CIA Memos

This past week, Pres. Obama released four CIA memos during the Bush Administration that detailed the use of torture in interrogation. In the news cycle of Pres. Obama cozying up to Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, a vocal anti-Americanist, the release of CIA memos has seemingly gone under the radar. But as much as I try to give the benefit of the doubt to the new president, I cannot understand how he could have supported to reveal highly sensitive intelligence memos to the public in the midst of war.

I am vehemently opposed to the use of torture in any circumstance. The Geneva Convention is not outdated just because the world is threatened by non-state actors and terrorism fears. Supporters of Pres. Obama's decision to release these memos argue that the CIA tactics should never have been used in the first place and will never be used anymore; hence, the release of these memos expose no real national security threat. However, while I understand these techniques will never be employed, I believe these memos are highly classified information and its release serves no purpose except to mollify Pres. Obama's supporters who've become antsy in the president's lack of willingness to stray too far from the Bush Administration, especially the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a politically expedient move that throws the CIA under the bus at a time when both wars hinge on the gathering and analyzing of human intellegence. Sure, the Obama administration has not called for prosecution of CIA agents, but nonetheless, idealistic decisions like this hampers the intelligence community from doing its job and protecting the nation's interest while emboldening terrorists abroad.

The honeymoon stage is over for President Obama. His first hundred days are coming to an end, and now he can no longer rely on the anti-Bushism to secure his legitimacy. He alone must own up to foreign policy decision like this and piracy in Somalia as well as domestic issues such as the economic crisis. And from the looks of his decisions of late, behind the charming and eloquent rhetoric of his speeches, he seems to be choosing to do whatever is politically expedient for his political legacy rather than the interest of the American people. The change that he promised during his campaign has not come in any shape or form, and Washington politics is business as usual (although I will praise Secretary of Defense Gates' proposal to completely revamp the military budget to scrap Cold-War era projects and shift military priorities towards emerging challenges in insurgency warfare, etc.). Its time to keep Pres. Obama accountable on his promise of bipartisanship and change.