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.
I’ve been busy lately; sorry about that. On a positive note, that is likely good for you readers. Nevertheless, this is the fastest and most awesomest weekend imaginable, it is a holiday weekend and time to blow some trash talk around. There is a convergence on Sunday of the Grand Prix du Monte Carlo (Monaco), the Indianapolis 500 and, yes Elizabeth, those good ole boys will be circle jerkin
In spite of the fact that it is becoming increasingly clear to the rest of the media that Porter Goss and Nancy Pelosi agree that they were not briefed that the CIA had already been torturing prisoners in September 2002, the WaPo has decided to double down on deliberately misreading events.
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
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.
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”
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.
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.