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He Came Through
Balloon Juice —
President Obama did the right thing and released the memos.
Good.
Torture Memos Released By Obama Administration
Oliver Willis —
Glenn Greenwald has the details about what happened to America under the last president.
Room 101
Corrente —
(Here are All the memos (that we know of)). Yech:
... (9) insects placed in a confinement box. ... You would like to place Zubadiyah in a cramped confinement box with an insect. You have informed us that he appears to have a fear of insects. In particular, you would like to tell Zubadiyah that you intend to place a stinging insect into the box with him. You would, however, place a harmless insect in the box [of course, of course. Like a cockroach, say.] You have orally informed us that you would in fact place a harmless insect such as a caterpiller into ...
Just In Case
Eschaton —
You imagined these people weren't monsters who deserve life imprisonment... you were wrong.
Truth and No Consequences: Torture Memos Released
Crooks and Liars —
... say-so alone.
Like President Bush, he has issued a presidential signing statement claiming plenary power over the use of the American military. He has claimed authority to detain United States citizens as "enemy combatants" indefinitely without accusation or trial.
In sum, on national security and the war on terrorism, Obama has shown that the more things change, the more they stay the same, despite his adept semantical juggleries.
Glenn Greenwald has a far more generous reading:
I'll have more details as soon as ...
Torture Memos Admit Techniques Were Condemned By State Dept.
Library Grape —
I've been reading the recently released Bush torture memos and am feeling sick to my stomach. The scariest part was highlighted by Glenn Greenwald (click to enlarge): This excerpt basically admits that most of the techniques the OLC lawyers are approving are routinely condemned by our own State Department when performed by other countries. I need an Alka-Seltzer. I'll let Greenwald finish up for me: The more one reads of this, the harder it is to credit Obama's statement today that "this is a time for reflection, ...
Rebarbative Memos
Discourse.net —
The ACLU has obtained four critical OLC torture memos as a result of a FOIA request.
Glen Greenwald has some key excerpts.
They are simply disgusting.
President Obama’s statement accompanying the release states, “this is a time for reflection, not retribution.”
He’s right.
Retribution should not begin until you’ve finished throwing up. ...
Bond upset that people know the US tortured detainees, not that the US tortured detainees
Fired Up! Missouri —
Today,the Obama Administration released Bush-era Justice Department memos approving "enhanced interrogation techniques" like waterboarding. Sen. Kit Bond and others are upset that the information has been made public, preferring that the government continue to hide the abuses it conducted our behalf. The release of the memos will "make us less safe" and "heighten anger" in parts of the world "where we're trying to make friends," Bond said.
Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, ...
In The Wake Of War Crimes
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
The blogosphere reacts. Glenn Greenwald: Obama did the right thing by releasing these memos, providing all the information and impetus the citizenry should need to demand investigations and prosecutions. But it is up to citizens to demand that the rule of law be applied. Digby: I would have hoped the president would use some of his political capital to prove that the United States is a country of laws not men.However, I have to wonder if by releasing the memos they aren't at least ...
Time to Become a Card-Carrying Member
Obsidian Wings —
... by publius I'm still digesting the torture memos and commentary, but Glenn speaks the truth here: Finally, it should be emphasized -- yet again -- that it was not our
Congress, nor our media, nor our courts that compelled disclosure of
these memos. Instead, ...
Around the Blogroll and Elsewhere: Special Permanent Blot on our National Reputation Edition
Brilliant at Breakfast —
... If you read nothing else about what our government did, read Digby here, here, and here. Glenn Greenwald reprints some of the memos. Stephen Reynolds wonders why the Bush Administration didn't get its inspiration from Indiana Jones movies (because sometimes you have to get your Roberto Benigni on or you'll scream). Alex Koppelman offers links to the documents themselves and holds out a shred of hope that even though underlings won't be prosecuted (and I thought the ...
We Are Now Indonesia
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
Greenwald points to this nugget: They explicitly recognized that the techniques they were authorizing were ones that we condemned other countries for using -- including as "torture" -- but nonetheless approved them, explicitly saying that the standards we impose on others do not bind us in any way. And this is, in fact, the Bush-Cheney position. Because America did these things, they are not torture. This is also, by the way, the position of the news reporters and editors at the New York Times and the ...
