Saturday, December 13, 2008

Good Shepherd

I watched "The Good Shepherd" yesterday. It was very intriguing and kept me glued for almost 3 hours. The theme of the movie is the birth of the CIA and its failure during the Cuban Missle Crisis in the Bay of Pigs.

The following is an exchange from the movie:


[Bill Sullivan visits Ed at home to let him know that they're forming the CIA as a peacetime OSS]
Bill Sullivan: I have to tell you, I have some real problems with this whole thing despite how much we need it. I'm concerned that too much power will end up in the hands of too few. It's always in somebody's best interest to promote enemies real or imagined. I see this as America's eyes and ears; I don't want it to become its heart and soul. So I told the president for this to work there is going to have to be some kind of civilian oversight.
Edward Wilson: Oversight? How can you have a covert organization if you have people looking over your shoulder?
Bill Sullivan: You know who gave Hitler his power? The clerks and the bookkeepers, the civil servants. I have this one weakness: I believe in a just God. I always seem to err on the side of democracy.

Given the goings on in the last couple of weeks following the Mumbai attacks, one thing is evident - The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, which is meant to be its CIA equivalent, has become the heart and soul of the country.

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