Light Emitting Pickle here to bring you the most recent open thread. First, a few words about Pickle Pony Parties:

Please do not recommend a Pony Party when you see one.  There will be another along in a few hours.

I’m currently reading two books: Shock doctrine by Naomi Klein, which describes the neo-liberal takeover of the world and Rough Crossings by Simon Schama, which covers the topic of slavery during the American Revolution. Both are extraordinary books – informative and compelling.

The juxtaposition of the treatment of slaves at the end of the 18th century with government-imposed terror tactics of the late 20th and early 21st centuries is frightening. Aren’t we supposed to have come a long way since the abolition of slavery? Aren’t we supposed to consider all humans as beings worthy of life and liberty? Apparently, for a certain fragment of the population, this isn’t true.

Klein’s book, in particular, has caused me to consider the mindset that leads to the ability to torture. Unfortunately, as Bob Altemeyer and John Dean point out in their respective works here and here, this ability is all too common.

So, now I’m grappling with the idea that the veneer of civilization is thinner than I’d originally thought. Or maybe it’s just Monday and I’m feeling gloomy.

Are any of you reading something cheerful?

Some news and your afternoon open thread.

1. The situation in Pakistan is changing hourly. The Los Angeles Times reported this morning that Pakistani police use tear gas and batons against protesting lawyers. “Police with tear gas and batons battled protesting lawyers in major cities today, and the number of political and human rights activists arrested in a police sweep climbed into the thousands.” Bloomberg News is reporting that the Pakistan police have arrested protesting lawyers. “Pakistani police charged with clubs and arrested more than 150 lawyers challenging… Pervez Musharraf’s emergency rule”.

   Pakistani uniformed and plainclothes police beating a lawyer during a protest in Lahore today. (Arif Ali/Agence France-Presse)

   The Associated Press reports Thousands face down Pakistani police. “Police fired tear gas and clubbed thousands of lawyers protesting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s decision to impose emergency rule, as Western allies threatened to review aid to the troubled Muslim nation. More than 1,500 people have been arrested in 48 hours, and authorities put a stranglehold on independent media.”

   Ever wonder how the Hell we wound up in this mess? Flash back to eight years ago today when Bush was running for president. CNN reported on November 5, 1999 that Bush fails reporter’s pop quiz on international leaders. Bush was asked by a reporter “to name the leaders of Chechnya, Taiwan, India and Pakistan. Bush was only able to give a partial response to the query on the leader of Taiwan… He could not name the others.”

   “Can you name the general who is in charge of Pakistan?” Hiller asked, inquiring about Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, who seized control of the country October 12.

   “Wait, wait, is this 50 questions?” asked Bush.

   Hiller replied: “No, it’s four questions of four leaders in four hot spots.”

   Bush turned the tables on Hiller, though, asking him if he could name the foreign minister of Mexico. Hiller said he could not, but also added he wasn’t running for president.

   Bush replied: “What I’m suggesting to you is that (because) you can’t name the foreign minister of Mexico, therefore you’re not capable of what you do. But the truth of the matter is you are, whether you can or not.”

   As reported by McClatchy Newspapers on Saturday, Despite warnings, Bush officials couldn’t stop Musharraf. “The imposition of emergency rule on Saturday in nuclear-armed Pakistan underscores how little influence the Bush administration has on events in a country that has become the bulwark in the U.S. fight against terrorism. U.S. officials moved quickly to denounce the order by… Gen. Pervez Musharraf… Washington’s lack of influence… was palpable… Pakistan is a top recipient of U.S. aid. Since 2001, it has received more than $10 billion”. But, I wonder if even he still knows who the finance minister of Mexico is?

2. Matthew Hay Brown of the Baltimore Sun reports Iraqi refugees look to U.S. to fulfill pledge.

   Ban Saadi Abdallatif still has trouble sleeping some nights, remembering her uncle and cousin, shot dead by the militia, or thinking about her brother’s narrow escape from kidnappers. But it’s nothing like the fear she lived with back in Diyala, where law and order broke down after U.S. forces invaded Iraq, and insurgents targeted her mixed Shiite-Sunni family.

   “I feel relief to be in the United States,” said the 31-year-old former teacher, who arrived in Laurel with her 9-year-old son in September. “I will not plan to go back to Iraq.”

