Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Second rate reporter says what?

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

This really is a full service blog.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

I was promised a recession.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / The CIA Torture Report – Yes, It’s Still Out There

The CIA Torture Report – Yes, It’s Still Out There

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Look back, not forward!… because you know what they say about those who don’t learn from the past. From the Vice link:

The Department of Justice (DOJ) provided the first official confirmation on Thursday that a long-awaited report prepared by the Senate Intelligence Committee on the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program will be released “early next week.”…

At Bloomberg View, Josh Rogin and Eli Lake have more detail on “the Battle Over the CIA Torture Report“.

At The Intercept, Dan Froomkin (whose skeptical Washington Post column got me through Dubya’s first term), shares “12 Things to Keep in Mind When You Read the Torture Report“:

… The report, a review of brutal CIA interrogation methods during the presidency of George W. Bush, has been the subject of a contentious back-and-forth, with U.S. intelligence agencies and the White House on one side pushing for mass redactions in the name of national security and committee staffers on the other arguing that the proposed redactions render the report unintelligible.

Should something emerge, here are some important caveats to keep in mind:

1) You’re not actually reading the torture report. You’re just reading an executive summary. The full Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on the CIA’s interrogation and detention program runs upward of 6,000 pages. The executive summary is 480 pages. So you’re missing more than 80 percent of it.

2) The CIA got to cut out parts. The summary has been redacted – ostensibly by the White House, but in practice by officials of the CIA…

4) The investigation was extremely narrow in its focus. Committee staffers only looked at what the CIA did in its black sites; whether it misled other officials; and whether it complied with orders. That is somewhat like investigating whether a hit man did the job efficiently and cleaned up nicely.

5) The investigation didn’t examine who gave the CIA its orders, or why. The summary doesn’t assess who told the CIA to torture…

6) Torture was hardly limited to the CIA. In fact, the worst of it was done by the military….

Just before Thanksgiving, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s former lawyer, Jason D. Wright, told Politico “America Tortured—And We Need to Shed Some Light on It“:

… This report, set to be accompanied by a CIA response and review by former CIA Director Leon Panetta, is the backdrop for President Obama’s admission at a White House news conference in August: “We tortured some folks.”

Let’s be clear: President Obama is wrong on one point. There’s no collective “we” here. The American people did not torture these folks. The sin of torture is on the hands of those who directed the torture, those who contorted the law to justify the torture, those who applied the torture—and those who have attempted to cover-up the torture…

We, the American people, must not commit the sin of silence. We need a public debate about the American torture policy. We need this debate to obtain some measure of governmental accountability and ensure that we never repeat these mistakes again. We also need this debate to demonstrate to the world that the United States of America can once again be the shining beacon on the hill, that principle is more important than politics, and that the rule of law is greater than the rule of men…

There’s one more slim chance that we non-VIPs might get access to the full report:

… In his first interview since Election Day, Udall told The Denver Post that he would “keep all options on the table” — including a rarely used right given to federal lawmakers — to publicize a secret report about the harsh interrogation techniques used by CIA agents in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks…

“Transparency and disclosure are critical to the work of the Senate intelligence committee and our democracy, so I’m going to keep all options on the table to ensure the truth comes out,” Udall said.

That includes a little-used privilege of the U.S. Constitution called the “Speech or Debate Clause,” which has been suggested by civil libertarians to shake loose the information.

“I mean, I’m going to keep all options on the table,” said Udall when asked specifically about that method.

As written, the Speech or Debate Clause gives lawmakers near-blanket immunity from prosecution when speaking on the floor of the U.S. House or Senate — even if they reveal classified information.

The most famous example of its use came in the early 1970s when then-U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska wielded its power to force the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record, an effort that supplemented reporting by The New York Times on the secret Vietnam War documents.

Reached by phone, Gravel urged Udall to chart a similar course…

That was in mid-November, but as of yesterday, Udall hadn’t publicly rejected the idea.

Reader Interactions

21Comments

  3. 3.

    the Conster

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    If he doesn’t there’s really no hope that anyone else will. Hillary won’t. Whatever is left of American democracy hinges on a small handful of jurists and legislators doing the right thing. It’s officially scary.

  4. 4.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @the Conster:

    This whole late stage form of American democracy hinges on a small handful of jurists and legislators doing the right thing. It’s officially scary.

