CIA Whistleblower Philip Agee Dies at 72

[bananas]

Source: DemocracyNow!

CIA Whistleblower Philip Agee Dies at 72

And the former CIA agent turned outspoken whistleblower Philip Agee has died. Agee authored the 1975 book “Inside the Company: CIA Diary”, which detailed several clandestine CIA operations around the world. Former President and CIA chief George H.W. Bush would later call him a “traitor.” I spoke to Agee about his book in October 2003.

bq. Philip Agee: “We were right to do it then, because the U.S. policy at the time, executed by the C.I.A., was to support murderous dictatorships around the world, as in Vietnam, as in Greece, as in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil. And that’s only to name a few. We opposed that use of the U.S. intelligence service for those dirty operations. And I’m talking about regimes now that tortured and disappeared people by the thousands.”

The former CIA agent Philip Agee, speaking to Democracy Now in October 2003. Agee died last night in Cuba at the age of seventy-two.


Read more: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/9/headlines

[gratuitous]

1. Oh, to be called a traitor by Bush

I can't think of a more desireable epitaph. Good night, Agent Agee. In from the cold at last.

[Solly Mack]

10. No kidding!

[coffeenap]

2. 72 is not that old. Does anyone know the circumstances? nt

[mac2]

3. X-President GH Bush

started the CIA. He has controlled it for Empire for a long time. It upsets me to see American born employees of the CIA used for Bush crimes. When will the Bush world crime gang be held accountable?

Many in our government intelligence system have left after 911 leaving us without that information we need to keep us safe (internally and externally).

Seems we are all being threatened and controlled by the Bilderberg Group, etc. Elite power meets and decides our fate.

I thank Mr. Agee for your truth to power.

[Rainbowreflect]

4. I have to admit my tin-foil-hat was wondering that as well.

[Ian David]

5. He was cleaning his knife when it went off in his back? n/t

[Judi Lynn]

6. He died of complications after surgery for ulcers, according to this article:

Last updated January 9, 2008 7:10 a.m. PT

Ex-CIA agent Philip Agee dead in Cuba
By WILL WEISSERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

HAVANA -- Philip Agee, a former CIA agent who became an outspoken critic of Washington's Cuba policy, has died in a Havana hospital following ulcer surgery, state media reported Wednesday. He was 72.

Agee quit the CIA in 1969 after 12 years working mostly in Latin America at a time when leftist movements were gaining prominence and sympathizers. His 1975 book "Inside the Company: CIA Diary," cited alleged CIA misdeeds against leftists in the region that included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives.

Granma, Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, said Agee died Monday night and described him as "a loyal friend of Cuba and fervent defender of the peoples' fight for a better world."

Bernie Dwyer, a journalist with state-run Radio Havana, said in a Tuesday message posted to a Cuba e-mail group that Agee's wife called him to say he had died in the hospital, where he has he been since Dec. 15.

"He had several operations for perforated ulcers and didn't survive all the surgery," Dwyer wrote, adding that Agee was cremated Tuesday and that friends planned a memorial ceremony for him Sunday at his Havana apartment.
(snip)

Barbara Bush, the wife of former President George H.W. Bush - himself a one-time CIA chief - in her autobiography accused Agee's book of exposing a CIA station chief, Richard S. Welch, who was later killed by leftist terrorists in Athens in 1975. Agee, who denied any involvement in the killing, sued her for $4 million for defamation, and she revised the book to settle the case.

More:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102ap_obit_agee.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I doubt we'll be hearing a lot about this brave agent who dared to take on the actions of the CIA after it became involved in truly brutal behavior toward leftists and suspected leftists in other countries. He worked during a time the elder _Bush was powerful within the C.I.A.

The right-wing became obsessed with trying to smear this guy long ago, and it continues full force. They dispise him. You may have even seen their trolls hacking away at him on message boards.

[Ian David]

7. This will be covered on Captain Phonesex's show...

... to claim that Cuba's medical system isn't very good.

[Judi Lynn]

9. You bet. He'll be unable to deny himself. I wonder if they have anything there to remove those

amazing splotches on his face under all that tv make-up. It would be a major project. They may need to use loofahs.

[Ellen Forradalom]

8. It's not that young either

He's been speaking out for a long time. I heard him speak at Rosary College in the early 90s. In my view, if they'd wanted to silence him, they would've done it a lot earlier.

[Ghost Dog]

11. I hear this news only now.

Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0959077820080109?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

London Times obituary (worth reading): http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3162281.ece

Granma (briefly, in English): http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art64.html

More (apparently from Cuba, in Spanish) published in Indymedia Canarias (Canary Islands): http://canarias.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15633/index.php

[psychopomp]

12. I used to purchase his CovertAction Information Bulletin

and heard a few of his lectures on tape. This was around the time I heard John Stockwell lecture in person--I won't forget the courage of these two former agents turned whistle-blower.

I recall Mr. Stockwell telling us to go home and tear the word "safe" out of our dictionaries as the word does not have meaning for us living in this day and age.

[goforit]

13. G. H. W. B. is the" traitor" not Agee!!!

[MagickMuffin]

14. Philip Agee RIP

Good thing Poppy Bush decided to have a law passed to protect our agents. No one will ever try and out our agents, ever again.


However, wait a good thirty years and then the whole new Bush Regime/Cartel/Cabal will become the "most insidious of traitors" by outing one of our most valuable agents tracking WMD.

Ah well the sweet smell of irony.