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We do not torture.
Associated Press, 4/11/08 (AM):
The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved.
President Bush says he knew his top national security advisors discussed and approved specific details about how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency....
"Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people. And, yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
Wow, remember when the bad apples were supposed to be on the bottom? I'm not a bit surprised that Dubya knew and approved of his unprincipled principals' detailed discussions of how to "interrogate" supposed terrorist suspects, but I am surprised that he just admitted to okaying the war crimes they orchestrated. It's like he's finally concluded that he's completely untouchable, that there is nothing he can say or do that will put impeachment back on Nancy Pelosi's squeaky-clean table.
Is he right? Is there really no crime far enough beyond the pale that Bush would face legal consequences, either now or when he leaves office? He just admitted to approving torture, for fuck's sake. If Congress does nothing more than issue toothless subpoenas and Strongly Worded Letters after this, then why should Bush even bother to stonewall investigations and FOIA requests? Why not just admit to everything, jut his chin out, and sneer, "Yeah, I did it - whatcha gonna do about it, nerds?"
Come on, Nancy: It's time to set a place at that table.
UPDATE: CTuttle has pointed out that Conyers has "invited" some of the principals and supporting cast to testify before his House Judiciary Committee. It's better than nothing, but it's not nearly enough, and it will be ignored.
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Eli!
CTut!
Zedders! Conyers wants to have a little chat with the Principals… Hmmm… Think they’ll show up? ;-)
I couldn’t agree with you more, Eli.
Impeachment- now more than ever.
Well, now that Dubya has said he approved, he can invoke Executive Privilege.
Indeed, I would have said that was *why* he admitted to it, except that the US Attorney investigation has already shown us that Executive Privilege applies even when the president *wasn’t* involved. It’s faith-based legal interpretation!
Fucking intolerable. Can we put impeachment back on the table now?
He also said:
“I think it’s very important for the American people to understand who Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was. He was the person who ordered the suicide attack — I mean, the 9/11 attacks.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/188504.php
Gotta love that industrial grade Pixie Dust…! 8-(
Superb graphic, Eli and Comandante Agi.
Or else what?
It’ll only matter if “invite” means “subpoena” and “subpoena” means “with enforcement.”
Next set of questions “you approved”
Of Torture?
Of Abu Graid?
Of Guantanamo?
So that means you Lied about America not torturing?
So that means your White House really did stick the Abu Graid guards with the blame for stuff you told them to do?
So when will the White House Press Corp ask you any of these questions?
I can’t get rid of the image I thought of driving home from work last night. It was of the people who approved of this in the Bush administration, watching the torture videotapes. Bush is with them. Over and over, beng entertained, not caring whether information was coming from the interrogations or not, just rabidly watching…
I’ve always felt that the torture videos were destoyed partially because they also wanted to get rid of the lists of distribution of the copies.
Inherent Contempt would be very compelling if they refuse a subpoena… But, as Kurtz wrote; “Don’t Hold Your Breath!”
Complicity is an unset table, Madame Speaker.
Don’t be a war criminal too.
I know. And I hate it.
So that means your White House really did stick the Abu Graid guards with the blame for stuff you told them to do?
What a way to Support the Troops Bushie!!!
Yoo probably has copies for home entertainment.
Helen Thomas does a bang up job, but, Dana Peroxide, either ignores her or pooh-poohs her…! 8-(
Ditto for Darth!
Helen is the only reason I call them a press corp.
Yoo doesn’t strike me as a watcher. Bush and Rice do.
& W’s fingerprints, in KY, on the torture CD.
Btw, folks it’s Abu Ghraib…
Do your Constitutional duty, no matter how scared you are, Madam Speaker!!!! Put it on the table…for the people…for your grandchildren….for the world…what the he** does it take????
Impeach the torturers now!!!
Yeah, I think Yoo is merely amoral. Bush is an actual sadist.
Heh, they’re still the Press Corpse to me…! ;-)
Why would the American public care? Very few will ever serve in the military and actually worry about being captured and tortured. When you wear the US service uniform and, therefore, have a target on your back, those pesky things called the Geneva Conventions mean something. But if you only have to worry about shopping or paying your taxes to staunchly “defend” our nation as Bush suggests, it does not matter.
That image and Yoo approving of crushing childrens testicles. Did the president know of that. or ask for such approval? Are their videos of that too? Did they serve popcorn?
