Don’t mess with the people who hold the secrets

Although Bush did not mess directly with the CIA, it nevertheless turned on him, either because his Iraq War humiliated the CIA by showing how poor its intelligence gathering was or because the CIA is a heavily Democratic institution.  If the CIA turns on Obama, though, it will be personal:

The CIA’s war against President Bush was motivated by ass covering, or by political partisanship. But with President Obama, it’s personal.

Many are furious about his disclosure of explicit details of the interrogation methods used on some al Qaida bigwigs, and his waffling on whether or not those who employed them will be subject to prosecution.

Others are incensed by his decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, and to let some of those incarcerated there (17 Chinese Uighurs) loose in the United States.

[snip]

Other Western intelligence services regard the Obama administration with contempt and rising concern, an officer of the DGSE, France’s military intelligence agency, told my friend Jack Wheeler (the real life Indiana Jones) last week.

“All of us in our little community are worried — us, our friends in Berlin, London, Tel Aviv,” the DGSE officer told Jack. “It is not like the barbarians at the gates. It is every barbarian horde in the world being told there are no gates.”