Gitmo as OUR Recruitment Tool
The NYT is out with another report of the Pentagon stat that 14% of those released after being held in Gitmo subsequently engaged in terrorism.
An unreleased Pentagon report concludes that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity, according to administration officials.
Goss Won't Elaborate on Torture Techniques that "Were To Be Employed"
Greg Sargent tries to pin down Porter Goss on his weasely statement that Nancy Pelosi should have known that torture techniques "were to be employed." But Goss declined to be pinned down further.
Senator Bob Graham Clarifies His Briefing
Bob Graham clarified that, in addition to the Office of Congressional Affairs, there were others in his September 2002 briefing purportedly on torture.
Obama "Looks Forward" on Financial Fraud, Too
Obama just issued a signing statement that seems to reflect a desire to "look forward" on financial fraud in teh same way he's looking forward on all Bush's abuse of power.
John Durham's Torture Tape Documents
Jason Leopold reported on and posted a late update to the ongoing torture tape FOIA exchange. If I read the latest exchange correctly, Special Prosecutor John Durham is at least identifying--and potentially making available through FOIA--a number of recent documents on the torture tape destruction.
Today's letter does two things. First, it withdraws John Durham's objection to Judge Hellerstein's order that:
The government shall produce documents relating to the destruction of the
Yet Another Error in the CIA Briefing List
We've now discovered errors in 7 of the 40 briefings listed in the CIA briefing list.
Issa: Waaahhhh! Dems All Reminding Us of Lies CIA Told in 2002!
Darrell Issa got schooled by Tweety, who saw through Issa's latest grandstanding attempt to smear Pelosi. More interesting, though, is the accusation Issa refers to--Paul Kanjorski's allegation that CIA trumped up photos of "Iraq UAVs" to add to the case for war.
Levin: Send Those Terrorists to My Backyard
Carl Levin (Senator Levin--congrats for casting your 11,000th vote yesterday!) has come up with a sound suggestion to help close Gitmo: send them to MI.
Most lawmakers view the prospect of moving prisoners from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to their districts as a negative proposition. But at least one Democratic senator is open to the idea as a potential economic boost to his struggling state.
Scrapple and Pelosi
Yes, I'm glad that Arlen "the Scrapple formerly known as Haggis" Specter has come out in support of Nancy Pelosi's suggestion that CIA misled her in her September 2002 briefing.
"The CIA has a very bad record when it comes to — I was about to say 'candid'; that's too mild — to honesty," Specter, a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a lunch address to the American Law
April 13, 2002; May 6, 2002, May 20, 2002; May 23, 2002; May 28, 2002; August 4, 2002; August 11, 2002
April 13, 2002; May 6, 2002, May 20, 2002; May 23, 2002; May 28, 2002...
Those are some of the most important dates from from the log of "all contemporaneous and derivitive records" on Abu Zubaydah's interrogation from 2002.
Here's why they're important.
April 13, 2002: This is the first date, the CIA claims, for which it has any records.
The CIA Won't Give Abu Zubaydah His Own Diaries
The government is withholding key volumes from Abu Zubaydah's diaries, which not only would reveal he was critical of 9/11, but that he was tortured at the hands of the CIA.
Mark Your Schedules
I'm working on stuff that will post later this PM. But in the meantime, I wanted to draw your attention to two upcoming events.
First, on Friday, May 22, at 10:45 AM ET, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse will be joining us at the front page for a chat. He'll be here for 45 minutes, and Senators' schedules are always subject to change, but be sure to think of questions and mark your schedule
Torture Appropriations
The discrepancy over whether an appropriations staffer attended a particular briefing or not may be no big deal. Or it may be a very big deal.
The CIA's Comedy of Briefing List Errors
CIA has made errors on at least six different briefings, there are at least two briefings for which some of the attendees contest the CIA's version, and CIA claims to be unable to provide full details on seven other briefings. No wonder Leon Panetta continues to say that "it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened." The CIA's own version of when it briefed and whom is riddled with errors.
David Obey: Yet More Proof the CIA Briefing List Is Totally Wrong
According to House Appropriations Chair David Obey, the CIA interrogation list records a Democratic Appropriations staffer attending a September 19, 2006 torture briefing, when all the staffer did was walk John Murtha and Bill Young to the briefing, but was turned away at the briefing.
In light of current controversy about CIA briefing practices, I was surprised to learn that the agency erroneously listed an appropriations staffer as being in a
Pincus and CIA Panic
Walter Pincus writes a story confirming the argument I made on Saturday about the purpose of Panetta's statement to the CIA.
If the Detainee Dies, Doing Sleep Deprivation Is Wrong
One of the most shocking quotes from the Senate Armed Services torture report came from Jonathan Fredman, then the Counsel for CounterTerrorism Center at CIA, now working for the Director of National Intelligence, told some interrogators at Gitmo, "It is basically subject to perception. If the detainee dies you're doing
it wrong." Fredman is reported to have said that on October 2, 2002.
Details on the New Fuel Efficiency Standards
Details on the Administrations new fuel efficiency standards.
The Advantages and Pitfalls of Auto Bailouts
Obama announced aggressive new CAFE standards today. But the price of that--I suspect--is the importation of Chinese assembled cars.
Bob Graham: It Was OCA, with the Briefing, in the Hart Senate Building
Bob Graham says OCA, not CTC, conducted his one "torture" briefing. He also said the location of the brieing--in the Hart Senate Office Building and not the White House--shows that the briefing was not highly classified.