CIA Tapes

President Obama has given orders to open many of the archives documenting government activities in the past eight years. In the process it was discovered that over 90 videotapes of the CIA interrogating suspects were destroyed. This was not a sudden inadvertent act or an accident. These tapes were destroyed on purpose. What was on them that are government agents did not want citizens to see? One can only imagine that they involve scenes of torture.

But, one might ask, why would one imagine that these tapes included torture of suspects by our government agents when President Bush gave his word that our government did not engage in torture? Maybe these tapes included statements of national security and matters which the public should not see since it might aid the enemy who would then be able to attack us more easily. Nobody has come to that conclusion and I wonder why? Could it be that we’ve been deceived in the past and no longer trust our government to do the right thing? If so, our Republic is in a sad state.

From my perspective, this is a far worse crisis in the current economic situation. Our economy will eventually rebound, but can we ever regain the public trust after the deceptions of the past eight years? Hopefully the new President will be open enough with the American people that they can come once again to trust the word of our nation’s leader. The future of the democratic process depends upon that.