UPDATED: CIA's "Family Jewels" Raise Concerns About Civil Liberties

Today's release of some, still censored CIA illegal operations, began a discussion on NPR's radio show "To the Point", with Warren Olney, about current tactics in the Global War on Terror.

The web site frames the discussion like this:

The CIA has released "the Family Jewels," agents' reports on 25 years of illegal activities ending in 1974. CIA Director, General Michael Hayden, says it reveals "a very different time and a very different agency." How different is the CIA now, with Dick Cheney holding the intelligence portfolio for President Bush?

The podcast of the episode.

These revelations come as Vice President Dick Cheney's Office is coming under increasing scrutiny by law makers.

Never in history has the office of the vice president been so large. Conventionally, the office was seen as that of an 'apprentice', an 'observer', ready to fill the void should the president become un-able to execute the office.

Now it seems to be a clearing house for black operations, a way to compartmentalize, isolate the office of the president from illegal activities which the president could be impeached for under law passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal.

From USA Today:

Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Sunday that a court should decide whether the vice president belongs to the executive or legislative branch. "The vice president needs to make a decision," he said.

Lea Anne McBride, a Cheney spokeswoman, said Emanuel is the one who has to decide. "He can either deal with the serious issues facing our country or create more partisan politics," she said.

The Empirists are saying, this is like WW ll, the state requires special powers to fight The Global War on Terror. They're objective would appear to be the repeal of the 'Watergate' laws.



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