Comments on: Hillary Clinton And Robert Gibbs Blast Back At Cheney’s Anti-Obama Comments

By: natural acai

natural acai — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:56:14 +0000

natural acai…

Ecuador’s hunky president bailed on Bush’ s U. N. dinner……

By: Pages tagged "hillary clinton"

Pages tagged "hillary clinton" — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:21:43 +0000

[...] bookmarks tagged hillary clinton Hillary Clinton And Robert Gibbs Blast Back At Che… saved by 3 others Gameshowparodies bookmarked on 04/29/09 | [...]

By: D. E.Rodriguez

D. E.Rodriguez — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:05:20 +0000

[The New York Times, April 23, 2009]
A former FBI agent who interrogated a high-ranking terrorist, Abu Zubaydah, writes that contrary to newly released Justice Department memos, the detainee provided “important actionable intelligence” under traditional questioning methods. “There was no actionable intelligence gained from using enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Zubaydah that wasn’t, or couldn’t have been, gained from regular tactics. In addition, I saw that using these alternative methods on other terrorists backfired on more than a few occasions — all of which are still classified. The short sightedness behind the use of these techniques ignored the unreliability of the methods, the nature of the threat, the mentality and modus operandi of the terrorists, and due process.”

A disgruntled agent? A traitor? Or someone who is just telling the truth?

By: GreenDreams

GreenDreams — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:14:59 +0000

I agree, DaGoat. Let it all come out. And I believe it will. The assertions about the effectiveness of waterboarding Sheik Mohammed have fallen apart, and I believe other such suggestions of the effectiveness of torture will as well. Remember these techniques were devised to force false confessions, not to gain intelligence. And even if some torturees spilled useful evidence, it does not prove that such information cannot be gained without compromising our principles, our morals and our human decency.

In a White House press briefing, Bush's counterterrorism chief, Frances Fragos Townsend, told reporters that the cell leader was arrested in February 2002, and “at that point, the other members of the cell” (later arrested) “believed that the West Coast plot has been canceled, was not going forward”. A subsequent fact sheet released by the Bush White House states, “In 2002, we broke up a plot by KSM to hijack an airplane and fly it into the tallest building on the West Coast.” These two statements make clear that however far the plot to attack the Library Tower ever got—an unnamed senior FBI official would later tell the Los Angeles Times that Bush's characterization of it as a “disrupted plot” was “ludicrous”—that plot was foiled in 2002. But Sheikh Mohammed wasn't captured until March 2003.

By: DaGoat

DaGoat — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:42:19 +0000

They’re not making dent with other voters because the GOP’s and Bush administration’s credibility is low. How to change it? Be FOWARD LOOKING — but the whole GOP push now is to argue it’s was better the way Bush & Co did it.

I don't agree, at least as it pertains to the torture issue. To me it doesn't appear Cheney is trying to argue things were better the way Bush & Co did it, he is saying there is information that mitigates the information that has been released. Is it possible Obama has selectively released information that favors his own point of view - sure, it appears he has already tried to do that in editing the memo from Dennis Blair. Apart from security concerns I don't know why anybody would be against the release of information, unless it weakens their own case.

Whether Cheney is doing this out of concern for his legacy is unknown, it's very difficult to assign motives.

As I have said before the use of water boarding was clearly excessive and I won't defend that, but I do want to see all possible information come out. There is a drumbeat coming from the left that torture never works. If there is information to the contrary it should come out. I still do not support torture but regardless of that I would like the facts.

By: mlhradio

mlhradio — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:18:20 +0000

Worth the read: Matt Yglesias over at Think Progress muses over Ol' Dick, and wonders what might have changed to turn him into the evil Darth-Vader-type...or was he really always that way? Link: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009...