The Washington Post reports that the CIA had the horrible and pointless idea of making an Osama bin Laden action figure. The CIA recruited Donald Levine, the late CEO of Hasbro to make the doll.
“It appealed to [Levine] because it had nothing to do with actually hurting someone,” said a person familiar with his decision to get involved. “It was the softer side of the CIA.”
The agency approved the production of the gift items, which were put in backpacks for distribution — blue for boys and pink for girls.
There is nothing a kid wants more than a Satanic looking Osama bin Laden doll.
The stupidity of giving this action figure to children amazes me. Although, it is not certain if any children ever received the action figure. According to CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani, only three dolls were made. One is still housed at the CIA.
Republicans Lied About Contents of Benghazi Emails
This is what the media should do to political figures that feed bogus information for political purposes. I wished CBS News went a step further and publicly outed the congressional Republicans that were feeding was quote from the Benghazi emails.
Republicans told CBS News that deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes wrote this in an email. Republicans alleged that Rhodes was trying to protect the State Department and Sec. of State Hillary Clinton. This is the bogus quote congressional Republicans fed to CBS News.
"We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don't want to undermine the FBI investigation."
CBS News reports that Rhodes doesn't mention Clinton or the State Department in the actual email.
"We need to resolve this in a way that respects all of the relevant equities, particularly the investigation."
Republicans lied about the contents about an email by State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland. The CIA had asked the State Department to not reveal their role at the Benghazi consulate. The CIA was running operations out of the consulate. This is the actual Nuland email.
"The penultimate point could be abused by members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings."
At the request of the CIA, Nuland cut out mention of the CIA. Republicans made up a fake quote that gave the impression that the State Department was ignoring terrorist threat warnings from the CIA.
"The penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda's presence and activities of al-Qaeda."
This is an utter smear campaign by Republicans.
BACKGROUND: the CIA was running several different operations in Benghazi. David Petraeus' mistress, Paula Broadwell, was being briefed by the CIA. Broadwell even had classified CIA materials. After the affair became public, Broadwell's house was searched by the FBI. What was more disturbing is Broadwell publicly talking about the Benghazi annex.
"Now I don't know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually -- had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back. So that's still being vetted," she said.
David Brooks has an excellent op-ed defending his friend Nuland. Brooks also points out that Benghazi was mainly a CIA operation.
Remember, this was at a moment when the State Department was taking heat for what was mostly a C.I.A. operation, while doing verbal gymnastics to hide the C.I.A.’s role. Intentionally or not, the C.I.A. seemed to be repaying the favor by trying to shift blame to the State Department for ignoring intelligence.
Brooks goes on to point out the under-reported fact that Petraeus gave Congressional lawmakers the anti-Muslim video talking points. The question should also be why is a CIA director for a Democratic administration giving Republican lawmakers talking points. Brooks reports that Nuland was asking the same question.
On Friday evening of Sept. 14, the updated talking points were e-mailed to the relevant officials in various departments, including Nuland. She wondered why the C.I.A. was giving members of Congress talking points that were far more assertive than anything she could say or defend herself. She also noted that the talking points left the impression that the C.I.A. had issued all sorts of warnings before the attack.
Remember, this was at a moment when the State Department was taking heat for what was mostly a C.I.A. operation, while doing verbal gymnastics to hide the C.I.A.’s role. Intentionally or not, the C.I.A. seemed to be repaying the favor by trying to shift blame to the State Department for ignoring intelligence.
The whole scandal started by Republicans attacking the false administration reports that Ambassador Chris Stevens death was related to protests over an anti-Muslim video. David Petraeus gave his mistress classified intelligence and Congress horrible talking points. Obama's biggest fault in the Benghazi saga is appointing someone as incompetent as Petraeus.
If Joe Scarborough doesn't know how to use Google than Politico should fact-check his columns. Scarborough rightly comes out against President Barack Obama's use of drone strikes. Scarborough uses his column to attack the Left for being against President Bush's torture policies, but supporting drone strike. I agree that there are people on the Left that have been silent on the drone strike issue. Scarborough veers off in his column and picks an unlikely target.
"Where are the ladies of Code Pink?" Scarborough wrote.
