FRIDAY 22 MAY 2009 Friday 22 May 2009 by: Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | Report Dick Cheney intervened in a CIA inspector general torture investigation. (Photo: Reuters) Former Vice President Dick Cheney intervened in CIA Inspector General John Helgerson’s investigation into the agency’s use of torture against “high-value” detainees, [...]
Archive for May 22nd, 2009
22 May
Obama vs Cheney: A (Polling) Mismatch from the Start
The Trail 5/21/09 12:00 PM National Security By Chris Cillizza The dueling speeches by President Obama and former vice president Dick Cheney are being cast as a showdown over national security but the tit for tat is a mismatch from the start. Why? Here are the last four personal favorability ratings for Obama: 56 percent, [...]
22 May
Obama: Terrorism and the rule of law
The Swamp 5/21/09 12:30 PM by Christi Parsons and Julian E. Barnes President Barack Obama this morning pledged to forge ahead with plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, dealing with detainees through a range of options including release, imprisonment at high-security American prisons, trials in federal courts and military commissions — [...]
22 May
Cheney: ‘Torture was never permitted’
The Swamp 5/21/09 1:45 PM by Mark Silva Former Vice President Dick Cheney, delivering a forceful defense of the Bush administration’s interrogations of suspected terrorists and stern criticism of the Obama administration, maintained today that the CIA never tortured anyone, but kept the United States safe from an attack potentially worse than the terrorism of [...]
22 May
Dick Cheney’s waterboarding: 9/11 redux
The Swamp 5/22/09 3:48 PM by Mark Silva Brent Scowcroft, who served as national security adviser in the White House of the first President Bush – when Dick Cheney was serving as defense secretary – opposed the second Bush’s invasion of Iraq. In the transition from one war against Saddam Hussein to another, Scowcroft has [...]
22 May
America Needs a 12-Step Program
Featured blog entries 5/20/09 12:18 PM Kari Fulton New Energy 501c(3) Climate Change economy Environment environmental justice EPA justice Mountaintop removal Washington DC Issues Now! It is a Monday morning in Washington, D.C. and the children of River Terrace Elementary are walking past carry-outs, liquor stores, traffic, and plumes of smoke from the Benning Road [...]
22 May
Republican Health Deform
thinkprogress.org Republican Health Deform Just weeks after GOP pollster Frank Luntz advised Republicans that they should not attack President Obama’s health care principles without offering an alternative — “It’s not enough to just say what you’re against. You have to tell them what you’re for,” Luntz warned — two different groups of Republicans released separate [...]
22 May
22 Percent And Out Of Ideas
By Harold Meyerson Friday, May 22, 2009 The dizzying downward spiral of the Republican Party continues apace. Yesterday, the Pew Research Center released a survey showing that the percentage of Americans who answer to the name Republican is down to 22 percent — about as low as a party can go in a two-party system. [...]
22 May
Ramzi Yousef and Timothy McVeigh Aren’t in Gitmo; They’re Convicted Terrorists Sitting Harmlessly in U.S. Jails
National Security Network. Posted May 22, 2009. The federal prison system has already held for extended periods of time a large number of convicted terrorists, with no public mishap. The following is excerpted from a National Security Network report refuting GOP politicians who have suggested that bringing Gitmo suspects to the US for trial would endanger [...]
22 May
Forget “Centrists,” We Need Progressives in the Supreme Court — Right-Wingers Will Fight Whomever Obama Picks
By Jeff Cohen, AlterNet. Posted May 20, 2009. Unless Obama gives up his centrist approach and appoints real progressives, our right-wing court may get even more conservative. I learned long ago, while working at the media watch group FAIR, to be wary of New York Times headlines. Hearing news that President Obama has a shortlist [...]
22 May
The Truth About Richard Bruce Cheney
THE WASHINGTON NOTE Wednesday, May 13 2009, 5:32PM This is a guest post exclusive to The Washington Note by Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who is former chief of staff of the Department of State during the term of Secretary of State Colin Powell. Lawrence Wilkerson is also Pamela Harriman Visiting Professor at the College of [...]
22 May
The 13 Bush Officials Who Made Torture Possible
By Marcy Wheeler, Salon. Posted May 22, 2009. The Bush administration’s Torture 13. They authorized it, they decided how to implement it, and they crafted the legal fig leaf to justify it. Originally published on Monday, May 18, 2009 by Salon.com On April 16, the Obama administration released four memos that were used to authorize [...]
