About the Foto Flip-Flop
I think Obama will lose his purported attempt to keep the DOD abuse photos secret. But I also think, to prove his good intentions, he ought to order DOD to make the embarrassing information behind these photos available.
Philip Zelikow: How BushCo Gamed the Briefing Process
Philip Zelikow made clear in today's hearing how Congressional briefing should work. But all the evidence suggests that's not what happened.
"If You're Trying to Commit a Crime," You Wouldn't Brief Democrats
Lindsey Graham says that if the Bush Administration were trying to commit a crime, then they wouldn't brief Democrats on what they were doing. And, as it turns out, that's precisely what the Administration did--not brief Democrats.
Soufan's Narrative
Ali Soufan didn't get to read his entire prepared statement in today's SJC hearing. But his prepared statement adds some more nuance to the narrative of how CIA started to torture Abu Zubaydah. [Except where linked, the details below come from Soufan's testimony.
March 28, 2002: Abu Zubaydah caught.
March 31, 2002: AZ flown to Thailand.
Lindsey Graham: Cheney Put People in Gitmo Who Weren't Military Threat
In a statement at SJC's torture hearing, Lindsey Graham just suggested that Dick Cheney was the guy who had determined who got sent to Gitmo.
Senate Judiciary Hearing on Torture, Two
Whitehouse: SASC report. Great deal of disagreement with OLC analysis. Mora called 2003 OLC memo profoundly in error. To extent that it relied on memo, did not include fair analysis. Chart based on OLC opinion. Green means go column. Read Admiral Dalton, that green column was wrong legally, embarrassing.
Senate Judiciary Hearing on Torture
Here's the committee stream.
Whitehouse: Winston Churchill, truth always attended by bodyguard of lies. Sordid truth of torture accompanies by bodyguard of lies. Lies are legion. Bush told us America does not torture. Cheney agreed that waterboarding a dunk in the water. Former CIA said waterboarding once. Waterboarding determined to be legal, but not told how badly law ignored and bastardized, how furiously lawyers rejected OLC opinions.
Piling on PolitiFact
Yet another outlet that can't tell the difference between past and future.
Geithner NY Fed & Congress Knew About AIG Bonuses All Along
It's not just torture hearings on the training table this morning, there is a plateful of AIG/Bankster/Bailout fun on tap too. At 10:00 am EST, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on “AIG: Where is the Taxpayer Money Going?”. In advance of the big hearing, the Washington Post has a significant article out detailing how complicit the NY Fed, Congress and, likely, Tim Geithner are in the bonus scandal.
Dick Cheney, the "Not Available" Briefer?
When the CIA lists "not available" on its torture list, is it trying to hide Dick Cheney's lobbying of Congress?
Whitehouse: Laying the Groundwork for the Torture Case
It sounds like Sheldon Whitehouse is focusing primarily on the upcoming OPR report--and tomorrow's hearing will pave the way for that report.
McCain's Tortured Briefing Memory
McCain is lecturing Nancy Pelosi about all the things she should have done had she been briefed on waterboarding. But that lecture is coming from a guy who promptly capitulated to Bush demands that he water down the Detainee Treatment Act after being briefed on torture.
Rockefeller to Politico: Read the Damn SSCI Narrative Already!!!
Jello Jay has finally resorted to explaining things to journalists reeeaaalllly slowly, so they can understand the things he revealed in the SSCI narrative on torture.
Dick's "Presidential-Level" Torture Decision
Cheney gave an incredibly hedged answer when asked whether Bush knew about and authorized torture. Of course, Bob Schieffer didn't ask the obvious follow-up to figure out WTF it meant.
Timing and the Sheikh al-Libi Death
Since Andy Worthington reported on Sheikh al-Libi's death over the weekend, a few more details on timing have come out.
Ibn Sheikh al-Libi Died in the Last Two Weeks
The first important point is that al-Libi died sometime after April 27, when a Human Rights Watch researcher ran into him in a Libyan jail.
Graham Corroborates Pelosi
Bob Graham appears to go even further than Pelosi denying he was briefed on torture. There may be reasons for that. But the big point remains: the Bush Administration and the CIA did not fulfill legal obligations to brief Congress on torture.
The Five Criminal Referrals WaPo Doesn't Report
The torture apologists want you to believe that the CIA never referred any torture for criminal investigation. But that doesn't seem to be right.
al-Libi Dies in a Libyan Prison
We have been talking heavily about torture, renditions and the legal and motivational justifications therefore nonstop for the last couple of weeks. But one of the earliest entries in this sordid tale (witness the December 18, 2001 entry on Marcy's Torture Timeline) was the capture and torture of Ibn Sheikh al-Libi. Now he is dead.
Why Is Pat Roberts So Quiet?
The CIA and SSCI disagree about key details on Senate torture briefings. So why isn't Pat Roberts clarifying the issue?
Obama To Git-Mo Better Military Tribunals
The GOP squeals and Obama greases their detainee wheel. On May 1st, the New York Times warned that President Obama was contemplating reinstating the tyrannical Bush/Cheney military tribunals for Gitmo detainees. Today we are one step closer to return of the tribunals, a regrettable turn away from the appropriate standard of American justice and due process.