Well Joe, Medea Benjamin published the book "Drone Warfare: Killing By Remote Control." You can buy it on Amazon.com. Another Google search reveals that Code Pink staged several anti-drone strikes protests in Pakistan. Below is a video of Medea Benjamin being interviewed in Islamabad.
Code Pink has been in Pakistan. Scarborough could have found that out if he bothered to use Google. Scarborough is too intellectually lazy to fact-check his own work.
Scarborough spends the rest of the article defending torture. I can feel my brain cells exploding reading the rest of Scarborough's prose.
As I have said repeatedly, Americans should continue to debate the moral dilemmas caused by interrogation techniques but there is no debate that the techiques used on the Al Qaeda terrorists not only worked, but also been used on thousands of our own military members in SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) courses run by various services. Any graduate of basic training at Paris Island or Fort Benning will probably tell you that what many now consider "torture" (harsh treatment, sleep deprivation or dietry manipulation) is simply a day in the life of a U.S. military basic trainee.
The SERE program was created to teach military personal how to survive against torture. Scarborough fails to understand that simple fact. The techniques used by the CIA "a day in the life" of a soldier. Manadel Al-Jamadi was tortured to death in Abu Ghraib. A Google search would have provided Scarborough with that information. Al-Jamadi's dead body is where Lynndie England took the infamous thumbs up photo. Does ending up in a body bag look like a day in the life of a military trainee to you?
Rep. Bill Young was briefed by acting CIA Director Michael Morell. What Young said was not encouraging.
"I still don't know where this goes. I have a concern that it might go far deeper than we think. Not the personal issue but the issue as it relates to intelligence and national defense," Young said in an interview Tuesday night.
Young cannot talk about his briefing with Morell. What could be getting the attention of the CIA is Paula Broadwell's comments on Benghazi. Broadwell claimed the attack was a reprisal for the CIA taken two Libyan militia members as prisoners.
"Now I don't know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually -- had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back. So that's still being vetted," she said.
That was not reported at the time. The CIA is unlikely to ever confirm such an operation. Another sign that Broadwell received classified information is from the FBI search of her computer.
The contents of the classified material and how Broadwell acquired it remain under investigation, said the officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to comment publicly. But the quantity of classified material found on the computer was significant enough to warrant a continuing investigation, the">ad officials told Reuters.
Petraeus was interviewed today and denied he gave Broadwell access to classified information. Broadwell admitted to the FBI that she stole documents. What I would like to know is how Broadwell got a security clearance and only had it revoked after the affair became public.
This is part of the letter that CIA director Leon Panetta sent to Sen. John McCain. Panetta told McCain that torture was not the deciding factor in the gathering of intelligence of Osama bin Laden's location. Panetta told McCain that some detainees tortured did give intelligence relating to bin Laden's whereabouts. Other detainees that were tortured repeatedly lied to interogators. Panetta concluded that torture did not play a role in providing Osama bin Laden's whereabouts.
"Nearly 10 years of intensive intelligence work led the CIA to conclude that Bin Ladin was likely hiding at the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. There was no one 'essential and indispensible' [sic] key piece of information that led us to this conclusion. Rather, the intelligence picture was developed via painstaking collection and analysis. Multiple streams of intelligence — including from detainees, but also from multiple other sources — led CIA analysts to conclude that Bin Ladin was at this compound. Some of the detainees who provided useful information about the facilitator/courier's role had been subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. Whether those techniques were the 'only timely and effective way' to obtain such information is a matter of debate and cannot be established definitively. What is definitive is that that information was only a part of multiple streams of intelligence that led us to Bin Ladin.
"Let me further point out that we first learned about the facilitator/courier's nom de guerre from a detainee not in CIA custody in 2002. It is also important to note that some detainees who were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques attempted to provide false or misleading information about the facilitator/courier. These attempts to falsify the facilitator/courier's role were alerting.
"In the end, no detainee in CIA custody revealed the facilitator/courier's full true name or specific whereabouts. This information was discovered through other intelligence means."
Disgraced Republicans don't leave politics. They are just recycled. The latest example is Former CIA director Porter Goss. Incoming Agricultural commissioner Adam Putnam named Goss a member of his transition team.
Goss had to resign from the CIA after the hookers poker parties broke. One attendee of the party was Brent Wilkes. Mr. Wilkes was convicted of 13 felonies involving former Congressman Duke Cunningham. The convictions involve money laundering and related charges stemming from briding Cunningham. Wilkes is now serving 12 years in federal prison.
