When Did Questioning CIA Become Anti-American?

By David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: May 20, 2009
Updated 2 days ago
Courtesy Of The Raw Story

Since Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi suggested that the CIA misled her in 2002 concerning its use of waterboarding, the Republican Party has been attempting to paint her claims as outrageous.

Former CIA special agent and radio host Jack Rice finds the Republicans’ outrage unconvincing. He told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Tuesday, “What’s extraordinary here is the idea that if you would ever question the CIA, now all of a sudden somehow it’s anti-American.”

“What’s extraordinary to me is that I’ve seen the Republicans do this over and over,” Rice explained. “They will wrap something in the flag … and they will put a little lapel pin on it that says ‘national security.’ And if you ask a question about it, somehow you’re anti-American. And that’s what they’ve been trying to do to Nancy Pelosi for about six years.”

Rice has no illusions about the CIA’s vulnerability to pressure during the Bush administration. “Anybody who believes that an administration can’t push the Agency to do something is really missing the point,” he told Olbermann. “The fact that they can push the Agency and say, ‘This is what I’m looking for’ … will drive them to do certain things that may or may not be true — and that’s a big part of the problem that we’re facing right now.”

Rice believes, however, that Pelosi may yet have the last laugh. “I think in some ways she should be laughing, because in a way this is what she wanted,” he stated. “She wants the government to look at what the Agency did and didn’t do. It’s never been about her. It’s about us.”

This video is from MSNBC’s Countdown, broadcast May 19, 2009.

Download video via RawReplay.com
As charges fly back and forth concerning when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might have been briefed by the CIA on its use of waterboarding, it is becoming clear that, at the very least, the CIA has been sloppy in its record-keeping.

Radio host and former CIA special agent Jack Rice told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, “What’s extraordinary here is the idea that if you would ever question the CIA now, all of a sudden, somehow it’s anti-American.”

“Anybody who believes that an administration can’t push the Agency to do something is really missing the point — because they can. The fact that they can push the Agency and say, ‘This is what I’m looking for,’ … to find that connection between al Qaeda and Iraq. … It will drive the Agency to react. It will drive them to do certain things that may or may not be true — and that’s a big part of the problem that we’re facing right now.”

“What’s extraordinary to me is that I’ve seen the Republicans do this over and over. They will wrap something in the flag … and they will put a little lapel pin on it that says ‘national security.’ And if you ask a question about it, somehow you’re anti-American. And that’s what they’ve been trying to do to Nancy Pelosi for about six years.”

“I think in some ways she should be laughing, because in a way this is what she wanted. She wants the government to look at what the Agency did and didn’t do. It’s never been about her. It’s about us.