Bhutto and State
Bob Novak and the AP present dueling sides of a debate over whether the US did enough to support Benazir Bhutto's safety.
Is Dick Playing Games with Pakistan's Election?
McClatchy reports that, on the day she was killed, Benazir Bhutto was about to hand over proof of the ISI's plans to steal the Pakistani election to Arlen Specter. It raises new reasons for concern that Cheney is in charge of our Pakistan "policy."
Poland's Torture Palaces
My supposition that one reasons Dana Priest's black site article precipitated the torture tape destruction is because the tapes were dangerous to the country on whose territory the CIA tortured Abu Zubaydah led to me to read something I should have already read--the COE report on European participation in the US HVD program. This post lays out what it says about Poland.
Lying to Congress before the Torture Tapes
If Mary McCarthy's allegations about the testimony of a senior CIA official in June 2005 are true, then it seems clear that one purpose of destroying the terror tapes--among many--was to destroy evidence that the official lied to Congress.
Mary McCarthy and the Terror Tapes
Remember Mary McCarthy, who was fired from the CIA for allegedly leaking details on European black sites to Dana Priest? This post looks at what details of her firing might reveal about the destruction of the terror tapes.
The CIA Solidifies its Terror Tapes Story--or Tries To
Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane have done good reporting on the terror tape story. But their latest installment reads like an attempt on the part of the CIA to get its story straight. While it appears to present a nice coherent narrative people with CIA officers acting rationally, it raises more questions than answers.
One thing it does appear to support, though, is that the tapes were destroyed, in addition to an effort to prevent the tapes from coming out as Congress was trying to outlaw torture, because they were trying to protect the European ally on whose soil the torture took place.
Okay Already, Here's Your Damn Trash Talk Thread
Everyone's spoiling my Bhutto thread with their damn trash talk, so I'll put up this one, a whole day early. Jeebus, you put the Pats on TV and people get all uppity. (Incidentally, this Pats-on-three-channels thing started after John Kerry complained; where was all this gumption in 2004 when we needed it???)
That said, as much as I'm hoping the Pats win (and recognizing that, even without Shockey, the Giants have a
Why the Sudden Veto of Military Pay Raises?
Digby and Steve Benen are right. Bush's impending veto of the military spending bill is just weird. It's weird in that Bush has had months to push a very compliant Congress to write the bill precisely as he wants. And it's weird because the stated reason for the impending veto doesn't make any sense.
Bhutto
I don't have much wisdom about the Bhutto assassination. Pretty much everyone agrees her death devastates our Pakistan policy. But since so little is clear about who killed Bhutto--and particularly the Pakistani government's role in her death--I think it remains impossible to forsee what will come next.
The Terror--Or Maybe Something Else--Presidency
I just finished Jack Goldsmith's The Terror Presidency. As I've been reading, I've been focusing primarily on the insight it might offer onto the Terror Tape Destruction. But I appreciated Goldsmith's book, too, for the way that reading an intelligent and sincere conservative helps me to see my disagreements with conservatives more clearly.
The "Other" Provision Of The Records Act
It appears the fluid and constantly evolving rationalization of the Bush Administration for their destruction of the torture tapes may be starting to congeal in an operative theory relying, at least in significant part, on a provision of the Federal Records Act allowing destruction of certain records located outside of the United States during wartime. Does it hold up?
Torturous Logic
I agree with Jeff. Given the news that the torture tapes never entered the US, given Porter Goss' apparent command not to destroy the torture tapes "in Washington," and given the terms of the Federal Records Act, I think the CIA and the Administration stretched logic with each and every request for the torture tapes so as to claim they never were required to hand over the tapes.
Tommy K's Everywhere
The NYT reports that Tommy K wasn't the only one defrauding mortgage companies in the last few years of lax oversight. What I'd like to know is, did these other mortgage fraudsters funnel money to Republican coffers?
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and every other relevant greeting out there. A holiday toast to one and all!
But the Tapes Weren't IN Washington
The LAT has a story suggesting Jose Rodriguez destroyed the torture tapes against Porter Goss' wishes, and that Goss simply didn't punish him for the act. But two details suggest an entirely different story: that Goss gave Rodriguez very clear instructions that the tapes should not be destroyed in the US, but should be destroyed in the country they were stored in.
Immunity
I'm all in favor of holding the several people in the White House who intervened to destroy evidence responsible for their actions.
But as we begin to hear about Jose Rodriguez considering immunity it might be well to remember what I pointed out when Rodriguez was first floating the idea of immunity.
In the hands of a less than shrewd majority and a politically reliable minority leader, immunity can be counter-productive. In the case of Monica Goodling, the Dems basically gave Monica a get out of jail card for nothing in exchange. Until I see that Crazy Pete Hoekstra's heart is in the right place on this issue (which would, frankly, astound me), then I'd suggest we want to be very careful before we give Rodriguez something for nothing.
Secret Schmoozing
Given the discussions about the NIE we've had recently, I wanted to point out Marc Lynch's observation that the Saudis and the Iranians have been flirting lately--under the radar of the US press. What is Dick Cheney going to say when he discovers his BFF King Abdullah is schmoozing the Iranians behind his back--during the Hajj no less?
Executive Privilege
A number of people have pointed to Charlie Savage's great article on the responses of Presidential candidates to a bunch of questions about executive power. Most of the questions either explicitly or implicitly ask candidates whether they repudiate certain of Bush's acts, so I'm not sure they help Democratic voters distinguish between primary candidates. The exception is the question on Executive Privilege.
Recycling Torture Timelines
Per Jeff's suggestion, I took a closer look at Zelikow's memo on how the CIA stiffed the 9/11 Commission on evidence relating to interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and al-Nashiri. I'll come back and comment on it in more detail--but I was struck by how closely the requests coincided with the beginnings of the Abu Ghraib scandal and Tenet's resignation.
Timing, Again
Marty Lederman suggests that BushCo timed their terror tape destruction for a moment when they might technically evade obstruction charges for doing so. That might explain the general dodginess surround public reports of White House opposition to the torture tape destruction.