Do programs like Blackbriar and Treadstone actually exist?. If yes then the things they do in the name of 'saving American lives' is just atrocious.
"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man."
Many would agree.
Then again, these movies only show one side of the equation. The point is that what Vosen said about needing to cut through the 'red tape' is actually true. We arguably DO need such programs, and they can definetly do some good, as the assassination of Osama bin Laden shows...the situation with Treadstone/Blackbriar in these movies however is an example of what might happen when the people who are granted such extraordinary powers start to go out of control and lose their sense of judgement (or developed a warped sense of judgement).
You can't be blamed for thinking the CIA is a messed up organisation watching these movies, because pretty much every assassination we see in the Bourne trilogy was either to cover up some government conspiracy or for some other less than altruistic aim. Wombosi was killed because he had uncovered CIA activities in Africa and because he'd learned about the failed assassination attempt on his life. Neski was killed to cover up the theft of 20 million dollars by a corrupt official. Conklin was killed to cover up Treadstone's failure. Simon Ross was killed to prevent him from exposing the truth behind Blackbriar. Neil Daniels was also killed because he was turning whistle blower. We never learn of a single assassination in the movies where the CIA killed a real terrorist or someone whom the world was genuinely better off.
Blackbriar and Treadstone are nothing. The only problem with those programs was their incompetent trigger happy, reputation saving at all costs management, not what they actually did.
All they did was train agents to act as sleeper agents all over the world. And these agents were volunteers of the highest caliber from elite parts of the military.
Just because Jason Bourne saw a little girl reneged on killing a dictator (?) and lost his memory, doesn't mean the agents of such programs weren't effective, loyal and disciplined. (Clive Owen on his death bed complaining doesn't refute the program)
I agree. I've always felt the books, both the Ludlum originals and the Lustbader continuations, gave a more objective view of Treadstone, and black operations in general. Black ops strategists and handlers were portrayed as being cold hearted b#stards and opportunists most of the time, and yet it was acknowledged by many of the characters, even Bourne himself, that sometimes you needed such people, and the decisions they made, however unethical, in order to keep the world safe from madmen and to simply get the job done.
SPOILERS for the Ludlum novels
Case in point, take Ludlum's second novel, The Bourne Supremacy. Bourne discovers that this total b#stard of a State Department strategist has been manipulating him all along, going to the extent of kidnapping Marie to force him to take on a mission...he understandably doesn't want to have anything to do with any government sanctioned black op anymore and despises his former employers for all the grief they've caused him...yet, he actually agrees to take on a mission to assassinate a zealot because he knows that man would otherwise spread chaos throughout the Far East that could escalate into the Third World...and because he knows that only a skilled assassin like him can get the job done and save the world.
The CIA is not a messed up organisation for killing bad people, their extensive work with criminal organizations, providing false intelligence for invasions and heading false flag attacks killing thousands, and overthrow of democratically elected governments then supporting dictators, would be the main things that make the organisation messed up.
shareThen again, one might argue that the CIA is but an instrument of political agendas and foreign policy...and maybe THOSE are the real culprits here.
I don't deny that the CIA has done a lot of less then savory things in the past...but one cannot also deny that the CIA, and agencies like it in many countries, have also saved a lot of innocent lives by taking the lives of terrorists.
In their struggle to preserve democracy where they have/had the upper hand, so to speak, their usual formula was to tear it apart and instead enthrone a military junta to back US interests/agenda in the area. There are a few examples, like Chile in 1973, Greece in 1967, Argentina in the 70s (these come to mind right away, I would bet good money that each and every military regime in the Central and South America from 1950 and on was in some way "helped" or organized by the CIA).
Kinda like killing in the name of life!
Cute and cuddly boyz!!
Not in those names but they do have covert operations like this .Go on youtube and there are documentaries on the history of the c.i.a;eye opening stuff.
Therefore we may call that art true at which does not seem to be art."