A Tale of Three WikiLeak Stories
The NYT has gotten a lot of press for this story, detailing that Qaddafi's son, Mutassim al-Qadhafi, paid $1 million to have Mariah Carey to sing four songs at his New Year's Day party in St. Barts, and, the following year, another $1 million…
Rummy Lawyers Up ... To Defend Ordering Death Threats?
Josh Gerstein reports that the government has withdrawn from defending Donald Rumsfeld and others in the Jose Padilla suit Judge Richard Mark Gergel dismissed the other day. (h/t MD)
The Justice Department under President Barack Obama has quietly…
It's Not the Pakistanis from Whom Papers Were Withholding Davis' CIA Affiliation
Glenn and I both complained after the US media admitted yesterday it had been sitting on the very obvious news that Raymond Davis was a spook. But I got a number of questions from people who seem to miss the point. Why did I argue for years…
Whistleblowers Concerned that DOJ Refuses to Jail Scott Bloch, Too
Last week, bmaz (with my kibbitzing) noted how outrageous is it that the federal government is fighting to prevent a government employee who destroyed an entire hard drive of evidence from spending even one day in jail.
But given the record…
Who Was--and Was Not--in on Rummy's "Plan"
Gawker has liberated Iraq some of Rummy's papers on Iraq and Afghanistan. (h/t Rosalind) And while I hope to return to the series on John Walker Lindh (79ff) and the memo, cc'ed to the public affairs people, in which Rummy ordered Jim Haynes…
$9 Million Per Sort-Of-Kind-Of Important Drone Strike
Amidst all the discussion of why the US froze drone strikes after Raymond Davis got picked up, Greg Miller published another important story on drone strikes.
Among other things, the story reveals that we've spent $118 million in the last…
Raymond Davis: Diplomatic Immunity v. US Impunity
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MaryWhat happens with the Raymond Davis case, in the end, will likely not have very much to do with the Vienna Conventions. For that matter, we likely will never have enough of the unadulterated facts to know what should happen under the Vienna…
Raymond Davis' Work "with" the CIA
After the Guardian confirmed for the Anglo-American world what the rest of the world had already concluded--that Raymond Davis is some kind of spook--the government gave the American outlets that have been sitting on this knowledge the go-ahead…
Nouri al-Maliki's Retirement Fund?
All this talk about Hosni Mubarak's looted billions must really piss off our other client rulers, the ones who have not yet set aside such rich stashes for their retirement.
But someone in Iraq has already made the move, disappearing $40…
Spy v. Spy: Unmasked?
From the very first reports of Raymond Davis' killing of two Pakistanis and subsequent arrest, the insistence he was just a consular employee was obviously just polite fiction. The Guardian has stopped sustaining that fiction.
Based on interviews…
Another Day at the Beach
This was actually taken yesterday--our gorgeous beach weather has given way to nasty freezing rain (though the freezing rain makes a really cool sound).
But while I'm working on other things, I thought I'd share yesterday's sunshine, dunes,…
Mubarak's Loot: $38 Million Found! Still Hidden? $69,962 Million
The New York Times heralds that,
Swiss Locate Funds Linked to Mubarak
But what the story really reports is that the Swiss have located just "several dozen million Swiss francs," which works out to less than $38 million of the up to $70 billion…
Angelo Mozilo Will Not Be Charged
In news that will not surprise you in the least--but will put you off your breakfast--Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo will not be charged.
Federal prosecutors have shelved a criminal investigation of Angelo R. Mozilo after determining that his…
Poppy Bush's Virgin Born Intelligence Knowledge
Jack Goldsmith links to an interesting document from the RummyLeaks library: then Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld's memo to President Ford reviewing possible candidates to replace William Colby as head of the CIA.
But Goldsmith doesn't call…
Judge: Padilla Can't Sue for Torture because Justification for His Torture Was Based on Torture
Here's the main thrust of Judge Richard Mark Gergel's decision to dismiss Jose Padilla's Bivens suit against Donald Rumsfeld and other high level Bush officials who denied him his Constitutional rights.
The Court finds that "special factors"…
Lindsey Graham Calls Raymond Davis an "Agent"
AFP has a report (notably picked up by Pakistan's Dawn) on the Senate's hand-wringing over whether we should tie aid to Pakistan to the release of Raymond Davis, the "consulate employee" who shot two alleged Pakistani spies. Here's what Lindsey…
Political Giving and Willingness to Cave to Law Enforcement
When Jason Leopold linked to a WSJ report titled, "Obama breaks bread with Silicon Valley execs," I quipped, "otherwise known as, Obama breaks bread w/our partners in domestic surveillance." After all, some of the companies represented--Google,…
Hunton & Williams Left Fingerprints at SEIU
Hunton & Williams, the law firm that solicited HBGary and two other security firms to spy on Chamber of Commerce opponents, has remained silent so far about its efforts.
But it hasn't covered its tracks. The SEIU reports that people from…
Stuxnet: The Curious Incident of the Second Certificate
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
"The dog did nothing in the night-time."
"That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.
Arthur Conan…
Confirmed: Our Government Has Criminalized Beauty Products
A year and a half ago, I warned that if you bought certain beauty supplies--hydrogen peroxide and acetone--you might be a terrorism suspect.
I’m going to make a wildarsed guess and suggest that the Federal Government is doing a nationwide…