The source of global terrorism is to be found in US foreign policy

Obama said of the CIA agents killed in Afghanistan, "These brave Americans were part of a long line of patriots who have made great sacrifices for their fellow citizens, and for our way of life,"

"The United States would not be able to maintain the freedom and security that we cherish without decades of service from the dedicated men and women of the CIA."

and Leon Panetta says much of the same:  "those who fell ... were far from home and close to the enemy, doing the hard work that must be done to protect our country from terrorism."                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 The CIA has a historic record of interference in the affairs of other countries on behalf of US corporations, and kidnapping, assassinations (Lumumba, Walter Rodney, Rene Schneider, Allende) of any individuals that stood for democratic rights in their own countries and control over their own resources.  The CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt was sent to Iran and orchestrated the coup that overthrew the democratic secular regime of Mohammed Mossadegh and installed the murderous dictator Shah.  CIA agents were in Vietnam before troops laying the groundwork for the invasions that cost some three million Vietnamese lives and 70,000 US deaths. In the aftermath of the attacks of 911 thousands of innocent individuals have been kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured by the CIA. The Taliban are a brutal bunch of thugs to be sure, but it is not the Taliban's dictatorial and brutal rule that the US government finds objectionable; they are old chums and up until 1999 every Taliban official was on the its payroll.  It is the instability of the regime; they are not controllable, too out there with their brutality.  They are a hindrance to profit taking and an embarrassment to the regime in Washington that much prefers a more balanced and covert killing machine.

Left: Che Guevara: CIA victim
When Obama is talking about the CIA making sacrifices for "our way of life" he is talking about the lives of the bankers, speculators and other class brethren of his whose "way of life" has thrown millions of Americans out of work, out of their homes and in to prisons, and whose "way of life" includes the plunder and theft of the resources of the countries they occupy; whose way of life is the pursuit of profit above all else. Their way of life is to ensure that friendly governments are installed around the world that allow capital the right to exploit all in its path including keeping workers cheap and Unions at bay or passive partners of capital.

The CIA has been one of the main purveyors of narcotics on the planet.  Leon Panetta claims that the CIA are in Afghanistan to protect us from terrorists. This is a lie.  They are there to protect the interests of US corporations.

As Major General Smedley Buttler wrote in his book War is a Racket:

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."

He adds: "I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."