Negroponte and the new American Gestapo
Bad habits are hard to break. Especially when someone doesn't have to change.The new man in charge of domestic intelligence is Negroponte. Mr-"I'm going to ignore the Honduran death squads and Battalion 316." Mr-"I don't trust the CIA so I'm going to set up my own intelligence service in Iraq."
Now he's arrived in the United States to apply his experience.
He's a diplomat. Doesn't trust the CIA. But the apologists would have us believe that he's the right guy. How can this be?
One can be diplomatic with those one does not trust, but that doesn't make them trustworthy. Negroponte showed in Iraq that he's not going to be leading anything; he's going to look for ways to create new things to achieve his goals.
But those goals are George Bush's.
Let' review the larger picture. National Intelligence is about working with intelligence from all over the world. It means getting information.
DoD is one player, and DoD shows that it will violate the law within impungity. Hold on, that's the job of the CIA. So if DoD is willing to cross the line, why should we believe CIA is going to submit to new demands for reform? DoD has had the chance after Abu Grhaib and failed; there's no reason to believe the CIA will submit.
Indeed, rather than working with what doesn't work or making it work through reforms, Negroponte shows that he'll set up his own mechanisms. The real concern is that in the question to fill the Bush Agenda ["find any evidence, even if it is made up to justify whatever we want"], Negroponte is simply going to do in the United States what he did in Iraq: Not work with the CIA, and set up his own systems.
In short, there's the real prospect of a home-grown Gestapo taking root.
Let's explore some of the trends supporting this outlook. Negroponte as director of national intelligence will come into contact with CIA, DoD, FBI, and countless other agencies.
First let's consider the discipline of other agencies like DoD; and the culture within the law enforcement community.
DoD Has a discipline problem
The ACLU released a number of files showing, despite the Taguba report; the US Army continued to violate the laws of war. Shame, the threat of criminal sanctions, public outrage hasn't done more to get the United States discipline its own.
Yet, why believe the US will regulate its own, the nation that lets Enrons continue to spread its destruction under the watchful eye of the not-so-well-regulated Auditors.
Civil remedies ineffectual
Despite the threat of 42 USC 1983 claims against officers, they continued to round people up in the Guantanamo on the Hudson and commit abuses in Guantanamo and US prisons.
When civil remedies like 42 USC 1983 are worthless, the only other mechanism is either criminal action or Congressional Act. On both counts, the prospects are bleak. First, let's consider the outlook of Criminal Sanctions against those who might violate the laws.
The track record as we saw in re the Securities and Exchange Commission and Enron shows that the abuses can be widespread before any action is taken. Specificity, the US attorney has the option to decline prosecution, going so far as to say that they "don't dare" prosecute US government entities since that would be like "suing themselves."
Thus, if we are to believe that there is a credible system in place to impose consequences for misconduct in the intelligence community, we need to have a track record of something actually being done.
On both counts, the US legal system remains woefully lacking. In short, the consequences for misconduct are meaningless, as evidenced by the continued misconduct in Afghanistan despite the Taguba Report and the Congressional Hearings into torture at both Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.
The odds are stacked against meaningful oversight and reform in the US system. At the same time, Negroponte has a track record of doing nothing and letting problems go unreformed, working outside the system to get things done. That's all well and good when you're committed to the rule of law, but when you're dealing with someone like Negroponte, it's a problem.
First, the intelligence world operates behind a cloak of secrecy. Just because something is classified secret doesn't make it correct. Yet, DoD and the intelligence community love to classify things "secret" in order to give them an aura of authority. "Oh, we can't talk about that, but trust us..." didn't magically produce WMDs or reliable information about the treatment of prisoners.
Rather some larger questions need to be explored. However, it appears the media once again has fallen under the Bush spell, not asking such questions as:
Recall, as director of national intelligence, Negroponte needs to be concerned with the reliability of the information. However, he's shown a track record in Honduras of ignoring the facts.
