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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
EJ
Published Letters: 486 Editor's Choice: 1
This just part of the briefing posted by Jake Tapper, with only
his questions. The entire briefing should be available soon at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/PressBriefings/.
...TAPPER: I would be the fourth of four that has
pointed out that there is at least some rhetorical change between
what the administration has said in the past on this question of
prosecution and what the president said today. And I'm just
wondering what change?
GIBBS: The president was clear and I would go with
what...
TAPPER: He hasn't used language like that in the
past. He hasn't said...
GIBBS: Well, I -- I -- I don't -- I think the president
-- and we'll pull it for you specifically. I mean...
TAPPER: We've all read it.
GIBBS: Excellent, we're ahead of the game. Never
mind. I -- I think when the president states that people are above
the rule of law that he expects that the laws of the United States
of America will be upheld....
I hope that last part is just a mistake in transcription.
I'm listening to the briefing now on CSpan - Gibbs was definitely flustered.
"wait - did she really ask Holder to release the tapes?"
I think if she wants the tapes, she should subpoena them, then when Holder ignores it, she can reflect and we can move forward.
The audio is available now at the link stevedew (thanks!) provided: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103330280
Couldn't she get past the "sovereign immunity" argument the DOJ put up in Jewel v. NSA? This was a "willful disclosure," wasn't it? That would be sweet.
Banned Techniques Yielded ‘High Value Information,’ Memo Says
President Obama’s national intelligence director told colleagues in a private memo last week that the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists.
“High value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qa’ida organization that was attacking this country,” Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the intelligence director, wrote in a memo to his staff last Thursday.
Admiral Blair sent his memo on the same day the administration publicly released secret Bush administration legal memos authorizing the use of interrogation methods that the Obama White House has deemed to be illegal torture....
Admiral Blair’s assessment that the interrogation methods did produce important information was deleted from a condensed version of his memo released to the media last Thursday. Also deleted was a line in which he empathized with his predecessors who originally approved some of the harsh tactics after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001....
Admiral Blair’s private memo was provided by a critic of Mr. Obama’s policy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/us/politics/22blair.html
They won't stop as long as torture is off the table. We know what will happen in the future if no one is held accountable now.
I feel exactly the same way, but could never put it into words the way you just did. I try to avoid paying much attention to anyone in Congress lately - I'm almost at my limit.
MILAN (AP) — A judge will decide next month whether to continue with the politically sensitive trial of 26 Americans and seven Italians accused in the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect after the high court threw out key evidence deemed classified.
Defense lawyers for the Americans — mostly CIA agents — and Italians argued Wednesday the exclusion of the evidence made it impossible to continue with the trial. The prosecution argued the indictments were still valid and the trial should go on....
"Just at the moment in which the United State is lifting the veil on its secrets regarding illegal practices in the fight against terrorism with statements from President Barack Obama, here information protected as classified is being expanded excessively," [Prosecutor] Spataro told the court.
Magi could decide to continue the case, throw out the indictments — which would send the case back to the preliminary hearing stage — or rule the trial can't go on if he views the remaining evidence as insufficient.
Defense lawyer Alessia Sorgato, who is defending three American clients, said he could also decide to continue the trial for the American defendants while stopping it for the Italians, on the basis that classified information applied only to the Italian secret services.
To release these records:
In addition, I saw that using these alternative methods on other terrorists backfired on more than a few occasions — all of which are still classified. (Ali Soufan, NYT OpEd)
And any other such records that exist.
Holder will be presented with "250,000 torture petition signatures." Via ACLU
Hearing: Department of Justice
Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General
http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia-live/appropriations/33698/282_appropriations-happrops_080213.asx
(rough transcript; live hearing @ sig)
Those intelligence community officials who acted in good faith and relied on legal advice (DOJ opinions) - it's not our intention to prosecute those individuals.
Regarding prosecution of others: Will not permit the criminalization of policy differences, but it's his duty to uphold the law.
After listening to Cliff May on "To the Point" (with Glenn & Jane Mayer)...
It means that, in regard to torture, those things that shock the conscience of one person may not be what shocks the conscience of someone else.
Differences in tolerance levels of what is cruel and inhuman = Policy difference.
Move along, nothing to criminalize here.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