Another fun fact: Wilkes was involved in the Tom Delay scandal.
Another attendee at the hookers poker parties was Kyle Foggo. He was Goss's deputy at the CIA. Foggo is currently being investigated by the CIA Inspector General, the FBI, IRS, Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the San Diego U.S. Attorney's office. Foggo and Wilkes are longtime friends. Forgo was charged in the Duke Cunningham case with Wilkes. Charges were later dropped.
Goss wasn't even a competent director. Morale slipped at the CIA under Goss's watch The New York Times paints a stark picture.
Current and former intelligence officials say considerable turmoil remains within the agency, particularly within the directorate of operations, which is responsible for human spying around the world. The directorate's No. 2 official, Robert Richer, has become the most recent high-ranking official to announce his departure, and he told officials at the White House and in the C.I.A. that he had lost confidence in Goss.
Putnam's judgement should be seriously questioned for having Goss on his transition team.
Note to Kenneth Quinnell: this is what it means to support the public option. The Huffington Post reports Speaker Nancy Pelosi guarantees the public option will be in the House bill.
"I fully support the public option. The public option will be in the bill that passes the House," Pelosi (D-Calif.) said purposefully.
Ryan Grim notes Pelosi isn't happy about the deal the White House made with big PHARMA.
"We have different things in our bill. We have the right to negotiate rates in the Energy and Commerce [Committee] bill," Pelosi told the Huffington Post after the briefing. "The Senate bill does not close the doughnut hole. We do," she added, referring to the period of time when Medicare does not cover prescription medicine for seniors. "And so we have some differences on those issues that relate to prescription drugs."
Pelosi is promising the public option in the House version of the bill. It is hard for Pelosi to walk back from such a bold promise. Pelosi did no guarantee that Medicare would be able to negotiate for cheaper prescription drugs. The "Energy and Commerce bill" remark comes off as a diss to the White House.
The Obama administration refused to back Pelosi when she accused the CIA of lying in their briefings to her. CIA Director Leon Panetta later admitted the agency did lie to Congress about waterboarding. Obama praises Charles Grassley after the Senator accuses the President of supporting death panels. Obama will not back the Speaker of his own party. What an atrocious way to do business.
And then when you see, you know Obama has used — the most pathetic thing is to say, gee, well, we were involved in 1953 — 1953! This is an extremely young society. You think those demonstrators are thinking, well, we hope the U.S. stays out because they were involved in 1953? That's total nonsense.
Barnes then declares inside knowledge to the collective memories of the Iranian people.
POWERS: I think there is a history there.
BARNES: 1953?
POWERS: They do remember the United States meddling.
BARNES: No, they don't.
Barnes doesn't seem to have a problem remembering 1953 Iranian coup d’état engineered by the CIA on President Eisenhower's orders. The Democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq. The Prime Minister nationalize Iran's oil industry. The British wanted the oil and unsuccessful attempting to overthrow Mosaddeq. The British imposed an embargo.
The Shah and Mosaddeq had a fallout over the contol of the military. Mosaddeq resigned and protesters took to the streets. Three days later Mosaddeq would be back in office.
The West interfering with Iran's oil revenue and political process. Barnes is a fool if he believes Irans won't remember their own country's history.
Conservative columnist George Will explains how short sighted the neoconservative criticism President Obama is.
WILL: The president is being roundly criticized for insufficient, rhetorical support for what’s going on over there. It seems to me foolish criticism. The people on the streets know full well what the American attitude toward the regime is. And they don’t need that reinforced.
Matthew Yglesias asks if conservatives understand torture. Judging by comments from my blog they haven't bothered to read the memos. I wrote the post "Why We Should Care About Torture." A commenter named James argued deprivation is not torture. A memo by Steven Bradbury of the Office of Legal Council argued sleep deprivation would not inflict pain. Bradbury cited Prof. James Horne's book "Why We Sleep: The Functions of Sleep in Humans and Other Mammals." The memo admits the paticipants of Horne's sleep experiments were "free to move about and engage in normal activities." Horne's experiments were being used as a defensive cover for torture. The memos admits "important differences" between Horne's study and CIA interrogations.