What's to be said of him when the only way to get information is through torture; we've already seen that torture doesn't produce reliable information, just more excuses to commit more crimes to avoid accountability. How many more Army CID reports do we need to confirm the white wash is going on?
Again, Negroponte needs to know how his forces are working, what they're up to. You cannot only look at the enemy, but need to know who your own people are, what their morale is, and how they are going to move from where they are to where they want to go.
It's all well and good to argue we have Echelon to hunt down the enemy; but what is to be said when our own troops, when using that data, is incapable of using the information in a responsible way?
Again, one cannot simply produce intelligence. One has to ensure that the information translates into results. However, if the objective is to win, regardless international law, then we should not be surprised to hear of abuses continuing under Negroponte.
Negroponte cannot insulate himself from the breakdown in Iraq, Guantanamo, and Afghanistan. Troops in the field will be relying on his information; and he will be relying on the troops to provide back status.
The national intelligence director will get into problems when his undisciplined troops are manipulating reports in order to protect their own careers. Hello, this smacks of the misleading information we got from Vietnam.
Negroponte needs a plan to demonstrate he's able to work through the morale issues in DoD, still glean reliable information, and at the same time execute operations to arrive at objectives. DoD's discipline problem is going to compound his inherent weaknesses.
Let's turn to the discipline problem within DoD for the moment. We simply need to look at the record. Despite the Taguba Report and Congressional Hearings, the misconduct continues. It remains unclear what pressure the Army's criminal investigative division is under to whitewash the torture and abuse reports.
Most troubling is the prospect that troops know they are doing things wrong. This isn't a discipline problem. It's now a cover up. The troops committed the abuses, the commanders promised reforms, yet nothing changed. The troops continud the abuse, promising to release the victims only when the victims promised to drop charges.
How is Negroponte going to know the difference between good information and bad information coming from the field? He can't trust his troops to do the right thing when nobody is looking; why should the troops provide reliable information about something else? We have no answer from Negroponte, just more hand waving.
Judicial Side
Let's turn our attention to the other half of DoJ's FBI area. It's not simply one that gathers intelligence, but also enforces the law. Under the Patriot Act, Negroponte is going to have the power to gather domestic intelligence for law enforcement objectives.
Again, just as we saw in both DoD and CIA, domestic law enforcement has many problems. They have a discipline problem. And the judicial branch of government generally enjoys the same cursory oversight that both CIA and DoD enjoy.
Thus, if there's an argument made that there are "rules and laws in place" to protect Americans, you need to turn to the courts for assistance.
Rather, it is only through overwhelming evidence caught on CNN tapes or phone cameras that will turn this government.
Yet, despite the images, even the US Solicitor lied before the Supreme Court saying, "The US does not commit torture." Thanks to CBS's agreement to delay releasing the photos, the world was momentarily deceived.
Negroponte as intelligence director will have to work with the court system. Again, the US Judicial System is a cess pool of unreliable, undisciplined, and poorly managed personnel. We need only look at the abysmal discipline when they are not under the eye of CNN.
We have regular reports from the US prisons and field about law enforcement misconduct. Also, the bailiffs and court officers are generally ones that would side with the government, rather than hold the law enforcement officers accountable for testilying.
Specifically, let us consider the possible sources of the "green light to commit abuses in Afghanistan". Clearly, what is happening is someone has been taught, "If you threaten them with adverse consequences, they'll no longer assert themselves."
This is what law enforcement and probation officers do all the time. Also, we can only speculate to the mental gymnastics Catholic Priests put their victims through in order to get silence.
In Afghanistan CID has failed to demonstrate they are able to conduct investigations. Let's take a look at the possible sources of pressure that would drive someone within the law enforcement community [probation officers] to think they can get away with abuse, all the while holding over someone the threat of adverse consequences if they speak out.
If you're getting lost: The point is this -- Probation officers have cursory oversight. They get bad habits. And also law enforcement. When they get deployed, they continue their bad habits. Thus, we get Abu Ghraib.
At the same time, the abuses continue in the US judicial system because the client [alleged criminal] has little standing before the courts, and the public defenders are worthless.
