300-page summary of the report, Feinstein asked whether torture led to the operation to kill Osama bin Laden. Brennan never actually said yes or no, simply saying that he looked “forward to hearing from the CIA on that and coming back to this committee and giving you my full and honest views.”
Did torture work?
Under questioning by Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Brennan admitted to being undecided on whether torture worked, while saying he opposed it on moral grounds. Brennan said that while he was at the CIA, he was under the impression that torture worked, but that the Senate intelligence committee report made him question that. “I don’t know what the truth is,” Brennan said.
Will Brennan reduce the CIA’s paramilitary role?
At the beginning of her questioning, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) noted dryly that she had been “jerked around” by every CIA director she’d known as a legislator, with the exception of Leon Panetta. Brennan assured her “truthfulness is a value that was inculcated in me in my home in New Jersey.” But when Mikulski brought up about the CIA’s increasing role in paramilitary operations, describing that as “mission creep” and asking whether Brennan would steer the Agency back towards its more traditional intelligence-gathering role, Brennan said only that he would “take a look at the allocation of that mission,” before saying that the CIA “should not be involved in traditional military activities.” But Mikulski was talking about paramilitary activities such as drone strikes. No one actually accused the CIA of engaging in “traditional military activities.”
Is waterboarding torture?
Asked whether waterboarding was torture, Brennan gave the same kind of answer Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) gave when asked the age of the Earth: He lacks the expertise to answer the question. Namely, Brennan said, he’s not a lawyer and therefore …read more