We understand from OMS, and from our review of the literature on the physiology of sleep, that even very extended sleep deprivation does not cause physical pain, let alone severe. physical pain." "The longest studies of sleep deprivation in humans, .. [involved) volunteers [who were deprived of sleep for g to 11 days" .. Surprisingly, tittle seemed to go wrong with the subjects physically. The main effects lay with sleepiness and impaired brain functioning, but even these were no great cause for concern." James Horne, "Why We Sleep: The Functions of Sleep in Humans and Other Mammals" 23-24 (1988) ("Why We Sleep") (footnote omitted).. We note that there are important differences between steep deprivation as an interrogation technique used by the CIA and the controlled experiments documented in the literature. The subjects of the experiments were free to move about and engage in normal activities and often led a "tranquil existence" with "plenty of time for relaxation," See iii. at 24,
Blogger Hizroy contacted Horne. The Professor remarks extended sleep deprivation during interrogation "possible trauma, even blood loss." Horne expresses doubt that sleep deprivation could produce useful information from detainees.
With additional stresses as in ‘coercive techniques’, the situation for the sleep deprived victim becomes deplorable, as the mind and brain under these circumstances trigger the body’s defences to create a physiological ‘alarm reaction’ whereby, for example, various stress coping hormones are mobilised and prepare the body for possible trauma, even blood loss. I emphasise that this alarm reaction is not present under ‘pure sleep loss’ as I have just described. Prolonged stress with sleep deprivation will lead to a physiological exhaustion of the body’s defence mechanisms, physical collapse, and with the potential for various ensuing illnesses. We don’t know at what point this latter phase would be reached with ‘coercive techniques’, but to claim that 180 hours is safe in these respects, is nonsense. Moreover, whereas physical pain may not be particularly apparent even at this stage, the mental pain would be all too evident, and arguably worse than physical pain.
Even if one was to be pragmatic and claim that this form of sleep deprivation produced ‘desired results’, I would doubt whether the state of mind would be able to produce credible information, unaffected by delusion, fantasy or suggestibility.
Conservatives are willfully ignorant about the true implications of torture. Conservatives spents years denying the United States tortures. Now they say torture produces good intelligences. Even Dick Cheney is having problems citing instances where torture produced valuable intelligence. The only argument conservatives have left is an "eye-for-an-eye" justice.
"The idea that torture doesn't work — that's been put out from John McCain on down — You know, for the longest time McCain said torture doesn't work then he admitted in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last summer that he was broken by North Vietnamese. So what are we to think here?"
John McCain had three broken limbs from rejecting from his airplane. McCain gave a bogus confession and told his NVA captors that his father was a Naval Admiral. The confession was used of propaganda purposes. McCain would have died if he didn't submit. Limbaugh wants America to use the same methods as the NVA.
How conservatives love moving the goal posts. Limbaugh once denied the United States used violence against detainees. His defense of Abu Ghraib was indefensible.
You know, if you look at -- if you, really, if you look at these pictures, I mean, I don't know if it's just me, but it looks just like anything you'd see Madonna, or Britney Spears do on stage. Maybe I'm -- yeah. And get an NEA grant for something like this. I mean, this is something that you can see on stage at Lincoln Center from an NEA grant, maybe on Sex in the City -- the movie. I mean, I don't -- it's just me.
Does the corpse of Manadel al-Jamadi's look like an episode of Sex in the City? The interrogated by the CIA lasted 30 minutes. An autopsy ruled the death was murder.
The Navy SEALs and CIA washed the body clean of forensic evidence.
According to Spc. Jason Kenner, an M.P. with the 372nd Military Police Company, al-Jamadi was brought to the prison by U.S. Navy SEALs in good health; Kenner says he saw that al-Jamadi looked extensively bruised when he was brought out of the showers, dead. According to Kenner a "battle" took place among CIA and military interrogators over who should dispose of the body.
The only way conservatives can forward their arguments in favor of torture is by submitting bogus facts. Bodies physically beaten to death are not on display at Madonna concerts. Limbaugh, Bill Kristol and Sean Hannity do not have the moral courage to say they support hanging al-jamadi by razor wire and Navy Seals beating him to death within a half hour's time. No due process. No valuable intelligence gathered from al-jamadi. People in the national security apparatus should be allowed to beat and imprison whomever they choose and answer to no one. This is governing from fear. Franklin Roosevelt said during his first inaugural address, "Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself." The Bush administration made fear into policy.