Arrest these cretins now!
America doesn’t torture — Bushco does. Bush has admitted it.
End it now.
Bush has just admitted that he knew and approved of torture so when do we turn him over to the Hague? I don’t trust the Supremes to handle any political court cases anymore after Bush vs Gore.
Teddy, I like the way you think.
From your keyboard to the billboard “editors’” wheatpaste parties.
Yoo joins in!
Do you really think there were copies of the tapes? Do you really think that Bush actually watched the sessions?
Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s perfectly capable of sitting down and watching them through. But copies? Then who could be sure all were destroyed?
held accountable, they must be held accountable.
ctuttle at 8
”Conyers has invited former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former CIA Director George Tenet, former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, Chief of Staff to the Vice President David Addington, and former Assistant Attorney General Daniel Levin to testify to his committee about those Principals meetings on torture.”
at least 3 out of 5 wrote books about all they know, why would they need to come and testify? /s
Not that we didn’t already know the bastard knew and approved. It’s just more off-pissing than ever hearing the motherfucker say as much.
As a twenty yr vet, I’m deeply disturbed by it, but, contrary to popular belief it also affects American Civilians traveling abroad too…! 8-(
“I’m George Bush, and I approved this torture.”
From Wiki:
In explaining the Unitary executive theory, Yoo made the following statements during a December 1, 2005, debate in Chicago, Illinois, with Notre Dame Law School Professor Doug Cassel:
“Cassel: If the President deems that he’s got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person’s child, there is no law that can stop him?
Yoo: No treaty.
Cassel: Also no law by Congress. That is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo.
Yoo: I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that.”
Why the President thinks he has to crush the testicles of the person’s child????!!!! There could be such a situation in the laws of our country???? Are you completely insane!!!!
Yoo approving of crushing childrens testicles.
got a link and please no picture.
But if that is true we need to get these sick details out to the public. The press is complicit in these crimes against children if they keep burying a story like that!
Sometimes I wonder if he’s just deliberately taunting and fucking with us.
It’s like we have trolls in charge of the federal government.
But, but, but Obama said PA’s working/poor are bitter….
Guess which story will get the biggest play on the Sunday morning gasbag shows?
Politics of Screed will trump Audacity of Truth
and Bush will skate again.
here’s the elephant in the room and we’ve been working on it all week because we knew what was comming, we just didn’t know it would be this soon;
there it is
they leaked the yoo memo on purpose, it’s the very reason they had yoo write the opinion in the first place, so they could leak it when they were going to be found out
they had yoo write this crap so they could say “so?”
you MUST be disbarred, there is no choice, they are already giving yoo’s “opinion” the weight of historical precedence, they weight of presidential dererance
yoo must be disbarred, there is no choice
Some tortured logic, no? 8-(
and there is Yoo’s Esquire article.
But the question is, now how can they refuse?
It’s just exactly like that. So when do the fuckers pay the piper?
man, I am just repeating what I said over at Marcy’s place but I am incensed and have no mind to think of something else to post;
somebody needs to ask pelosi just what it would take for the president to commit an impeachable offense
really, what would it take?
we have a president who has committed our armed forces to war knowing he manufactured the evidence he presented
we have a president who actually stood down and enjoyed vacation when given precise information telling us of impending doom sure to occur within months
we have a president who unilaterally redefines treaties and law entered into by this country
we have a president who commits murder among Americans and middle easterners
we have a president who diverted the assets we needed to win our battle against terrorism to go off invading a country he knew as a fact posed no threat
we have a president who does nothing when our covert assets are laid to waste by traitors
a president who writes his own laws and gives himself his own authority to break any law he chooses
so, I could go on for as many days as we have a president but the question remains for Nancy;
“just what would she think is an impeachable offense”, because there is no crime left for this man to commit
One of the problems is that this stuff tends to be meaningless and abstract unless there *are* pictures. The only time there was really any public outrage over torture was when the Abu Ghraib photos came out. And even that faded enough for Dubya to get re-elected (actual re-electedness may vary from re-electedness shown).
That will be added to the list of this country’s great shames.
Blow job?
Yup. They got Yoo to write something that would “enable” them to break the law of the land and international laws of which we were bound by treaty.
Impeach.
