'We Don't Torture' Is A Myth

The C.I.A. waterboarded Abu Zubaydah a minimum of 83 times in August of 2002. Khalid Sheik Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003. Firedoglake blogger Marcy Wheeler broke the latter story before the New York Times. Wheeler found information about Mohammed's waterboarding from a C.I.A. memo sent to John Rizzo, Senior Deputy Council for the C.I.A. Rizzo was involved with the C.I.A. secret prisons. His nomination for CIA general counsel was killed in the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The memo makes clear former C.I.A. Director George Tenet had to approve all uses of waterboarding.

Any interrogation plan that involves the use of enhanced techniques must be reviewed and approved by "the Director, DCI Counterterrorism Center, with the concurrence Chief, CTC Legal Group."

The memo admits Zubaydah and Mohammed were waterboarded.

Consistent with its heightened standard for the use of waterboarding, the CIA has used this technique in the interrogation of only three detainees to date (KSM, Zubaydah and 'Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri) and has not been used since the March 2003 interrogation of KSM.

The damning evidence is on page 37.

The CIA used the waterboard "at least 83 times during August 2002" in the interrogation of Zubaydah. IG Report at 90, and 183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM, see id. at 91.

The memo mostly attempts the legally justify pure torture. Anyone that doesn't think waterboarding is torture should try it. George Tenet approved this. How long until Tenet starts passing the buck to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney?

President Barack Obama spoke at the C.I.A. Langley headquarters. The President promised not to prosecute or release the identity of operatives involved in waterboarding.

"You are an indispensable tool, the tip of the spear in America's international mission and our national security," Obama said. "I will be as vigorous in protecting you as you are in protecting the American people."

He acknowledged that "the last few days have been difficult" and said he would continue to fight to keep classified documents secret. But he defended his administration's decision to release select documents last week, saying much of the information in them was already public knowledge.

"I acted primarily because of the exceptional circumstances that surrounded these memos," Obama said.

Releasing the memos will put pressure on Obama to prosecute people. Former C.I.A. Director Michael Hayden has repeatedly attacked Obama. Hayden is obviously nervous. Hayden's argument that terrorsts weren't aware of C.I.A. interrogation methods before the memos were released. That is garbage. Hayden is covering his ass.



This is the same Hayden that told he didn't know if waterboarding was illegal.

It [waterboarding] is not included in the current program, and in my own view, the view of my lawyers and the Department of Justice, it is not certain that that technique would be considered to be lawful under current statute.

I have doubts only three detainees were waterboarded. A 2005 ABC News story details waterboarding and other tortures methods at an secret Afghanistan prison. Hayden told Congress only Zubaydah, Mohammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded. What is going on is Hayden knowingly perjured himself to Congress. I doubt Hayden will get charged for perjury. Hayden isn't so confident.

If waterboarded was safe and legal then why did the Bush administration lie about their interrogation methods for years? The Bush administration either suffered from a collective pathological lying disorder or were afraid of criminal indictments.

Update: Emily Bazelon proposes disbarment for David Addington, Alberto Gonzales and Jim Haynes. I would add Rizzo and Rizzo and John Yoo. How can Obama be able to argue these men shouldn't disbarred?

Update: John McCain criticizes Obama for releasing the memos. (Still testy about the election.) McCain does state waterboarding is morally wrong.

It's unacceptable. It's unacceptable. One is too much. Waterboarding is torture, period. I can ensure you that once enough physical pain is inflicted on someone, they will tell that interrogator whatever they think they want to hear. And most importantly, it serves as a great propaganda tool for those who recruit people to fight against us. And I've seen concrete examples of that talking to former high-ranking al-Qaeda individuals in Iraq.

Update: Batocchio has a lengthy must read piece on David Rivkin's defense of waterboarding.

Senate Intelligence Committee's Iraq Finding

Via Matt Yglesias. The Senate Intelligence Committee's report into the Bush administration pre-Iraq war claims tells us what has been reported in the media. The White House made shit up to sell the war.

* Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.

* Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.

* Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.

* Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.

* The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.

* The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.

Congressional Democrats share the blame. The case was always weak and Democrats failed to ask difficult questions. Democrats did not want to look weak and national security. Bush was given carte blanche because of political spinelessness, on the part Democrats.

Update: the Phase Two report is online. Dana Perino argues that the White House wasn't getting proper information from the intelligence community. I like to hear her explanation of Dick Cheney's visit to the CIA.



Perino's argument that the White House doesn't lie about intelligence is another grand lie. Donald Rumsfeld, on Face the Nation that he never described Iraq as an "immediate threat." Thomas Friedman directly quotes Rumsfeld using those very words. Rumsfeld still wouldn't fess up. Lying is hardwired into the DNA of these people.

Senate Ducks Wiretap Controversy

The Senate Intelligence Committee will not investigate the warrantless NSA wiretaps. This just proves that Pat Roberts never fails to disappoint. Robert told the Washington Post, "The administration is now committed to legislation and has agreed to brief more intelligence committee members on the nature of the surveillance program. The details of this agreement will take some time to work out." Roberts fails to go into the details of what those details are.

I will give some details. The Huffington Post reports on rumors that Karl Rove threatened to black ball any Republican Senator who votes to curtail the President's power to illegally wiretap. Sen. John D. Rockefeller said, "It is more than apparent to me that the White House has applied heavy pressure in recent days, in recent weeks, to prevent the committee from doing its job." Rockefeller is speaking of Dick Cheney's behind closed door meetings with Republican Congress members.

A Zogby poll finds that 52% of Americans favor impeaching the President over the illegal wiretaps. An Ipso poll is 50% think the wiretaps are illegal to 48% believing they're just. 2% are undecided. Given time, the polls will creep towards the White House's disadvantage. This administration is fresh out of political capital.

Mister Roberts

Here is some good news.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge ordered the Bush administration Thursday to release documents about its warrantless surveillance program or spell out what it is withholding, a setback to efforts to keep the program under wraps.

The bad news is it looks like Senator Pat Roberts is going to provide cover for the anministration. I give some examples.

Roberts on the Valerie Plame leak.

ROBERTS: There's a five-year period, OK? And whether or not that five-year period had been reached or not is still questionable. And I must say from a common sense standpoint, driving back and forth to work to the CIA headquarters, I don't know if that really qualifies as being, you know, covert.

That is quite a statement from the Senate Intelligence Chairman. Is Roberts saying that people who work undercover for the CIA should never report to the CIA offices? Using an automobile to go "back and forth" from the same office disqualifies an operative of covert status. How?

Raw Story has a long list of instances where Roberts carried water for the administration.

Roberts statements about a Senate investigation on warrantless wiretaps.

"I believe that such an investigation at this point ... would be detrimental to this highly classified program and efforts to reach some accommodation with the administration," Roberts said.

I can't say I'm surprised.

Update: Spokewoman Sarah Little on Pat Roberts views of the legality of the NSA program.

The Bush administration found a key ally on Capitol Hill Monday as it broadened its aggressive defense of a recently revealed domestic spying program that used warrantless surveillance.

Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, “believes the program is consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution,” Sarah Little, Roberts’ spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement.