Stephen Lendman

Chalmers Johnson called the CIA the president's private army. Imperial Rome had its praetorian guard. It served and protected emperors. CIA rogues work the same way. They do lots more than that. Extrajudicial killing is prioritized. Much that goes on is secret. Unaccountability keeps Congress and ordinary people uninformed. Johnson said US presidents have "untrammeled control of the CIA." It's "probably (their) single most extraordinary power." It puts them beyond checks and balances. What's constitutionally mandated doesn't exist.

CIA originally had five missions. Four dealt with collection, coordination and dissemination of intelligence. The fifth is vague. It lets agency operatives "perform such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the National Security Council may direct." This mandate turned "CIA into the personal, secret, unaccountable army of the president."

Doing so prioritizes lawless covert operations. They include overthrowing democratically elected governments, assassinating heads of state and key officials, propping up friendly despots, snatching individuals for "extraordinary rendition," treating them harshly in torture prisons, and using drones as instruments of state terror.

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María Toledano

Entrega de créditos agrícolas en Yaracuy, 26 de mayo de 2010

El Comandante de los pobres

La muerte del presidente Hugo Chávez, Comandante de los pobres de Latinoamérica, nos encuentra de noche, hastiados tras un día más de miseria cotidiana y pútrido Occidente. Su fallecimiento nos encuentra a oscuras, lloviendo, indígena Caronte mágico, embajador de lo diverso, y de golpe certero, implacable enfermedad, acaba, al menos por unas horas, con la esperanza de los condenados de la tierra. Lágrimas de papel, tristeza y humedad tropical, corren por los barrios de Caracas, lamentos -como infinitas elegías- caen por las laderas, por los cerros, hasta inundar de sincero dolor las avenidas del centro, de Altamira. Bajaron una vez, mujeres y hombres, niños, armados de valor y palos, utensilios de cocina, para salvarte de las garras de la tiranía blanca, del golpe de estado petrolero, Comandante, y bajarán de nuevo, con las plurales tonalidades de lo negro en sus rostros, bajan ya de los cerros, del 23, de todos, a rendirte un homenaje consciente, fraternal. El luto se extiende por América, un luto intenso, del color del petróleo.

Es imposible explicar el sentido de la revolución democrática bolivariana, su impresionante alcance, sin haber visto, sentido o leído, el alma angosta de las chabolas, los barrios marginales, esos pueblos del interior donde no llegaba la luz ni el agua, los viejos medio ciegos, personas, inexistentes, sin documentación abandonadas a su suerte por la oligarquía financiera, la infancia sin escuela ni médico de proximidad. La muerte de Hugo Chávez, Comandante en Jefe de los otros de Latinoamérica es un misil contra el progreso, lento, con dificultades, de un continente olvidado, el patio trasero, lleno de corrupción y violencia inducida, de EE.UU.

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David Walsh

John Brennan, the mastermind of the Obama administration’s drone assassination program, was confirmed by the US Senate as CIA director on Thursday by a vote of 63 to 34. The confirmation, which comes as no surprise, is another step in the direction of extra-constitutional, dictatorial rule in the United States.

Four years ago, Brennan was considered by Barack Obama for the CIA position, but his association with torture under George W. Bush made his nomination “politically difficult,” as the New York Times euphemistically puts it. The Obama administration today, along with the US Congress, has no such qualms.

The vast majority of Democrats in the Senate voted for Brennan’s nomination, along with a handful of Republicans. Obama immediately praised the vote, saying, “The Senate has recognized in John the qualities I value so much.”

The vote followed a quarrel within the political establishment over the claim by the Obama administration that it has the authority to assassinate American citizens on US soil without trial or charges being laid. The tremors the debate set off are indicative of the depth of the political crisis in the US and the great concern of the ruling elite to conceal its preparations for police-state dictatorship from the American population.

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