This is a jaw dropping exchange between Anderson Cooper and former White House Press Sec. Ari Fleischer.
COOPER: Ari, was President Bush lying when he said, we do not torture?
FLEISCHER: No, I don't think he was lying.
COOPER: Was he telling the truth?
FLEISCHER: Yes. I think that it depends, again, on things that none of us were privy to, that none of us saw, that none of us know.
COOPER: If what they did was -- was right and -- and correct and legal, why did they destroy the evidence? Why did they destroy the videotapes?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: They destroyed the videotapes of two people being tortured, water-boarded, more than 100 times.
FLEISCHER: I think that's a fair question. And I think the CIA destroys a lot of things. They -- they typically like to destroy as much things as they can. That's a matter of procedure at the CIA, not only on this, but on a host of...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Porter Goss, I think, head of the CIA, specifically did not want those tapes destroyed. And, yet, they were.
FLEISCHER: Well, and that's why I said I think that's a fair question. I think it's a matter of CIA routine procedure to destroy a lot of things. And, sometimes, they go too far, get themselves in trouble for it.
People can draw their own conclusions on why the C.I.A. destroyed 92 videotapes. If a drug gang or mafia destroyed evidence prosecuters would use that information to charge the leaders of criminal conspiracy. The cover up is what got the Watergate Seven and Lewis "Scooter" Libby convicted. The destruction of the videotapes hurt the Bush administration.
I'm not sure the Bush people should publicly defend waterboarding and say President Barack Obama is endangering America. Obama didn't have the stomach to prosecute. Dick Cheney and other former Bush officials attacked Obama on on the cable talk shows. Moveon.org, Firedoglake and Daily Kos pressured Obama to prosecute. Obama slightly retracted his earlier position of no prosecution of Bush officials.
Cheney badly miscalculated against Obama. Cheney will lose if he fights Obama in the political arena. The same way Hillary Clinton and John McCain lost. George W. Bush had enough sense to maintain a low profile. Cheney is a Vice-President so unpopular that he was not invited to the Republican Nation Convention. Democrats maintain control of both houses of Congress. Cheney has no political collateral. His surrogates Ari Fleischer and Michael Hayden have less. The smart move for Cheney would have been to keep his mouth shut and work a backroom deal with the Justice Department. Cheney isn't that smart.
Obama can turn the heat on Bush administration officials involved with torture and take the economy on the front page. Republicans will play defense for a highly unpopular President and Vice-President. The GOP is tanking in the polls and fighting amongst the moderates and red meat conservatives. Prosecuting the John Yoo isn't going to hurt Obama's approval ratings. If Republicans want to run on waterboarding in 2010 and 2012 the Democrats will win. Guaranteed.
The C.I.A. waterboarded Abu Zubaydah a minimum of 83 times in August of 2002. Khalid Sheik Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003. Firedoglake blogger Marcy Wheeler broke the latter story before the New York Times. Wheeler found information about Mohammed's waterboarding from a C.I.A. memo sent to John Rizzo, Senior Deputy Council for the C.I.A. Rizzo was involved with the C.I.A. secret prisons. His nomination for CIA general counsel was killed in the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The memo makes clear former C.I.A. Director George Tenet had to approve all uses of waterboarding.
Any interrogation plan that involves the use of enhanced techniques must be reviewed and approved by "the Director, DCI Counterterrorism Center, with the concurrence Chief, CTC Legal Group."
The memo admits Zubaydah and Mohammed were waterboarded.
Consistent with its heightened standard for the use of waterboarding, the CIA has used this technique in the interrogation of only three detainees to date (KSM, Zubaydah and 'Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri) and has not been used since the March 2003 interrogation of KSM.
The damning evidence is on page 37.
The CIA used the waterboard "at least 83 times during August 2002" in the interrogation of Zubaydah. IG Report at 90, and 183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM, see id. at 91.
The memo mostly attempts the legally justify pure torture. Anyone that doesn't think waterboarding is torture should try it. George Tenet approved this. How long until Tenet starts passing the buck to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney?
President Barack Obama spoke at the C.I.A. Langley headquarters. The President promised not to prosecute or release the identity of operatives involved in waterboarding.
"You are an indispensable tool, the tip of the spear in America's international mission and our national security," Obama said. "I will be as vigorous in protecting you as you are in protecting the American people."
