Pope Thanks CIA War Crimes Criminal

ROME — Leon E. Panetta had an audience on Wednesday morning at the Vatican with Pope Benedict XVI, who told him, Mr. Panetta said, “Thank you for helping to protect the world.” Mr. Panetta said he replied, “Pray for me.”
Mr. Panetta, … who attends Mass every Sunday, is halfway through a week-long trip to Europe meant as a goodbye tour of American allies. ((Elizabeth Bumiller, “Panetta, at Vatican, Says Pope Thanks Him for Service,” NY Times, 1/16/13. ))

The reader is invited to read the whole short NY Times report before going on to the paragraph below on Panetta’s to-be-prosecuted crimes, a quote from Reagan’s Asst. Sec. of Treasury Paul Craig Roberts, and the author’s commiseration with fellow born-Catholics.

During Panetta’s time as CIA Director and Secretary of Defense US illegal wars (illegal, even according to Ron Paul), have gone on un-mercilessly in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen at the cost of thousands of lives of men,women and children murdered in their own beloved, innocent and poor nations. Under Panetta thugs were paid to destroy the government in the most prosperous and democratic nation in Africa before US NATO bombing took place while a near million Libyans in a population of only six million demonstrated for their Green democracy government and Gaddafi. At last count 60,OOO have died in Syria for the attempt of the former former colonial powers led by the US and satellites like Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey to do the same there in the face to similar massive pro-government rallies which are denied coverage in the Pentagon fed network news programs.

‘It is a known fact that the CIA has violated US law and international law with its assassinations, kidnappings and torture. But it is not this criminal agency that will be held accountable. Instead, those who will be punished will be those moral beings who, appalled at the illegality and inhumanity of the CIA, leaked the evidence of the agency’s crimes. The CIA has asked the US Justice (sic) Department to investigate what the CIA alleges is the “criminal disclosure” of its secret program to murder suspected foreign terrorist leaders abroad. As we learned from Gitmo, those suspected by America are overwhelmingly innocent.” ((Paul Craig Roberts, “US Hypocrisy Astonishes the World,” Antiwar.com, 7 September 2009.))

Those brought up as Catholics, can only hope that the Pope said something else to that monstrous war criminal that Panetta was reluctant to mention to US foreign policy promoting reporters.

Jay Janson, spent eight years as Assistant Conductor of the Vietnam Symphony Orchestra in Hanoi and also toured, including with Dan Tai-son, who practiced in a Hanoi bomb shelter. The orchestra was founded by Ho Chi Minh,and it plays most of its concerts in the Opera House, a diminutive copy of the Paris Opera. In 1945, our ally Ho, from a balcony overlooking the large square and flanked by an American Major and a British Colonel, declared Vietnam independent. Everyone in the orchestra lost family, "killed by the Americans" they would mention simply, with Buddhist un-accusing acceptance. Jay can be reached at: tdmedia2000@yahoo.com. Read other articles by Jay.