    All progress has always depended on a handful of people doing the decent thing. We have always been on a knife’s edge in some way or another. It is an integral part of the human condition. Recognizing this is one of the reasons I don’t fall into the the doom and gloom that can be a pandemic here.

  7. 7.

    gratuitous

    How do you want to be remembered, Sen. Udall? Dozens of Senators leave that body leaving less of a trace than an ax cleaving water. Think Jesse Helms or Strom Thurmond or Bob Packwood. In their day, they were each considered giants of the body, but what are any of them remembered for now?

    Think about it, Sen. Udall.

  8. 8.

    Yatsuno

    @Omnes Omnibus: He’s not coming back in January. He has nothing to lose here. I hope he pulls the trigger & uses this as his last speech as a Senator. And the people of Colorado realise their complete idiocy for not re-electing him.

  9. 9.

    balconesfault

    Let’s be clear: President Obama is wrong on one point. There’s no collective “we” here. The American people did not torture these folks. The sin of torture is on the hands of those who directed the torture, those who contorted the law to justify the torture, those who applied the torture—and those who have attempted to cover-up the torture…

    Can we extend the “we” to everyone who voted for Bush/Cheney in 2004, by which time one had to be actively engaging in self-delusion to believe that the Administration wasn’t directing torture to take place?

  10. 10.

    mclaren

    Here’s a sneak preview of the CIA torture report:

    [REDACTED]

    [REDACTED]

    [REDACTED]

    [REDACTED]

    [REDACTED]

    Mistakes were made.

    [REDACTED]

    [REDACTED]

    [REDACTED]

  11. 11.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The investigation didn’t examine who gave the CIA its orders, or why. The summary doesn’t assess who told the CIA to torture…

    We KNOW who did this.

    The Dark Lord.

    Who should be publically executed for his crime.

    Mainly because the vile creature knows no remorse for these unspeakable acts.

  12. 12.

    mclaren

    @the Conster:

    If he doesn’t there’s really no hope that anyone else will. Hillary won’t. Whatever is left of American democracy hinges on a small handful of jurists and legislators doing the right thing. It’s officially scary.

    There, fixed that for you.

  13. 13.

    mclaren

    Let’s be clear: President Obama is wrong on one point. There’s no collective “we” here. The American people did not torture these folks.

    Oh?

    Really?

  14. 14.

    Mike G

    In other words, this will be like a police department “investigation” into whether one of its cops broke the law.

    The Predator State really has nothing but contempt for us.

  15. 15.

    the Conster

    @Mike G:

    Udall hasn’t rejected the idea of releasing the report which I guess is what’s passing for courage now. [[spit]]

    It really is time to burn a lot of shit down.

  17. 17.

    Tree With Water

    Open Letter To Senator Udall:

    Eli Walli (aka Tuco) to Victim: “When you’re going to shoot, shoot”.

    I don’t give a damn about you pondering your “options”, or any other such theatrics.. Just release the report, Mr. Udall, in its entirety. You’d be surprised how many Americans could handle it. Why, the sun might even rise the day after you do. So quit mucking about, pull the trigger, and do it. The American people are owed the truth of what was done in our name. It’s the least you can do for us now.

  18. 18.

    C.V. Danes

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    All progress has always depended on a handful of people doing the decent thing. We have always been on a knife’s edge in some way or another.

    Well said. But note this works for the reverse, too. All “non-progress” has always depended on a handful of people doing the not decent thing. The vast majority of people are just along for the ride, one way or another.

  19. 19.

    kindness

    Udall needs to do this. He lost but we didn’t. Read the report. Let the world know who ordered the torture and let the Times/Fox/wingnuts heads explode.

    It’ll be a good step forward for this nation.

  20. 20.

    Howard Beale IV

    @kindness: The CIA report needs to be read into the Congressional record with no redactions at all. Let the chips fall where they may-including any current/former back bag tam members.

    Perhaps Udall needs to see the Star Trek: Deep Space 9 episode “In The Pale Moonlight”. and remember a prescient quote:

    “So… I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all… I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing, a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. I can live with it… Computer, erase that entire personal log.”

    – Sisko

    And what was it that Garak said?

    “That’s why you came to me, isn’t it captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren’t capable of doing. Well, it worked. And you’ll get what you wanted: a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant, and all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal… and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don’t know about you, but I’d call that a bargain.”

    – Garak

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