Exclusive!! Pro-Torture Spooks Continue to Play Journalists for Chumps!!

This chump journalist thing seems to be more virulent than swine flu.

The Moonie Times has an !!!EXCLUSIVE!!! reporting that Silvestre Reyes (who of course joined the Gang of Four after the torture program and the illegal wiretap program became public) thinks Congress is partly responsible for the "interrogation controversy."

In a rare gesture, House intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes sent a letter this week to all CIA employees suggesting that Congress shared some blame for the CIA interrogation controversy and should play a more robust role in the intelligence policymaking process.

The letter, which was sent Wednesday and made available to The Washington Times on Thursday, appeared to undercut remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that there was little Congress could do about harsh interrogations, including waterboarding. [my emphasis]

Only, that’s not what the letter says.

One important lesson to me from the CIA’s interrogation operations involves congressional oversight. I’m going to examine closely ways in which we can change the law to make our own oversight of CIA more meaningful;  I want to move from mere notification to real discussion. Good oversight can lead to a partnership, and that’s what I am looking to bring about. 

The tip-off to Moonie’s chumps should be "mere notification," which (as Pelosi has said) is not the same as approval.

But don’t take my word on basic English–check out what Reyes said to the Hill about his letter.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Silvestre Reyes said he agrees with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that members of Congress have been too limited in how they can respond to briefings about intelligence policies they oppose.

"The system we have now is a one-way discussion," Reyes (D-Texas) said in an interview with The Hill on Friday. "In the final analysis, they’re going to do what they’re going to do."

[snip]

The Washington Times reported the letter exclusively Friday, and said the letter "appeared to undercut remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that there was little Congress could do about harsh interrogations, including waterboarding."

Reyes said that was not the case.

"It’s pure and simple conservative spin," Reyes said. "And it’s a disservice to our intelligence personnel all over the world."

Misreading Reyes’ letter is not the only thing the chumps from the Moonie Times did. They exhibited either willful blindness to the public record or plain old ignorance. Read more

Bradbury’s Bellybutton

I want to highlight two paragraphs of Bradbury’s May 30 torture memo to show how self-referential his argument is. The paragraphs (on pages 6 and 7) use Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as examples of the type of people that have been–or might be–waterboarded, so Bradbury is trying to fluff up their importance and danger. My comments are interspersed with his idiocy.

We understand that Abu Zubaydah and KSM are representative of the types of detainees on whom the waterboard has been, or might be, used. Prior to his capture, Zubaydah was "one of Usama Bin Laden’s key lieutenants." CIA, Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn ABU ZUBAYDAH at 1 (Jan. 7, 2002) ("Zubaydah Biography")

Remember, Bradbury is writing this in 2005, even after the 9/11 Commission report came out referring to AZ with such descriptions as "a longtime ally of Bin Ladin," "worked closely with the al Qaeda leadership," "had an agreement with Bin Ladin," "associate," and twice, "lieutenant," but not "key lieutenant" and not "member of." But to make the case that waterboarding will only be used with the worst of the worst, Bradbury reverts back to a pre-capture biography of Zubadayah that was proven wrong by facts collected during Zubaydah’s capture to make the claim Zubaydah was a key al Qaeda figure.

Indeed, Zubaydah was al Qaeda’s third or fourth highest ranking member and had been involved "in every major terrorist operation carried out by al Qaeda." Memorandum for John Rizzo, Acting General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, from Jay S. Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, Re: Interrogation of al Qaeda Operative at 7 (Aug. 1, 2002) ("Interrogation Memorandum:); Zubaydah Biography (noting Zubaydah’s involvement in the September 11 attacks). 

So once again, Bradbury cites a 2002 document that was proven to be erroneous by AZ’s own interrogation testimony. But to make things worse, Bradbury cites a passage of the Bybee Two memo.  That passage was almost certainly known to be false when Rizzo made it to Yoo in 2002. But Bradbury, as if wallowing gleefully in the fraudulent representations of that prior memo, cites it again, in 2005, when it was definitely known to be false.

