CIA Asks Judge To Keep Bush-Era Documents Sealed
Why is it that, on the issues that count (Iraq, torture, FISA, secrecy), this administration is so much like the previous one? It really makes me wonder:
The Obama administration objected yesterday to the release of certain Bush-era documents that detail the videotaped interrogations of CIA detainees at secret prisons, arguing to a federal judge that doing so would endanger national security and benefit al-Qaeda's recruitment efforts.
In an affidavit, CIA Director Leon E. Panetta defended the classification of records describing the contents of the 92 videotapes, their destruction by the CIA in 2005 and what he called "sensitive operational information" about the interrogations.
The forced disclosure of such material to the American Civil Liberties Union "could be expected to result in exceptionally grave damage to the national security by informing our enemies of what we knew about them, and when, and in some instances, how we obtained the intelligence we possessed," Panetta argued.
Although Panetta's statement is in keeping with his previous opposition to the disclosure of other information about the CIA's interrogation policies and practices during George W. Bush's presidency, it represents a new assertion by the Obama administration that the CIA should be allowed to keep such information secret. Bush's critics have long hoped that disclosure would pinpoint responsibility for actions they contend were abusive or illegal.
Last month, President Obama said he would seek to bar the release of photographs being sought by other nonprofit groups that depict abusive interrogations at military prisons during the Bush administration.
Panetta argued that none of the 65 CIA documents immediately at issue, which the ACLU has sought for several years in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, should be released. He asked U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to draw a legal distinction between the administration's release in April of Justice Department memos authorizing the harsh interrogations and the CIA's desire to keep classified its own documents detailing the specific handling of detainees at its secret facilities overseas.
He said that while the Justice Department memos discussed harsh interrogation "in the abstract," the CIA information was "of a qualitatively different nature" because it described the interrogation techniques "as applied in actual operations."
wants a terrorist nuke to go off say in L.A. so we gotta do what we gotta do.
the People learn who was helping us extract that information and how.
and crack open a beer and turn on a game.
"...doing so would endanger national security and benefit al-Qaeda's recruitment efforts." Isn't this a really clever guise they have going on here? Cheney can claim that by not releasing all this material, he is prevented from proving his innocence. And the rest of them use "national security" as a reason for not releasing the records. Isn't this the classic definition of a "circle jerk," if I may be so crude?
your choice.
Mr. Panetta is asking to commit treason. He is also defending a war criminal and the activity of people the military say have violated Geneva Conventions. Pretty soon, none of us will ever be able to leave our country unless we are in the military and going to fight somewhere.
need to get used to sipping an umbrella drink on the beach while bombs and firefights are going off 50 miles away when they vacation.
and all the other fecalites doing in the Obama admin other than protecting themselves & their cohorts? They could not care less about "The Troops". Slimy Cowards.
of CIA, Jack Bauer?
The only reason to keep Bush papers secret would be to keep from contaminating the jury pool.
POTT!!!!!
Why is it that, on the issues that count (Iraq, torture, FISA, secrecy), this administration is so much like the previous one?
Because we are being sold down the river. That's why.
I guess.
... because President Obama will successfully do what the rightwing GOP could never do on it's own: discredit the entire DNC as a bought-and-paid-for AIPAC/Likud/Corporatist criminal enterprise worthy of being put out of business via getting thwacked with the RICO stick and all he has to do enact this change is to just simply play out the "Ever-Quest/Hollywood" role the entertainment-conglomerate owned and operated mainstream state-capitalist press has pre-ordained and doled out for him.
The people didn't elect Barrack Obama last November. They elected David Aceveda and once they realize that he, Cheney, Bush, Reid, Pelosi, and the Feds are effectively re-enacted a long sordid script from a FOX TV drama to shield each other from prosecution and imprisonment with the full complicity of the corporate mainstream press, it will be all over. Change indeed will come ... and it'll make the Vietnam, Rodney King, and O.J Simpson riots and demonstrations look like an employee trampling Christmas shopping sale at Wally World!
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Mike in Milwaukee wins the Kewpee Doll on the top row!!!
Let's all hear it for Mike!!!
(Applause....)
