Dueling speeches: Obama versus Cheney. Also: a foiled terror plot....after the jump!
Continue reading "TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds": Obama versus Cheney (May 21, 2009 Video)" »
Dueling speeches: Obama versus Cheney. Also: a foiled terror plot....after the jump!
Continue reading "TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds": Obama versus Cheney (May 21, 2009 Video)" »
Posted on May 21, 2009 at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: barack obama, buck naked politics, damozel, dick cheney, terror plot, terrorism
by Teh Nutroots | I mean, look, come on: they're the CIA. Do people really think that they are on close terms at all times with the truth as it might appear to you and me? Don't we all pretty much assume that they lie reflexively, whenever they need to obscure a spot of excess zeal or whatever? Don't we all reckon that they're the ultimate ends-justify-the-means agency in America? Isn't history clear on this point?
Specter didn't go quite that far, acknowledging that it isn't official CIA policy to misrepresent the facts, but he went far enough.
Posted on May 21, 2009 at 04:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: Arlen Specter, buck naked politics, CIA, CIA policy, Iran-Contra, leon panetta, nancy pelosi, teh nutroots
by Damozel | Their arrest began with them planting bombs -- fake bombs, thanks to the "assistance" of an FBI informant -- in cars outside the Temple and Jewish Center.(NYT) Fortunately, the FBI have been aware of the plot since June 2008, thanks to a federal informant.
Law enforcement officials identified the four men arrested as James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh. Some of the men were of Arabic descent, and one is of Haitian descent, according to law enforcement officials. At least three were United States citizens, according to officials. They are all Muslim, a law enforcement official said.
Mr. Cromitie, who is of Afghan descent, had told the informant that he was upset about the war in Afghanistan and that that he wanted to “do something to America.” Mr. Cromitie stated “the best target” — the World Trade Center — “was hit already,” according to the complaint.
Posted on May 21, 2009 at 03:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: buck naked politics, charles schumer, damozel, foiled plot, new york city, peter t. king, riverside synaguogue, terrorism, the broxn
Posted on May 15, 2009 at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: barack obama, buck naked politics, damozel, dan choi, detainee abuse, GLBT, jon stewart, LGBT issues, the daily show, torture, torture photographs
by Damozel | Amidst all the excitement over Pelosi's "extraordinary accusation that the Bush administration lied to Congress about the use of harsh interrogation techniques" that the CIA is misleading Congress about her knowledge of the Bush administration's interrogation procedures, Sen. Bob Graham has given HuffPost an interview that seems to support Pelosi's argument.
In testimony that could bolster Speaker Nancy
Pelosi's claim that the CIA misled her during briefings on detainee
interrogations, former Senator Bob Graham insisted on Thursday that he too was
kept in the dark about the use of waterboarding, and called the agency's
records on these briefings "suspect."
In an interview with the Huffington Post, the former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman said that approximately a month ago, the CIA provided him with false information about how many times and when he was briefed on enhanced interrogations.
Continue reading "The Thickening Plot: Sen. Bob Graham Says the CIA Gave Him False Information" »
Posted on May 15, 2009 at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: bob graham, buck naked politics, bush administration, CIA, CIA briefings, damozel, gang of eight, harsh interrogation techniques, joe lieberman, nancy pelosi, senator bob graham, steny hoyer, steny hoyer, waterboarding
by Damozel | Whoa. As in "Wow." This is from Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former chief of staff of the Department of State during the term of Secretary of State Colin Powell and -- yes -- a Republican. Who badly wants Cheney to shut up "as we try to repair the extensive damage you've done--to the country and to its Republican Party." [Washington Note]
First, more Americans were killed by terrorists on Cheney's watch than on
any other leader's watch in US history. So his constant claim that no
Americans were killed in the "seven and a half years" after 9/11 of his
vice presidency takes on a new texture when one considers that fact.
And it is a fact.
Posted on May 15, 2009 at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: al Qaeda, al Qaida, bush administration, cheney, Iraq, lawrence b. wilkerson, lawrence wilkerson, Liz Cheney, Mary Matalin, richard cheney, state department, terrorism, vice president
"White hot" on Capitol Hill, as various and sundry talking heads react to Pelosi's accusations against the CIA." After the jump...