Morning Skim: The Bush Torture Memos
Opinionator —
... : The release of these opinions was unnecessary as a legal matter, and is unsound as a matter of policy. Its effect will be to invite the kind of institutional timidity and fear of recrimination that weakened intelligence gathering in the past, and that we came sorely to regret on Sept. 11, 2001. Glenn Greenwald at Salon : [I]t should be emphasized — yet again — that it was not our Congress, nor our media, nor our courts that compelled disclosure of these memos. Instead, it was the ACLU’s tenacious efforts over several years which single-handedly pried these memos from the ...
OLC Memos: Who We Have Become
Firedoglake —
... And I could keep going.
Digby, Valtin and Glenn have much more, but I'll let ACLU's Jameel Jaffer have the last word: ...
Hypocrites
Rising Hegemon —
Both Greenwald & Sullivan noticed this and it is particularly shameful from the torture memos: We decided to undercut 225 plus years of human rights leadership, so we could inflict the same sort of pain we condemn nations like Iran, Libya, Egypt, China, and Indonesia for doing. Hell, we were bitching about Saddam's violations of Geneva as a reason to invade Iraq too. ...
Obama’s Immunity For CIA Agents Still Leaves Prosecutions Of Senior Bushies On The Table
Think Progress —
... However, Obama’s statement was carefully worded to include only “those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice” — not the Bush officials who actually gave out that advice. ACLU lead counsel Jameel Jaffer told Glenn Greenwald that Obama did not shut the door to all prosecutions: ...
I Do Not Think That Word Means What Roger Simon Thinks It Means. [updated]
INSTAPUTZ —
... among other things, Colin Powell's suggestion that Republicans called Obama a Muslim and a friend of terrorists; allegations that Sarah Palin wasn't "down to earth"; and Joe Klein's choice words for neoconservatives. Basically, Roger's got two brain cells and they're at war with each other. ...You also knew this was coming, right? If Roger Simon writes something unusually stupid and Putz doesn't link to it, does it make a sound? [via G.] ...
Friday's Mini-Report
Political Animal —
... Philips returns home to Vermont. * A breakthrough on relations with Cuba? * Marital rape will not be legal in Afghanistan after all. * NIH releases new guidelines on stem-cell research. * Andrew Slack has a report on how "the genocide in Darfur has shifted to a new phase of horror for the Darfuri people." * California's unemployment rate is up to 11% . * The White House is standing by Steven Rattner , at least for now. * Thank the ACLU for yesterday's revelations on the Bush torture memos. * And be sure to read ...
Now that we "officially" know, what do we do?
Daily Kos —
... That's why, at the very least, there must be investigations. Whether through the special prosecutor that the ACLU has called for, or Senator Leahy's ...
OLC Torture Memos Revealed - an Overview
The Reaction —
... . Glenn Greenwald makes this point strongly in his first post following the release of the mostly unredacted material. It contains a number of excerpts from the memos with interesting points about each. He and many others ...
What Do We Do With Those Who Tortured In Our Name-- And On Our Dime?
DownWithTyranny! —
... when really difficult, nuanced issues come up that require an especially great depth of understanding I wake up in the morning hoping that Ken tackled it on East Coast time. But so far DWT hasn't really looked into the moral imperatives enmeshed in the release of the Bush Regime torture documents. I think I about it everyday and I read as much of Digby's reporting as I can before making myself sick. And then I invariably wind up turning to Glenn Greenwald's seering analysis as quickly as he gets it online at Salon, just in case there's any ...
The Subjective Nature of Torture
Pajamas Media —
... a caterpillar in his prison cell and all — err, check that — considering to put a caterpillar in his cell. Turns out the chap admitted to a fear of insects, so the CIA thought dangling some bugs in front of his face might get him to spill the beans about the next skyscraper he sought to knock down. This excruciating revelation comes in the aftermath of President Obama’s decision to release the former Bush administration’s so-called “torture memos.” Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com called the content in the memos “unbelievably ugly and grotesque,” highlighting the “sadistic ...