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
...the tapes?!?!
Never wanted to out CIA actions or azzholes just wanted the actions to stop and Bush\Cheney to go to tail no doubt
...can be redacted.
This is an interesting story about the Top Secret Storage Facility at Iron Mountain in rural Pennsylvania.
A while into the clip you'll hear discussion of the fact that all the top secret documentation related to Flight 93 (you know...the plane that crashed into PA on 9/11 and left a 10x20 foot hole in the ground and no debris??), including the black box etc. is under "top secret" surveillance at Iron Mountain....:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aou6c2MOmg
Hmmmm.....
I wonder why??
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
The Right
Bush white house should be secret.
Obama white house should be transparent unless it's carry over from Bush white house.
"...the issues that count" Hmmm. Not health care, not global warming, not a deep recession.
Look, if we were engaged in a full-fledged effort to illuminate and prosecute the crimes of the last administration, the American political scene would be a firestorm of controversy. There would be no chance to reform health care, no chance to deal with global climate change, no chance to address the short and long-term needs of the economy. Close your eyes to it if it makes you feel righteous, but those are just facts.
I want to get those assholes, too. But we are going to have to wait.
...we will see any real health care reform? I'll believe it when I see it, but I doubt I ever will.
We're already past the tipping point on global warming.
Fuck the political firestorm. It's long since time the GOP become extinct. If Obama and congress would simply do what their constituents want, we might actually have some hope.
the notion that once we get healthcare (non)reform, pull the economy out of the recession (through card tricks, smoke and mirrors, and 12.6 trillion in tax payer dollars), that THEN we can prosecute bush crimes is a non-starter.
in essence, a call to "wait" is the same as saying we will never hold the bush junta accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, corruption, and crimes against the constitution.
1. Information that actually does pertain to national security that even still a judge or panel of judges has to see to make sure the govt isn't engaging in some CYA. That sucks but its cool.
2. The idea that the consequences should people find out what our govt has been doing would be bad, is a national security issue and thus should be kept secret is abhorrent and a flat out crime against the ideals this country is supposed to live by.
You see where they have 210,000 "private contractors" armed to the teeth in Iraq now?
There are more contractors than troops. It's quite the racket they're running over there.
indeed, the obama administration has increased the use of mercenaries in both afganistan and iraq
I don't believe any of the mercenaries (who make about twice what our enlisted guys make) are made to take an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies both foreign and domestic."
Because if they did they would be subject to war crimes prosecutions. I have a feeling they are not.
Jeremy Scahill did an interview with Bill Moyers here:
http://ampedstatus.com/bill-moyers-and-jeremy...
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Moyers and Scahill are true patriots.
We live in very Dark Times.
Fortunately all things must pass it's just "when"?
Who will be left to know it?
The real reason why they won't release the photos is because some show children being raped in front of their parents, women being raped in front of their husbands and people being sodomized with ojects dipped in battery acid. Our soldiers and contractors involved in this were DEMONS!
Its' in the General Teguba Report
http://www.agonist.org/annex/taguba.htm
http://chattahbox.com/us/2009/05/28/general-t...
there are? Sounds like a lot of big bullies, with big guns, and no accountability at all. Iraq wants them out, and they just stick their middle fingers up.
Isn't it bad enough that the president ordered Colbert's head to be shaved, do we really want to pour gasoline on the fire in Iraq while Colbert is still over there?
I don't mean to make light of a serious subject, I just can't stay angry all day long.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
ears.
I'm worried about what actually might be in all of this information. Is it really so bad, ten times worse than we could have ever imagined, that not only Americans but the world could not handle its release?
Should I go get my tin foil hat now or what?
people want to admit to.
"The American Lifestyle Isn't Negotiable" wasn't the saying?
I'm sure it's very very bad. It might ruin America's reputation and world standing forever. For some people, like me, that mission has been accomplished.
far left loon >.<
there is a new circle in hell for Americans who did this and those who knew and did nothing about it. It will be called "Traitors to Humanity."
I agree, Edwin. The world already knows we condoned torture and has seen the Abu Ghraib pictures. The pictures and documents Obama is hiding could very well be gruesome and infuriating, but aren't we already at that point?
