The Obama CIA blunder

William Murchison:

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Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to go after the CIA has all the earmarks of policy designed to make left-wing hearts palpitate. What other purpose could it possibly serve? Not that of national security or common sense.

I have written deliberately "go after the CIA," notwithstanding the demurral of newly appointed special prosecutor John Durham, which concerns the supposedly "preliminary" scope of his investigation into alleged abuses perpetrated by CIA interrogators against terrorism suspects. The range of cases is gratifyingly small when you consider that Holder, following the blood sport instincts of the left, could have gone after higher-ups -- perhaps some of those in the Justice Department who advised President Bush on interrogation policy ( like John Yoo).

Alas, as we know from experience, investigations tend to start small then grow. Was Monica Lewinsky on Ken Starr's radar screen at the start of his inquiry into the Clintons' finances? Things get out of hand. The left of the left of the left hopes no doubt that will be the case with Durham's investigation. You find on that peculiar quarter of the political spectrum a lust to punish former Vice President Cheney himself (if not the president he served). Why rule out a battalion of CIA agents who imagined themselves to be preserving American lives?

Indeed, the Inspector General's Report, which Holder cites as evidence of doing, says various interrogations gleaned "intelligence that has enabled the identification and apprehension of other terrorists and warned of terrorist plots planned for the United States and around the world." How dare they warn us? Clap 'em in irons.

Really, is there a brain cell functioning properly in the Obama White House? What are these people thinking? Are they thinking? Yes, maybe. Here's what they might be thinking: The left of the left of the left got us here. They're mad enough at us now. We'll throw them a little investigation, trying to explain it to moderates and conservatives -- and we'll pray it works. Nothing else seems to these days, with the health care semi-debacle as Exhibit A.

This is just nuts. These White Housers, possibly including the president whose consent to this operation was required, don't have a clue. The game isn't worth the candle.

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As I mentioned below this is a political distraction that Obama is using to change the subject from his failures on health care. I suspect he is compounding his problems with independents and the center by playing to his kook base. Nothing good can come from this and much bad will probably happen. Al Qaeda must be pleased that they have so many people in this administration working to help them avoid detection of their future operations.

Lawfare is a failed policy of the past that this administration seems intent on bringing back from the dustbin of history where it belongs.