Continue reading "TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds" (May 14, 2009 Video)" »
Posted on May 14, 2009 at 05:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: buck naked politics, CIA briefings, damozel, enhanced interrogation, nancy pelosi, torture
by Teh Nutroots | She kinds of kicks ass here, trying to cover her own. Doesn't really explain her own previous statements, of course.
See Memeorandum for blogger reactions.
Posted on May 14, 2009 at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: buck naked politics, CIA briefings, enhanced interrogation, nancy pelosi, teh nutroots, torture
Detail from painting, The Triumph of Death, by Pieter Breugel the Elder, via via Olga's Gallery
In which SC's Lindsey Graham thinks every principle on which our nation was founded should give way before cowardice and fear for one's own skin. Meanwhile, our country's moral standing is shown to be damaged and our security not enhanced by the administration's use of torture....after the jump.
Continue reading "TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds" (May 13, 2009 Video)" »
Posted on May 13, 2009 at 08:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: ali soufan, buck naked politics, damozel, enhanced interrogation, lindsay graham, lindsey graham, torture
image adapted from photo by Sasha Aikin (xander76), pursuant to CC license
by Damozel | Back in 2003, it seems, Bush made a seemingly benevolent and quite correct statement concerning the US attitude toward torture, which sent alarm bells ringing up and down the line in the CIA. (New York Times) ""The United States is “committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example,” Mr. Bush proclaimed, vowing to prosecute torture and to prevent “other cruel and unusual punishment.”"
Naturally, he didn't mention that he'd authorized CIA interrogators to use "brutal tactics" on Al Qaeda detainees. (NYT) The proclamation was issued in support of the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. And, the rest, as they say, is history:
Posted on May 03, 2009 at 09:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: al qaeda, al qaida, buck naked politics, central intelligence agency, CIA, CIA lawyers, condi, condoleezza rice, damozel, david addington, department of justice, department of state, dick cheney, George W. Bush, porter goss, scott w. muller, state department, steven bradbury, torture, UN, victims of torture, W
by Damozel | Scott Horton at Vanity Fair has the story and calls the Stanford footage itself "a train wreck." I like the part -- right at the beginning -- where she pulls her own nose before answering the student's question, no doubt to get a baseline reading on the length. See Prof. Horton's piece for a point by point fact check.
Continue reading "Stanford Students Rough Up Condi Over Torture; Get a Condi-scending Response" »
Posted on May 02, 2009 at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: 911, buck naked politics, condi rice, condoleezza rice, damozel, detainees, former secretary of state, guantanamo, stanford, terrorism, torture
photograph, "waterboarding demonstration", by isabel esterman [isa e.], used pursuant to CC license
by Damozel | According to ABC News, two handsomely-remunerated psychologists now working in an unmarked building in Washington State were indeed hired by the CIA to ensure that their torture program was safe. Mitchell Jessen Associates, the psychologists, were former CIA officials neither of whom had prior experience in interrogations, casting doubt on arguments that waterboarding is either medically safe or effective --- especially given the fact that the CIA's use was far more intense and frequent than the "brief sessions used...in...training classes." (ABC News)
Supposedly these psychologists -- whose identities have been public knowledge, incidentally, at least since 2007 -- were the architects of the interrogation strategy that led to the use of waterboarding.
Posted on May 01, 2009 at 05:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: abc news, al qaeda, al-Quaida, bruce jessen, buck naked politics, bush administration, chile, damozel, defense department, enhanced interrogation, guantanamo bay, harsh interrogation, james mitchell, mitchell jessen & associates, pinochet, psychologist, SERE, submarino, torture, water cure, waterboarding
"gavel" by walknboston, used pursuant to CC license | by Damozel | Bush appointee-to-the-Ninth-Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, former head of the Office of Legal Counsel, finally decided to rompre le silence (as the French say). The New York Times reports:
Posted on April 29, 2009 at 06:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: al qaeda, buck naked politics, bush administration, christopher l. blakesley, damozel, jay bybee, ninth circuit court of appeals, office of legal counsel, torture memos, tuan samahon
by Damozel | Okay, kids: "Cliff May defends America's waterboarding techniques in this complete, unedited three part interview" with Jon Stewart (after the jump). Grit your teeth down on the bullet and prepare to listen (after the jump). WARNING: Not for those who hold old-fashioned ideas about America or its role in the world or for the weak of stomach, who aren't cowards, and who don't think it's all right to sacrifice any principle to protect your own skin..
