What is the CIA for, anyway?

[RoadRunner]

Gathering intelligence? Making sure U.S. leaders know the full facts about those pesky weapons of mass destruction? Helping our “president” make solid decisions based on the best information possible? I always thought so, but apparently it’s none of the above.

I just picked up Chalmers Johnson’s “The Sorrows of Empire” this morning. In the preface to the book, Johnson tells about a brief period during a consulting gig he had with the CIA in which he was given full access to the CIA library during the night. Johnson’s sentences that follow this account are stunningly revealing: “In the course of this enlightening nocturnal activity, I slowly realized that, at the CIA, the tail wagged the dog, that American’s real business was covert activities, not intelligence collecting and analysis. During World War II, William J. Donovan founded the Office of Strategic Services, the CIA’s predecessor. Only later did I learn that ‘an internal CIA history of Donovan’s imprint on the Agency says he saw intelligence analysis as a convenient cover for subversive operations abroad’.”

No wonder so many people think the CIA botched the intelligence on Iraq -- the CIA is not concerned with intelligence in the first place and never have been. They didn’t care; it wasn’t their job as they saw it. As Johnson says, “Interestingly enough, in September 2002, as the Bush administration was daily terrifying the world with statements about Saddam Hussein’s clandestine weapons and the need for a preventive invasion of Iraq, the CIA revealed that there was no national intelligence estimate on Iraq and that it had not thought to prepare one for over two years.”

It occurred to me that Johnson’s insight also explains why George Tenet fell on the sword for the team. He was not in a position to refute the intelligence W quoted because the CIA didn’t have much in the way of its own intelligence on Iraq, nor were they interested in acquiring any. The CIA's "real" job, as they see it, is covert ops; intelligence gathering is just the cover they use to keep it all secret.

[Minstrel Boy]

1. I can tell you what "CIA" stands for:

"Crack the CIA" (with a link to streaming video)
http://www.filmfestivals.com/htm/tv_shorts/crack/index.shtml

[wadestock]

2. This is an obvious and valid point.....

But most people have been dupped into believing that there is some grizzly signficance to the CIA....and therefore we could even BLAME THEM for the war.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Actually CIA involvement in the decision to go to war was a non-issue from my vantage point right from the start.

1. we knew they had no nukes
2. the concept that they could someone quickly develop a nuke capability was pure BS.
3. during the years of inspections...we have hard evidence that more weapons were destroyed than during DESERT STORM!! In particular, SADDAM's capability to DELIVER WMD was taken away.

So why the issue of CIA intelligence?
There was an "unknown" about what he was doing after the inspections were discontinued....but this uncertainty had significance only in the context of "inpections"....in terms of the value of doing them or not.

The fact that they were DISCONTINUED in the first place can not be assumed to be as defacto proof that SADDAM was up to something horrendous.

Has anyone considered the basic point that we had effectively taken away his army and warfighting ability ....so perhaps he thought....he isn't that enough?

Truth is...we knew he had no army, no airforce, and no real fighting capability...

[porphyrian]

3. I'm sorry, that information is classified. - n/t