Video: Coming Soon - the CIA's 'Family Jewels'

Via The CNN Beard:


Wolf's underlings are slacking on getting the show's transcripts up, but I wanted to highlight Brian Todd's meaningless reassurance that "today there is far more oversight in congress". Yet, as he points out, the wiretappings, kidnappings and other criminal activities are still going on anyway. So what's the use having more oversight? If congress doesn't just rubber stamp whatever the CIA is doing - Republicans and Democrats, by the way - Bush creates his own ways to get around congress and the laws.

Whatever these "family jewels" reveal, they will be received by an American public that knows it has absolutely no control over what the CIA does because what it chooses to do is all in furtherance of Amercian global supremacy and exceptionalism - and those are doctrines that I think I can safely say most Americans support anyway. Oh there's outrage every now and then - about so-called "extraordinary renditions", about torture, about CIA-fueled coups oversees or one or the other CIA operation. Nobody really blinked an eye much when the news broke that Italy charged several CIA agents for allegedly kidnapping an Egyptian cleric. Why should they? Bush is protecting the agents and won't extradite them to stand trial.

So, whatever else these "family jewels" expose, it seems the American publics' senses have already been dulled for decades to the point that nothing the CIA does can actually be seen as surprising anymore. The "jewels" will make interesting reading for political junkies, historians, journalists and bloggers but their revelations will, no doubt, be eclipsed by the next scandalous starlet or blonde woman in peril news story. Remember, Paris Hilton gets out of jail next week and she's making the interview rounds. What do you think Larry King will be talking about? Those boring old CIA stories or Paris' time in the school of hard knocks (where the guards' jingling keys so disturbed her equilibrium)?

And besides, there's that trusty "congressional oversight" to rely on to make sure everything's on the up and up. (Just ignore the fact that congress' approval ratings are in the toilet at a laughable 14% and that Bush sits at 26%. Trustworthy government indeed.)

For those who are interested, Common Dreams has more.