Posted on April 29, 2009 at 04:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: buck naked politics, cliff may, damozel, defending torture, defending waterboarding, jon stewart, jon stewart interview, the daily show, torture, waterboarding
Jason Linkins: "With the recent news that detainees were being frenziedly pressed to offer up some connection between al Qaeda and Iraq, a unified field theorem of foreign policymaking becomes stunningly clear....Suskind noted that the "impetus was not to foil potential al Qaeda attacks. The impetus here was largely political and diplomatic."
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Posted on April 24, 2009 at 07:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: al qaeda, bush administration, detainees, enhanced interrogation, harsh interrogation, iraq, iraq war, jason linkins, rachel maddow, ron suskind, saddam hussein, the one percent doctrine, torture
by Damozel | Ali Soufan, an F.B.I. supervisory special agent from 1997 to 2005, says in a "must read" New York Times op-ed:
Continue reading "FBI Special Agent: "For Seven Years I Have Remained Silent" " »
Posted on April 23, 2009 at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: abu zubaydah, actionable intelligence, ali soufan, buck naked politics, damozel, enhanced interrogation, interrogation techniques, justice department memos, torture
by Teh Nutroots | Unsurprisingly, Ayman Zawahri -- who referred to Obama some time back as a "house negro" -- claims he doesn't much care for the bombings in Pakistan or the increased presence in Afghanistan. Being who he is, he prefers threats to go medieaval on our collective arse to reasoned discourse or debate.
CBS has the scary quotes:
Continue reading "Al Qaeda Boss Still Hates Obama, Pleads with Other Followers to Hate Him Too" »
Posted on April 20, 2009 at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: afghanistan, al qaeda, al-qaeda, ayman zawahri, barack obama, buck naked politics, house bengto, muslim world, pakistan, teh nutroots, teh nutroots, yglesias, zawahri
Original photo by Elizabeth Cromwell, used pursuant to this license | by Damozel | Obama's going to be visiting CIA headquarters today to "make public remarks to employees, as well as
meet privately with officials, an agency spokesman said Sunday night."
(NYT) (266 waterboardings to two suspects!) There's no indication that he intends to call anyone to account for any of this.
As we all know, he's already assured the operatives responsible for this and other, er, "excesses" that those who used "harsh interrogation methods" (waterboarding) aren't going to be prosecuted for war crimes because -- apparently -- they weren't to know that torturing people was wrong if a couple of attorneys from Bush's DoJ said it is all right so long as you don't intend to hurt anyone by it and don't think of it as "torture" but as "defending America." After all, there's a reason why Cheney said that waterboarding is a "no-brainer" for him, even if it did get his administration accused of torture:
Posted on April 20, 2009 at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: 266 waterboardings, buck naked politics, bush administration, cia, damozel, dick cheney, george bush, john kiriakou, marcy wheeler, michael hayden, obama administration, w
by Damozel | The report of the Department of Homeland Security has spawned much grinding and gnashing of teeth among the bloviators of the far right, and especially Michelle Malkin. And who can blame them? No anti-government crazy from the far right has ever, ever committed any violent or terrorist act such as blowing up a federal courthouse and killing 300 people or gunning down people in a little Tennessee church....at least not since last weekend. Nor have any far right nutjobs ever planned to kill a 102 young African-American high school students to express their distaste for an African-American president. As we all know, only Mooslims ever become terrorists.
No wonder the Malkin's ever-frangible feeeeeeeeeelings are hurt.
Posted on April 15, 2009 at 06:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: andrew sullivan, barack obama, buck naked politics, damozel, department of homeland security, DHS, domestic surveillance, domestic terrorism, far right, FISA, george w. bush, glenn greenwald, glenn reynolds, gun laws, michelle malkin, oklahoma city bombings, patriot act, right wing extremism, surveillance state, timothy mcveight, warrantless wiretapping
by Deb Cupples | A gunman, reportedly an immigrant from Vietnam, took hostages and opened fire in a U.S. immigration center in New York. Thirteen people were killed. The man later, apparently, killed himself. (BBC)
After the incident, a Taliban leader in Pakistan claimed credit for the attack. Reuters (via Memeorandum) reports:
"'I accept responsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to U.S. drone attacks,' Mehsud told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
According to Fox, a Pakistani security analyst "dismissed the claim as a publicity stunt." Who knows?
Posted on April 04, 2009 at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: pakistan, taliban, terrorism