In short, those brought before the judicial system have to know the court rules better than the court officers in order to immediately recognize misconduct.
That is why the abuses continue in the jails, courts, and probation system. The public-clients are kept in the dark; if they speak out, they are threatened with retaliation. Go look at the LA County Sheriff Department for an example.
We can use the court system in the US as a proxy for what we might expect to see both within DoD and the wider intelligence community under Negroponte. In short, it's a cess pool, and Negroponte has a chorus of apologists willing to ignore reality. They are lead by Gonzalez, Rice, Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld.
The problem DoD has is that despite the "investigations," the abuse continued. Negroponte's credibility problem stems from him knowing enough about CIA problems to set up his own intelligence system in Iraq. Negroponte will go around the system, rather than reform it; and he'll not rock the boat as he did in re Battalion 316 in Honduras.
In today's world, DoD and CIA will have close coordination. Yet, Negroponte's problem is that he doesn't work with the players. He makes his own systems.
Intelligence System Post 9-11
Under Negroponte, the intelligence assets are going to be local law enforcement, DoD assets, judicial officers, and other sources of information.
As it stands, each of these segments is not better than CIA; thus, there's no prospect Negroponte is going to do anything to reform these flaws, simply set up his own systems to achieve the objectives.
Let's take a look at the cultural factors which Negroponte will have to deal with, but will likely ignore and take no action on.
Cultures of secrecy
Surely, the Army isn't getting training from the United States probation officers. Indeed, these same probation officers are allowed to act behind a shield of secrecy, threatening their clients with further problems unless they agree to cooperate.
Secrecy is not for national security, but to avoid accountability for violations of criminal law. There are tapes overseas which are outside the US government control.
Misconduct by the undisciplined
Domestically, it remains to be understood to what extent the abusive US probation officers are getting promoted to other positions within the court systems. Further, we have yet to have a reconciliation over the amount of misconduct in the US probation system that continues in Afghanistan.
Remember, it was the excuse that law enforcement officers were part-time soldiers and were not adequately trained. Yet, they were trained: How to commit abuse without getting caught.
Continuing poor oversight
When probation officers in the juvenile courts are allowed to act without adequate oversight, they can do some very nasty things. In fact, their bad habits are so entrenched that when they get promoted to become trial court executives, they do have a nasty habit of continuing their old games.
Negroponte doesn't lead, he rolls over and makes his own systems.
Key personnel feigning ignorance
Namely, pretending to be stupid about the clearly promulgated requirements. Rather than do their jobs, they enjoy blaming the public for bringing issues to their attention. What's most troubling about the probation officers-turned-TCEs is their nasty habit of feigning stupidity about whom they talk to.
Negroponte doesn't trust CIA. In fact he trust his own systems more that the existing system. Negroponte doesn't know enough about the judicial and intelligence communities to recognize when he's being lied to. His answer is the smart one: Ignore them.
But Negroponte is going to have to deal with these people in DoJ, NSA, CIA, FBI, and DoD on a daily basis. He can't hide. He can't use diplomacy.
Those he is overseeing know that the way to win is to do whatever is required. They know enough about the laws to violate them with impugnity and threaten them. Negroponte is going to get eaten by these bureaucracies.
Cursory investigations
In order to lead, Negroponte needs reliable information and the commitment to lead. On both counts, Negroponte is lacking. His people don't give him reliable information; they give him information that the President can stand. And Negroponte is no leader, he's bureaucrat that can weave his way through a system to achieve a political objective.
That is at odds with reliable information. In order to stay within the law, one needs investigators that know the law, and prosecutors that are willing to enforce that. Negroponte has both forces operating against him.
At every turn, the Department of Justice would like us to believe that they've done a thorough investigation into the matters. DoD doesn't do anything worth resembling accountability. Again, the Taguba report shows us they can do a great whitewash, but don't ask the system to hold its own accountable over the long term.
Failing to hold people to account
How could a trial court executive be so well qualified to pass the job interview, yet so ignorant of the standards upon which they supposedly passed the review?