Upon his capture on March 27, 2002, Zubaydah became the most senior member of al-Qaeda in United States custody. 

Seeing how Sheikh al-Libi ran the Khaldan camp for which AZ served as tour guide, even this is an arguably false claim. Read more

Judge Bybee, Can You Say Panic?

If I had a case before Judge Bybee, I’d ask him to recuse if only because his office appears to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off, worrying about how to respond to Pat Leahy’s invite to come chat. (h/t fatster)

On Thursday, law clerks for the judge said variously that Bybee would respond to an appeal by Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee; that he would explain his reasoning in a statement to the San Francisco-based appeals court; and that he would have nothing more to say to anyone on the subject.

"My impression is that there won’t be any further statements," law clerk Keith Woffinden said, apologizing for the contradictory messages being sent by staffers.

Maureen Mahoney? Your client is losing it.

And I like this quote, too, which almost seems like it could be coming from someone who was a source for the WaPo story reporting that Bybee regretted the torture memos–only this time doing so on the record.

"It surprises, concerns, sickens and depresses me," Christopher Blakesley, a law professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said of Bybee’s defense of the August 2002 memos. "I am surprised that he talked at all at this point."

Blakesley said he was also "saddened because I truly believed from what I know of him over the years that he would have repudiated the memos along with all that surrounded and came from this sordid situation. Perhaps one day he will."

It’s not going to get any better, either, as we draw closer to the release of that OPR report. 

The Gestation of Bradbury’s Torture Memos

I’m increasingly certain that Jello Jay put together the SSCI narrative as a way to demonstrate that the CIA did not inform Congress it had tortured Abu Zubaydah until well after (six months–and longer for Jello Jay himself) they had done so.

But I suspect one of the other things he tried to document with the narrative is the apparent resistance (or inability) on the part of OLC to write a memo arguing our torture program complied with Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture, which reads:

  1. Each State Party shall undertake to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article I, when such acts are committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. In particular, the obligations contained in articles 10, 11, 12 and 13 shall apply with the substitution for references to torture of references to other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
  2. The provisions of this Convention are without prejudice to the provisions of any other international instrument or national law which prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or which relates to extradition or expulsion.

Or, to contextualize this even further, Jello Jay wants to document OLC’s difficulties with refuting the conclusions of the CIA IG Report, which we know concluded that the interrogation program did violate Article 16.

The report, by John L. Helgerson, the C.I.A.’s inspector general, did not conclude that the techniques constituted torture, which is also prohibited under American law, the officials said. But Mr. Helgerson did find, the officials said, that the techniques appeared to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under the convention.

Let’s look at how Jello Jay depicted OLC’s attempt to refute this conclusion.

The 10-Month Gestation of the Bradbury Memos

In response to the CIA IG Report, the narrative explains, the CIA asked for an opinion that addressed this problem. As Jello Jay helpfully explained, that means they were asking for an assessment of whether the program violated the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

After the issuance of that review, the CIA requested that OLC prepare an updated legal opinion that incorporated actual CIA experiences and practice in the use of the techniques to date included in the Inspector General review, as well as legal analysis as to whether the interrogation techniques were consistent with the substantive standards contained in the Senate reservation to Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture.

Read more

When Did John Yoo Start the Bybee Memo?

I’ve been puzzling over two references in John Yoo’s testimony at the House Judiciary Committee’s Assholes Who Torture hearing last summer regarding the timing of the drafting of the August 1, 2002 Bybee Memos.

The legal issues that concern the Subcommittee today–involving the interrogation of alien enemy combatants–first arose about six months after the 9/11 attacks, in which about 3000 of our fellow citizens were killed in surprise terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.

This timing makes a lot of sense. It would put the start of the legal considerations regarding torture techniques at around March 2002, which is when Abu Zubaydah was captured.