He acknowledged that "the last few days have been difficult" and said he would continue to fight to keep classified documents secret. But he defended his administration's decision to release select documents last week, saying much of the information in them was already public knowledge.
"I acted primarily because of the exceptional circumstances that surrounded these memos," Obama said.
Releasing the memos will put pressure on Obama to prosecute people. Former C.I.A. Director Michael Hayden has repeatedly attacked Obama. Hayden is obviously nervous. Hayden's argument that terrorsts weren't aware of C.I.A. interrogation methods before the memos were released. That is garbage. Hayden is covering his ass.
This is the same Hayden that told he didn't know if waterboarding was illegal.
It [waterboarding] is not included in the current program, and in my own view, the view of my lawyers and the Department of Justice, it is not certain that that technique would be considered to be lawful under current statute.
I have doubts only three detainees were waterboarded. A 2005 ABC News story details waterboarding and other tortures methods at an secret Afghanistan prison. Hayden told Congress only Zubaydah, Mohammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded. What is going on is Hayden knowingly perjured himself to Congress. I doubt Hayden will get charged for perjury. Hayden isn't so confident.
If waterboarded was safe and legal then why did the Bush administration lie about their interrogation methods for years? The Bush administration either suffered from a collective pathological lying disorder or were afraid of criminal indictments.
Update:Emily Bazelon proposes disbarment for David Addington, Alberto Gonzales and Jim Haynes. I would add Rizzo and Rizzo and John Yoo. How can Obama be able to argue these men shouldn't disbarred?
Update:John McCain criticizes Obama for releasing the memos. (Still testy about the election.) McCain does state waterboarding is morally wrong.
It's unacceptable. It's unacceptable. One is too much. Waterboarding is torture, period. I can ensure you that once enough physical pain is inflicted on someone, they will tell that interrogator whatever they think they want to hear. And most importantly, it serves as a great propaganda tool for those who recruit people to fight against us. And I've seen concrete examples of that talking to former high-ranking al-Qaeda individuals in Iraq.
Update:Batocchio has a lengthy must read piece on David Rivkin's defense of waterboarding.
OBAMA IS BACKTRACKING ON CLOSING GUANTANAMO BAY any time soon. Apparently he’s concluded that it’s not as easy as it sounded back during the campaign.
The Associated Press reports President-elect Barack Obama will close Guantanamo Bay the first week of his administration. Obama will use an executive order to issue the closing of the detainee facility.
My take continues to be Obama is committed to closing Guantanamo Bay. Obama sees Gitmo as a political and civil liberties disaster. Sec. of Defense Robert Gates lobbied to close Gitmo since 2007. Gates has a President-elect that will allow him to implement his policy.
Glenn Greenwald is upset Obama isn't closing Guantanamo Bay the first day of the administration.
As Talk Left's Jeralyn Merritt documents, Obama today rather clearly stated that he will not close Guantanamo in the first 100 days of his presidency. He recited the standard Jack Goldsmith/Brookings Institution condescending excuse that closing Guantanamo is "more difficult than people realize." Specifically, Obama argued, we cannot release detainees whom we're unable to convict in a court of law because the evidence against them is "tainted" as a result of our having tortured them, and therefore need some new system -- most likely a so-called new "national security court" -- that "relaxes" due process safeguards so that we can continue to imprison people indefinitely even though we're unable to obtain an actual conviction in an actual court of law.
There is no question many innocent men were sold to the CIA by Afghan tribal lords and Pakistani officials. Corrupt men sold other men to the CIA for quick cash. That doesn't mean Gitmo doesn't have dangerous terrorists. Obama can't release these men. Prosecution is difficult because of confessions given under torture. Greenwald too easy dismisses the dilemma facing Obama.
Greenwald knows Obama appointed Dawn Johnsen to the Office of Legal Counsel. Greenwald called the appointment "may be Obama's best yet." Johnsen wrote a Slate op-ed condemning the OLC authorizing the White House to use torture in interrogations.
I want to second Dahlia's frustration with those who don't see the newly released Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) torture memo as a big deal. Where is the outrage, the public outcry?! The shockingly flawed content of this memo, the deficient processes that led to its issuance, the horrific acts it encouraged, the fact that it was kept secret for years and that the Bush administration continues to withhold other memos like it--all demand our outrage.
