Judge Hellerstein Calls the CIA on its BS
Wow. Judge Hellerstein is not amused with the CIA's assertion that the torture tapes--which IG staffers flew to Thailand to view as part of their investigation into CIA interrogation methods--were not part of their investigation. Nor does he buy the assertion that the "special review" is not an investigation. He basically called Bull on the CIA's assertions in about six different ways.
Disappearing White House Emails Timeline
Jeff kicked my arse on a timing related issue yesterday, so I thought I better lay out the disappearing White House email timing all nice and neat like. I'll move this over into a permanent timeline after you guys tell me what I'm missing (Jeff, I'm looking at you).
July 11, 2003:
"It Smells Like a Cover-Up"
The most interesting tidbit from John Rizzo's appearance before HPSCI yesterday is that Rizzo reported lawyers within CIA admitting the 9/11 Commission would probably want to see the torture tapes. If lawyers within CIA recognized the Commission wanted the tapes, then surely George Tenet did. But he declined to mention the tapes to the Commission. No wonder he lawyered up recently.
Shorter Rizzo to Rodriguez: Well, If You're Not Going to Testify, I Will Screw You
Jose Rodriguez, with help from Bob Bennett, tried to exonerate himself in the WaPo today. But John Rizzo, whom Rodriguez seems prepared to claim authorized the destruction, apparently had none of it during his testimony before HPSCI today.
Off the Record on Filipino Monkey
The Pentagon says they never claimed Iran was responsible for the Filipino Monkey transmission. We now know they were. So why aren't the Traditional Media reporters who know that revealing that to the American people?
Stephen Cambone Collects on His Handiwork with CIFA
I've long suspected that the GOP has used the Counter-Intelligence Field Activity (CIFA) as a way to spy on domestic enemies even while making their friends rich. CIFA is the organization that collected information on both Jesus' General and Quakers, then stuck it into a database without requisite privacy protections. And then, when Congress and the Carol Lam started focusing on CIFA, its database on private citizens got quickly disappeared.
The Dubious Timeline from Pincus' Love Letter to Bob Bennett
I've already ranted about how irresponsible it was for Walter Pincus and Joby Warrick to publish Bob Bennett's statement on behalf of Jose Rodriguez on the same day that John Rizzo testifies before Congress. Nothing like assisting the obstruction of an ongoing investigation. But now that I've done my ranting (and enjoyed the sun), here is the dubious timeline offered in Pincus and Warrick's article.
The White House Response on Backup Tapes
The CIO of the White House Office of Administration pulls of a masterful feat: she claims that the White House should have all emails on its backup tapes, even while she's admitting that it may well be missing the emails from March 2003 to October 2003.
A Cheap Ploy to Avoid Giving Testimony, Jose Rodriguez
Today's article from Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus answers a lot of questions we've been asking about the torture tapes--the biggest being that the tapes were stored and destroyed in Thailand. And it has a lot of interesting details. But its evident, overriding purpose, is to allow Jose Rodriguez and John Rizzo to coordinate stories before the latter testifies before Congress today.
You Know It's a Clusterfuck if emptywheel Agrees with PowerLine
PowerLine is offended that John McCain allowed Joe Lieberman to make robocalls for him. Well, so am I. Funny how these primaries can sow agreement from both sides of the aisle?
Clusterfuck Vote #279
My precinct in the People's Republic of Ann Arbor is crazily Democratic--almost 80% Dem performance. When I went to vote at around 3:45, I was around the 279th person to vote, counting absentee ballots. And from the looks of things, about two thirds of those people cast a vote in the Democratic primary.
Fox Discovers Filipino Monkey
Think Progress watches Fox so I don't have to--and so bmaz can have some fun.
The Supplicant to Kings and "Entrepreneurs"
Bush's speech to Saudi investors really highlights the degree to which America has become a suppliant nation.
No Immunity, Yet, for Rodriguez
HPSCI will hold off on having Jose Rodriguez testify, which he won't do without an immunity deal. But it doesn't seem like they've given up the idea entirely.
International Republican Institute Endorses Accuracy of Exit Polls
Congratulations Presidents Kerry and Gore, the State Department's International Republican Institute has just belatedly declared you both President. Or perhaps not. Perhaps the IRI has not released its exit poll from the Kenyan election precisely because doing so would suggest exit polls are an accurate measure of election fraud--and all that might imply for recent US electoral politics.
John Solomon's Phone Records
Drudge reports that John Solomon is taking his oppo-research based reporting to the Washington Times to serve as Executive Editor. That makes me wonder, once again, about what kind of campaign the Bush Administration was preparing against Solomon after they secretly subpoenaed five days of Solomon's phone records.
Bush's Empire: Making His Own Reality, NIE Edition
WTF was the SAO who leaked the story about Bush trashing the Iran NIE trying to accomplish?
Clusterfuck Eve
I can tell you, it'll sure be hard to sleep tonight as I ponder the possibilities of tomorrow's MI Clusterfuck Primary. Polls show that Romney might just pull this out--and surprisingly, at least one of those polls says he'll do so with Republican support. Me, I'm just looking forward to Wednesday, when Joe Lieberman and John McCain will stop spamming me with robocalls and junk mail.
CIA Inspector General: We Never Had Any Torture Tapes!
The CIA has responded to the ACLU's motion to hold them in contempt for destroying evidence ACLU had FOIAed. Their entire response relies on the technicalities by which OIG avoided taking possession of the torture tapes.
Trash Talk Too
Dang you guys trash talked a bunch while I was waiting for the Pats to catch up!!!
In the interest in keeping the threads under 500 comments, I'm going to do another trash talk thread--so we can all channel good thoughts about the Bolts beating the Colts.
Predictions are (tell me how I've screwed this up in the comments):