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Obama tries to boost CIA morale after torture memos release

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor April 20, 2009 04:10 PM

Under fire for releasing a series of Justice Department memos on harsh interrogations of terror suspects, President Obama made a morale-boosting stop this afternoon at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters.

Obama told about 1,000 employees that he will protect classified intelligence information, but defended the release of the memos.

"I know that the last few days have been difficult," he said. "As I made clear, in releasing the OLC memos, as a consequence of a court case that was pending and to which it was very difficult for us to mount an effective legal defense, I acted primarily because of the exceptional circumstances that surrounded these memos, particularly the fact that so much of the information was public, had been publicly acknowledged.

"The covert nature of the information had been compromised," he added. "I have fought to protect the integrity of classified information in the past and I will do so in the future. And there is nothing more important than protecting the identity of CIA officers. So I need everybody to be clear. We will protect your identities and your security as you vigorously pursue your missions. I will be as vigorous in protecting you, as you are vigorous in protecting the American people."

He argued again that ending harsh interrogations -- what critics call torture -- will make America more safe, not less so.

"What makes the United States special and what makes you special is precisely the fact that we are willing to uphold our values and our ideals even when it's hard, not just when it's easy; even when we are afraid and under threat, not just when it's expedient to do so. That's what makes us different," the president said.

"So yes, you've got a harder job and so do I. And that's OK, because that's why we can take such extraordinary pride in being Americans. And over the long term, that is why I believe we will defeat our enemies because we're on the better side of history. So don't be discouraged by what's happened in the last few weeks. Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we've made some mistakes. That's how we learn."

UPDATE: Meanwhile, former Vice President Dick Cheney is joining other Bush administration officials criticizing the release of the memos, and is now calling for the declassification and release of memos that he says shows the information gleaned from the interrogations.

“One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort. And there are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. They have not been declassified,” Cheney says in an interview airing tonight on Fox News Channel’s "Hannity" show.

“I formally asked that they be declassified now. I haven't announced this up until now, I haven't talked about it, but I know specifically of reports that I read, that I saw that lay out what we learned through the interrogation process and what the consequences were for the country,” according to excerpts released by Fox News.

“And I've now formally asked the CIA to take steps to declassify those memos so we can lay them out there and the American people have a chance to see what we obtained and what we learned and how good the intelligence was, as well as to see this debate over the legal opinions.”

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Has anyone kept a tally of how many times Obama has been required to apologize for one stupid remark, stunt , memo, gaffe or gesture after another? During the campaign he had to throw one supporter after another under the bus due to outrageous remarks, (not including his disassociation from his pals Ayres and Wright and Pfleger) , then he had to retract his promise to speak to dictators without preconditions, then he had to deny his statement about wealth redistribution (attacking Joe the Plumber), then there was the "clinging to guns and religion" tripe, and more recently the little twit bowed to his "massah" (the first American president to ever belly-crawl to a king ) and then he attacked veterans and political opponents with the tar-brush of a "TERRORIST THREAT", and now this. Is Obama really this stupid (Jesus was smarter) or is he just constantly tripping over his innate hatred of "Amerika". maybe that is why Obama had Che Guevara's picture displayed in his Campaign HQ (until a TV camera filmed it and his aggressive staff took it down).is he a traitor or a fool?

Posted by marc christophe April 20, 09 04:40 PM
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I'm wondering how many CIA agents have decided to leave for the private sector following Obama's betrayal to the US intelligence service.

Posted by Marko April 20, 09 04:44 PM
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The mess left in Obama's idealistic wake is going to take decades to clean up.

Posted by Mike April 20, 09 04:58 PM
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I wonder if Cheney understands that saying something on Hannity does not constitute an official request to the White House. I realize that it did during the Bush Administration, but not now.

Posted by Sean April 20, 09 05:04 PM
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Dick Cheney please just go away....you're lucky not to be indicted as war criminal.

Posted by P. Walnutz April 20, 09 05:06 PM
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I would hate to be a CIA agent with Obama as president. God help all of them

Posted by wb thornton April 20, 09 05:16 PM
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On Cheney's comments, no way in hell. We shouldn't torture. I don't, in principle, mind the data going out but we shouldn't say it is OK to torture or lets debate it. Find a better bay to get this information. In my kind we always have a choice. The public relations alone for doing this created more Arabs willing to become martyrs. Cheney should be convicted for allowing torture to occur.

Posted by marty April 20, 09 05:49 PM
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Torture is OK. Just like its OK to steal your mothers social security money. Everyone world wide is aware and on the beam here. War mongering is not a virtue for any nation to be proud of. Especially if you get caught holding the dirty end of the stick with little results for your efforts. This is the case for most that were tortured or mistreated. That is, we did not see across the board success for our flagrant abuses of the enemy combatants. Worse, this has recruited more of the same to come forward vowing to fight the USA. Ms. England famous for her dog leash photo should occupy a cell next door to those who held our highest offices and advocated it as legal and necessary. The USA got caught with its pants down.

Posted by markeyboy April 20, 09 08:04 PM
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