Bad Deeds for 5-15-2009

 

Cheney First Approved Torture to Tie Iraq, al Qaeda According to Powell Aide – The chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell says that the Bush Administration authorized torture of detainees before even rendering a legal opinion on the practice — and that they sought to torture detainees in an effort to produce intelligence tying Iraq to al Qaeda.

“What I have learned is that as the administration authorized harsh interrogation in April and May of 2002–well before the Justice Department had rendered any legal opinion–its principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at pre-empting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al-Qa’ida,” former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson wrote Wednesday evening.

“So furious was this effort that on one particular detainee, even when the interrogation team had reported to Cheney’s office that their detainee “was compliant” (meaning the team recommended no more torture), the VP’s office ordered them to continue the enhanced methods,” Wilkerson added. “The detainee had not revealed any al-Qa’ida-Baghdad contacts yet. This ceased only after Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under waterboarding in Egypt, “revealed” such contacts. Of course later we learned that al-Libi revealed these contacts only to get the torture to stop.”

“There in fact were no such contacts,” he continued.

The Truth About Richard Bruce Cheney

 

CIA Admitted Making up Dates of Torture Briefings According to Senator – The former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham, says that the Central Intelligence Agency told him that they had briefed him on the Bush administration’s torture techniques on two dates he was never briefed. Graham’s pronouncement is startling in light of claims by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi contesting the accuracy of the CIA report, and may call into question the veracity of the report as a whole.

“When I asked the CIA what dates was I briefed, they gave me four dates, two in April, two in September of ‘02,” Graham said. “On three of the four occasions, when I consulted my schedule and my notes, it was clear that no briefing took place on that date, and the CIA eventually concurred in that. So their record keeping is a little bit suspect.

“I have no recollection during the briefing that I did receive on September 27 of ‘02 that the issue of waterboarding Zubaydah or other extreme interrogation techniques was discussed,” Graham added, referring to one of the Bush administration’s al Qaeda detainees. “I think I have a pretty good memory and if something as dramatic as that had been discussed at any level of specificity I would not only have remembered it but would have been motivated to do something about it.

 

Gingrich Calls Pelosi ‘Despicable, Dishonest, Trivial, Dishonorable, Loser, Incompetent’ – In a screed on ABC News Radio Friday, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi — or her activities — variations on “liar, despicable, dishonest, vicious, trivial, dishonorable, a loser and incompetent.”

Gingrich said Pelosi “lied to the House” in claiming she wasn’t briefed on the CIA’s harsh interrogation tactics.

No facts to back any of this, just name-calling.

 

Conservative Talk Show Host Calls Perez Hilton ‘Vile Sodomite’ – Conservative Sirius radio host who was guest hosting for the popular right-wing radio program the “Mark Levin Show” opened a wide-ranging attack Tuesday night on popular blogger Perez Hilton and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. It was a particularly malicious tirade even as tirades go.

Perez Hilton, who I am now terming a vile sodomite . . . yeah, Perez, you’re a vile sodomite – doesn’t that word have a ring to it – sodomite — and vile – vile sodomite – it just sounds so good to hear in my headphones – vile sodomite . . . . I’m not sure whose idea it was to have an overweight homosexual . . . What do gays constitute? They could announce the cure for AIDS on Logo and nobody would know for two weeks . . . And again, Perez Hilton, you’re a vile sodomite . . . and then this vile sodomite . . .

You, the idiot taxpayer, are paying the salary of that nice little boy, Rachel Maddow . . . Keith Olbermann’s nephew, Rachel Maddow . . . .

No facts to back any of this, just name-calling.

 

Congressional Leaders Inadvertently Expose Israeli Lobbyists Behind Letter to Obama – GOP House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) circulated a letter to colleagues this week urging President Obama to support Israel when moving forward with any Israeli peace process.

Trouble is, they forgot to delete the name of the lobbying group involved in the letter from the document. Attached to the email message they circulated when seeking signatures from other members of Congress was the document, titled, “AIPAC Letter Hoyer Cantor May 2009.pdf.” AIPAC stands for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, a powerful bipartisan pro-Israel lobbying group.

Regards,

Jim