Click image for complete graphic.

Read the New York Times investigative piece on enhanced interrogation techniques.

"Never in history had the United States authorized such tactics. While President Bush and C.I.A. officials would later insist that the harsh measures produced crucial intelligence, many veteran interrogators, psychologists and other experts say that less coercive methods are equally or more effective.

With virtually no experience in interrogations, the C.I.A. had constructed its program in a few harried months by consulting Egyptian and Saudi intelligence officials and copying Soviet interrogation methods long used in training American servicemen to withstand capture. The agency officers questioning prisoners constantly sought advice from lawyers thousands of miles away."

The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan calls it like it is: "We have war criminals in the White House."

From CNN: "It appears that under Attorney General Gonzales they reversed themselves and reinstated a secret regime by, in essence, reinterpreting the law in secret," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont.

Reinterpreted. The law. In secret.

Labels: Andrew Sullivan, cia, Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, George W. Bush, Patrick Leahy, Torture

A 22-year veteran CIA analyst known only as 'Doe' won a minor legal victory this week when U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that his/her/its case could proceed against the CIA. Doe's suit alleges CIA officials pressured and later terminated the decorated agent in the agency's counter-proliferation department for gathering evidence contrary to the Bush Administration's official line with regard to Iraq's pre-war WMD programs. Shocking. I know.

I say minor victory because this is probably the last you will ever hear of it. First, because the U.S. media would rather cover the NASCAR 'scandal' and Anna Nicole Smith (I refuse to link either on principle) than high crimes and misdemeanors. Second, because the story has been essentially Googlebombed out of existence by the CIA/extraordinary rendition proceedings in Italy (try and Google the CIA this week and see if you can find this story). And last, but not least, because U.S.District Judge Gladys Kessler, has been promoted and is being replaced by "former White House insider Dabney Friedrich."

I give credit where credit is due. No one plays the shell game better than this Administration. They've fired or forced-out seven U.S. Attorneys since march, and now this. It's like watching Cheney and Rove channeling Penn and Teller. If that image does haunt your dreams...

Special thanks to Matt for pointing this story out. Viva La Revolution!

Labels: cia, Dabney Friedrich, Extraordinary Rendition, Gladys Kessler, US Attorney firings

Less than a week after the FBI executed an unprecedented - yet fully warranted - raid on the office of a member of the House Ways and Means committee, the Senate "handed President Bush a pair of victories this morning, easily confirming his nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency and giving more narrow approval to a judicial nomination that had been stalled for three years." ~ NYT

That's not to say the incidents were related in any way. It's just not a sane proposition. Nor would it be within the realm of healthy thought to suggest that the alleged shooting incident inside the Rayburn garage that shut down the U.S. Capitol this morning had anything to do with anything. Sure Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Michigan, was conducting a House Intelligence Committee hearing at the time. But hey, I'm sure it's just another one of those wacky coincidences.

Tin foil hat time yet? Hell, make mine 2-ply.

This administration has proven time and again that it has no respect for the Constitution in any way shape or form. It has no fear of a corrupt, easily manipulated Congress, and it can crush the media with single blow. The Leviathan lives.

Labels: cia, Dirty Tricks, Peter Hoekstra

WASHINGTON, May 18 Gen. Michael V. Hayden sought on Thursday to distance himself from the Pentagon and its role in prewar intelligence on Iraq, in an appearance that put him on track to win swift confirmation as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. ~ NYT

There's nothing to stand in the way of this confirmation now.

Given that the NSA has been collecting data on phone calls and web traffic for at least a couple of years now it's probably safe to say that no single member of Congress would dare speak out against this nomination. Not in an election year.

Journalists have been gelded as well. If monitoring them wasn't enough to shut them up, Alberto Gonzales is now considering prosecution.

If our government abuses its power, we have no way of knowing. Well, almost no way. After all, information wants to be free.

Labels: Alberto Gonzales, cia, General Michael Hayden, media, nsa, tia

On hearing of the nomination of Air Force General Michael Hayden (qt video via) as the director of the CIA, Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the general would be "the wrong person, the wrong place at the wrong time"”.

Republicans voiced concern about the Pentagon's growing control of US intelligence operations yesterday. General Hayden would be "the wrong person, the wrong place at the wrong time", Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said.

...The Times Online

That is how it was reported by everyone on Sunday night, but lo and behold Monday:

"The CIA is the nation's premier, all-source civilian intelligence agency and that is what it should remain. There is no question that General Hayden is an outstanding military officer and a strong leader with a proven history in the Intelligence Community leading to his current position in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence." _ Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee

...The Washington Post

As a matter of fact, try to news.google Hoekstra and the phrase "wrong person". The phrase pops several articles, but click through and see that the words have been scrubbed from the text. Run a find on the word "wrong" to see for yourself.

CBS page 1

CBS page 2

Neat trick...I wonder how they did it.

This is not a unique phenomena. As of this writing the San Jose Mercury News is the only major US media outlet to retain the original text of Hoekstra's quote. You can also still find the quote correctly reported by our friends abroad.

All journalists - including online journalists - have a duty to search for and report the truth.

Oppose this nomination.

Labels: cia, General Michael Hayden, media, Peter Hoekstra

Just when I try to get this blog up and rolling again, the shit hits the fan. Once upon a time I was worried about the fate of our nation under the current administration. Specifically I was concerned with the long term consequences of what I viewed as a misguided foreign policy. Today there's so much wrong with where our nation has gone and what has been done in our name that I don't know where to even begin when choosing topics to included in this electronic screed of mine.

