Now that Gen. Hayden has been confirmed as the next CIA director, let's take a look into our future.

We can assume the NSA's version of TIA will find a new home at the CIA.  For the sake of argument, let's assume everyone involved in this program is committed to the rule of law and seriously interested in protecting America from threats.

Even if that is all true, we still have a problem.  How do you demonstrate the program's value to the people who pay for it without sharing classified information?  It turns out, Ronald Reagan had a solution to that sort of problem; he called it "trust but verify."   We can apply that approach to solve this impasse while meeting the legitimate needs of all the stakeholders.  Here's the proposed test:

CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT

There has been a lot of talk in the news recently about congressional oversight.  Unfortunately, it is hard to tell whether "oversight" means "supervision," or whether it means "lack of attention."  The Senate confirmation hearings for the new CIA Director are just the most recent example of this disturbing trend.  

It certainly requires considerable oversight to overlook some of the questions Gen. Hayden refused to answer in open session.  I'm sure some questions are answered best in private.  However, it's hard to believe he needs a closed session to say torture is not an acceptable method for interrogation.  

President Bush defended his NSA data mining program by saying, "We are not mining through the personal lives of millions of innnocent Americans."

I believe he is telling the truth.

For starters, at least 16 million American children are too young to use telephones. We also know that Qwest refused to give their records to the NSA.  That accounts for another 14 million Americans.  So at least ten percent of Americans were not included in this round of data mining. Of course, that raises an important question...

What about the rest of us?

Unfortunately, at least 200 million Americans probably did have their personal information examined by the NSA.   When you consider this program has been around for a few years, it is likely they looked at a trillion individual calling records.

Many reports about the program suggest the only information provided was phone numbers.  However, a class action lawsuit already filed indicates there was more going on.  In addition to the number of origin and the number called, the records also included date, time, and duration of calls.  Obviously, the records are being subjected to some sort of social network analysis.

(Cross Posted at My Left Wing)

For anyone interested, there's an excellent summary article by Sydney Blumenthal for Salon which has been crossposted and available to the general public at Spiegel Online in its entirety.

It's a very concise compendium from 9/11 to the present which outlines the Bush Administration's war on, and likely victory over the CIA. If you're like me, and it's hard to keep track of the daily scandals and transgressions without a dance card, this is a nice summary which will get you up to speed in no time...

"He's the right man to lead the CIA at this critical moment in our nation's history."

-- George W. Bush on newly appointed CIA Director Porter Goss, August 10, 2004

and...

"He's the right man to lead the CIA at this critical moment in our nation's history."

-- George W. Bush on his nominee for CIA Director Michael Hayden, May 9, 2006

Bush is a man of few words - apparently very few words.

Nevertheless, conservationists should be relieved that Bush is finally starting to appreciate the benefits of recycling.

And Hayden should be disturbed that, by Bush's 'verbal-praise-o-meter', he has less than two years to serve as CIA Chief (If confirmed).

Thanks to Comedy Central for uncovering this thoughtless gaffe.

"We need a respected competent intelligence professional who can respect and manage this growing agency. Based on what I know so far, General Mike Hayden appears to fit that bill."

-- Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein on the Nomination of Michael Hayden as CIA Chief

Think again senator.

1. Hayden oversaw the illegal Domestic Spying Program

2. Hayden obeyed illegal orders:

It's a military officer's sworn duty to refuse to obey illegal orders. As an auther wrote in the Navy Times (warning: doc file):

According to military legal studies, a lawful order must be reasonably linked to military needs, be specific and not be contrary to established law -- the Constitution, United States or other laws -- or be beyond the authority of the person issuing the command.

In other words, Hayden had a legal, Constitutional, and moral obligation not to conduct the illegal spying that's characterized his recent career. He's a disgrace to his uniform, and unworthy of any position of public responsibility. Someone who betrays the Constitution as Hayden has done deserves the label "un-American."

3. And Hayden displayed gross ignorance of the Constituion that he has sworn to protect. Surely, the next CIA Chief should know that "probable cause" is the legal standard that protects Americans from "unreasonable searches and seizures."

CLICK TO ENLARGE New CIA Director Michael Hayden standing outside the new CIA Super-Spy Center scheduled to open at the newly renovated CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia

Washington, DC (APE) - President Bush this morning made it official by announcing Air Force General Michael Hayden as the new head for the CIA, ending a weekend of speculation. Hayden stepped forwards today to aggressively promote his ideas for a new direction for the CIA. He admitted to the press that his ideas were not entirely original, and based upon a year's worth of groundwork laid by former director Porter Goss. Hayden announced that the CIA would now be striving towards developing the human intelligence factor, or HUMINT, worldwide, which was one of the CIA's founding goals. He stated that in order to pursue this goal in the most cost effective manner possible, the CIA would be partnering with Wal-Mart Inc. worldwide thanks to its innovative human resources practices.

Myth: A traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the worldview of a people.

Myths are as old as humanity. Some provide useful insights.  Some provide comforting notions. Some are merely entertaining.  Some are downright dangerous.  Rulers have relied on the power of myths to lead and mislead people since time immemorial.

Misleading myths (aka "Mything the Point"), like all lies, beget more lies. That is why we need to weed them out on a routine basis.  If we let them go unchallenged, they will run riot and eventually choke us in our sleep.  

