Comment by whoknew1122 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by whoknew1122 | Hacker News Reader

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Is CIA in the business of lying and propaganda? Yes. But things need to be taken in context. The CIA is under the executive branch, and therefore at the mercy of the political whims of the president.

Saddam's non-existent WMDs? Reported by the CIA under an presidential administration that was clutching for any reason to go to war with Iraq.

Gulf of Tonkin? Again, the CIA reporting on something that buttressed the case for war. Again, aligned with the then-presdential administration's desire to escalate things in Vietnam.

The DNC hack is reported by the CIA to be Russia. The current presidential administration has full-throated in their bias toward Russia and against any supposed pro-Trump Russian interference in the 2016 election. And the CIA still says a highly-damaging (to the Democrats' electoral chances) email dump was orchestrated by Russia.

One of these things isn't like the other.

However CIA also pushes their own agenda like Timber Sycamore, a secret operation lobbied by CIA director David Petraeus, to overthrow President Assad of Syria, that led to a war that created a humanitarian disaster.

President Obama signed off the operation, however it was a CIA creation & execution, with the help of Arab intelligence.

CIA does way more than lying and propaganda. They create wars too.

> "CIA does way more than lying and propaganda. They create wars too."

No one is saying they don't create wars. Look into the School of Americas for all the death and destruction the CIA caused in Latin and South America. The CIA was also first on the ground in both Afghanistan and Iraq post-9/11. But that's not what we're talking about here.

We're talking about a CIA report on a subject of importance to the president. The CIA isn't going to release that report without sign-off from the top brass, all of whom serve at the pleasure of the president.

The Syrian Civil War had started before that. The CIA was picking sides for the US, just like every other geopolitically relevant country.

The CIA trying to overthrow Assad is good though, the humanitarian disaster is his fault, and Putin's.

None of it is "propaganda".

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