< insert smirk here >
Youtube audio:
John Yoo Says President Bush Can Legally Torture Children
IIRC, the originals were digital. They needn’t have been moved physically from Gitmo for exact copies to have been transmitted to the Pentagon, etc.
Yes, I believe they were probably copied, and that a copy or copies of all of them exist somewhere, if for nothing else, than as somebody’s insurance policy against retribution for his or her acts in some aspect of this known or yet unknown.
The easier it is to copy something, the higher the chances of it being copied. If it is also extremely unique or valuable….?
Where in the Constitution does it say that the President can break treaties during a time of war? Where does it say that the President can break the laws of the United States of America during a time of war? Where does it say that the President can disregard the Constituion? Where?
as I have been saying from the very start, the more exposed they are the more brazen they will become
think “lord of the rings” everyone, think about that ring
they are almighty and they posess the ring
this president has the ring, the entire administration enjoy the ring, cheney thinks he has the ring, the president thinks he has the ring, they all gather around those that they think have the ring
who here thinks they are going to give that ring to a femal or a black man?
anyone?
lord of the rings, I really didn’t appreciate it as much as I do on this day
And disbar.
Well, some of the ‘pictures’ were destroyed too…
Congress’s silence is very eloquent.
Why the President thinks he has to crush the testicles of the person’s child????!!!! There could be such a situation in the laws of our country???? Are you completely insane!!!!
Lets remember Yoo wrote the book on torture for the Bush Administration he knows the freakin intent behind this pro torture legal reasoning.
He represents the Bush policy on torture the same way General Petraeus represents Bush on the Iraq war.
Absolutely and completely insane.
Hey, LS, I saw your comment on the comments on the Cheney thread at TPM this morning and read them. Dear gawd, I hope that guy is wrong. I did not have time to read the links, did you?
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WO.....index.html
sorry eli, don’t know if this has been posted. OT/ war games, again.
=========
bush says, uptop-””Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people. And, yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.” ”
well, we started to connect the dots, that we needed to cover our asses better, to protect the american people from knowing how we are protecting them.
bush always says what he’s doing, in simpleton terms, fill in the blanks.
he’s like a little ego-driven pleaser kid, can’t keep a secret, and can’t keep from bragging.
“Al Qaeda” is a fraudulent conspiracy. The evidence is overwhelming, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan control this fake “terrorist group”, along with the Bin Laden family. Repeatedly, the alleged meeting of Atta with Iraqis has been cited time and time again. The $100,000 to Atta from ISI has been ignored.
KSM may be a hired killer, but he is playing a spy game for Pakistan.
the more copies, the greater the chance they surface — and then the prosecutions can proceed.
leastways I’m hopin’ so.
Don’t have the links, but Mary comments at Emptywheel and says that children have been tortured in front of their parents.
Exactly. He knows that Bush wants the power to do anything he wants to anyone he wants anywhere he wants, and he created a roadmap to enable that to happen. Bush has no regard for life. Yoo is complicit. An accessory to the crime against the United States. Betraying the trust of the People.
One of the laws they passed (Military Commissions Act?) gives them immunity here. So that means other countries can pick them up and send them to the International Criminal Court, as soon as they set foot in a member contry, right? But while in office they have diplomatic immunity, or something like that.
Is that why Rumsfeld decided to leave France so quickly all of a sudden when he was there recently?
All that needs to be said is Impeach… Impeach NOW! And if Nancy will not do it then she will be involved in aiding and abetting war criminals and she can and will be held accountable. If not now then in the future when the international courts start looking into these crimes!
“In a taunting manner”??? WTF, are they 12?
somebody go give that man a blow job, do it fast, there isn’t any time left
your country calls on you
I didn’t read the links….I’ve saved them…I’m familiar with a lot of what that person was talking about though. I think there is real validity to it personally.
And by the way, I’m sick unto death of that fuckwad saying that he committed war crimes and moral outrages to “protect” me. Torture and mass murder do nothing to protect me, and I wouldn’t want them even if they did. Is it too much to ask that that pathetic fucking scumbag excuse for a human being NOT be allowed to wipe his crap all over my name?
Call Gannon…quick…
Sorry.