In the past week the vice president has proven himself to be above the law by having dismissed local law enforcement seeking to investigate a hunting accident he was involved in. Conspiracy theories aside, the man is an American citizen and subject to the laws of this land. He should have - at the very least - been interviewed by local authorities. In avoiding this he has sullied the reputation of the United States as a lawful nation of the people, by the people and for the people. Dick Cheney is a disgrace.

Also this week, a top NASA scientist - previously gagged by woefully unqualified administration appointees - announced that Greenland's ice shelf is melting far faster than previously thought. The resulting rise in global ocean levels is only one possible consequence. North Atlantic ocean temperatures will drop due to the increased inflow of ice melt, greatly improving the chances of a stalled Gulf Stream. Should this occur, Europe will suffer a dramatic climate change.

Pictures of abuses inflicted upon innocent Iraqis by US service members and Pentagon contractors at Abu Ghraib were released by an Austrailian news service. These images were then immediately republished around the globe where they were met with universal scorn and criticism. Well...almost universal. Here in the US, no news outlet made a very big deal of the images, and the administration dismissed them altogether stating that those responsible had already been punished, and refusing to accept that the 1,000+ images indicated that the torture which occurred was indeed systemic in nature and not the act of a handful of individuals.

On top of all of this Secretary of State Condi Rice lied point blank to congress. As did former FEMA head Michael Brown, and current Department of Homeland Security Head Michael Chertoff.

Meanwhile the list of former administration officials and functionaries who now criticize their former masters continues to grow. Paul Pillar, the CIA's national intelligence officer for the Middle East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, and Ari Fleischer who served as President George W. Bush's first press secretary joined those growing ranks this week.

When will this ship of the damned finally sink?

Labels: Abu Ghraib, Ari Fleischer, cia, climate change, Condoleza Rice, Dick Cheney, NASA, Paul Pillar

The foundations of the BushCo powerstructure is collapsing. Last week saw a gaggle of former Administration loyalists under the gun, and everyone of them pointed up the chain.

Court filings show that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby implicated his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, in the CIA Plame scandal. Libby's defense is that Cheney and other senior administration officials authorized him to leak classified information to smear the reputation of former ambassador Joe Wilson, Plame's husband, after Wilson had written an editorial piece for the New York Times discrediting alleged intelligence that served as the basis for the war in Iraq. Libby has retained the services of Oliver North's former lawyer. We can expect to see more Administration stonewalling and late-night, White House shredder parties as special prosecutor Fitzgerald tries to gain access to evidence material to the case that the Administration has classified.

Michael "Brownie" Brown, the unqualified political appointee formerly in-charge of FEMA, dropped a dime on the Department of Homeland Security and the White House while testifying to congress about the hurricane Katrina response effort. Emails from Brown show that the DHS and the White House were notified of the disaster the day the levees broke, contradicting Bush's assertion that he and his staff did not know about the situation until days later. This now puts Michael Chertoff, head of the DHS, in the hotseat.

Finally, Jack "I'm GOP Slut" Abramoff outted Bush as an outright liar. As the White House struggles to maintain distance from the stench that is Abramoff the man himself claims that he met with the president a dozen times, and that Bush knew him well enough to joke with Abramoff about his children. White House press secretary Scott McClellan is going to have fun squirming his way out of this one.

It just goes to show, there is no honor among thieves.

Labels: cia, Dick Cheney, FEMA, Jack Abramoff, Joe Wilson, Michael Brown, Scooter Libby, Scott McClellan, Valerie Plame

Via MSNBC:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 8 — A U.S. Air Force warplane dropped four enormous bombs Monday on a residential neighborhood where “extremely reliable” intelligence information indicated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons were staying, senior administration officials told NBC News. The sources would not rule out the possibility that Saddam could have moved before the planes struck, but they said it was highly likely that he and his sons were dead if they were still there when the bombs hit.

How likely is it that the CIA could miss twice? Not very likely at all.

Now all the administration needs to do is get there story straight on the fertilizer, er, I mean sarin nerve gas.

Labels: cia, iraq, saddam hussein, wmd

I hate self-righteous bloggers who watch the news like vultures, posting every headline of even minor importance just so they can say, “See, I told ya so!” a few weeks later when the mainstream news finally catches up. Poor CNN, they never even saw it coming. Oh well.

But I’m not one of those smarmy blogging pseudo-intellectuals who would declare “You heard it here first” after scooping every major news outlet in America. Nope, not me. That would imply that I take pride in scouring the web for news and cool stuff 8 to 12 hours a day. I don’t. It’s a sickness really, and I probably couldn’t stop if I wanted to. Now, if there were just some way to make a living as an intelligence analyst outside the military…

Anywho, here’s an update on the US-backed, post-Saddam leader of Iraq via ABC News Online, Austrailia:

Missing Iraqi General in Kuwait after CIA aided Denmark escape

Why it’s none other than Nizar al-Khazraji, the former Iraqi Army Chief of Staff who disappeared from Denmark – where he was under house arrest while being tried for war crimes (when will they just get over gassing people to death, sheesh!) – back on March 17th. What a surprise!

Not to worry though, the CIA says he’s A-OK with the USA. He’s a GOOD (suspected) mass-murdering fuck-head TM.

I’m going to take a nap now.

Labels: bloggers, blogging, cia, iraq, media, Nizar al-Khazraji