Author Archive for: emptywheel
About emptywheel
Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist writing about national security and civil liberties. She writes as emptywheel at her eponymous blog, publishes at outlets including Vice, Motherboard, the Nation, the Atlantic, Al Jazeera, and appears frequently on television and radio. She is the author of Anatomy of Deceit, a primer on the CIA leak investigation, and liveblogged the Scooter Libby trial.
Marcy has a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she researched the “feuilleton,” a short conversational newspaper form that has proven important in times of heightened censorship. Before and after her time in academics, Marcy provided documentation consulting for corporations in the auto, tech, and energy industries. She lives with her spouse in Grand Rapids, MI.
Entries by emptywheel
Cheney’s So-Called Recidivists
/116 Comments/in Intelligence, Terrorism/by emptywheelThere’s a number of impressions I get from the DOD “report” on the number of Gitmo detainees who have joined terrorists groups, including al Qaeda, since being released. First, while it appears to be what ABC billed it as–the report showing 14% of the people freed from Gitmo purportedly returning to the fight, the one that was used to scare the Senate into refuse funding for Gitmo–it looks fairly laughable.
Liz Cheney: Calling My Daddy a Torturer Is Libelous
/155 Comments/in Torture/by emptywheelI just got home and am wiped out (bmaz kept me out partying in NYC), so I thought I’d throw this up for discussion.
BabyDick says:She hasn’t seen the memos she’s convinced show torture was effective (no mention of whether she saw the IG report which says torture isn’t effective)She still ignores the part of Admiral Blair’s statement that shows we only got general info from torture–like the 10 pieces of intelligence
What Pelosi, Rockefeller & Harman Could Have Done
/198 Comments/in Bingo, Bush Administration, emptywheel, Intelligence, Law/by emptywheelThere has been an ongoing discussion for the last few weeks or so about the briefings that congressional leaders were allegedly given regarding the Bush/Cheney torture program and what Congressmembers like Pelosi, Rockefeller, Harman and Graham could have done to fight the malfeasance of Bush and Cheney. This post will explain what they could have done.
CIA: Focus on the Beatings, Not the Incompetence
/38 Comments/in Torture/by emptywheelfatster linked to this CQ article, quoting a former CIA ops officer admitting the CIA dissembles to Congress–and suggesting the CIA likes this controversy, because it makes them look tough.
“The interrogations controversy has served the CIA bureaucracy,” Jones asserted. “A top goal of bureaucracy is to look busy, and whether one agrees with the interrogation methods or not, the impression given is that the CIA is both busy and aggressive.”
Jones added: