Too Much Paranoias

This song sums up CIA Director Leon Panetta.

I been dipped in double meaning.

I been stuck with static cling.

There's too much paranoias

There's too much paranoias

He's starting to lose it. This is reported the same day that the Department of Justice releases a 2004 CIA Inspector General report on some of the tactics, some illegal and egregious, by CIA interrogators. But back to the Panetta White House freakout. ABC reports:

A "profanity-laced screaming match" at the White House involving CIA Director Leon Panetta, and the expected release today of another damning internal investigation, has administration officials worrying about the direction of its newly-appoint intelligence team, current and former senior intelligence officials tell ABC News.com.

Amid reports that Panetta had threatened to quit just seven months after taking over at the spy agency, other insiders tell ABCNews.com that senior White House staff members are already discussing a possible shake-up of top national security officials.

"You can expect a larger than normal turnover in the next year," a senior adviser to Obama on intelligence matters told ABCNews.com.

And further down in the story, a nod to the turf war pissing contest between newbie outsider boy Panetta and Director of National Intelligence, and military insider, Dennis Blair. Guess who's going to win this one? ABC continues:

"Leon will be leaving," predicted a former top U.S. intelligence official, citing the conflict with Blair. The former official said Panetta is also "uncomfortable" with some of the operations being carried out by the CIA that he did not know about until he took the job.

You know what Leon? I think it's warranted if this kind of sinister activity is staring you in the face. I know Panetta had nothing to do with it, and he's just the poor schmuck that's gotta clean the mess up, but guess what? He knew fully-well what he was inheriting. And now he's flipping out. He couldn't handle the assassination squad information he passed to Congress. Why would he be ready for an impending hack job on the CIA? I would have never guessed. (Oh, by the way, I'm being sarcastic.)

Leon, you ever heard of Lynndie England? One of America's finest (scapegoats)? Well, some of your men are about to eclipse her (although she did have the bad fortune of being attached to her behavior through visual images, while CIA likely won't). The hammer's coming down on the CIA grunts (though it should be noted that some, like Spencer Ackerman, don't see that scenario as complete). The CIA will likely take most of the hell as sacrificial lambs of the Bush Administration's unlawful cynicism and stark abuse of power. (And not so fast Justice Department. There's a chance DOJ's argument, that their opinions were airtight, won't hold up.)

I think Leon was under the impression that they were all going to take a moderate, but palatable fall on this one. He's nervous now. I'm still not convinced that this isn't, as Marcy Wheeler calls it, a complete "whitewash." But it does appear possible that these investigations could lead up the trail. But even at this point, I would say it's unlikely.