The Memorandum of Notification the CIA Pretends Has Never Been Acknowledged
"We don't do that sort of thing," [Glenn Carle responded to a CIA Counterterrorism Center Deputy about "going beyond SERE" with a detainee].
"We do now," Wilmington's voice was flat. The conversation remained quiet.
"What about EO12333?…
Nominated Defense Intelligence Chief Flynn Tied to Petraeus, McChrystal Night Raid Policy
On April 8, the US and Afghanistan finally signed an agreement handing over primary responsibility for night raids to Afghan forces. Although the Obama administration was hell-bent on inking that deal as part of the effort to have agreement…
Is It the CIA--or the Saudis--Who Want Signature Strikes in Yemen?
This is, IMO, the most telling line in this entire article on the CIA's request to use the signature strikes in Yemen that proved so problematic in Pakistan:
The JSOC has broader authority than the CIA to pursue militants in Yemen and is not…
The CIA Continues to Cover Up Bush's Authorization of Torture
Reading the unredacted sections of this ex parte hearing on the ACLU's torture FOIA leads me to suspect the CIA is trying to keep hidden all mention of Bush's September 17, 2001 Memorandum of Notification authorizing a range of counterterrorism…
Obama Takes a Position to the Right of Congress on Indefinite Detention
Back when I reported on Obama's stated intent to interpret the good part of the NDAA--the part requiring a meaningful review for all detainees held by DOD--to mean DOD could decide how long to hold people before it gave them the review mandated…
Peter Van Buren Says "Blowjob" to Hillary Clinton
Actually, he didn't say blowjob. He said this, in a post pointing out the State Department's rather inconsistent evaluation of what does and does not constitute poor judgment.
What if a video existed that showed a prominent State Department…
Spreading Free "Trade" To Colombia But Not Freedom of the Press
So the guys who were supposed to be scouting threats to the President got in trouble because they tried to shortchange a sex worker of her fair payment. I guess the lesson these men took from our trade deal with Colombia is that it's okay to…
Disclosure of US Troops Posing With Body Parts Newest Threat to Afghanistan Stability
As I pointed out on Monday, the preferred story line surrounding the weekend Taliban attacks across Afghanistan was that Afghan security forces repulsed the attacks with little to no help from outside forces. In fact, Australia used this moment…
Saleh: "I have given you an open door on terrorism, so I am not responsible."
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In a meeting on September 6, 2009--at a time when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was already in Yemen, seeking Anwar al-Awlaki--President Ali Abdullah Saleh assured John Brennan that the US Government had unfettered…
Attempted Coup in Qatar? Updated: Probably Not
Both the Iranian Fars News Agency and Pakistan's The News Tribe are reporting that a coup attempt in Qatar has failed. The post by The News Tribe cites Al Arabiya TV, but nothing appears on Al Arabiya's English website as of this writing, nor…
Like NYPD, FBI Also Investigating How Many Times a Day Muslims Pray
Yesterday, the AP won a well-deserved Pulitzer for, among other things, revealing that the NYPD had sent an officer on a junket whitewater trip so he could count how many times a day the Muslim students on the trip prayed.
But the NYPD is…
DEA Busts TOR-Operated "Farmer's Market" Drug Market Place
The DEA arrested 8 named and 7 unnamed people today in what it says is the first TOR-operated drug bust.
“The drug trafficking organization targeted in Operation Adam Bomb was distributing dangerous and addictive drugs to every corner of…
Scientist Who Destroyed Iraq's Chemical Weapons the Last To Be Freed
In a little noticed piece (best as I can tell, only NYPost picked it up in the US), AFP reports that the last Iraqi WMD scientist still held in prison, Mahmud Faraj Bilal Al Samarrai, is set to be released.
"The judicial authorities have decided…
NATO Response to Taliban Attacks: Pump Up Image of Afghan Forces
Because it is clear that the Obama administration steadfastly refuses to address its rapidly failing Afghanistan strategy prior to November's elections, NATO is forced to labor under the increasingly difficult prospect of handing over security…
William Welch Leaving DOJ; Main Justice Circles The Ethical Wagons
Apparently the thrill is finally gone, or at least soon to be gone. Carrie Johnson at NPR has just reported:
A federal prosecutor who led the elite public integrity unit when the case against the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens collapsed has…
The War-Mongers Find Their Great White Whale
Der Speigel reports that a German ship that allegedly picked up Iranian weapons in (US-dominated) Djibouti and headed from there towards Syria has been stopped to check whether the allegation it contains arms is correct.
A German-owned freighter…
The US Attempts to Retain Control Over the Financialized Playground
I'm a big fan of Kevin Phillips' arguments about how increased financialization of their economies lead to the decline of the Spanish, Dutch, and British empires in succession; his latest book warned that Wall Street crash might represent our…
Zimmerman: Anatomy Of A Deficient Probable Cause Affidavit
Now that the dust has settled from the decision in the Zimmerman/Martin case not to proceed by grand jury by the Florida Special Prosecutor Angela Corey, and the decision to file a single count of second degree murder, I want to address a couple…
The Damage Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki Was Collateral To? Not Dead.
I'm not sure which details from Michelle Shephard's story on 16-year old Adbulrahman Al-Awlaki's death in a US drone strike are most compelling. I find the description of the carnival rides Abdulrahman snuck past as he ran away from home to…
The FBI Wanted a Propagandist to Become an "Informant"
In a post focusing on the First Amendment problems with Tarek Mehanna's conviction for serving as an al Qaeda propagandist, Glenn Greenwald posted the speech Mehanna made at sentencing. Most of the attention paid to the speech has focused on…
