Jordan’s King Abdullah II joined the ever-lengthening list of people saying that the United States tortured detainees in an interview to air on NBC Meet the Press. He joins a long list of Bush officials, the International Red Cross, countless NGOs and experts who have come forward in the last few weeks. I discussed this evidence last night on this segment of Hardball.
Continue reading “Jordan’s King Abdullah: Evidence of Torture By United States Is Obvious”
A Senate Intelligence Report shows that Condoleeza Rice, then national security adviser, approved of the torture program as early as 2002. One week later, Attorney General John Ashcroft signed off the the legality of the torture by finding that the “proposed interrogation techniques were lawful.” It was also revealed that torture was used on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the first person charged in the United States in the 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.
Continue reading “Report: Condoleeza Rice and John Ashcroft Approved of Torture Program”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to fend off criticism over her knowledge of the Bush Administration’s plan to torture detainees. Pelosi has adopted a highly lawyered exclamation that she was briefed on the plan but never told that they were implementing the plan. It is a distinction lost on civil libertarians. She was still briefed on a war crime and did not act to stop it.
Continue reading “It Depends What “Know” Means: Pelosi Admits That She Was Briefed on Torture But Claims Ignorance on its Actual Use”
Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that he will “follow the law” in deciding whether to pursue criminal charges against Bush officials for the torture program. While first reported as a major advance, the statement conspicuously does not mention the appointment of a special prosecutor, an essential component to any investigation since the Justice Department featured heavily in these allegations.
Continue reading “Holder Promises to Follow the Law on Any Torture Investigation But Fails to Mention Special Prosecutor”
At a time when the Harman scandal is focusing attention on the power of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Congress, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is quoted in his very first interview on foreign policy as saying “Believe me, America accepts all our decisions.”
Continue reading “Israeli Foreign Minister: The United States Does What Israel Decides Should Be Done”
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has called for Judge Jay Bybee to resign in light of his central role in the torture program and memos. Leahy declared that “[t]he fact is, the Bush administration and Mr. Bybee did not tell the truth. If the Bush administration and Mr. Bybee had told the truth, he never would have been confirmed.”
Continue reading “Leahy Calls for Judge Bybee’s Resignations and Others Call for Impeachment”
Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, has called the alleged interception of her calls with a suspected spy “an abuse of power” and has called for the transcripts of the call to be given to her. As suggested in an earlier blog, she has promised to make the transcript public if given to her. However, she would not confirm the conversation while denying any quid pro quo arrangement to help accused American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobbyists — Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman — in exchange for AIPAC’s help in securing the House Intelligence Committee Chairmanship. While Harman is reported as ending the call with the statement that “This conversation doesn’t exist,” she now denies that the conversation existed as reported in the media.
Notably, the same week that this conversation was revealed, the Administration is reportedly considering dropping charges against the AIPAC lobbyists — precisely what the AIPAC contact reported demanded from Harman in her help to reduce or dismiss charges.
President Obama reversed earlier statements statements made as late as this weekend from Raum Emmanuel and others that he did not want anyone — low level or high level officials — prosecuted for torture. In a clear break from his past statements, Obama insisted that the matter had to be left to Attorney General Eric Holder. We discussed this latest development on this segment of MSNBC Countdown. In the meantime, the Administration leaked a memo from Intelligence Director Dennis Blair that said that the torture program yielded new information — part of a new emerging argument that torture works that was also recently advanced by former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Below is today’s column from the Los Angeles Times on the demand of the family of Martin Luther King that the King Center be paid roughly $800,000 for the right to use his image and words in the planned memorial to the late civil rights leaders on the Washington Mall.
Continue reading “Monumental Shakedown: Cashing in on Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D., Ca.) is embroiled in an expanding controversy over her introduction of legislation to give $25 billion to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp that awarded a highly generous contract to her husband. Feinstein is notably not on any committee with jurisdiction in this area and this legislation was unusual for her. The scandal, once again, shows the calculated decision of Senators to preserve loopholes that allow them to invest or have interests in areas where they legislate and vote.
Continue reading “Feinstein Accused of Self-Dealing in $25 Billion Legislation for FDIC”
After refusing to release even unclassified materials as Vice President, former Vice President Dick Cheney is now calling for the release of all interrogation reports to show that torture works. This is the same Cheney who supported the denial of such evidence to courts and criminal defendants and Congress. However, now that calls for prosecution for war crimes are increasing, Cheney suddenly believes in transparency in government. In the meantime, Obama has reversed earlier statements and indicated that he will not rule out prosecutions of Bush officials. We discussed this latest development on this segment of MSNBC Countdown.
Continue reading “Torture Works: Cheney Unrolls New Campaign to Justify War Crimes”
For civil libertarians, this story is proof of a divine being. Rep. Jane Harman has long been criticized for her knowledge of the unlawful warrantless surveillance program and torture program. The democrats have blocked any investigation into the unlawful programs in part to protect democratic members like Harman who would be implicated. Now, it has been reported that Harman was captured on an NSA surveillance allegedly cutting a deal with a suspected Israeli agent to help reduce charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. Harman allegedly offered the help in exchange for AIPAC securing her the position as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. According to CQ, Harman offers to “waddle into” the AIPAC case in exchange for help securing the Chairmanship. Harman reportedly ended the call with the suspected spy with the warning “This conversation doesn’t exist.”
You really can’t say it better than this.
The Supreme Court today accepted U.S. v. Stevens, which will decide whether Robert Stevens of Pittsville, Virginia can be prosecuted for selling videos of pit bull fights. The case could decided the broader question of animal snuff films, crush films, and other disturbing images being sold on the Internet. This case focuses on a federal law criminalizing sale or possession of such images.
Continue reading “Supreme Court to Rule on Free Speech Claim Over Animal Cruelty Films”
I just completed the discussion below on NPR’s On Point with Professor Robert Turner of the University of Virginia. It shows the flood of different rationales being put forward from every quarter to excuse not investigating war crimes.
Continue reading “On Point Debate With Professor Robert Turner”