Buck Naked Politics

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!

Arlen Specter Defends Nancy Pelosi, Thinks CIA Might Occasionally Palter with the Truth

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. 

"The CIA has a very bad record when it comes to — I was about to say 'candid'; that's too mild — to honesty," Specter, a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a lunch address to the American Law Institute. He cited misleading information about the agency's involvement in mining harbors in Nicaragua and the Iran-Contra affair.

FBI Thwarts 4 Homegrown Terrorists Who Were Planning to Blow Up Bronx Synagogues

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.

The Daily Show: "This Time Things Will be Different." Obama Blocks the Release of Detainee Abuse Photos, & Won't Intervene in the Military's Dismissal of Crucial Arabic Translator Who Has Admitted He is Gay

"In the war on terror, it was okay to waterboard a guy over 80 times to get him to talk, but God forbid that we keep the guy around who can understand what he was saying...if he has a boyfriend." After the jump.....

The Thickening Plot: Sen. Bob Graham Says the CIA Gave Him False Information

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.

Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Former Chief of Staff at State Dept: The Truth About "Sith Lord" Richard Bruce Cheney

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.

TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds" (May 14, 2009 Video)

"White hot" on Capitol Hill, as various and sundry talking heads react to Pelosi's accusations against the CIA." After the jump...

TPMtv: Pelosi Accuses the CIA of Lying to Congress About Her Knowledge of Waterboarding

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.

TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds" (May 13, 2009 Video)

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.

New York Times: The Story Behind the Torture Administration's Use of "Harsh Interrogation" Methods

 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:

Stanford Students Rough Up Condi Over Torture; Get a Condi-scending Response

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.

Tales of the Torture Administration Continued: The $1000 a Day Psychologists Who Allegedly Enabled the Use of Waterboarding

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. 

Judge Bybee Defends the OLC's Torture Memos as a "Good Faith Analysis of the Law"

  "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:

Judge Bybee said he was issuing a statement following reports that he had regrets over his role in the memorandums, including an article in The Washington Post on Saturday to that effect. Given the widespread criticism of the memorandums, he said he would have done some things differently, like clarifying and sharpening the analysis of some of his answers to help the public better understand the basis for his conclusions

The Daily Show Unedited Interview: Cliff May Wants to "Push the Boundaries" of Torture

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..

Ron Suskind to Maddow: Detainees Were Tortured Due to Bush Administration's Frustration Over Failure to Link Al Qaeda to Iraq in Run-Up to War

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

FBI Special Agent: "For Seven Years I Have Remained Silent"

  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:

FOR seven years I have remained silent about the false claims magnifying the effectiveness of the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding. I have spoken only in closed government hearings, as these matters were classified. But the release last week of four Justice Department memos on interrogations allows me to shed light on the story, and on some of the lessons to be learned.

One of the most striking parts of the memos is the false premises on which they are based. The first, dated August 2002, grants authorization to use harsh interrogation techniques on a high-ranking terrorist, Abu Zubaydah, on the grounds that previous methods hadn’t been working...

Al Qaeda Boss Still Hates Obama, Pleads with Other Followers to Hate Him Too

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:

Waterboarding, USA: News of 266 Waterboardings Administered to Two Suspects; Obama Administration to Hold No One Accountable? (Bonus Video: Sing Along with Harry Shearer)

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:

Dept of Hollow Laughter: Right Wingers Incensed Over DHS Report on Rise of Right Wing Extremism

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. 

Vietnamese Gunman Kills 13 in New York, Taliban Claims Credit

 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:

"Pakistani Taliban militant leader Baituallah Mehsud claimed on Saturday responsibility for an attack on a U.S. immigration center in New York state in which 13 people were killed.

"'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?