We'll never have the opportunity to repair our reputation if we DON'T allow these photos and documents out into the public domain. By not admitting to torture and not punishing the torturers, we are as bad as al Qaeda and the Taliban.
The terrorists will truly have won.
I really hate the un-American scumbags that are obstructing justice, Graham and Lieberman. The pictures are vital in getting public opinion raised to push for prosecutions of true war crimes committed by BushCo and the media. The sooner we get this over with the better.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
"""...arguing to a federal judge that doing so would endanger national security and benefit al-Qaeda's recruitment efforts."""
The only reason this benefits al-qaeda is because it offers proof of what they've been accusing us of. Here's a hint: If you don't want to benefit al-qaeda, then don't engage in behavior that legitimizes their actions against us.
I'm getting really sick of the phrase "national security" being used as an excuse for committing atrocities. It's so hypocritical.
We don't need no stinking accountability to the voters" philosophy.
"Accountability"
I mean, have you ever heard a more meaningless, laughable and ineffective word?
"national security."
8. (U) In addition, several detainees also described the following acts of abuse, which under the circumstances, I find credible based on the clarity of their statements and supporting evidence provided by other witnesses (ANNEX 26):
a. (U) Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees;
b. (U) Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol;
c. (U) Pouring cold water on naked detainees;
d. (U) Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;
e. (U) Threatening male detainees with rape;
f. (U) Allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell;
g. (U) Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick.
h. (U) Using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.
6. (S) I find that the intentional abuse of detainees by military police personnel included the following acts:
a. (S) Punching, slapping, and kicking detainees; jumping on their naked feet;
b. (S) Videotaping and photographing naked male and female detainees;
c. (S) Forcibly arranging detainees in various sexually explicit positions for photographing;
d. (S) Forcing detainees to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time;
e. (S) Forcing naked male detainees to wear women’s underwear;
f. (S) Forcing groups of male detainees to masturbate themselves while being photographed and videotaped;
g. (S) Arranging naked male detainees in a pile and then jumping on them;
h. (S) Positioning a naked detainee on a MRE Box, with a sandbag on his head, and attaching wires to his fingers, toes, and penis to simulate electric torture;
i. (S) Writing “I am a Rapest” (sic) on the leg of a detainee alleged to have forcibly raped a 15-year old fellow detainee, and then photographing him naked;
j. (S) Placing a dog chain or strap around a naked detainee’s neck and having a female Soldier pose for a picture;
k. (S) A male MP guard having sex with a female detainee;
l. (S) Using military working dogs (without muzzles) to intimidate and frighten detainees, and in at least one case biting and severely injuring a detainee;
m. (S) Taking photographs of dead Iraqi detainees.
http://www.agonist.org/annex/taguba.htm
Beyond words.
I think part of the problem is these prisons ran amok: became lawless hells run by sadistic contractors. It's not just the torture of detainees, it is the systematic dehumanizing of everyone there. It will come to light that many of them are innocent, yet while they were detained (and assumed guilty with no chance to prove otherwise) the USA treated each and every one of them like human garbage.
Imagine being plucked off the streets, hooded, and sent there for 8 years.
In the "administration's" (Washington elite, not Obama per se) eye, these people must be silenced. Otherwise, the world will see what a piece of shit the USA has become. You'll be ruined forever.
(Kind of like Glenn Close at the end of "Dangerous Liaisons". You know, the world turns its back on you, for good.)
Nothing personal against posters here, but these threads just make my blood boil.
far left loon >.<
surrounded by these murderous contractors who are allowed to do anything they want without repercussions, you know they will kill you if you do not go along with them. Nothing like even more pressure when you are fighting a war. Especially when you could end up being just another statistic that your country won't admit exists. I hope Col. Janice Karpinski writes an expose.
I just ordered it from Amazon and received it yesterday. It's called, "One Woman's Army: The Commanding General at Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story".
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
.
No, Obama's contrary decisions and baffling stance on controversial policies only reinforce my belief that an American President is not the Master of His Destiny.
Hmmmm .... The Carlyle Group comes to mind ....
