GWU Edu. NSA: The CIA's Vietnam Histories

On the heals of What were they hiding? concerning the torture policies of the cheney/bush administration/CIA/Private Contractors/Military, the George Washington University National Security Archives brings a slew of documents on the CIA and Vietnam conflict years, before our invasion, during and after.

The CIA's close relationship with Ngo Dinh Nhu, chief political adviser to his brother President Ngo Dinh Diem, is demonstrated by the presence of CIA officer Paul Harwood and his spouse at the confirmation ceremony for the Nhu's daughter Le Thuy. From left: Ngo Dinh Nhu, Mrs. Paul Harwood, Le Thuy, Bishop Ngo Dinh Thu, with Nhu's son Qunh, son Trac, {CIA officer} Paul Harwood, Madam Nhu." {Source, The CIA and the House of Ngo, p. 26}

The CIA's Vietnam Histories

Newly-Declassified CIA Histories Show Its Involvement in Every Aspect of the Indochina War

Washington, D.C., August 26, 2009 - The Central Intelligence Agency participated in every aspect of the wars in Indochina, political and military, according to newly declassified CIA histories. The six volumes of formerly secret histories (the Agency's belated response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by National Security Archive senior fellow John Prados) document CIA activities in South and North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in unprecedented detail. The histories contain a great deal of new material and shed light on aspects of the CIA's work that were not well known or were poorly understood. The new revelations include: {Link brings you the rest, to the brief descriptions and documents links.}

On the right side you'll find a description titled: "A TALE OF OBSESSIVE SECRECY" starting with,

Before addressing the substance in the new CIA histories it will be useful to pause and consider what this case also shows about the U.S. Government's broken system for declassifying and releasing records. In actuality, this CIA release was not at all a voluntary contribution to American history, but was compelled by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Filed in 1992, that FOIA request may be the longest running case in the CIA's files, and its treatment shines a blinding light on how the agency handles its statutory duty to release records.........................

That you might want to read the rest of.

It continues with a brief synopsis of John Prados book on Vietnam Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945-1975

The CIA's Vietnam Story

The Central Intelligence Agency's Vietnam war history actually begins in 1950, when agency officers moved to French Indochina as part of the United States legation in Saigon. During the French war in Indochina the CIA's involvement grew to encompass a base in Hanoi but not much more, since the French did not encourage CIA activity. The French tamped down further after an incident in which CIA officers were revealed as reaching past them to open channels to Vietnamese nationalists. When the lands of Indochina—Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—became independent "associated states" the CIA expanded its activity somewhat, and during the last year of the French war, 1953-1954, agency involvement grew considerably as the French were obliged to accept U.S. assistance with unconventional warfare activities as a condition of expanded military aid from the Eisenhower administration, and with the use of CIA proprietary aircraft of Civil Air Transport (later Air America) in Laos and at Dien Bien Phu.......................

Between the Torture documents and reports, still coming in, and this new addition on the CIA's involvement in Vietnam, for years, there is a whole host of information to absorb. But their archives don't stop with these, they've been researching and archiving a whole host of issues, especially on National Security for a long time, and will be adding much more, so explore.

After our failed policies concerning Vietnam it will be more then interesting to one day read of the lead up to our numerous failed policies in the regions of Afghanistan, support and supplying the Mujahadeen then walking away, and Iraq. Especially concerning Iraq and our connections, through the CIA and more, with Saddam's reign leading up to and including the First Gulf War then to Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF, and continuing, along with 9/11 and Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF! Maybe they won't trickle out many years later, hopefully for the rest of the World we'll get the facts and truth much earlier, but us 'Nam Vets will probably mostly be long gone.

Lets hope that what this Country, if it still exists, didn't learn from 'Nam, it will Finally absorb from these times, OEF and OIF, and stop the few from pushing for these War and Occupations, of others, Of Choice! But unlike 'Nam, these times will bring blowback on our country and citizens!

What were they hiding?

Their arguments have always been, and continue to be especially from their propaganda machines, TV and Radio, that what they did was cleared by the administrative lawyers, as I heard one say this morning "Highly experienced Lawyers!", and they were are then legal!

The George Washington University National Security Archives have posted up the reports, side by side, from the Bush administration, in May 2008, and the newly released same report from the Obama administration, August 24th 2009.

A side-by-side Comparison of the Bush and Obama Versions of the CIA Inspector General's Report on Torture

Posted - August 25, 2009

Posted below is a side-by-side comparison of the Bush and Obama administration versions of the 2004 CIA Inspector General Report on Torture..............To View Visit Here

So if this was all legal, and they were comfortable to carryout these practices, In This Countries Name, what were they hiding when they redacted so much in their release of!