Dam I wish I thought of that! Of course thats what we need is evidence that Bush is giving Cheney Blow Jobs. Now that will wake up the good people of this nation! /s
I’m pretty sure it would be fast…
over at wheel’s place ls notices this slip of the tongue and everyone there thinks it’s significant;
I don’t see the significance but there it is for you guys to examine
How can you type up a blog post about Bush admitting he authorized torture when OBAMA DRANK A GLASS OF ORANGE JUICE??!!
Why do you hate America?
Dude, no-one tells me these things.
I suck at breaking news.
“Crush the person’s childs testicles ” is what I heard on Eureka Springs comment @53
Yes I know small change in wording but as a Christian Nation and under our own laws we do NOT PUNISH CHILDREN FOR THE SINS OF THE FATHER.
good, that means our volunteer will not suffer long
The fish rots from the head down.
Did Yoo say he could squeeze it himself?
Because America lets motherfuckers like these go unpunished.
Yeppers…
http://presscue.com/index.php?q=node/8596
Ah, but it’s not punishment if they haven’t been convicted of anything.
That might actually be the best answer to that question I’ve ever seen…
The Orange Juice Scandal
Not a blogwhore, though it could have been.. hmm..
and Eureka Springs, nice callback!
so, somebody needs to ask pelosi;
“just what would it take for you to impeach this president”
now check this out;
if that question was asked a year ago, she would have surely said “if we found out he committed torture”
now it’s too late for that but I guarantee there is more depravity that will suit whatever she comes up with as impeachable
This is one of those little hints that maybe you’ve been going about this democracy thing all wrong.
There’s such a sense of payback to all this torture, more than “extracting” -oh so literally extracting- information.
BushCo didn’t bother paying attention to the Al Qaeda risk before September 11th, so the use of torture serves to avenge the personal humiliation.
I’ll take a bow when the bastards go to jail.
“Impeachment now more than ever.”
I’m late catching up here. But Elliott, I am so totally with you on this. Set the damn table now!!!
“He was the person who ordered the suicide attack.”
“I mean, the 9/11 attacks.”
No…..he meant “the suidide attack”. He “corrected” it to, the 9/11 attacks.
Big difference.
Press corp? Is that how you spell it? I thought it was press corpse! Silly me.
not quite
this is a wet dream of cheney, he gets off on this, you can see him smile in a sniker when he talks about “the dark side
the administration knows with no doubt there is less information not more when you use torture as your method
the only purpose of torture is to create more unrest, more insurgency, more disatisfaction with the occupying force
this is what they want, an unending war, it’s what they do
You can’t spell PELOSI without E L I .. just sayin
Little hint? How about a Rude Awakening…! I fervently hope they have some international travel planned after they leave office…! ;-)
In Terry Gilliam’s Brazil they called that job “Information Retrieval”.
Is there anyone out the from Pelosi’s district who can confront her on this? She’s not going to necessarily listen to us DFH bloggers, but she might listen to someone from her district.
It’s late in the day, but impeachment has to be put back on the table or we might just as well end this “great experiment” now and just appoint a tear up the constitution and admit to Banana Republica status now. Avoid the rush, as it were.
This is hardly “bush derangement syndrome”. He’s set it up so that any future president of any party can basically give Congress and the American people the finger at will and laugh all the way to their cushy, paid-in-full retirement.
but the 9/11 attacks were suicide attacks, i don’t see the signigicance, I see a normal slip of the tongue
Yes. I believe that the torture serves two purposes, neither of which have anything to do with keeping us safe:
1) Collective revenge against the scary horrible brown people who hate us and blew up the WTC, and
2) Lots of false confessions to fake terror plots to scare us with.
“suicide” sorry.
the silver’s polished, the linens’ pressed. I’m ready.
Well, there’s always Cindy Sheehan. (((snark)))
You can, however, spell ELI without PELOSI…and it looks like we’ll have to, because Grandma P seems to have her bony ass permanently parked in her rocker.
Yeah how does torturing Iraqis help us find Ossama bin Lauden? Although by torturing Iraqi’s I wonder just how many Iraqis joined al Quieda in Iraq after they had a family member arrested.
We now can’t release Iraqi prisoners because they would talk about all the torture we did to them which would cause their relatives to join al Quieda or any group that would give them a weapon.
Too bad Congress never asked General Petreuas if arrests and torture of a n Iraqi’s relatives was a reliable predictor of future terrorist involvement.
Not for all of the participants, it seems some of them didn’t know all that the job entailed.