They love Hillary and Barry....
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Why ask the Judge To Keep Bush-Era Documents Sealed?
He already made his decision, and that's that. The only path anybody can take now is to appeal his decision. Wonder why nobody's doing that instead of putting pressure on the judge to change his ruling? I didn't think this is the way US courts work.
are on the same side.
The ACLU doesn't want the tapes and photos released? That's news to me.
Too friggin' bad, Leon!! If any of our soldiers/CIA agents/private contractors engaged in torture, then they should be held accountable - and so should their bosses who approved it.
Period.
If the concern is our troops over there now, then who is to blame other than the evil Bush cabal??
Here's an idea: bring them home NOW!
Obama, if you DON'T allow the release of this information, you've lost me as a voter. You'll be nothing more than a hypocrite.
in their "employment" contracts with the US Government. They are under our protection. That's why they are not leaving as Iraq demanded. They simply do not answer to Iraq.
Un-fuckin' believable.
So if that's the case, we void their contracts. Cancel our "protection." No more pay, you torturers. What are you gonna do, sue us?
And you better get the hell out of there soon, 'cos if you're still there when our military leaves, you're on your own. The U.S. government isn't going to help you leave at all.
They'll need all those private contractos to protect bu$h's $660,000,000 fortress "embassy".
The Bush administration never had any intention of leaving Iraq. It's is your forward base in the Middle East: Israel part II.
far left loon >.<
I am not kidding. I wish I were.
We have a ONE PARTY SYSTEM
Why is it that, on the issues that count (Iraq, torture, FISA, secrecy), this administration is so much like the previous one?
It really makes me wonder:
Really? Seriously?
Why does it not make you wonder that demands for a real discussion on the glaring inconsistencies of the government explanantion of 9-11 are always quickly dismissed as foolish nonsense?
Why does it not make you wonder that if we all want the war to end so quickly (and we're all so patriotic, are we?) that we aren't demanding our leadership reinstate the draft? Do our personnel on their 3rd, 4th and 5th tours not deserve to come home? Imagine the bodies of our (randomly chosen)) children coming back to the U.S. in flag drapped metal coffins. Would that not inspire the people of the U.S. to bring this war to a screeching halt?
It makes me wonder that the U.S. had been in Iraq for how many years? Does anybody know? Oh that's right American Idol / Survivor / The Hills / Dollhouse / Superbowl / Three and a third Men / NBA Finals / MLB ....I'm sorry what was the question?
Oops......I think you may have uncovered the political elitists playbook.
The soldiers are being replaced with the mercenaries, for that is what they are. An all private military. Isn't that another clever little plan? Meanwhile, keep the citizens distracted with shiny things, while the corporations take over the little that they do not own. And by the way, research just how much foreign countries own of the US. Especially the Saudi's and China.
There would be a draft, it would be necessary, if the private mercaneries were not the new military.
They are Blanche, they are. So it's OK to let Walter Reid rot. Soon, it won't be needed.
far left loon >.<
Once we have a completely private fighting force, then we will be told to be grateful that our children no longer have to go to fight the wars that our government starts to enforce corporate rule.
in the pot where the heat is turned up so gradually he doesn't realize until it's too late that he's being cooked.
Are the American People the frogs in the pot being cooked by the corporately controlled U.S.A.?
Who's in charge of Congress? The corporately controlled lawyer/lobbyists. Who runs the Pentagon? Raytheon, Hughes, Northrup, Rockwell, Teledyne etc. Who runs healthcare? Blue Cross/Blue Shield, all the H.M.O.'s etc. Who's in charge of the F.D.A.? Monsanto etc.? Who is in control of our economy? The privately owned Federal Reserve Bank. That money in your wallet doesn't say, "U.S. NOTE". It says, "FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE."
There was a corporate coup decades ago. And the privately owned media is controlling the information we get. Unless we dig and cram to discover the truth. And 99% of the Joe's and Jane's of America are not digging and cramming for information. They're trying to survive and watching "American Idol".
