TheSumOfGod said:
Well the first about 4 or 5 sections is almost totally spurious correlation and a total misrepresentation of the facts where they jump to conclusions.
as for the rest
You have a serious and unfounded problem with all Government. Government, our Government’s, job is to provide for its citizens. You have to ask yourself how. Machievelli presented a world where corruption reigned but Government was extremely effective. Socrates presented a perfectly just society with brainwashed citizens. Marx presented a world where Government was highly ineffective in part due to its attempts to do so. America is different, Ben Franklin said (paraphrase) "That none of us our angels, so we must create a government for devils". And so they did, they created a body where corruption is used to check corruption. He, they knew, how ambitious and sometimes morally absent politicians could be. Neither he nor I have any allusions that people can and will be naturally selfish. For this reason, and the intelligence put behind the intricate nature of our Government, we have [one of] the lowest corruption ratings ever, and its used to judge other nations (and that’s not by us).
The beauty of our Government is the corruption checks corruption. Eventually CIA agents come forward (probably for personal gain), slavery is abolished (for economic gain) or women are given the right to vote (probably so some guy can win an election). Thats the thing though, corruption will always be there and our government is designed to weed it out.
The question is what do you want. Do you want a highly effective President, CIA director, Secretary of Defense, etc...or do you want a (very potentially) ineffective one who is highly moral. Do you want one who does everything by the letter of the law and therefore gets caught up in its natural contradictions. Do you want someone who accomplishes day and night, possibly calling on dirty tricks to do so.
This article brings up the MENA scandal, which is a legitimate point, in fact so legitimate several investigations have been done on it. To understand such a thing you must understand the CIA. You just jump on it and say "LOOK, LOOK it’s a Nazi organization"....kinda like when Daffy Duck points at Bugs Bunny and screams "Rabbit Season!! shoot the Rabbit". Why, because you’ve already made up your mind without considering the big picture. CIA is evil, why because they do evil things on occasion. Well then truly MLK, Jesus, Lincoln, Washington, Superman and Fox Mulder can be seen as evil even if it’s a matter of looking through the right lense.
To understand the "BIG PICTURE" which is important if you wish to claim knowledge on anything at all. Is to understand that in regards to government all actions, policies, and acts are disadvantageous to some and advantageous to others. Our Government always tries to find an equitable solution, it is its greatest strength and biggest weakness.
With MENA, Arkansas you have a nearly textbook (in fact its in several) case of this in action. SOP: Standard Operating Procedure (I have brought it up before). CIA, FBI and virtually all Government organizations are huge on this. You want it because its highly efficient. In Government manufacturing/bureaucracies/and certain other agencies this is a great asset. Its gets things done it an efficient manner, in fact no other body is as efficient in this country because of SOP, however it does stiffle innovation. With the CIA likewise its still a catch 22. The MENA is an excellent example of this. The SOP we’ll be reviewing here is the SOP that relates directly to how information travels throughout these organizations.
Secrecy is more than just a tough call, saying that would be understatement. If you observed your younger brother, a member of your personal agency no less, reaching in to steal a cookie from the jar...what would you do? Naturally as a child yourself you’d probably run and tell mommy. But you have to ask yourself did spreading such information solve the problem. Maybe, maybe in his shame of being caught he totally stopped his cookie smuggling. However maybe not, maybe by telling mommy you have now alerted said sibling on who to avoid when smuggling his goods, and therefore corrupted the information entirely. Now he waits until you leave with your friends, smuggles several to an undisclosed location and continues his crime. Maybe he decides to start a cookie black market with his friends and goes and gets them from other people at a price. Now your disclosure has worsened the situation. Such is the crux of the CIA. How much info do we keep secret, how much don’t we. If we keep a tight lid on information then a CIA branch in Mena does not have to disclose information to anyone about drug smuggling they may be involved in (with Barry Seal), but at the same time can also keep tight lipped about a terrorist organization they just uncovered well enough to bust them up. The less secrecy you have the less corruption obviously. Because if the press and people constantly put you under watchful eye you won’t do dirty things. Kinda like a camera in the cookie room. However, now you’re also allowing your enemies access to the information you have. Perhaps Bush (not to say he is 100% innocent) did tell this guy to "shut up and do his job" not because he was exposing him, but because he was corrupting information in regards to SOP. Obviously Clinton is slightly harder to explain on this one, however truthfully the article is not about him.