Confirmed yet again: the USA is a fascist banana republic

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Has it occurred to anyone the CIA was granted bullshit powers by a bullshit regime (Bush and friends) and once they were given said bullshit powers went whole hog and are now engaged in trying to stay out of prison? There's no doubt that they're criminals, but political criminals do what political criminals do, try to cover everything up after the crimes and wrap themselves in the flag.

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Depends on your point of view: 'Christian' Republicunts are proud of it. Democrats willfully close their eyes to it.

I know plenty of Democrats who are as proud of it as any Republican.

[Shiranu]

A banana republic you say? Excellent, I love bananas and cant wait for my first shipment!

Oh, that's not what you meant... damn :\. Way to dash my hopes.

Anyways... yeah, the CIA is a POS organization that can be considered the root cause of all sorts of human suffering, both here in the United States but also throughout Latin America, the Middle East, (I would assume Afrika), Asia and even in parts of Europe (Australia might be the only place safe from their wrath?). They have destabilized governments, funded terrorist organizations that bite us in the ass and oppress their people and straight up lie time and time again to the faces of their bosses about what sorts of human rights abuses and laws they are breaking.

There may be good people working in the CIA, but that's like saying there were good people working in the SS or the KGB... the organization itself is a disgusting relic of our barbaric war against the Soviets and should be disbanded immediately. I fully understand and support the need for an intelligence agency, but the CIA does not fill that role. They provide false intelligence and far overstep the role of intelligence agency.

I dislike Obama for doing nothing about it, and infact expanding the CIA's power, but at the same time this is something that presidents have been doing for long before I was born so... to blame it all on him is a bit unfair.

[aileron]

As if it was any different under Eisenhower or Truman or even when it was the OSS... You know, back when political assignations and espionage were acceptable government practices.

http://www.theonion.com/video/ospan-classic-cia-accidentally-overthrows-costa-ri,18056/

[Jmpty]

[AllPurposeAtheist]

The bulk of the CIA is involved in protecting corporate profits to protect investments in the people who lobby to keep the CIA in business. For better or worse that's their job. We live in a highly competitive global economy that is cutthroat to the nth degree so the CIA is in the business of protecting the business interest of the people who hold the strings of global power. Whether that's right or not is another matter entirely, but make no mistakes the CIA does the bidding for the people who hold such power.
Do they do things we know to be wrong? Yes, absolutely they do and those who are in power should be held accountable.
Ask yourself though one question. Would you rather the CIA work for the government that represents you or would you rather the CIA work for another government that is completely contrary to everything you hold dear in your heart knowing that government would rather you slave for quite literally starvation wages and would gladly impose theocratic laws upon you?
I'm not saying that the CIA is a wonderful and great organization because it certainly is not. It's corrupt from the top down and engages in horrible things, but so do nearly ALL intelligence agencies around the world.
The difference is the CIA is run as the arm of the US government as a bulwark against the tyranny of the likes of Stalinist regimes.
The waters are often muddied and they've done some horrible acts and thousands even millions have died, but without the CIA where would we all stand now at this time? How many of you truly believe that you would have the opportunity to even use the Internet or have the standard of living you currently enjoy? What kind of life would you be living now if not for the actions of the CIA over the years?

[Shol'va]

Buncha bleedin' heart sissies the lot'o ye are.
CIA never tortured anyone, they just used "enhanced interrogation techniques" is all.
Figured that means stuff like ... using proper inflection when asking questions, as to not confuse, and using trigger words such as "please" and "thank you" to facilitate cooperation.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I've been to several actual banana republics. Most people have no idea.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

This is FAR FROM being a banana republic, in fact is the single richest nation the earth has ever seen with the richest, most funded army to ever exist on this planet. With that said we also have the most sophisticated security apparatus the earth has ever known with more freedoms than ever known.
There is a heavy price for all of this, but how many of you are willing to forgo it in exchange for say...the Chinese system or the Russian system of governance? It's damned far from perfect and what makes it so appealing is the fact that you can even read this website without fear of being dragged into a prison. It's not just American, but many nations around the globe get to enjoy the benefits of it.
I'm in no way advocating the CIA's dirty deeds, but without the things they do you might not ever have known of the existence of this very website much less have the leisure of posting on it.

[Mandingo]

we also have the most sophisticated security apparatus the earth has ever known with more freedoms than ever known.

You ignore the stark reality that over 3 million of US citizens are incarcerated in "the land of the free". By far the highest percentage of incarcerated citizens on the entire planet. Including even North Korea.
"The land of the imprisoned" is more correct.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Incarceration_rates_worldwide.gif

[Shiranu]

Edit: Auto-correct murdered that, lets try this again...

Sorry APA, but saying the CIA is protecting my civil liberties is like saying invading Iraq protected us from Al Qaeda or BP donating a few million to oil clean up means they care about environmental safety regulations.

[Mandingo]

It's classical Newspeak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I never said that the cia is protecting your civil liberties. If you read that into it read again. The spy business is a dirty business. There's no way around that, but it's essential and I'm not going to apolgize for being glad that the CIA is good at the dirty business of spying.

[Mandingo]

I never said that the cia is protecting your civil liberties. If you read that into it read again. The spy business is a dirty business. There's no way around that, but it's essential and I'm not going to apolgize for being glad that the CIA is good at the dirty business of spying.

LOL!
If they were good at it they wouldn't get caught!

[DavidQuinn]

It's not just the US, i'm from the UK and the political situation over here is abhorrent. A motion was passed today which sees that E-cigarettes, which harm no one, are to be banned from next year in public places. That's fascism in a nutshell. We've got the general election over here next year and again there is no political alternative. I've just read a book that's been causing a stir in the UK as it's been pushed by Richard Dawkins, it's about an alternative politician, an atheist visionary type guy. Well worth a read, link to the free first chapter is here - http://thechroniclesofhope.com/preview/