White House Scapegoat Not Cooperating

[kate...@gmail.com]

Anyone who has been following the CIA tapes scandal should pay close
attention to what is happening with Jose Rodriguez, the former head of
the National Clandestine Service.

Jose Rodriguez is a man who has survived more than 30 years in a
business that eats folks up and spits them out in short order. If we
can believe the stories officially released about this man, despite a
minor bump in the road during Iran Contra (probably also a setup, as
Rodriguez is, by all accounts, an honorable man), he has risen to near
the top of the food chain on the basis of his own accomplishments and
lasted long enough to retire. Now he is being set up to take the fall
over the CIA tapes.

Why? Someone has to take the fall, but why him specifically?

I cannot prove a thing, but I suspect two reasons. First and
foremost, a man who has held his former position cannot help but know
where a substantial percentage of the White House bodies are buried.
Second, by all accounts we have been allowed to hear, Rodriguez is a
genuine patriot. He cannot love an administration that has warped and
twisted intelligence - intelligence gained at probable great risk to
his subordinates and friends - to take his country to war on the basis
of outright lies. Did he retire so that he could testify against those
who have done this? We will never know, but it fits with the little
we know about this mysterious man. He isn't an administration crony.
He is a career intelligence officer who has served his country for all
of his adult life, not a neocon appointee. This administration must
fear him - fear what he knows and fear his rage.

Did Rodriguez order the destruction of those tapes? Despite what we
have been told, we can't even know that for certain, and we never will
know it (whatever is reported in the press), but my personal guess is
that he did. Just think of the position he was in. In his most
recent position, he was responsible for many lives. His subordinates
were ordered to break the law. If Rodriguez had not destroyed those
tapes, they would have been perfectly positioned as the sole
scapegoats for the horrible acts those tapes documented. I am not
saying those men, and possibly women, were right to do what they did
on the basis of such orders, but in Rodriguez' view, they would have
been youngsters - young patriots in the most untenable position of
all, ordered to commit an heinous act by their Commander in Chief. He
would not have felt they deserved to be the ones held most accountable
for their acts. In a world where betrayal in the name of saving one's
own skin is the normal order of business, Rodriguez protected the
folks who worked for him. He kept the faith with them, at his own
eventual expense.

Rodriguez actually set himself up for a scapegoat - instead of his
people. In that sleazy, slimy world of his, the destruction of those
tapes was an act of personal honor and integrity so rare as to be
startling. There is evidently good reason why his people loved and
trusted him as we have been told they did. I am certain that
Rodriguez knew very well what would eventually happen when the story
came out. Men who can't think that far ahead don't live as long as he
did in the intelligence business.

Remember, too, that while Rodriguez held his most recent position,
Valerie Plame would have been one of his people - and very soon after
the very time that she was betrayed and destroyed by a White House out
of control, the question of the fate of those tapes would have come
before Rodriguez for the first time. Do you think he might have been
just a little bit angry? Wouldn't you have been?

I am not trying to turn this man into a saint. I am certain that he
is anything but a saint. Saints just don't rise to the level of the
position that Rodriguez held before his retirement. I do believe he
is an ally, however, to those of us who would like to see America
saved - and that we should be extremely cautious about judging his
conduct until we have walked a mile in his shoes.

Rodriguez has approached his upcoming Congressional testimony with the
most meticulous legal preparation. He has retained one of the finest
lawyers ever to argue a case in Washington. He is insisting on legal
immunity before he testifies. Interestingly enough, by delaying his
testimony until a decision can be made on immunity, Congress appears
to be actively cooperating with him in this. Why? What possible
reason could there be?

Could it be because this testimony could very possibly bring this
administration down? Does Rodriguez - a man very savvy in the vicious
techniques of those currently in power - realize that he is a
designated scapegoat? Does he understand that if he won't accept the
role of scapegoat, he will most certainly become a walking rifle
target? I imagine so! I seriously doubt that he would have gone to
this effort and expense if he had not decided to tell the whole truth
about precisely who gave which orders. Sticking to the party line
might send him to prison, but the time for wholesale pardons is coming
up even before he would be likely to be convicted of any crime. If he
were a friend to this administration, I doubt he would have bothered
to be so meticulous about protecting himself. Libby walked scot free
- and you can rest assured that even Libby's criminal record will be
wiped clean on Bush's last day in office. If Rodriguez would agree to
play ball, Rodriguez could count on the same treatment.

It is very evident to me that Rodriguez does not feel safe at all.
Allegedly, he retired so that he could concentrate on hiring more
minorities for the CIA, yet I have seen no news reports concerning
Rodriguez speaking in public since immediately after his cover was
lifted. His sole mentions in the news have dealt with his legal
preparations for his testimony. If you read between the lines and
connect the dots, this is very powerful evidence that Rodriguez has
made a firm decision to tell the truth.

It is a crying shame that Rodriguez must testify behind closed doors.
I would certainly love to hear what he has to say in real time on
CSPAN. We can only hope that at least one Congressional member
authorized to hear this upcoming testimony has a tenth the integrity
of this courageous witness. We can only hope that someone, just one
man or woman, will have the outright guts to tell us the truth about
what will be said in that closed chamber - deleting of course, as
necessary, anything which touches directly on national security or the
lives of agents currently in the field. It is highly likely that
whatever Rodriguez intends to tell Congress will be the ammunition
Congressman Wexler needs to force some well-deserved impeachment
hearings.

I don't think that Rodriguez has decided to take his fall like a good
soldier. I believe he has decided to step up and spill all the
beans.

I only hope that one day we will learn what acts of outright treason
those beans include.