First it was Porter Goss turning the CIA into an all Bush club, dissenting
points of view not wanted. Facts not as important as backing the Bush line.
Since Goss took over, between 30 and 90
senior CIA officials have made their exit, according to various sources, some
fleeing into retirement, others taking refuge as consultants. Others, unable
to retire, have stayed, but only to mark time at the agency. Morale, already
low after several years during which the CIA was accused of a series of intelligence
failures related to September 11 and Iraq’s nonexistent weapons of mass
destruction, is now at rock-bottom. The agency’s vaunted Near East Division,
in particular, which served as the “pointy end of the spear,” as
one CIA veteran put it, in simultaneous wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the “global
war on terror,” has been decimated. The
Yes-Man
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Now Condoleezza Rice has put a woman's tyrannical touch on the
State Department, using the same tone deaf delicacy of yet another yes-woman
who always backs the boss. She stands right behind Mary Queen of Carville who
stands behind Karen of Arabia. The only thing better than having a woman in
charge is having a woman in charge who always says yes.
But Condi's touch at State has now turned yet another important
government department into Bush central.
A State Department reorganization of analysts involved
in preventing the spread of deadly weapons has spawned internal turmoil, with
more than half a dozen career employees alleging in interviews that political
appointees sought to punish long-term employees whose views they considered
suspect.Senior State Department officials deny that and say
an investigation has found that the proper personnel practices were followed.
But three officials involved in the reorganization, who spoke on the condition
of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, acknowledge
that a merger of two bureaus reduced the influence of employees who were viewed
by some political appointees as disloyal to the administration's policies."There are a number of disgruntled employees who
feel they have been shoved aside for political purposes. That's true,"
said one of these officials. "But there was rank insubordination on the
part of these officers."
Administration
Critics Chafe at State Dept. Shuffle
Under George W. Bush, the federal government has been turned into
a political arm of the Republican Party. No longer do we have a CIA interested
in expanding our knowledge and dealing in facts, but instead, we've got a bunch
of appointed bureaucrats generating policy that backs the current boss.
Imagine when a Democratic president is elected. The house cleaning
will have to be severe, just to get dedicated public servants back into position
so that our government gets facts and details based on truth, instead of some
right-wing political agenda.
There are places in the federal government where politics has
no place, or at least that's the way it should be. Federal employees working
at State, the CIA, DoD and the Pentagon, as well as Justice, should be more
concerned with facts than pushing some political line to the current king of
whatever political party is in power. It's equally dangerous to have a bunch
of partisans in sensitive national security positions when a Democratic president
is in charge, because partisanship tends to encourage lazy fact gathering. This
never serves a president or anyone, actually, but especially a president.
The back channel that once existed in the State Department under
Colin Powell has been wiped away, so Administration critics have no where to
run, hide or anyone with whom to offer an opposing point of view. Condi's State
Department will no longer be dissenting from W. Oh, goodie, we're all one big
happy, misinformed and blinded administration. Evidently, ignorance really is
Bush bliss with this bunch.
Maybe that's why Condi and her crew were so "surprised"
by Hamas winning the election. When flacks rule, the boss only gets what she
wants to hear, info that supports the party line. Witness Condi with her State
Department g-string showing.
One particular office in the nonproliferation
bureau, dealing mainly with the International Atomic Energy Agency, was especially
targeted, numerous officials on both sides of the dispute said. Several top
officials in the office were close to IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei and had
privately objected to the administration's public campaign to deny him a third
term. A former office director who had been on loan to the IAEA asked for
his job back — but was given a non-managerial position in another bureau;
the acting office director also did not get the job.Instead, a relatively junior Foreign Service officer,
who is outranked by several officials in the bureau but who is considered
skeptical of the IAEA, was named acting head of the office. Last year, two
months before ElBaradei and the IAEA were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the
official sent an e-mail to his colleagues ridiculing the idea. The subject
line read: "A Nobel for the IAEA? Please."
Remember what happened in Iraq when a bunch of Bush crony kids
were put in charge of the reconstruction efforts? We're still trying to get
the power and gas running to this day!
No one is doubting that restructuring and reorganization goes
on every day at the federal level. But there's more than enough proof accumulated
to be assured that what happened at the State Department was more about forcing
dissent out, with truth and transparency the casualties, so the Bush party line could be promoted. Our government truly
is becoming the propaganda arm of the Republican party. Your tax dollars in action.
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