Which brings me to a myth that needs to be uprooted:

RESTORING HONOR AND DIGNITY TO THE OVAL OFFICE

On March 25th, 2006, Scott Ritter, Ray McGovern, Faiza Al-Araji, and Medea Benjamin spoke to a crowd of about 300 people at the First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto. The title for the evening was Iraq: The Power of Truth in A War Based on Lies. It was an incredible evening, hearing from people with unparalleled experience in the events leading up to this war and the ongoing results. The attendees learned a lot, had many things they already believed to be true affirmed, got some provocative and controversial new perspectives, and heard some of the anger and frustration from the presenters and each other. At times fingers were pointed, tears were shed, hackles were raised, conspiracy theories were floated, objections were shouted, a few laughs were chuckled and some chords of Kum Ba Ya were sang.

In all, it was an amazing evening.

The following morning, during worship at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto, I shared a prayer for Scott Ritter. Because of that prayer, several people asked that I write up my reflections on the evening, and what prompted my prayer for Scott, so that others who had been there that evening could understand my interpretation of what happened. Plus, for those who were not there, a lot of important information and ideas warrant discussion.

The following represents my reflections on the Power of Truth In A War Based On Lies, and the people who made that evening come to life.

Is this why I haven't noticed Larry Johnson posting around the liberal blogosphere much any more?

A news item from the last hour (or the Friday news dump).

Well, as if we didn't already know, it's a small, small BushWorld.  Here's your teaser:

A stunning investigation of bribery and corruption in Congress has spread to the CIA, ABC News has learned.

The CIA Inspector General has opened an investigation into the spy agency's executive director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, and his connections to two defense contractors accused of bribing a member of Congress and Pentagon officials. Foggo is the number 3 man at the CIA

Just for fun, see if you can pick up all the Bush threads in following bit of tapestry:

As executive director of the CIA, Foggo oversees the administration of the giant spy agency. He was appointed to the post by CIA director Porter Goss after working as a mid-level procurement supervisor, according to former CIA officials.

While based in Frankfurt, Germany, he oversaw and approved contracts for CIA operations in Iraq.

Foggo is a longtime friend of Brent Wilkes, listed as unindicted co-conspirator No. 1 in government documents filed in the Cunningham investigation. The two played high school football and were in each other's weddings.

Even by BushWorld standards, the Cunningham/Wilkes scandal is mind-boggling:

According to government documents, Wilkes gave Cunningham $630,000 in cash and gifts in exchange for help in getting government contracts.

Wilkes was the founder of ADSC, Inc, in 1995. Under Wilkes, the company obtained more than $95 million in government contracts.

snip>
Cunningham is involved in what prosecutors call a corruption case with no parallel in the long history of the U.S. Congress. He actually priced the illegal services he provided.

Prices came in the form of a "bribe menu" that detailed how much it would cost contractors to essentially order multimillion-dollar government contracts, according to documents submitted by federal prosecutors for today's sentencing hearing.

"The length, breadth and depth of Cunningham's crimes," the sentencing memorandum states, "are unprecedented for a sitting member of Congress."

snip>
The card shows an escalating scale for bribes, starting at $140,000 and a luxury yacht for a $16 million Defense Department contract. Each additional $1 million in contract value required a $50,000 bribe.

Go read the whole thing.  

In this long, long, five-year tapestry of corrupt capitalism running amok, the threads continue to unravel.

loosely knit group of Arab royalty control of our ports.
Shouldn't We Bring Democracy To the UAE Before We Let Them Manage Our Ports?

President Bush and some of his supporters are saying that opposition to this sale is racist and anti-Arab. I decided to learn more about the United Arab Emirates. Most of the following was obtained from the websites of the U. S. State Department and the CIA World Fact Book.

The United Arab Emirates is a loosely knit group of seven rulers. They do not have political parties or any form of Democratic government. Each ruler holds power on the basis of their dynastic position in their tribes. Yes--dynasty, tribes. Doesn't sound very American does it? Unless you are Bush.

There are not clear borders between the U. A. E. and its' neighboring countries of Saudi Arabia and Oman. That sounds pretty unstable.

Here is what the CIA site says: "Location and status of boundary with Saudi Arabia is not final, de facto boundary reflects 1974 agreement; no defined boundary with most of Oman, but Administrative Line in far north."
  An erratic perimeter in a volatile region. They can't keep their own borders safe. Yet we are handing them the keys to ours.

As soon as I think the Bush administration can go no lower, it does it again. The Bush administration is taking so-called terror suspects from Eastern Europe to Morocco where the Moroccans are cutting their penises. This is a new low for an administration which has already been guilty of firing White Phosphorus into Fallujah and melting ths skin off of people.

Temara itself already has a fearsome reputation among former inmates. Binyam Mohammed, an Ethiopian-born Briton later sent to Guantanamo Bay, told Amnesty International that interrogators there cut his chest and penis when he refused to answer questions.

Mohammed said he was held at Temara for 18 months before being flown to another "black prison" in Afghanistan in January 2004, and then on to Guantanamo Bay.

Now, the Bush administration is building a new facility in addition to Temara. Details are below.

The "End of the Spear" is a religious hyped movie that opens in Theaters on the 20th of January, 2006. A propaganda fest movie from the missionaries.

Political stories, be it in Iraq or South America start with small lies. Then they become "true" history.

This is a piece from history back decades ago, when these missionaries were working in South America. Now it is a movie being fed to those who don't know the history involved. Repackaged we call it. Will anyone challenge this history being fed to young people?

From Jurist Paperchase @ Pitt.edu:

Thursday, January 12, 2006
European Parliament opens CIA secret prisons inquiry
Joshua Pantesco at 4:23 PM ET

The European Parliament Thursday opened an official investigation into allegations that several European countries allowed the CIA to secretly detain prisoners within their borders and airspace as part of the US "war on terror".

Background, more information in story.