Obama is surrounding himself with people against torture. What Greenwald and Jeralyn Merritt want Obama to be confrontational. That is not Obama's style. Obama will never be John Conyers or Howard Dean. Obama will use popularism to pass his agenda. That is how he got elected. That is how he will govern and it will drive progressives crazy.
I don't see Leon Panetta being nominated as CIA Director. Obama could have picked someon like Bob Kerrey, the former Goveror and Senator of Nebraska. I read Panetta's name and literally laughed. MSNBC pundit Chuck Todd believed Diane Feinstein made it clear she would not back Panetta's nomination.
“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein , D-Calif., who will chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the 111th Congress, in a written statement. “My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”
The Obama people selected Panetta without running it by the Chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee. Are these people batshit insane? Panetta has admirable qualities. His resume isn't going to convince the Senate he should be the next CIA Director.
Update:Ben Smith reports the inside mood of the CIA is against Panetta becoming director. It doesn't take a magic 8 ball to see the Panetta nomination was a bad idea.
John McCain has been on his self-rightous soapbox for so long that one wonders if he really believes his own bullshit. McCain has billed himself as a straight-talker unyielding to political influence. Perhaps the self-professed Maverick can explain why he voted against banning the CIA's use of waterboarding.
McCain said that while he remains opposed to waterboarding, "We always supported allowing the CIA to use extra measures."
We? Polls show the majority of the American people no longer support torture. The television show 24 is having a difficult time getting guest stars and ratings are tanking. Even the world of make believe doesn't support torture.
McCain's story of being a Vietnam POW is well-known. The Maverick has gotten on every talk show to condemn the United State's use of the Orwellian-sounding enhanced techniques. McCain comes within sniffing distance of the White House and now he "always supported" torture. Did McCain have a sudden change of heart and think drowning people is a neat idea or was the Maverick just using torture as an opportunity to cynically get face time on television? Please tell us Senator. You can't be both for and against waterboarding. Even President Bush has shown more techniques in his heartless defense of torture.
"If we've got somebody that we think can tell us where a nuclear bomb is planted in an American city, then I want the president to be able to authorize that to be used," he said of waterboarding, a method that makes an interrogation subject feel he is drowning.
Lieberman added that while waterboarding is a "terrifying experience," the victim "is in no real danger" because "the impact is psychological."
The second part is telling. Lieberman thinks people don't get hurt from waterboarding and other enhanced methods. The image to the left is from Abu Ghraib. We see that a man is strapped to be waterboarded.
The death of Manadel Jamadi occured Abu Ghraib. He was hung like a raw meat and bleeded to death. Eight Navy SEALs received administrative punishment for Jamadi's murders. The same level of punishment for someone inproperly filing paperwork. The infamous Charles Graner and Lynndie England posed photos over Jamadi's body. Jamadi's interrogation was supervised by CIA operative Mark Swanner. A man who did his best to cover up his less than patriot handywork Paris Hilton did more jail time than Swanner.
"We always supported allowing the CIA to use extra measures."
"It is a routine act that the CIA undertakes even when they know no violation has occurred," said attorney Mark Zaid, who represents former CIA official John Kiriakou.
Zaid could legally argue that Kiriakou is a whistleblower and use the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to defend his client. No employer is allowed to break the law. CIA employees sign agreements not to release classified information. The Justice Department could argue Kiriakou endangered national security. The courts lean heavily towards the federal government on national security matters.
The question that bothers me is why did Kiriakou go public? He supports waterboarding. I heard some people theorize that the CIA put him out as an unofficial spokesman. I don't see how that helps the CIA or the White House. Maybe Kiriakou wants to bag a book deal. Anyone have any ideas why he went public?
CIA Director Michael Hayden confirms that the agency waterboarded detainees Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim Nashiri. Former CIA officer John Kiriakou told the media he supervised in the waterboarding of Abu Zabaydah. Kiriakou told MSNBC host Dan Abrams the White House was aware that Zabaydah was tortured. The CIA destroyed tapes of the detainees of being waterboarded.
Abrams: So do you believe the White House ultimately knew that he was being waterboared?
Kiriakou: Absolutely.
President Bush repeatly denied that the administration was torturing suspects. When pressed about waterboarding, Bush would say he didn't want the enemy to know about interrogation techniques. That is a disingenuous way of the President not giving a yes or no answer. Astronauts on the International Space Station are likely aware that the United States waterboards.
