Re: General Hayden ... Dear U.S. Senator ...

Here's the message I have been emailing US Senators:

(Note: Please feel free to cut and past and use. It is less than 400 words and 2500 characters—with spaces—as written.)

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Dear Senator [fill in the Senator's name]:

If Air Force General Michael Hayden is named by President Bush to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA, then General Hayden must be asked about misleading Congress.

Quoting Morton Halperin, who was Director of Policy Planning Staff at the State Department and served on the National Security Council under President Clinton:

Reference: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/26/hayden-broke-law/

[Start quote]

At the time of his statements, Hayden was fully aware of the presidential order to conduct warrantless domestic spying issued the previous year. But Hayden didn’t feel as though he needed to share that with Congress. Apparently, Hayden believed that he had been legally authorized to conduct the surveillance, but told Congress that he had no authority to do exactly what he was doing. The Fraud and False Statements statute (18 U.S.C. 1001) make Hayden’s misleading statements to Congress illegal.

Hayden’s fate lies with the tale of another spymaster, Nixon-era CIA Director Richard Helms.

Testifying under oath before a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1973, Richard Helms claimed that CIA was not involved in attempts to overthrow Salvador Allende of Chile:

SEN. SYMINGTON: Did you try in the Central Intelligence agency to overthrow the government of Chile?

MR. HELMS: No, sir.

SEN. SYMINGTON: Did you have any money passed to the opponents of Allende?

MR. HELMS: No, sir.

By the time Helms was called to testify again, CIA activities in Chile had become public knowledge. In 1977, Richard Helms pleaded no contest to charges of lying to Congress and served a suspended sentence.

[End quote]

The ethic carved into the marble entrance to CIA Headquarters is: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. It mandates that CIA analysts are to “tell it like it is” without fear or favor. It is taken from the New Testament of the Bible:

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." -Jonn 8:32

Shouldn't Congress be also seeking the truth?

Sincerely,

[fill in your name]

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http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Cheers for our side!