Entries by emptywheel

Breaking! Judge Walker Gets Ready to Penalize the Government in al-Haramain

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Judge Walker appears to have lost his patience with the government’s obstinance in al-Haramain.

He just gave the government one week to explain why he shouldn’t just rule in al-Haramain’s favor and impose penalties.

As the court understands the situation:

1. The United States has completed suitability determinations for two of plaintiffs’ attorneys and found them suitable for TS/SCI clearances, but government officials in one or more defendant agencies, including the NSA Director

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Did Abu Zubaydah’s Torture Begin After May 28, 2002?

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I increasingly suspect that the torture index provided to ACLU may better pinpoint the day when Abu Zubaydah’s torture began. Here are they key datapoints.

April 13, 2002: CIA starts taping Abu Zubaydah interrogations.

April 16, 2002: Bruce Jessen circulates draft exploitation plan to JPRA Commander.

April 2002: CIA OGC lawyers begin conversations with John Bellinger and John Yoo/Jay Bybee on proposed interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah.

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The Context of the Torture Index

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I wanted to return to the torture index released to ACLU the other day to comment on what the CIA claims to have in terms of records.

First, remember what this index is. The April 21 order required CIA to turn over two things. Records “relating to the content” of the torture tapes “from the entire period of the tapes that were destroyed” (This stuff is referred to as “Paragraph 3”

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Dick Asks Obama to Wave His Magic Wand

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During the week that Dick Cheney ordered Libby to out Valerie Plame, Mary Matalin told Libby that “Bush” should order everything on the Wilsons declassified (it’s not clear whether Matalin meant this to include Plame’s identity or not). She said “the President should wave his magic wand” to declassify the oppo on the Wilsons.

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Joe Miller of FactCheck.Org Got Played for a Fool

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You’d think after Porter Goss once again failed to refute Nancy Pelosi’s central assertion, “Fact Check” organizations would get the hint.

But no–they’re still out there refuting themselves!!

Here are the details that FactCheck.Org uses to claim that,

So we’re left with Democrats offering one (not always entirely accurate) story and the CIA and some Republicans offering a different (and, again, not always entirely accurate) story.

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Gitmo as OUR Recruitment Tool

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The NYT is out with another report of the Pentagon stat that 14% of those released after being held in Gitmo subsequently engaged in terrorism.

An unreleased Pentagon report concludes that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity, according to administration officials.

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