From the University E-Report sent on 8.25.09:

Washington, DC, August 25, 2009 - Today, the National Security Archive posted a side-by-side comparison of two very different versions of a 2004 report on the CIA's "Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities" by Agency Inspector General John Helgerson. Yesterday, the Obama administration released new portions of the report including considerably more information about the use of torture and other illegal practices by CIA interrogators than a version of the report declassified by the Bush administration in 2008.

New revelations include:

* Details on "specific unauthorized or undocumented torture techniques," including the use of guns, drills, threats, smoke, extreme cold, stress positions, "stiff brush and shackles," waterboarding, mock executions and "hard takedown."

* A look at the legal reasoning behind the Agency's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and the development of Agency guidance on capture, detention and interrogation.

* A brief discussion of the history of the CIA interrogation program, including the "resurgence of interest in teaching interrogation techniques" in the early 1980s "as one of several methods to foster foreign liaison relationships."

* The conclusion that, while CIA interrogations had produced useful intelligence, the "effectiveness of particular interrogation techniques in eliciting information that might not otherwise have been obtained" is not "so easily measured."

The National Security Archive also announced today the publication of the Torture Archive -- more than 83,000 pages of primary source documents (and thousands more to come) related to the detention and interrogation of individuals by the United States, in connection with the conduct of hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in the broader context of the "global war on terror." The goal of the Torture Archive is to become the online institutional memory for essential evidence on torture in U.S. policy. {JS: my highlighting}

With support from the Open Society Institute and the JEHT Foundation since 2006, this initial launch of the Torture Archive includes the complete set of declassified Combatant Status Review Tribunal and Administrative Review Board files from the Pentagon, and thousands of documents resulting from FOIA litigation brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Archive and other plaintiffs. The Torture Archive will continue to add documents as they are released through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation or Executive discretion.

The National Security Archive

The Torture Archive

There's a wealth of information right at the finger tips, with backlinks and your own ability to take it even further.

Court Grants National Security Archive Motion - WH E-Mails {UpDated 2}

The following was in the e-notice sent out by The George Washington University - The National Security Archive which is what can be found also on the page link to the announcement.

For Immediate Release:
January 14, 2009

To Search White House Computers and Preserve E-mails



On the eve of transition, federal judge orders outgoing White House staff
to surrender electronic media containing e-mails.

Washington, D.C., January 14, 2009 – The United States District Court for the District of Columbia today granted the National Security Archive’s emergency motion for an extended preservation order to protect missing White House e-mails. With the transition from the Bush Administration to the Obama Administration taking place in six days, and all the records of the Bush White House scheduled for a physical transfer to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on that same day, the Court has directed the Executive Office of the President (EOP) to search all its computer work stations and has ordered EOP employees to surrender any media in their possession that may contain e-mails from March 2003 to October 2005.

“There is nothing like a deadline to clarify the issues,” said Archive Director Tom Blanton. “In six days the Bush Executive Office of the President will be gone and without this order, their records may disappear with them. The White House will complain about the last minute challenge, but this is a records crisis of the White House's own making.”

Counsel for the Archive, Sheila Shadmand from Jones Day made clear: “The White House has been on notice since we filed our lawsuit a year and a half ago that they would have to retrieve and preserve their e-mail. Instead of coming clean and telling the public what they have been doing to solve the crisis, they refused to say anything. At this point, it is critical to preserve evidence that can help get to the bottom of the problem and prevent it from happening again.”

Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola has scheduled an emergency status conference today at 2 p.m. to consider additional measures that may be necessary to protect the records during the transition. (Courtroom 6 of the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse)

The Archive filed its emergency motion for an extended preservation order on March 11, 2008. After considering the objections of the White House, Magistrate Judge Facciola issued two reports, on April 24 and July 29, 2008, recommending that District Judge Henry H. Kennedy issue an order requiring search, surrender and preservation of the computer workstations and external media devices, such as CDs, DVDs, memory sticks, and external hard drives. Today’s order adopts those reports and recommendations, granting in part the Archive’s emergency motion.

The National Security Archive filed its lawsuit on September 5, 2007 against the Executive Office of the President and NARA, seeking to preserve and restore missing White House e-mails. A virtually identical lawsuit filed subsequently by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has been consolidated with the Archive's lawsuit. A chronology of the litigation is available here.

If you visit this link The George Washington University - The National Security Archive, which is the same link as the second one at the top, they have a number of back links along the left hand side of the page to review.

UpDate:

White House admits it has not recovered files from computer workstations or collected external computer storage media that may contain missing e-mails

Scope of missing e-mails acknowledged in court today, although Department of Justice claims they are working on a solution

UpDate 2:

White House e-mail in "true emergency conditions"

Magistrate judge orders search of all White House computers, grants plaintiffs' request for inventories and preservation of evidence