John Brennan

Drone strikes

Claiming there were no collateral deaths...3 months after 42 Pakistani civilians were killed [1]

'I can tell you about the operations that the U.S has been involved in in the past year, there has not been a single collateral death.' (6/29/2011) [2]

TBIJ noted: "[J]ust three months beforehand, a major US drone strike had killed 42 Pakistanis, most of them civilians. As well as being widely reported by the media at the time, Islamabad’s concerns regarding those deaths were also directly conveyed to the ‘highest levels of the Administration’ by Washington’s then-ambassador to Pakistan, it has been confirmed to the Bureau." [3]

Backtracking on CIA Senate hacking accusations

Falsely claiming the CIA did not access Senate computers

'As far as the allegations of the CIA hacking into Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth, ... We wouldn’t do that. I mean, that’s just beyond the, you know, the scope of reason in terms of what we do.' (4/11/2014) [4]

...Then attempting to backtrack by claiming hacking was the wrong word

'At the Council of Foreign Relations, Andrea Mitchell said: “Did, in fact, CIA officers hack into the Senate computers to thwart the investigation on detention and interrogation?” “Thwart the investigation?” “Hacking in?” No, we did not. And I said, that’s beyond that scope of reason. [5]

Abbotobad Operation

Lying about Osama having a weapon

'... [Osama was] engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in.' (5/3/2011) [6]

...Despite the Obama administration clarifying that 'Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed.' [7]

Extraordinary rendition

Supporting the practise

'I think it’s an absolutely vital tool. I have been intimately familiar now over the past decade with the cases of rendition that the U.S. Government has been involved in.' (12/5/2005) [8]

Torture

Strongly advocating for torture

'There have been a lot of information that has come out from these interrogation procedures that the agency has in fact used against the real hard-core terrorists.' (November 2011) [9]

...but also stating the total opposite

'But let me be clear. We have not concluded that it was the use of EIT (Enhanced Interrogation Techique)'s within that program that allowed us to obtain useful information from detainees subjected to them.' [10]

It’s About the Lying: On John Brennan, the CIA, and Torture https://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/08/01/its-about-lying-john-brennan-cia-and-torture