But then later, he dates the first request for an opinion much earlier–to a few months after 9/11.

We gave substantially the same advice to both agencies. Both matters at the time where highly classified and the pressures of time and circumstances were high–we received the first request a few months after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

[Side note–I wonder if he mentions 9/11 every time he gives dates, as in, "I got married approximately 13 years before terrorists killed 3000 people in New York City and Washington D.C. I moved to Chapman University eight years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks? Update–I guess MadDog’s been puzzling on this point too!]

Now, there are a couple of possible explanations for the seeming discrepancy. 

There’s sloppiness–perhaps in the second reference, Yoo was just interpreting "few" expansively so he could remind his audience of 9/11 and the pressure they were under. I don’t really buy this though, because this statement has to have been incredibly heavily vetter by DOJ and his own lawyers (note the prominence of expressions of "good faith" and  "we tried as best we could"). Given the legal scrutiny Yoo is and was under when he gave this statement in a sworn appearance before Congress, I simply don’t believe that Yoo’s lawyers would permit such an inaccuracy.

There’s the possibility, too, that Yoo is thinking of another detainee-related memo. Perhaps the most likely explanation is that Yoo is thinking of one of the still-unreleased memos published in late 2001 and early 2002, including one of the following:

November 20, 2001: John Yoo to Alberto Gonzales, on "War Crimes Act, Hague Convention, Geneva Conventions, federal criminal code, and detainee treatment"

January 11, 2002: John Yoo to Alberto Gonzales, on the Geneva Conventions

Read more

Condi: If It Smells Like Nixon, It’s Criminal

Cenk Uygur got an absolutely damning video of Condi Rice channeling Richard Nixon. After denying she "authorized" torture–she just conveyed policy authorization to the agency, but I’m sure that authorization had a virgin birth before that–she explained that if the President authorized it, then it couldn’t violate the Convention Against Torture.

By definition, if it was authorized by the President, it did not violate our obligations in the Convention Against Torture.

By definition, I think Condi’s future just dimmed considerably.

A Bush EO on Torture?

As Keith O reported last night, Jason Leopold found a curious reference in an email that was in the ACLU’s FOIA document dumps (there’s a reference to it, too, in the DOJ IG Report on torture, starting on page 137). It seems to suggest President Bush signed an Executive Order authorizing "sleep management," the use of dogs, stress positions, environmental management, and sensory deprivation.

Before we hunt for the EO, here’s what this document appears to be. In May 2004, in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the FBI sent out an order requiring that "if an FBI employee knows or  suspects non-FBI personnel has abused or is abusing or mistreating a detainee, the FBI employee must report the incident."

In response to that order, the on-scene commander in Baghdad tried to get more direction on what the order meant by "abuse" on May 22. He (or she) wanted to know whether techniques not authorized for FBI personnel–but authorized for others (presumably both intelligence and military personnel)–should be considered. In the FBI commander’s understanding, Bush signed an EO some time in the past that authorized abusive techniques.

We are aware that prior to a revision in policy last week, an Executive Order signed by President Bush authorized the following interrogation techniques among others: sleep "management," use of MWDs (military working dogs), "stress positions" such as half squats, "environmental manipulation" such as the use of loud music, sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc.

It appears the unit in question may be the Special Mission Unit Task Force, a Special Ops unit conducting high level interrogations. The SASC Report describes what appears to be a similar set of techniques available for the SMU TF that were changed not long before the FBI commander sent the email. (This section appears on page 222, but there’s more discussion of this unit starting on page 158.)

[two lines redacted] Prior to March 2004, however, each operated under a distinct interrogation SOP. On March 26, 2004 the SMU TF implemented a single interrogation policy that covered SMU TF operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The March 26, 2004 SMU SOP authorized 14 "interrogation techniques" not explicitly listed in FM 34-52 [the Army Field Manual], including use of muzzled dogs, "safety positions (during interrogations)," sleep adjustment/management, mild physical contact, isolation, sensory overload, sensory deprivation, and dietary manipulation.