   Abdallatif is one of the lucky few. Of the more than 2 million Iraqis who have fled the country since the 2003 invasion, fewer than 3,000 have been allowed to resettle in the United States.

   The Bush administration has acknowledged a “moral obligation” to protect Iraqis displaced by the war but fell far short of the 7,000 admissions that officials pledged by the end of September – sparking criticism from refugee advocates.

Four at Four continus below the fold with stories about Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, the environmental damage of the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006, and a bonus story about bicycle economy in Portland, Oregon is below the fold.

3. Writing for the McClatchy Newspapers, Jonathan Landay reports Experts: No evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons program. “Despite President Bush’s claims that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons that could trigger ‘World War III,’ experts in and out of government say there’s no conclusive evidence that Tehran has an active nuclear-weapons program. Even his own administration appears divided about the immediacy of the threat… Bush and Cheney’s allegations are under especially close scrutiny because their similar allegations about an Iraqi nuclear program proved to be wrong… If conclusive proof exists, however, Bush hasn’t revealed it. Nor have four years of IAEA inspections.” The article examines the available evidence of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapon program.

4. The Daily Star of Lebanon reports that the UN releases report into extent of damage, complications of 2006 Jiyyeh oil spill. “When the Israeli Air Force destroyed a slew of oil storage tanks and a key power station during its war against Lebanon in July 2006, the environmental damage was described as devastating. And now, more than 15 months later, the United Nations has released a report detailing the extent of the destruction caused by that oil spill to human health, biodiversity, fisheries and tourism. The destruction has had ‘serious implications’ for livelihoods and economy in that oft trouble-plagued country… The Israeli bombing, which destroyed storage tanks and the Jiyyeh power plant, triggered the release of about 15,000 tons of fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea, leading to the contamination of some 150 kilometers of coastline in Lebanon and neighboring Syria.”

5. The New York Times reports on Cultivating a culture of two wheels in Portland, Oregon. “Cyclists have long revered Portland for its bicycle-friendly culture and infrastructure, including the network of bike lanes that the city began planning in the early 1970s. Now, riders are helping the city build a cycling economy… Yet in a city often uncomfortable with corporate gloss, what is most distinctive about the emerging cycling industry here is the growing number of smaller businesses, whether bike frame builders or clothing makers, that often extol recycling as much as cycling, sustainability as much as success.” The video accompanying the piece is good too.

So, what else is happening?

TERRORISM TAKES A HOLIDAY: So, today is http://www.infopleas… >the day the Brits celebrate an anti-Christian, civilian-bombing, government-hating insurgent by going door-to-door and asking for money (“Penny for the Guy?”). Why do the British hate America? . . . . Michael Mukasey would approve: After he was captured, before he could detonate his bomb that was intended to destroy the Protestant Parliament, Fawkes was tortured, at the explicit direction of King James, who instructed that the torture should be gentle at first, and increase in severity. (And yes, I’m sure King James had a note from his solicitor general saying that the whole thing was perfectly OK, provided there was no organ failure.) “The torture only revealed the names of those conspirators who were already dead or whose names were known to the authorities,” according to Wikipedia. Why does Wikipedia hate America?

NO MORE PENNIES FOR THE DI: Dianne Feinstein is dead to me.  I have voted for her every time she has run for Senate. She will never see another penny from again, nor any vote from me in a primary election. Not only has she betrayed the basic values of progressives by her decision to approve the nomination of Michael Mukasey, she has betrayed the basic values upon which this country was founded . . . Her indefensible support of Mukasey has crossed a threshold beyond which no American – let alone a Democratic senator – should be willing to go . .  . To add insult to atrocity, her pathetic excuse for kowtowing to the incomprehensibly corrupt criminal and un-American BushCheney regime was one of the most mind bogglingly insulting rationalizations that I have ever heard from any politician, ever. Time to start looking for a primary opponent for 2010 – or maybe she’ll just bow out disgracefully at age 77 . . . However she loses her job, at least she won’t have to worry about having adequate health care . . .

