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NEWS ABOUT: harsh interrogation

Obama Reverses, Will Block Release of Abuse Photos

In reversal, president says images would endanger US troops

(Newser) - President Obama has reversed position and will oppose the release of abuse photos of detainees in US custody, the Washington Post reports. "The publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of... More »

Publicity Hound Cheney Makes Strategic Return

Ex-VP setting himself, party up to benefit from another 9/11

(Newser) - Dick Cheney isn’t in an undisclosed location anymore. The former VP is suddenly waging a one-man campaign defending the Bush administration’s interrogation tactics. Even he can’t believe that’s a great political move, writes Michael Duffy of Time, so what’s he up to? It’s possible... More »

White House Backpedals on Releasing Torture Photos

(Newser) - The White House is rethinking its promise to release photos of detainees being abused in US custody, press secretary Robert Gibbs suggested yesterday, saying President Obama has “great concern” about the impact they would have. At issue are 44 photos targeted in a Freedom of Information Act suit by... More »

Liz Cheney: Dad Is Not a Crazy Old Coot

Duty calls him to forgo retirement to bash Obama, daughter says

(Newser) - Liz Cheney went on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, firing back at Washington Post scribe Eugene Robinson for calling her dad a “crazy old coot.” Robinson had said we ought to send Cheney “back to Wyoming” where he could rant in peace. “My dad would probably... More »

Let's Put Cheney Out to Pasture

VP is a veritable font of nonsense

(Newser) - Isn’t it time we sent Dick Cheney back to Wyoming, found him a home “where the buffalo roam and there’s always room for one more crazy old coot down at the general store?” Eugene Robinson asks in the Washington Post. It’s no wonder the TV networks... More »

Cheney Might Be Right on Torture

Despite his record, Cheney might be telling the truth this time

(Newser) - It's hard to believe a word Dick Cheney says but that doesn't mean his claims that "enhanced interrogation" saved lives should be dismissed out of hand, Richard Cohen writes in the Washington Post. The former vice president has been loudly defending the program, and it would be a mistake... More »

GOP: Torture Probe Must Include Pelosi

Republicans say speaker knew; hope to quiet Dems on matter

(Newser) - As calls continue for an investigation of Bush administration officials over torture, Republicans think they may have an ace in the hole: Nancy Pelosi, they say, knew waterboarding had taken place but didn’t try to stop it. Some Republicans think threatening the House Speaker will make her and fellow... More »

CIA Told Pelosi About Waterboarding: Report

Newly released documents show speaker was briefed in 2002

(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi and other Congressional leaders received multiple briefings on the CIA's use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques, according to new information released by the Obama administration. Records suggest that Pelosi learned of the CIA's interrogation of Abu Zubaydah in a September 2002 briefing that covered the "... More »

Bush Lawyers Face Calls for Dismissal

But disbarring Yoo or impeaching Bybee is an uphill battle

(Newser) - The Justice Department has signaled it won't prosecute the Bush administration lawyers who approved interrogation tactics widely considered to be torture, but they may have trouble keeping their jobs. A forthcoming report from the DoJ will recommend possible disciplinary action by state bar associations for the Bush lawyers, sources tell... More »

Obama Must Oppose Spain's Bush Lawyer Probe: Bolton

Only our Constitution should judge policy decisions

(Newser) - President Obama’s "John Ehrlichman approach" to Spain’s investigation of Bush officials may be “smart politics,” but it’s dangerous for the country, writes John Bolton in the Washington Post. If the administration doesn’t speak out against the probe, it allows an “unaccountable... More »

Bush Lawyers Unlikely to Face Criminal Charges

(Newser) - The Bush lawyers who gave their blessing to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques should not face criminal charges, a Justice Department report has concluded. The report does, however, say that Jay Bybee, John Yoo, and Steven Bradbury showed poor judgment and suggests that state bar associations consider reprimands and... More »

Obama May Bring Back Military Terror Courts

(Newser) - Barack Obama is leaning towards reinstituting military commissions as a way of trying Guantanamo detainees, and could begin publicly doing so as soon as next week, officials tell the New York Times. Obama has been a staunch critic of the system, but the administration is increasingly worried about the hazards... More »

Shrink Waterboard 'Experts' Racked Up $1K a Day

Operation's architects lacked training in conducting interrogations, say CIS records

(Newser) - Two US psychologists with no training in conducting interrogations boasted of earning $1000 a day designing and helping to implement use of waterboarding techniques on CIA detainees, reports ABC News. Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, former military officers, are considered the architects of the interrogation operation that Barack Obama has... More »

Obama: Waterboarding Is Torture

(Newser) - President Obama said tonight that waterboarding and harsh interrogation techniques may have yielded useful information, but he said "we could have gotten this information in other ways—in ways that are consistent with our values," Politico reports. The techniques—"I do believe that it is torture,"... More »

Leave Torture to Historians: Noonan

(Newser) - On foreign policy, it’s “so far, so good” for President Obama’s first 100 days, writes Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal. (Domestically, “there are only so many ways to say ‘Oy.’”) But the torture debate appeared to catch the White House... More »

Liz Cheney Defends Dad: 'We Did Not Torture'

(Newser) - Dick Cheney's daughter stuck up for her dad today, insisting in an MSNBC interview that the CIA's interrogation techniques did not constitute torture, reports ThinkProgress. Liz Cheney, a former State Department official in her own right, also echoed her father's sentiment that the interrogations yielded valuable information. Two detainees "... More »

Fox News' Smith Loses Cool Over Torture

Rogue anchor pounds table, drops F-bomb in angry tirade

(Newser) - Shep Smith has had it with fellow Fox News anchors justifying torture. When Trace Gallagher suggested that the harsh interrogation techniques may have helped on The Strategy Room last night, the increasingly disgruntled Smith lost it. “We are America!” he bellowed, slapping the desk. “I don’t... More »

Did Brutal Questioning Pay Off? The Battle Heats Up

(Newser) - President Obama says the harsh interrogation methods used by the CIA both compromised American values and provided unreliable information. “Those are a convenient pair of opinions,” notes Scott Shane of the New York Times. But it's not going to be that easy for the new administration to defend... More »

Condi Was First to OK Waterboarding

Condi gave go-ahead before Rumsfeld, Powell even knew about it: Senate

(Newser) - Condoleezza Rice played a greater role than she has acknowledged in the CIA's harsh interrogation program, and approved the use of waterboarding, according to a newly released report from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The report finds that Rice, as national security adviser, verbally approved the CIA's request to waterboard a... More »

Obama Rejected Idea of Interrogation Inquiry

(Newser) - More details are emerging from the Obama camp's debate on how to handle the Bush interrogation memos. In the Washington Post, Dan Balz writes that President Obama rejected the idea of setting up an investigation panel along the lines of the 9/11 Commission. Obama wanted to move on rather than... More »

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