Remember When Russia's Enemy Helped the Mujahadeen Neutralize Russia's Most Effective Weapon?
"Bluster"! "Exaggeration"!
Those are some of the words Joe Lieberman and some more credible people are using to dismiss Iran's claim that it has accessed the data from the Sentinel drone it brought down last year.
Aside from "independent…
US Achieves Sham Agreement Trifecta With Afghanistan
It is becoming a signature of the Obama administration that as self-imposed deadlines approach, the quality of agreements reached drops precipitously. Recall that Obama had worked furiously to be able to announce a mortgage fraud settlement…
Recruiting Informants: Framings, Expulsion, and Torture
Between this MoJo story from last week and this Telegraph story from today, it sure looks like the US and Brits have utterly dispensed with rule of law in hopes of recruiting informants.
Last week, Nick Baumann told the story of Yonas Fikre.…
"The Gloves Come Off" Memorandum of Notification
Operational flexibility: This is a highly classified area. All I want to say is that there was "before" 9/11 and "after" 9/11. After 9/11 the gloves come off.
-Cofer Black, 9/11 Congressional Inquiry, September 26, 2002
When Cofer Black,…
Judge Hellerstein: Yes, the Redacted Torture Authorization Pertains to the September 17, 2001 Torture Authorization
I'm still working my way through the ACLU FOIA docket in light of my ongoing series (post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4) on the Obama Administration's efforts to keep the authorization for the torture program--that is, probably the September 17,…
John Brennan Praises the Object of His Own Intimate Knowledge
John Brennan, the guy whose role in torture and illegal wiretapping the Obama Administration continues to protect by looking relentlessly forward, also once admitted to having intimate knowledge of the NYPD's spy program.
President Barack Obama’s…
The CIA's NSC's President's Torture Program
One more diversionary post before I delve into why the Administration is so worried about releasing a short phrase that, I suspect, acknowledges that George Bush's September 17, 2001 Memorandum of Notification authorized the torture program.
National…
Bahrain Drain: Oppressive US Client State Sucks The Life Out Of Formula One
[UPDATE] Qualifying went off without much hitch this morning, at least inside the circuit. Outside the circuit, the body of a protester was found, dead after a night of clashes with government authorities and police. Inside the confines of the…
As Pakistan Angles for Joint Ownership of Drone Attacks, Kerry To Be Dispatched for Another Apology
Dawn is reporting this morning that Pakistan is in the process of abandoning its demand that US drone strikes in Pakistan end and instead is now bargaining for joint ownership of the process, giving the Pakistanis access to key intelligence…
Judy Miller, Barabara Starr, and an Influx of Intelligence
I'm going to disappoint Jim by not dedicating a full post to Judy Miller's graceless rant about the AP's Pulitzer win, in which she whines that the AP hasn't taken Ray Kelly's insistence that his NYPD's spying is legal seriously enough. I already…
George Tenet's Bureaucratic CYA
Let me divert from my obsession on the CIA's efforts to hide references to what I believe is the September 17, 2001 Memorandum of Notification authorizing torture and a whole lot else to talk about what a neat bureaucratic trick George Tenet…
The Memorandum of Notification the CIA Pretends Has Never Been Acknowledged
"We don't do that sort of thing," [Glenn Carle responded to a CIA Counterterrorism Center Deputy about "going beyond SERE" with a detainee].
"We do now," Wilmington's voice was flat. The conversation remained quiet.
"What about EO12333?…
Nominated Defense Intelligence Chief Flynn Tied to Petraeus, McChrystal Night Raid Policy
On April 8, the US and Afghanistan finally signed an agreement handing over primary responsibility for night raids to Afghan forces. Although the Obama administration was hell-bent on inking that deal as part of the effort to have agreement…
Is It the CIA--or the Saudis--Who Want Signature Strikes in Yemen?
This is, IMO, the most telling line in this entire article on the CIA's request to use the signature strikes in Yemen that proved so problematic in Pakistan:
The JSOC has broader authority than the CIA to pursue militants in Yemen and is not…
The CIA Continues to Cover Up Bush's Authorization of Torture
Reading the unredacted sections of this ex parte hearing on the ACLU's torture FOIA leads me to suspect the CIA is trying to keep hidden all mention of Bush's September 17, 2001 Memorandum of Notification authorizing a range of counterterrorism…
Obama Takes a Position to the Right of Congress on Indefinite Detention
Back when I reported on Obama's stated intent to interpret the good part of the NDAA--the part requiring a meaningful review for all detainees held by DOD--to mean DOD could decide how long to hold people before it gave them the review mandated…
Peter Van Buren Says "Blowjob" to Hillary Clinton
Actually, he didn't say blowjob. He said this, in a post pointing out the State Department's rather inconsistent evaluation of what does and does not constitute poor judgment.
What if a video existed that showed a prominent State Department…
Spreading Free "Trade" To Colombia But Not Freedom of the Press
So the guys who were supposed to be scouting threats to the President got in trouble because they tried to shortchange a sex worker of her fair payment. I guess the lesson these men took from our trade deal with Colombia is that it's okay to…
Disclosure of US Troops Posing With Body Parts Newest Threat to Afghanistan Stability
As I pointed out on Monday, the preferred story line surrounding the weekend Taliban attacks across Afghanistan was that Afghan security forces repulsed the attacks with little to no help from outside forces. In fact, Australia used this moment…
Saleh: "I have given you an open door on terrorism, so I am not responsible."
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In a meeting on September 6, 2009--at a time when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was already in Yemen, seeking Anwar al-Awlaki--President Ali Abdullah Saleh assured John Brennan that the US Government had unfettered…