Ineffectual auditors
Negroponte needs to trust his auditors to implement reforms. But Negromponte has two counts aginst hime. First, he knows enough not to trust them; and the auditors actually can't do their jobs.
Let's consider the judicial system. The auditors enter the field and get the cursory responses: That the probation officer-turned trial court executive was well qualified, did a great job during the interview.
Unfortunately, their habits are bad. Look at their turnover rates. Look at the problem with morale. Look at the complaints. Yet, at every turn the Administrative Office of the Courts likes to say that things are well under control.
Strange, this was the same AOC office that said that the initial complaints were valid. Indeed, the files were deleted. All under the watchful eye of the Administrative Office of the Courts [AOC].
Negroponte, in order to credibly align all these forces under one roof, needs to have a track record of prevailing in these sytems. He does not. Again, rather than square off with those who need dscipline, Negroponte will go around the corruption, and focus on the objective.
That's all well and good when we talk about a single bureaucracy and mission. But the problem Negroponte will have is that he works within a post 9-11 system that is antithetical to accountability, oversight, discipline.
The system as Congress has designed is opposite: Poor on oversight, meaningless discpilie, and and ineffecutal accountability.
What does all this have to do with the Army and Afghanistan
Negroponte, even if he was a Boy Scout, doesn't have a chance of credibly providing any leadership to the National Intelligence System.
The System is out of control, and remains politicized to feed into what the current President needs, not what the Constitution requires.
There is a difference between national security and criminal law. This nation's leadrehsip under Bush has shifted dramatically to focusing on illusory threats to national security in order to do nothing about allegations of misconduct in re criminal law.
Negromponte has his work cut out for him. For too long the system has been allowed to grow, mature, and spread on the basis of princniples as odds with the constitution.
Government personnel working for the United States government, when granted power, regularly abuse that power.
People under their charge are regularly threatened with retaliation and released from obligations only when the abused agree to say nothing about the misconduct. This does nothing for reliable oversight, or credible information to make informed decisions.
Yet, let us remember. This Administration is not about facing reality. It is about manufacturing reality in order to cover up and jujstify what has already been decided. It is no different than Enron.
This problem is across the board, and at all levels which Negroponte will be working. His problem is that hte system is so subverted, that even if he doesn't theright thing, the system will destroy him.
Congress is not there to oversee, but to create agreement with those they oversee to avoid having them point out that the oversight is meaningless.
Consider the probation officres or law enforcement. If there are complaints there is retaliation. If the probation officers are reported, the probation officers know they can trump up charges to issue more unfavorable reports to the court.
The same culture which gives a green light for probation officers to commit abuses, is the same system that does nothing about military discipline problems.
The same culture that rewards probation officers for threatening retaliation for reporting abuses, is the same system that does nothing when its military members threaten continued detention if foreign citizens dare report military personnel misconduct and abuse.
These are not matters of national security. They are matters of criminal law. Yet, those charges with investigating these issues have proven ineffectual, at best assenting to those who trump up charges and make wild accusations.
Negroponte's job is going to be that much harder because he actually believe his own fantasy about the US government, the rule of law, and the commitment to democracy. It's all a sham.
The sytem is actually designed to amass power, spread confusion, and advance its own agenda for the sake of advancing an agenda; all the while destroying those it comes into contact.
Negroponte will be in charge of the system that will gather information to keep this machine going, even if the machine ultimately destroys itself.
The natioanl intelligence community isn't there to provide information. It is there to figur out how to implement policy. That's why Negroponte makes the perfect director: He knows the difference between what is publicly stated, and how things actually work.
Washington works like Hollywood: It is based on illusions and double talk. All the breaus know how to paly the game with the media.
Here wer are today. Everyone is singing a nice chorus about Negroponte, but nothign adds up. Thes sytem is flawed. The country is out of control. The rule of law is cast to the wind.
People can talk all day about the Constitution, but that is the last thing on their minds. Right now, the President is more concerned with creating more illusoins to distract attion from war crimes.
