The poor leadership of the Republican federal government headed by George W. Bush was illustrated by the testimony of CIA Director Michael Hayden, given after the revelation that the CIA had intentionally destroyed videotapes that showed the torture of prisoners through waterboarding techniques inspired by the Spanish Inquisition.
When Michael Hayden was asked by the House Intelligence Committee what he knew about the videotapes and their destruction, Hayden replied, “Other people in the agency know about this far better than I.”
Other people than the director of the CIA know about conspiracies by the agency to break the law by torturing and covering up the crime? How is such a thing possible? Is Hayden the Director of Central Intelligence or isn’t he?
If Michael Hayden is, as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, having intelligence information kept from him by lower-ranking agents of the CIA, then he’s profoundly incompetent.
If Michael Hayden did in fact know about the videotapes of torture by the CIA, and the destruction of those videotapes, then he lied to the House Intelligence Committee when he told them that he lacked that knowledge.
In either case, Michael Hayden is unfit to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, and should resign immediately.
(Source: Associated Press, December 12, 2007)