SPEAKING ABOUT BEING SUCKERED: As I read Kos’s story the other day about the diesel//hydrogen/turbine hybrid Hummers, the phrase that kept popping into my head was, “too  good to be true” – as much as I hope it is true. Anyway, it reminded me very much of “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch,” a story that appeared in Sports Illustrated back in April of 1985.  Finch, according to the article, was a completely unknown 28-year-old prospect newly signed by the Mets who threw a 168 mph fastball using an extremely unorthodox combination of techniques and gear: he wore a hiking boot on one foot, and his delivery was something like a cross between a cricket bowler and a Wehrmacht soldier lobbing a potato masher. The article was lengthy and detailed, including photos of amazed Mets pitching personnel emerging from a cordoned off makeshift bullpen, shaking their heads in disbelief. I remember I got so excited reading the article that I immediately picked up the phone and called my friend, who had also just finished reading it. After my breathless recounting of the particulars of the story, my friend calmly suggested that I check on the cover for the date of the issue.  So I did: April 1, 1985.  It was and remains one of the great journalistic hoaxes of all time . . . Inside tip: read the subhead on this online version of the article; it’s the same as the subhead that ran with the original article. Note the first letter of each word in the subhead. (I don’t know why the version that SI has on its site doesn’t include the subhead; it’s sort of integral to the success of the hoax, if you ask me) . . .

MAID OF THE MISSED: Those clever bastards at the departments of State and Homeland Security – always coming up with new ways to Protect der Vaterland. First, it was granting immunity to Blackwater killers; now it’s fooling the Terrists with fake tourist attractions. Some brain surgeon at DHS or State got the brilliant idea to show the Canadian side of Niagara falls in a new video put out by the State Department. Leave it to those Imagineers at Disney – who produced the video for DHS and State, ostensibly to drum up interest in tourism – to be able to convince folks that something that is Not A Real American Landmark, is – hey presto! – A Real American Landmark. . . . State Department spokesman Sean McCormack made light of the situation, chuckling, “There are two sides to every waterfall.” Heh . . .

OLD MACDONALD, DON’T HAVE A COW: Actually, the great news is, the good folks at the Old MacDonald’s Petting Zoo now can breathe a lot easier. Their Terror Alert Level must’ve been raised to Screaming Red last year when they were placed – along with “Beach at End of a Street” and the Amish Country Popcorn Factory – on the Department of Homeland Security’s National Asset Database of top terror targets. Now, of course, some phoney baloney petting zoo in Regina is probably being passed off in all the tourist-baiting videos put out by DHS and State. Verrrry clevah . . . .

Heh.

THE MCCORMACK FOLLIES: Now, lemme get this straight. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says he has no evidence that Iran is currently building a nuclear weapon. Preznit Bush and his Fulminating Idiots-In-Arms say that Iran is building a newkyoolar weapon, or at the very least, is acquiring the knowledge to build a newkyoolar weapon, which means we must bomb the crap out of them. In other words, they’re saying that ElBaradei is full of it . . . More specifically, about ElBaradei’s statement, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack (there’s that name again!) said, “He will say what he will. He is the head of a technical agency. I think we can handle diplomacy on this one. McCormack went on to say, “We appreciate the work that the IAEA is performing but it is the member states of the international community that are going to be responsible of the diplomacy with respect to Iran and its nuclear program.” . . Now – that’s very odd, given that that very same  Sean McCormack, back in April, said IAEA officials “are the only ones on the ground in the position to assess by how much Iran is expanding its programs, whether or not they’re introducing UF6 feedstock into the centrifuges, or exactly what is the state of their program.”. Ya don’t say.

YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT ASS?: As greendem reports, The Vetoer In Chief might be in for his first public ass-handing. The Water Resources Defense Act (thank God, at least the Democrats can name a bill honestly) passed 81-12 in the Senate and 381-40 in the House. In spite of those numbers, the Cretin with the Cross Pen vetoed it . . .

WHAT? YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF THE “CORREA DOCTRINE”?: Ecuador is not about to take any chances on someone threatening its interests in the Western Hemisphere. President Rafael Correa has demanded that, in exchange for renewing the agreement to allow the U.S. to maintain bases in Ecuador, that Ecuador be able to maintain a military base in Miami (h/t to kyril) . . .

(UPSIDE-DOWN) SUBTERRANEAN HOME SALE BLUES: As the Wall Street Journal reported the other day, one man’s unparalleled financial crisis is another man’s opportunity to be buried upside down in the yard. Yep, it seems sales of St. Joseph statuettes are booming, thanks to the tanking of the residential real estate market. As everyone knows, burying St. Joe (most famous cuckold in history) headfirst in the front yard assures a 30-day close with no contingencies. So relax, Jerome – St. Joe’s got your back . . .

