TPMUCKERAKER, By Zachary Roth - May 6, 2009, 3:33PM (see sig)

The other day, two allies of Donald Rumsfeld spoke to US News, to trash the Pulitzer committee for awarding an investigative reporting prize to the New York Times' David Barstow, for his story on the Pentagon's use of retired military analysts to publicly cheerlead for the Iraq war.

"Does the Pulitzer give prizes for works of fiction? Perhaps they just got the wrong category," scoffed former Pentagon Assistant Secretary Dorrance Smith.

A current spokesman for Rumsfeld, Keith Urbahn, told Bedard: "The Times's reporting on DoD's routine outreach to military experts didn't merit a place in the paper, much less a Pulitzer."

Referring to a report released in January by the Pentagon inspector general's office, which largely exonerated the department, Urbahn added: "Between the New York Times and the Pentagon's inspector general office, it's pretty clear which is a more credible and non-partisan source."

Indeed it is. Yesterday, as we've noted, the IG's office withdrew that report, saying it had found "inaccuracies", and that it "did not meet accepted quality standards for an Inspector General work product."

We wondered whether that news changed the opinions of Smith and Urbahn. But neither one of them has responded to our requests for comment.

[…]

Late Update:

Urbahn still hasn't responded to us, but he has to US News, telling the magazine:

Since the New York Times got a Pulitzer for its discredited reporting, perhaps the administration deserves Olympic gold for its latest backflip. Typical for the Obama administration, this is a 'change' we can't believe in.

It's hard to parse this, since it makes no attempt to address the substance of the issue and reads as if carefully written by someone in training for a job as a Republican campaign press secretary circa 2004. But we think that by "backflip", Urbahn is trying to say this is a flip-flop by the Obama administration, though how this would work when the IG report was released before President Bush left office, we're not sure. It's also unclear in what sense the Times' reporting has been "discredited," given that the IG report has been withdrawn.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/rumsfeld_allies_who_trashed_pulitzer-winning_story.php?ref=m3

I wonder what Obama will think about his Afghanistan strategy and the extensive use of air attacks after he sees the pictures of the innocent civilian deaths and destruction. Karzai just told Wolfe Blitzer that all air attacks must stop. He's said that many times before. I wonder if he said that to Obama or just says it to the media. Pragmatic decisions about war and tactics end up destroying lives. How many more lives both on our side and theirs is worth the cost Mr. President? Winning technically with military force doesn't win the hearts and minds.

The Bush Administration Homicides

The Daily Beast, John Sifton, MaY 7, 2009 (see sig)

For five years as a researcher for Human Rights Watch and reporter, John Sifton helped investigate homicides resulting from the Bush administration's torture policy. His findings include:

• An estimated 100 detainees have died during interrogations, some who were clearly tortured to death.

• The Bush Justice Department failed to investigate and prosecute alleged murders even when the CIA inspector general referred a case.

• Sifton’s request for specific information on cases was rebuffed by the Bush Justice Department, though it was “familiar with the cases.”

• Attorney General Eric Holder must now decide whether to investigate and prosecute homicides, not just cases of torture.

A simple fact is being overlooked in the Bush-era torture scandal: the number of cases in which detainees have been tortured to death. Abuse did not only involve the high-profile cases of smashing detainees into plywood barriers (“walling”), confinement in coffin-like boxes with insects, sleep deprivation, cold, and waterboarding. To date approximately 100 detainees, including CIA-held detainees, have died during U.S. interrogations, and some are known to have been tortured to death.

[...]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-05/how-many-were-tortured-to-death/full/

Intelligence Report: Pelosi Briefed on Use of Interrogation Tactics in Sept. ’02 (see sig)

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/05/intelligence-re.html

NY Fed chair Friedman resigns (see sig)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5468AF20090507

By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writer – 36 mins ago (see sig)

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will not release terrorists from Guantanamo Bay into neighborhoods in the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress on Thursday as he sought to reassure worried lawmakers.

"We don't have any plans to release terrorists," Holder testified at a Senate hearing on the Obama administration's budget for the Justice Department. The budget proposal released Thursday requests up to $160 million to close the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But he also said some of the detainees at the facility will be let go, indicating the administration believes some held there are not terrorists. Asked after the hearing if he believes some current Guantanamo detainees are innocent, Holder did not answer.

The attorney general faced repeated questions from lawmakers about his plans for closing Guantanamo. President Barack Obama has ordered the center shuttered by January 2010.

Republicans critical of Obama's plan claim Guantanamo detainees cannot legally be brought to the United States because federal law bars entry to anyone who has received terrorist training.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., pressed Holder to say whether he believed he had the authority to release someone with terrorist training into the United States. The attorney general did not directly answer Shelby's question, but said the government doesn't have any plans to release terrorists.

"With regard to those who you would describe as terrorists, we would not bring them into this country and release them, anyone we would consider to be a terrorist," Holder said.

He added the government has no plans to release anyone considered a terrorist in a foreign country, either.

[...]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090507/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_guantanamo_holder