We're screwed...just like the frog.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
The phrase "Bad for our image, troops, America, etc" should be outlawed. It is nothing more than a license to do whatever the fuck you want. Bush and Cheney commited war crimes. We all know it, but they will get off because all polititians think we are weenies that can't handle the truth.
I don't think they are really worried about al Qaeda knowing what we did or putting the troops in danger (if they really cared about them they never would have sent them to Iraq with their lies. They already know. They are worried about their own hides
We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.
- Will Rogers
They think there is nothing we can do about it. They are not worried about their own hides, unfortunately, as they make the laws. They are not going to be prosecuted for anything. Ever.
It will ultimately be up to the ordinary citizens of this country to make the deletions and corrections necessary to right this forked road our "leaders" are navigating, against the preferences of a majority. The question is, are we ourselves moral enough and truly patriotic enough, to instigate our Constitutionally ordained duty to preserve our country of laws? Or have we been "trained" to imitate lemmings, with no personal compass or vision of our own to determine the correct and best path for our own country?
/
Marcy Wheeler's last four or five posts on Emptywheel (and donate to the cause while you're there), which basically make lunchmeat out of Panetta and his bullshit arguments:
From Leon Panetta Kisses His Credibility Goodbye
thru "1000 Words", "The CIA’s Cherry-Pick", "The CIA’s Cherry-Pick, Two" and "Gravely Damaging Intelligence Gaps" to:
Leon Panetta: I’ve Got to Protect the Contractors from Unwarranted Invasion of Privacy
Marcy just won a Hillman Prize for her blogging and is THE person to read whenever anything about stuff before Alvin Hellerstein or Vaughn Walker hits the news.
in one of the comments, someone stated that the contracts the mercenaries were working under were illegal and thus could not be enforced. Good point, except for one thing. The Supreme Court has been "stacked" by the Bushes. It is loaded with GOP ultra conservatives who will NEVER rule that those contracts are illegal. This take over by corporations has been slowly going on for about 100 years. We just get to see it come to fruition. Aren't we the lucky ones!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/09/lieb...
Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) lambasted transparency advocates at a press conference Tuesday, when they renewed their promise to bring Senate business to a halt until their bill blocking the release of detainee photographs becomes law.
"We're not going to do any more business in the Senate," Graham said, his face flushed red. "Nothing's going forward until we get this right."
I hope his head explodes.
far left loon >.<
You aren't helping us anyway. Go! Stay there, too.
...when I lived in that district & I knew quite a bit about him at the time; and I thought (and still do) that he made a really good congress critter. He was great in the community & had good political leanings.
Now he seems to be just another bushie.
Shame on you Leon !
Well i didn't expect any different we've had a one party system for a while paid for by corporatism. They place a puppet king in front with smiles every four to eight years who does what he's told without question. Questioning will get you D.O.A just see Kennedy as example. That's when one should ask if my government can torture foreigners with such ease and without guilt or moral fortitude, then god help me when they turn the tables on me. Like i was told if you don't know your past you're doomed to repeat it in the future. "first the came for the terrorist,then they came for the people,And by that time there was no one left to speak up".
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/523/
remember this one?
it will all,
come out into the open....
one day..
The corruption was and is so pervasive that technically most of them could and should be thrown in prison if all became known , a lot of Democrats included . They'll cover their asses and we will never know all , all will be hidden and swept under the rug and forgotten , justice will not be served and the stench will remain . Bush and Cheney were at the top of the dung heap but it's a very deep and broad pile .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
Amen to that brother .
So the CIA wants to keep classified what apparently was clandestine lawbreaking by its agents and the Bush administration? What else is new with that organization?
Mr. Amato says: "Why is Hugh Hewitt and Rush Limbaugh trying to destroy the American automotive industry"?
The subject as well as the grammar matters, please.
What's to wonder? BO & Co are obstructing justice. Criminals protect criminals, reward their bribers, protect their wiretappers like the big telcos, etc., etc. Read the book "Time for a NEW Tea Party" if you want to learn real progressive ideas and stop ALL the criminal politicians and judges.
When are "We the People" going to start "EXERCISING our RIGHT to CONSENT" instead of whining, complaining & petitioning? www.RIGHTtoCONSENT.com
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