He knows the stakes: Bush could be impeached if enough people connect the dots and use their imagination in reading the caselaw in re Madison and the basis for this nation.
Negroponte's role in this grand "Protect Bush from Impeachment Plan" is to do what it takes to distract attention from Bush, and create new plausible plans of deniablity that will send the US on a wild goose chase.
The US agenda is no longer about spreading good virtues and values. It's about doing what must be done to distract attention from what most troubles Libby. It's a game for him. Their goal is to leak names to intimidate; and also to use any means to advance their interests, even if it violates the law.
They sit there smugly when testifying before the 9-11 commission because they blieve nobody can do anting to them. Just as Ken Lay was smug, so too is Bush and Cheney. They both know the stakes are high, but they also believe they are above the law.
Negroponte is there to protect them. If a lie has to be created, manufatured, and executed then Negroponte has shown that he'll even use his wife has a prop to say, "It's all in the past."
No it isn't. Its the same game. Today. Nothing has changed. The lies continue. We've seen the same thing time and time again from the White House in re WMD; and also from DoD in re their promises to reform.
The American public should know that the problems we see in Afghanistan are to be expected given the lack of discipline within government. The courts are a creature of the same culture.
Negroponte knows the culture well enough to pretend it doesn't exist. Yet, there it remains, continuing to surface in the CID reports we read from Afghanistan.
The same system which is incapable of disciplining its military is the same system which cannot credibly discipline its own law enforcement and probation officers when they lie in the courts and engage in misconduct.
This is the same system we are asked to believe that Negroponte will reform, oversee, and effectively lead. Ha! Nothing is going to change.
Meaningless oversight
It should come as no surprise to the public why the abuses continued in Afghanistan, despite the clear rules. Just as the FBI fails to swiftly move to investigate its own through the Office of Professional Responsibility, so too does the DoD Inspector General not have the requisite authority, manpower, resources, and talent to swiftly investigate the bunging in the Army's CID.
Status Quo: No change
Apparently, DoD wants us the world to believe that things are well understood. Yet, the abuses continue.
Unresponsive
What is strange is that DoJ's FBI can launch investigations based on reports in the media. Yet, DoD would like the world to believe that they never act unless there is evidence.
Failure of commanders
Let us consider the vast reports surfacing from Afghanistan. Despite the Taguba Report from Iraq, the abuses continue. Surely, DoD Commanders on the Joint Staff know well enough about passing on lessons learned.
Yet, we are asked to believe that such lessons do not exist. The evidence is clear. DoD, despite the Congressional Hearings and so-called public outrage, did not respond. Rather, they simply did more whitewashes. Giving a green light to more of what probation officers do: If you tell the truth about the abuse, you're going to have a bad report with the higher ups.
Ignore the laws
Geneva Convention and 42 USC 1982 have proven ineffectual. The rule of law remains meaningless to get the personnel to respond. There should be no wonder why the American government, in all three branches, has a credibility problem.
Ideally, it's not public relations. It's about following your clearly promulgated standards and holding yourselves to account to those standards. Yet, the Americans want exceptions. Ever-standing on their wreaths they won from WWII.
What should be done
It is time the Americans are held to account to 21st Century Standards. No longer can the rest upon their victories in Europe as the excuse for the world to be asked to grovel at the feet of such arrogant people.
Yet, the Americans have proven themselves incapable of self-government and self-discipline. And when they return from battle they weep in their mother's breasts sharing their grief and shock over the war.
Yet, what of those mothers who have no children; and those children who have lost mothers? No matter, just ignore them as you ignore the Geneva Convention.
A pattern of inaction
Just as the FBI failed to credibly inject itself to thwart abuses at Guantanamo, so too have the internal auditors within the courts and military failed to credibly police their own.
Against this backdrop, we have a new man overseeing the intelligence. The arena is ripe for abuse.
Negroponte has a track record of ignoring problems and setting up his own outfits. He already has a green light from the President to find the truth, however convoluted that might be.