Read more

Obama on Torture

You and I are not the audience for Obama’s answer to this question. The audience for this answer is those who idolize Churchill, conservatives who place national security above all. The audience for this answer is a group of Republicans who can be persuaded on this point.

Ultimately, though, his answer to the question "Did the Bush Administration sanction torture," is, "Whatever legal rationales were used, it was a mistake."

Leahy to Bybee: Here’s Your Chance to Chat

Well, I guess if Leahy can’t have his truth commission he can invite Jay Bybee to perjure himself before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (h/t TP)

I write to invite you to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I enclose a recent article from The Washington Post. It suggests that you have expressed regret at the content of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memoranda issued while you headed that office and that you feel that they were misused. The article reports that you were concerned about the exercise of the policies that the opinions authorized, that you were "disappointed by what was done to prisoners," and that you felt that "the spirit of liberty has left the republic." The article notes that your associates claim you do not feel ownership of these memos but, instead, describe your involvement this way: "He was head of the OLC, and it was written, and he was not pleased with it." By coming forward and testifying before the Committee, you will have the opportunity to amplify or correct these accounts, and explain your role and your views.

The Post article concludes that you have allegedly found it "frustrating" not to be able to explain your position with regard to these memos. By coming forward to testify, you will be able to explain your position with regard to these matters, including your involvement and your knowledge regarding how these memos were written and approved, what considerations went into that process, who was consulted in that process and the roles of various individuals.

According to the press account, you became the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel after interviewing with White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales because you were interested in being nominated to a judgeship on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Apparently he asked if you would be willing to head OLC first. I am sure you would like an opportunity to come forward and set the record straight with respect to whether and, if so, how your judicial ambitions related to your participation at OLC.

You were nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as head ofOLC on September 4, 2001. You were confirmed on October 23,2001. Read more

Politico: Still Stumbling Over Obvious Crimes to Cover a He-Said-She-Said Story

The Politico presents yet another chapter in their serialized he-said-she-said story about whether or not Nancy Pelosi should have and could have objected during the torture briefing she got in fall 2002, once again ignoring the clear evidence that CIA did not notify Congress of actions they had already taken, as required by law.

Nancy Pelosi sat down with CNN’s Candy Crowley tonight and gave her most detailed — and passionate — explanation of her muted behavior during an initial classified briefing on enhanced interrogation procedures in 2002.

Crowley — a tough, well-informed and underrated interviewer — kicked it off by asking the Speaker about about a column by former CIA director and ex-House intel chairman Porter Goss accusing Democrats of collective "amnesia" for urging investigations of waterboarding after remaining relatively mute during those first classified briefings.

PELOSI: Well, first of all, let me say that perhaps we do live in an alternate universe, Porter and I.

Porter’s orientation is that he was a member of the CIA before he came to Congress and he speaks now as a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

CROWLEY: Is he wrong?

PELOSI: Perhaps he is seeing it from his perspective. If they say we have a legal opinion, it means we’re going to use it. That’s not how I heard it. They said they had a legal opinion. They said they weren’t going to use and when they did they would come back to Congress to report to us on that. But that’s how I heard that.

[snip]

Crowley then asked why she didn’t raise objections to the briefers, which riled up the Speaker.

PELOSI: To what end? To what end? No, we’re not — they didn’t say they were doing it. But you know what, I’m not getting into that. The fact is, is that I know what they told us and I know that they did not share our values.

So any briefing that you would get from the Bush administration on the subject is one that is probably something you’re not going to agree with, and two, maybe not the whole truth anyway.

Glenn. Let’s play a little "find the criminal conduct in a stupid beltway interview" game, shall we?

I’ll grant that Nancy Pelosi disagrees with Porter Goss and Crazy Pete Hoekstra on whether or not her complaints about the CIA said it would–in the future–torture would have been effective. Read more

image_print