Review: The Spymasters (2015)

CIA in the Crosshairs

The Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs (2015) resolves several controversies surrounding the Iraq War. 

"Neither the CIA nor any other government agency ever found evidence that Iraq played any role at all in 9/11." -- Michael Morell, fmr deputy director of the CIA

"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction." -- Colin Powell, 2003 speech to U.N.

"We were wrong." -- George Tenet, fmr US Director of Central Intelligence, on intelligence claiming Iraq had WMDs

"We have firsthand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and on rails... There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more. And he has the ability to dispense these lethal poisons and diseases in ways that can cause massive death and destruction." -- Colin Powell, 2003 speech to U.N. 

"It [allegations of biological weapons] should have never been in the speech [Colin Powell gave to the U.N. in 2003]. This was an internal failure of some proportions inside CIA." -- George Tenet, fmr US Director of Central Intelligence, who sat directly behind Colin Powell during the U.N. speech 

"There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction... and he has established relations with Al-Qaeda...

There was a relationship with Al Qaeda and Iraq that stretched back ten years. That's not something I thought of, that's what the Director of Central Intelligence [George Tenet] was telling us." -- fmr USA VP Richard "Dick" Cheney

"This connection [made by VP Cheney] did not exist. We intervened on numerous occasions to say so." -- George Tenet, fmr US Director of Central Intelligence 

"The way it was portrayed was, this [Tenet's comment that Iraq having WMDs was a "slam dunk"] was the seminal moment in the President's life in terms of deciding whether to go to war. That's not what happened at all. The decision to go to war and orders to send troops were already been signed...We were way down the road here. What I wanted to convey [with the slam dunk comment] is there was probably a way to make... a better public case [for war]." -- George Tenet, fmr US Director of Central Intelligence 

Incredibly, Tenet, Powell, and Cheney are not the most misguided persons featured in the documentary. That "honor" belongs to Santa Clara University graduate Leon Panetta. As former director of the CIA, Panetta gave an order to drone-bomb an entire mosque in Afghanistan to hit one target. Panetta knew the mosque was filled with women and children. He did not discuss his option to wait until the targeted individual left the mosque and was in a vehicle. He says he will let God decide whether he did the right thing. (Would Panetta have given the same order had the target been an IRA member attending Sunday church services?) 

When it was made, the documentary did not have details of the drone program. Recently, Daniel Hale, whistleblower of "The Drone Papers," exposed the following facts:

1. About 9 out of 10 people killed in so-called "targeted" strikes by USA are not the intended targets (in other words, each drone strike kills 90% civilians); and

2. The U.S. government officially labels unknown people it kills as “enemies killed in action” unless they are posthumously proven to have been civilians. 

In July 2021, Hale was sentenced to 45 months in prison for revealing details of the drone program. 

© Matthew Mehdi Rafat (2021) 

Bonus: James Panetta, Leon's son, is currently a national Representative and a Democrat. The Democratic Party in America is considered the "liberal" political party, though in practice, its national branch could be considered an extension of the Catholic Church. Like his father, James Panetta also attended Santa Clara Law School. 

Bonus: "Waterboarding as practiced by the Chinese, the Nazis, the Spanish Inquisition is torture and has always been torture. But the waterboarding that was applied [by USA] is different."

Interviewer: How was it different?

"It doesn't use as much water." 

-- Jose Rodriguez, intelligence officer, who ordered two videotape recordings of CIA interrogations destroyed 

(Two detainees died after CIA interrogations, though it's unclear if waterboarding was involved. No charges were ever brought against the officers present.)

Bonus: of all the intelligence officers interviewed, only two people looked good: Stansfield Turner and John Owen Brennan. Brennan in particular appeared extremely competent, an assessment supported by recently leaked expert and clear Afghanistan/Pakistan recommendations.