We need only look to the illusions over the WMD issue in Iraq to see how far the President will go to persuade his minions to twist reality. Negroponte has arrived on the scene just in time.
To set up his own domestic Gestapo, one that will act above the law, as it did and continues to do so in Iraq and Honduras.
Breeding ground for mischief
The American political scene is ripe for such a Gestapo. The rubber stamping Congress has approved the leading illusionists: Gonzalez and Rice. Negroponte makes the perfect trifecta.
The grand American criminal justice system. So aptly named as it is well run by the same criminal enterprise which continues to abuse, engage in misconduct, and commit war crimes in Afghanistan.
America's vast resources are now at the disposal of the very man with a proven track record: Play stupid about problems; set up your own secret agencies to act outside formal channels; and do what you have to do to make the President happy.
This President is happy when Enron-like procedures are given lip service.
It is no wonder the American Congress has approved such a man at such a moment: The perfect man, with the perfect background to most likely exploit those the President wants to blame, but have nothing to do with the problems.
We should not be surprised when we hear of more abuses within both the FBI and CIA domestic intelligence services.
Ignore problems
We saw in the wake of 9-11 how quickly DoJ was willing to throw the constitution out the window, bow down to the arbitrary whims of a President, and do nothing as the document was torn to shreds in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and the Guantanamo on the Hudson.
DoJ, under the ever watchful eye of the Gonzalez Magician, stands ready to do nothing as Army's CID whitewashes more reports.
Chase scapegoats
We await the reports of domestic abuses committed against US citizens, and explained away as the necessary costs of rooting out an ever elusive enemy from within. Negroponte is the right man to lead the US Gestapo.
Rubber Stamping
When things go terribly wrong, he's the right man to hide the bodies, make sure there is no reform with what is wrong, and that we see a system set up that does what is required, regardless the facts.
There was no WMD. There are no terrorists within the United States. All this time since 9-11, and DoJ wants us to believe that they have these people under surveillance.
Such an argument has no credibility: DoJ would never take a chance that they lost someone they were supposed to be watching.
The US Credibility Problem
Expect more diversions
This is the same government that asked the public to trust them about WMD. There was none. The Congress said trust us about the oversight and accountability for war crimes. There was none. This government then said we can be trusted to root out evil and reform the intelligence community. Yet, we have seen none.
Now, the public is being asked to believe that Mr. Negroponte is the right man. To oversee the joint CIA [that he does not trust] in their combined efforts with the FBI [that he doesn't listen to].
This is not a drama or a play. This is the unfolding fascism in the United States. And all Americans should be proud of their contribution to the events.
Your silence, inaction, and failure to put pressure on Congress to ensure the laws are enforced will simply give you what you most want: Secret organizations, scapegoats, and no accountability.
You voted so in November 2004. You asked for more Enrons. You were clear in your desire to be lied to and manipulated.
In the end, Enron turned out to be a disaster. So too will the Negroponte regime prove to be for the US constitution, civil rights, and the rule of law.
America. Take pride. When you were given the chance to stand up for the rule of law, you turned your back, embraced fascism, and said you didn't care about doing the right thing. You want the illusions to go away. You missed your chance in November 2004.
They now have four more years to do exactly what is most opposite to the rule of law and your constitution.
All these years of failing to ensure the probation officers did their job. The embraced nasty habits. Now, they are running things. And continuing to do what they were not supposed to be doing.
It should come as no surprise why CID and FBI failed in Afghanistan and Abu Ghraib. There are rewards for inactions, incentives for abuse, and no consequences for doing what should be done in a constitutional manner.
The American cancer continues to spread. It should be no wonder why the American people are forced to digest ever greater lies and illusions all in the name of avoiding reality.
This is the standard to which America asks the world to meet. It should come as no surprise why the world has greater contempt for a nation which stands only for itself, as it destroys the principles and standards it imposes only on others.
Held together only with lies, upon lies, upon lies.
America is a wild beast. Negroponte continues to enjoy his wild ride.
Also spelled: negraponte negrapante negropante negropante negraponte
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posted by Constant @ 4:57 PM
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