Rohrabacher's Team for Decentralizing Afghan Government: War Criminal, Thief and War Hawk
Yesterday, I pointed out that Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai denied entry to his country by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) over the weekend. At the end of that post, I posed a question:
Rohrabacher’s freedom-fighting then…
Why Jose Rodriquez Should Be In Prison, Not On A Book Tour
As Marcy noted, Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo of the AP have gotten their hands on an early copy of Jose Rodriquez's new screed book, "Hard Measures". The one substantive point of interest in their report involves the destruction of the infamous…
Jose Rodriguez' Idea of "Ugly Visuals": Blank and Altered Tapes
Jose Rodriguez, not exactly a squeamish guy, is spreading a myth that the reason he destroyed the torture tapes was because the torture depicted on them was so bad that people would kill CIA officers in response to the violence
Especially after…
Defying the Rules of Gravity, Obama Directs Sanctions Solely against Israel's Enemies
In conjunction with his speech at the Holocaust Museum yesterday and announcement of the Atrocities Prevention Board, President Obama also rolled out sanctions against those who use IT to repress human rights. The Treasury Department named…
Is the Government Worried about Revealing Broader Targeted Killing Authority in the Drone FOIAs?
In addition to yesterday's letter's explanation that the government needed an extension in ACLU and NYT's Anwar al-Awlaki drone FOIA because Obama and/or his closest aides--the highest level of the Executive Branch--were getting involved, there…
Resistance Rabble-Rouser Rohrabacher Refused Entry to Afghanistan
Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) tried to pull a fast one over the weekend and sneak in as a "last minute replacement" on a Congressional delegation to Afghanistan. The problem was that, as BBC reported, the rest of the delegation…
Yet More White House Involvement in FOIA Responses
As I've been writing my series on the Administration's extensive efforts to hide all mention of what I have decided to call the Gloves Come Off Memorandum of Notification, this passage from Daniel Klaidman's article on the Administration's equivocations…
Why Is Tarek Mehanna Held to a Different Standard than the Hutaree Militia?
Over the last week, there were two must-read pieces arguing that the sentencing of Tarek Mehanna to 17.5 years in prison for conspiring to materially support terrorism threatens free speech.
David Cole--who argued the Humanitarian Law Project…
Links, 4/22/12
I was never able to keep up with my goal of doing daily link posts last year. That said, there's so much out today that I want to at least note that I can't keep up with my own posting unless I dump all these here.
Steven Aftergood notes…
Remember When Russia's Enemy Helped the Mujahadeen Neutralize Russia's Most Effective Weapon?
"Bluster"! "Exaggeration"!
Those are some of the words Joe Lieberman and some more credible people are using to dismiss Iran's claim that it has accessed the data from the Sentinel drone it brought down last year.
Aside from "independent…
US Achieves Sham Agreement Trifecta With Afghanistan
It is becoming a signature of the Obama administration that as self-imposed deadlines approach, the quality of agreements reached drops precipitously. Recall that Obama had worked furiously to be able to announce a mortgage fraud settlement…
Recruiting Informants: Framings, Expulsion, and Torture
Between this MoJo story from last week and this Telegraph story from today, it sure looks like the US and Brits have utterly dispensed with rule of law in hopes of recruiting informants.
Last week, Nick Baumann told the story of Yonas Fikre.…
"The Gloves Come Off" Memorandum of Notification
Operational flexibility: This is a highly classified area. All I want to say is that there was "before" 9/11 and "after" 9/11. After 9/11 the gloves come off.
-Cofer Black, 9/11 Congressional Inquiry, September 26, 2002
When Cofer Black,…
Judge Hellerstein: Yes, the Redacted Torture Authorization Pertains to the September 17, 2001 Torture Authorization
I'm still working my way through the ACLU FOIA docket in light of my ongoing series (post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4) on the Obama Administration's efforts to keep the authorization for the torture program--that is, probably the September 17,…
John Brennan Praises the Object of His Own Intimate Knowledge
John Brennan, the guy whose role in torture and illegal wiretapping the Obama Administration continues to protect by looking relentlessly forward, also once admitted to having intimate knowledge of the NYPD's spy program.
President Barack Obama’s…
The CIA's NSC's President's Torture Program
One more diversionary post before I delve into why the Administration is so worried about releasing a short phrase that, I suspect, acknowledges that George Bush's September 17, 2001 Memorandum of Notification authorized the torture program.
National…
Bahrain Drain: Oppressive US Client State Sucks The Life Out Of Formula One
[UPDATE] Qualifying went off without much hitch this morning, at least inside the circuit. Outside the circuit, the body of a protester was found, dead after a night of clashes with government authorities and police. Inside the confines of the…
As Pakistan Angles for Joint Ownership of Drone Attacks, Kerry To Be Dispatched for Another Apology
Dawn is reporting this morning that Pakistan is in the process of abandoning its demand that US drone strikes in Pakistan end and instead is now bargaining for joint ownership of the process, giving the Pakistanis access to key intelligence…
Judy Miller, Barabara Starr, and an Influx of Intelligence
I'm going to disappoint Jim by not dedicating a full post to Judy Miller's graceless rant about the AP's Pulitzer win, in which she whines that the AP hasn't taken Ray Kelly's insistence that his NYPD's spying is legal seriously enough. I already…
George Tenet's Bureaucratic CYA
Let me divert from my obsession on the CIA's efforts to hide references to what I believe is the September 17, 2001 Memorandum of Notification authorizing torture and a whole lot else to talk about what a neat bureaucratic trick George Tenet…
