The Intelligence Community and the Armed Forces Attempt a Revolt with Bush
Some of the people who are witnessing, from the bow of the ship of state where and what the ship is going through are screaming to turn the ship around.
Today Democracy Now! Interviewed a former NSA intelligence agent, Russell Tice who was fired for reporting that FBI agents appeared to be engaging in illegal activities and were incompetent.
Tice says the employees of the NSA are running scared of the government. They are being told to act in illegal ways. He said the Security Office of the NSA which oversees and monitors it’s own NSA employees is made up of ” a bunch of vicious folks”, people who will attack anyone at the NSA who appears to be in any way questioning or at odds with the orders they are being given.
Tice said the NSA has a potential witch-hunt hanging over their heads with the Attorney General. People in the intelligence community are afraid. They feel they can’t come forward as intelligence agencies have no protection under whistleblower protection laws.
Tice said the monitoring of Americans that has been recently reported is illegal and that the NSA knows that, the President ought to know that and the Telecom Industry knows that it is illegal. Tice said, in a very revealing statement (and with a wink) that he is not allowed to say what he has learned during his tenure at the NSA. He is not allowed to say that the Telecom Industry is actively cooperating in the NSA spy program to monitor Americans illegally. He must say “If” the Telecom Industry is cooperating with the government through the corporate executives of these companies. He called “if” his “wiggle word”. Wink, wink.
This cooperation of the Telecom Industry in itself would make for an interesting investigation as to who are the corporate executives in the Telecom industry and what is or has been their contribution to the Republican Party.
Tice was involved in Black world operations and programs or SAPS (Secret Action Programs). He said these secret action programs might allow the government to mask criminal wrong doing as SAP’S are compartmentalized programs with little access by other members of the agency. Tice said he knew no one in the agency however, who refused to spy on Americans. This means that the NSA like most other arms of the government are yielding few brave souls willing to risk their careers by blowing the whistle. Instead like those in the armed services they remain quiet while the government quietly turns into a police state and the armed forces continue to kill and maim and be killed and maimed without reason. Tice himself goes so far as to say that the United States has become a Police State. When asked why he was speaking out he said he had already been fired and he believed that upholding the constitution was all that he was required to do.
Tice voted for Bush and says he’s a Republican and contributed to Bush’s campaign. Most people in the NSA are conservative according to Tice, yet they are disturbed by what they are being asked to do.
The Military in Revolt
Congressman Murta, who in essence represents the voice of the Armed forces to the American people is reflecting what the top brass feels when he says that we must leave Iraq as soon as possible. Independent reports I have heard are that the brass of the Armed Forces of the United States hates Bush. Further Murta says he would not join the Armed Forces in this day and age. This is not an attack on serving your country but rather a comment that the government has perverted the role of the Armed Forces of the U.S.
WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) – Rep. John Murtha, a key Democratic voice who favors pulling U.S. troops from Iraq, said in remarks airing on Monday that he would not join the U.S. military today.
A decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Murtha told ABC News’ “Nightline” program that Iraq “absolutely” was a wrong war for President George W. Bush to have launched.
“Would you join (the military) today?” he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.
“No,” replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party’s leading spokesmen on military issues.
“And I think you’re saying the average guy out there who’s considering recruitment is justified in saying ‘I don’t want to serve’,” the interviewer continued.
“Exactly right,” said Murtha, who drew White House ire in November after becoming the first ranking Democrat to push for a pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as it could be done safely.
The 2005 military poll reflected the following:
Support for President Bush and for the war in Iraq has slipped significantly in the last year among members of the military’s professional core, according to the 2005 Military Times Poll.
Approval of the president’s Iraq policy fell 9 percentage points from 2004; a bare majority, 54 percent, now say they view his performance on Iraq as favorable. Support for his overall performance fell 11 points, to 60 percent, among active-duty readers_of the Military Times newspapers.
There is an effort to stop the destructive, paranoid policies of the Bush Administration. But it seems too few people are speaking out and it is simply the overwhelming weight of evidence in the form of the totally disastrous policies themselves, which are making themselves obvious for everyone to see. And still the reaction seems too scattered and too late. Bush’s ultra conservative and sometimes fascist policies are being adopted by the Democrats while the Armed Forces and intelligence agencies make feeble attempts to resist.
