Bush and CIA Transformation

"The Washington Post on Friday reported the existence of a massive covert program within the CIA to catch, detain and interrogate terrorists worldwide. Like President Bush's NSA program to eavesdrop on terror suspects without waiting for a warrant from the notoriously sluggish FISA court, the CIA program has drawn its share of short-sighted condemnation, as if 9/11 never happened. Here is how the Post described the nation's ability to gather intelligence on terrorists nearly four and a half years ago: 'The CIA faced the day after the 2001 attacks with few al-Qa'ida informants, a tiny paramilitary division and no interrogators, much less a system for transporting terrorism suspects and keeping them hidden for interrogation.' President Bush changed all that. He has, according to the Post, created the largest covert CIA program since World War II. And it has been highly successful. 'Indeed, the CIA, working with foreign counterparts, has been responsible for virtually all of the success the United States has had in capturing or killing al-Qa'ida leaders since Sept. 11, 2001,' the Post reported. Pardon us if we don't become outraged that the President of the United States transformed a weak CIA into an impressively effective tool for finding and defeating America's enemies."

--- New Hampshire Union Leader