We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.
Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.Help Now >
Hunt, model for today's ethics
FREE Catholic Classes
However, Hunt, who died Jan. 23 at age 88, provides a view of an angle on American politics and international intrigue that is often missing from day-to-day news accounts. Though he may have been, as former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein recently put it, one of those "small bore but dangerous" characters that seemed drawn to the Nixon presidency, his ilk is necessary to carry out the "big bore" designs, crazy as they may sometimes seem.
If there is a description of "American character" around which a consensus might gather, it would certainly include many of the qualities ascribed to Hunt: funny, high-spirited, acerbic, ambitious, loyal, aspiring to wealth and power. But there was always a dark side to Hunt, the side that apparently never questioned the "dirty tricks" tactics he first learned in the CIA and later used against President Nixon's political enemies. There was an amorality to his approach to service of country, which included his participation in the botched Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. He had a willingness to propagandize lies and to sabotage not only the truth but governments and individuals in America's undeclared wars.
This novelist of sorts and CIA agent for some 20 years organized a coup in Guatemala in 1954. It is a line that shows up in nearly all of the references to him. The allusion usually stops at that line, a bullet point on a resume, something CIA agents do. What is not normally spelled out is the fact that the United States was deeply involved in the coup, that it overthrew a duly elected, democratic government, that the coup set in motion the guerrilla movement in Latin America and that what followed for Guatemala was nearly four decades of brutal and bloody civil war. During much of that war, the United States knew precisely what was going on. For most of it we provided arms and trained the military and propped up as noble leaders the likes of Gen. Efraín Rios Montt, who oversaw a genocide of Mayans in the Guatemalan countryside. Human rights workers are still opening hidden, shallow graves. Approximately 200,000 Guatemalans were killed, mostly civilians, most by the government military and government-sanctioned death squads. Many of the victims were women and children.
Hunt, strangely enough, provides us with an illustration of what upsets us, of what we're willing to investigate. Hunt spent 33 months in jail for his role in the bungled scheme to wiretap the Democrats' Watergate headquarters.
No official that we know of, however, had ever suggested that he be prosecuted for his role in undermining a government.
Is that because a botched burglary is easier to grasp and prosecute? Or because as a society we give assent to subverting the Constitution and undermining democratic processes when those in authority deem it in our best interests?
In its obituary of Hunt, The New York Times noted: "He drew no distinction between orchestrating a black-bag job at a foreign embassy in Mexico City and wiretapping the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate complex. He recognized no lawful limit on presidential power, convinced that 'when the president does it,' as Nixon once said, 'that means it is not illegal.'"
Hunt's ethics echo loudly today and in brazenly new ways: Now the government secretly wiretaps citizens' phones, secretly delves into private bank records, spies on citizen library records, justifies the use of torture, holds prisoners without charge or promise of legal proceedings or representation, suspends the basic right of habeas corpus, and feels no need to explain itself or subject itself to scrutiny. It is all being done, we are told, in the best interests of citizens and of the country.
This is big bore stuff; no small bore characters need apply anymore. Hunt's ethics have risen to the top and gone global.
Contact
The Christophers
http://www.christophers.org
,
- ,
Keywords
We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.
Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.Help Now >
More Catholic PRWire
Showing 1 - 50 of 4,716
A Recession Antidote
Randy Hain
Monaco & The Vatican: Monaco's Grace Kelly Exhibit to Rome--A Review of Monegasque-Holy See Diplomatic History
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.
The Why of Jesus' Death: A Pauline Perspective
Jerom Paul
A Royal Betrayal: Catholic Monaco Liberalizes Abortion
Dna. Maria St.Catherine De Grace Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.
Embrace every moment as sacred time
Mary Regina Morrell
My Dad
JoMarie Grinkiewicz
Letting go is simple wisdom with divine potential
Mary Regina Morrell
Father Lombardi's Address on Catholic Media
Catholic Online
Pope's Words to Pontifical Latin American College
Catholic Online
Prelate: Genetics Needs a Conscience
Catholic Online
State Aid for Catholic Schools: Help or Hindrance?
Catholic Online
Scorsese Planning Movie on Japanese Martyrs
Catholic Online
2 Nuns Kidnapped in Kenya Set Free
Catholic Online
Holy See-Israel Negotiation Moves Forward
Catholic Online
Franchising to Evangelize
Catholic Online
Catholics Decry Anti-Christianity in Israel
Catholic Online
Pope and Gordon Brown Meet About Development Aid
Catholic Online
Pontiff Backs Latin America's Continental Mission
Catholic Online
Cardinal Warns Against Anti-Catholic Education
Catholic Online
Full Circle
Robert Gieb
Three words to a deeper faith
Paul Sposite
Relections for Lent 2009
chris anthony
Wisdom lies beyond the surface of life
Mary Regina Morrell
World Food Program Director on Lent
Catholic Online
Moral Clarity
DAN SHEA
Pope's Lenten Message for 2009
Catholic Online
A Prayer for Monaco: Remembering the Faith Legacy of Prince Rainier III & Princess Grace and Contemplating the Moral Challenges of Prince Albert II
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe
Keeping a Lid on Permissiveness
Sally Connolly
Glimpse of Me
Sarah Reinhard
The 3 stages of life
Michele Szekely
Sex and the Married Woman
Cheryl Dickow
A Catholic Woman Returns to the Church
Cheryl Dickow
Modernity & Morality
Dan Shea
Just a Minute
Sarah Reinhard
Catholic identity ... triumphant reemergence!
Hugh McNichol
Edging God Out
Paul Sposite
Burying a St. Joseph Statue
Cheryl Dickow
George Bush Speaks on Papal Visit
Catholic Online
Sometimes moving forward means moving the canoe
Mary Regina Morrell
Action Changes Things: Teaching our Kids about Community Service
Lisa Hendey
Easter... A Way of Life
Paul Spoisite
Papal initiative...peace and harmony!
Hugh McNichol
Proclaim the mysteries of the Resurrection!
Hugh McNichol
Jerusalem Patriarch's Easter Message
Catholic Online
Good Friday Sermon of Father Cantalamessa
Catholic Online
Papal Address at the End of the Way of the Cross
Catholic Online
Cardinal Zen's Meditations for Via Crucis
Catholic Online
Interview With Vatican Aide on Jewish-Catholic Relations
Catholic Online
Pope Benedict XVI On the Easter Triduum
Catholic Online
Holy Saturday...anticipation!
Hugh McNichol
Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.
-
Mysteries of the Rosary
-
St. Faustina Kowalska
-
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
-
Saint of the Day for Wednesday, Oct 4th, 2023
-
Popular Saints
-
St. Francis of Assisi
-
Bible
-
Female / Women Saints
-
7 Morning Prayers you need to get your day started with God
-
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Chaplain Reveals Unrest at Columbia University Caused by Communists
-
Discovering Who We Are: God's Truth in Scripture
-
Pope Francis Advises Parish Priests on Fostering a Missionary Church
-
5 Reasons Going To Church Is Important (even on days you feel like you can skip)
-
U.S. Catholic Parishes Experience Resurgence of Traditional Practices
Daily Catholic
- Daily Readings for Monday, May 06, 2024
- St. Dominic Savio: Saint of the Day for Monday, May 06, 2024
- Nurse's Prayer: Prayer of the Day for Monday, May 06, 2024
- Daily Readings for Sunday, May 05, 2024
- St. Hilary of Arles: Saint of the Day for Sunday, May 05, 2024
- Padre Nuestro - Our Father (Lord's Prayer): Prayer of the Day for Sunday, May 05, 2024
Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.