C.I.A. Said to Rebuff Congress on Nazi Files -NYT

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 - The Central Intelligence Agency is refusing to provide hundreds of thousands of pages of documents sought by a government working group under a 1998 law that requires full disclosure of classified records related to Nazi war criminals, say Congressional officials from both parties.

Under the law, the C.I.A. has already provided more than 1.2 million pages of documents, the vast majority of them from the archives of its World War II predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services. Many documents have been declassified, and some made public last year showed a closer relationship between the United States government and Nazi war criminals than had previously been understood, including the C.I.A.'s recruitment of war criminal suspects or Nazi collaborators.

For nearly three years, the C.I.A. has interpreted the 1998 law narrowly and rebuffed requests for additional records, say Congressional officials and some members of the working group, who also contend that that stance seems to violate the law.

These officials say the agency has sometimes agreed to provide information about former Nazis, but not about the extent of the agency's dealings with them after World War II. In other cases, it has refused to provide information about individuals and their conduct during the war unless the working group can first provide evidence that they were complicit in war crimes.........

http://nytimes.com/2005/01/30/international/europe/30na...

[hippiechick]

1. In case there was any doubt Poppy's still in charge ...

The CIA (Poppy's stomping grounds)'s refusing to release docs that I'm sure will connect a dot or two back to Grammpy Prescott et al.


How conveeeeeeeenient ....

[Raster]

3. prescott bush, the nazi money launderer of choice... all great family

fortunes have dubious beginnings. Some more than others. The bush* family more than most.

[ally_sc]

9. damn if it just don't fit...

eom

[w4rma]

12. It's more than that. Nazis were recruited for the CIA.

Remember that before the war many many wealthy Republicans supported and even helped fund the Nazi Party in Germany. They sympathized with the Nazi Party's beliefs. They just couldn't support them very overtly because the Nazis bombed Pearl Harbor. But they could help as many of them as they could by getting them cushy jobs, with little or no oversight from which they could work to restart the Nazi agenda, within our CIA.

[MADem]

13. Hell, if it weren't for Hitler's buzzbomb boys

...we never would have been able to "land a man on the moon, and return him safely to the earth." We snatched those guys just before the Russkies did, and did not give a shit about their Party affiliations.

Expediency over all.

[w4rma]

14. Germany had some brilliant scientists, but those guys didn't join the CIA

America smartly brought them over here to help us improve our overall technology. But it's the guys who were recruited for the CIA (supposedly for their knowledge of the inner workings of the Nazi Party) who were the most political and whose effects we are feeling, now.

There is no public oversight over what goes on in the CIA. It would be very interesting to find out how much influence these Nazis ended up having over our CIA (although, it appears to be alot, considering what they've been doing).

[MADem]

15. You are quite right

I was simply noting that we weren't squeamish at all about cuddling up to these guys, not just in the three letter club, but across the board.

We talk a great "liberty and justice for all" game, we sell a great product in our history books, but we are as expedient as the next bunch of bastards. It's kind of sad. I'd prefer it if the promise and vision of our land were the reality....

[Wrinkle_In_Time]

16. "the Nazis bombed Pearl Harbor"?

Look, I understand what you were trying to say and I'm sure the CIA are trying to cover up Prescott Bush's ties to the Nazis, but when you make blatantly incorrect statements like this, you negate your point.

I can't believe no-one else pointed this out yet.

[hippiechick]

21. I ... uhh ...saw that too, and ... uhh ...

[MSgt213]

2. Lets see the CIA is funded by Congress and Congress just lets them refused

to do what they have ordered them to do. Seems pretty simple to me. Cut off the money and the paychecks and lets see how many seconds it takes the files to get where they need to go.

[cthrumatrix]

4. seems like we need to press for "Congress" to take action --- NOW

[Gman]

7. LOL!!

"...press for "Congress" to take action now!"

LOL!!

[Supersedeas]

20. Porter Goss - Porter Goss - Porter Goss - Porter Goss

[James T. Kirk]

5. Why didn't you cooperate, George?

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

You were CIA director since 1997. This should have been done.

[dkofos]

6. Fire them

This information needs to come out.
The sheeple need to know.
This would surely wake some people up.
It surely seems to shake some people up!!

[mitchum]

8. The CIA has always been a cancer on worldwide democracy

[seafan]

10. Interesting snips from the article....

....The dispute has not previously been made public. Critics of the C.I.A.'s stance, ...... said they were disclosing the dispute now in hopes of resolving the impasse by March, when the working group's mandate is to expire.

<snip>

At the request of Senator Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio, the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold a public hearing on the matter early next month, and is planning to call C.I.A. officials and members of the working group as witnesses, Congressional officials said.

<snip>

.....all three public members of the group, including Ms. Holtzman; Richard Ben-Veniste, a Washington lawyer; and Thomas H. Baer, a former federal prosecutor, made plain their opposition to the C.I.A.'s position.

<snip>

"I can only say that the posture the C.I.A. has taken differs from all the other agencies that have been involved, and that's not a position we can accept," Mr. Ben-Veniste said. In a separate interview, Mr. Baer said: "Too much has been secret for too long. The C.I.A. has not complied with the statute."

A book, "U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis," that was released by the working group in May provided a partial picture of those dealings. It has shown that the American government worked closely with Nazi war criminals and collaborators, allowing many of them to live in the United States after World War II.

http://nytimes.com/2005/01/30/international/europe/30na...



Two observations....

Ben-Veniste was the member of the 9-11 Commission who quietly asked Condolezza Rice if she recalled the title of the August, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing... "why, yes, I believe it was titled 'Bin Laden determined to strike inside the United States.'"
(Glad to see his name on this investigation.)

Read an interesting self-deprecating quote recently from Poppy Bush in the context of (paraphrasing).. 'as he gets older, he finds himself just a doddering old man..' (will see if I can find it again...)

(Hey, it worked for Pinochet for quite a while, but let us not fall for this. Remember that Poppy is the only ex-President who continues to read a daily CIA briefing.)

[Rose Siding]

19. Thanks for that reminder!

He was good, wasn't he? I wouldn't have made the connection.

There are way too many chapters in this epic to keep straight

[BuyingThyme]

23. Richard Ben-Veniste has failed...

on EVERY venture in which he has ever participated.

I find it very interesting that he shows up whenever the interests of truth need another devastating kick in the ass.

[renaldo]

11. KKKarl Rove's father

was the architect of Auschwitz!

[loudsue]

18. Is that true, Renaldo, or are you being facetious?

It looks too close to being possible for me not to ask!!

[hippiechick]

22. Not completely sure but Karl's real last name

I believe, is 'Roverer'.

[98geoduck]

17. Why isn't this on the national NYT's page? ie Sunday print edition

This is ridiculuous of the times to place a story like this on their Intl
edition, but not national. Obsurd!