This is the same President whom Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Scott McClellan publicly stated was involved in the leaking and cover up of Valerie Plame's CIA covert status. Bush has no respect for classified information. He is hiding behind secrecy to protect himself from criminal prosecution.
Does anyone really believe Bush has the same difficulty understanding the meaning of waterboarding that Bill Clinton had with the word "is?" Politicians use the stupidity excuse when they are in legal trouble. I doubt Bush will be prosecuted for torture.
After all the deception, Hayden is pleading with Congress not to make a law forbidding waterboarding. The Director uses fearmongering to get his message across.
"One should not expect them to play outside the box because we've entered a new period of threat or danger to the nation, OK? So there's no wink and nod here," he said. "If you create the box, we will play inside the box without exception."
Terrorists aren't the only groups guilty of playing outside the box. The White House still hasn't come clean about secret prisons and the kidnapping of MaherArar. The Canadian citizen was taken to Syria by the CIA. The Syrian government tortured him. Maher was finally released by Syria and cleared by the Canadian government. Maher was abducted because he had a similar name to a person on the CIA's terrorist watchlist. The Bush administration refuses to comment on the Maher case. The reason is because it is (you guessed it) classified.
Lobbyists for Viacom helped the producers of the film retain retired CIA agent and "countererrorism expert", John Kiriakou, according an Oct 4 article in the International Herald Tribune--before Kirkakou went public about his career as a torturer.
Kirkakou was hired the help the production crew of the motion picture The Kite Runner. Kirkakou is familiar with the Afghanistan region. Below is two videos of Kirkakou discussing the destruction of the torture tapes and waterboarding of Abu Zabaydah.
Kiriakou tells Dan Abrams he is positive that the White House knew that Zabaydah was waterboarded.
So who did the CIA turn to for help with “enhanced interrogation”? It was either the military or former military working as contractors. Why? Because the military did train interrogators at Fort Huachuca and they were familiar with enhanced interrogation methods, including waterboarding.
My money is on contractors. The Military does not want to be involved in interrogations after Abu Ghraib. Contractors are not under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
White House Press Secretary Dan Perino can't comment on why interrogation tapes were destroyed because the CIA is gathering facts. CIA Director Michael Hayden is gathering facts for destoying evidence? WTF.
Perino says the White House is supportive of Hayden's decision. Why gather facts for tapes the White House and Hayden admit should have been destroyed? This is a cover story.
The CIA admitted to destroying videotape of of interrogation of two Al Qaeda suspects. The Agency destroyed the tapes in 2005 out of fear of potential criminal prosecution. If that isn't a tipoff that the CIA and White House is violated the law then I don't know what is. The CIA would not have destroyed the tapes if they weren't concerned that their actions qualified as torture. The Geneva Conventions (which the United States signed) is quite clear on this.
To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) Taking of hostages;
(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
The Bush administration has violated all of these rules. Children have been held prisoner. Khaled El-Masri was illegally kidnapped. Alberto Gonzales contends that there is no express right to habeas corpus. The White House has maintained that violated our rights is to keep us safe. You can guess how CIA Director Michael Hayden explains why evidence was destroyed.
General Hayden said in a statement that leaders of Congressional oversight committees were fully briefed on the matter, but some Congressional officials said notification to Congress had not been adequate.
"This is a matter that should have been briefed to the full Intelligence Committee at the time," an official with the House Intelligence Committee said. "This does not appear to have been done. There may be a very logical reason for destroying records that are no longer needed; however, this requires a more complete explanation. "
Hayden's statement doesn't pass the bullshit test. The 9-11 Commission asked if such tapes existed. The CIA never handed any tapes over Philip D. Zelikow, never knew of the tapes existence.
"The commission did formally request material of this kind from all relevant agencies, and the commission was assured that we had received all the material responsive to our request," said Philip D. Zelikow, who served as executive director of the Sept. 11 commission and later as a senior counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The policy of the Bush administration is deny, cover up, get caught, lie and repeat cycle. Nothing they say should be taken at face value.
The Washington Post reports that the CIA had the horrible and pointless idea of making an Osama bin Laden action figure. The CIA recruited Donald Levine, the late CEO of Hasbro to make the doll.