“Important If True” is an irregularly-schedule Mojo Swap Meet wherein the diarist cobbles together a collection of seemingly random thoughts, no single one of which, taken by itself, may be worthy of attention, but which, when presented en masse in a veritable mélange, a pastiche, as it were, of cerebral offal, might thus put to rest any niggling doubts that you may have had about whether the effort would be worth it. Or, to paraphrase someone, you should waste no time in reading this . . .

– but definitely spread the mojo around in the comments! Thanks for reading!

Also available in Orange

Larry Johnson over at Daily Kos has released a letter to the chairman and ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling for a hold on Mukasey’s nomination for Attorney General until Judge Mukasey clarifies his position on waterboarding. They ridicule Mukasey’s claim of ignorance on the subject, and suggest a classified briefing for him and other Committee leaders, which would be taped in order to “enhance the likelihood of candor”. Johnson is a former Intelligence analysis and operations officer, and was deputy director of Office of Counter Terrorism at the U.S. State Department.

The letter follows the news last Friday that Democratic Senators Feinstein and Schumer said they would vote to recommend Mukasey out of committee. The memorandum from assorted former intelligence operatives from the CIA/FBI/DIA and State Department is full of lofty calls for a return to American values and a return to the “high moral ground” supposedly held previously by the U.S. military and CIA. One only has to contemplate the history of the CIA, of how the U.S. government has trained torturers around the world, of the U.S. unprovoked invasions of Iraq and Vietnam with deaths in the millions, of the torture-assassination program that was Operation Phoenix, in addition to the fact the agents’s memorandum says nothing about other forms of torture, or about the CIA extraordinary rendition program, to recognize the bogus nature of such previously held moral values and positions.

The letter itself is worth publishing as an example of the rebellion within the governmental bureaucracy against the hard-line Bush/Cheney cabal, for whom anything goes. You can bet that these former government spooks wouldn’t have published if there wasn’t some support for their position within the active military and intelligence community.

The memorandum also demonstrates that political opposition to the Mukasey nomination hasn’t totally crumbled in the wake of Feinstein and Schumer’s genuflection to Bush. Johnson says this letter can be posted “at any blog or site, in full”, asking only for attribution to No Quarter. What follows is the full text of this letter to the Judiciary Committee:

MEMORANDUM FOR: Chairman and Ranking Member Senate Committee on the Judiciary

FROM: Former U.S. Intelligence Officers

SUBJECT: Nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General

Dear Senators Leahy and Specter,

Values that are extremely important to us as former intelligence officers are at stake in your committee’s confirmation deliberations on Judge Michael Mukasey. With hundreds of years of service in sensitive national security activities behind us, we are deeply concerned that your committee may move his nomination to the full Senate without insisting that Mukasey declare himself on whether he believes the practice of waterboarding is legal.

We feel this more acutely than most others, for in our careers we have frequently had to navigate the delicate balance between morality and expediency, all the while doing our best to abide by the values the vast majority of Americans hold in common. We therefore believe we have a particular moral obligation to speak out. We can say it no better than four retired judge advocates general (two admirals and two generals) who wrote you over the weekend, saying: “Waterboarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal.”

Judge Mukasey’s refusal to comment on waterboarding, on grounds that it would be “irresponsible” to provide “an uninformed legal opinion based on hypothetical facts and circumstances,” raises serious questions. There is nothing hypothetical or secret about the fact that waterboarding was used by U.S. intelligence officers as an interrogation technique before the Justice Department publicly declared torture “abhorrent” in a legal opinion in December 2004. But after Alberto Gonzales became attorney general in February 2005, Justice reportedly issued a secret memo authorizing harsh physical and psychological tactics, including waterboarding, which were approved for use in combination. A presidential executive order of July 20, 2007 authorized “enhanced interrogation techniques” that had been banned for use by the U.S. Army. Although the White House announced that the order provides “clear rules” to govern treatment of detainees, the rules are classified, so defense attorneys, judges, juries – and even nominee Mukasey – can be prevented from viewing them.

Those are some of the “facts and circumstances.” They are not hypothetical; and there are simple ways for Judge Mukasey to become informed, which we propose below.

Last Thursday, President George W. Bush told reporters it was unfair to ask Mukasey about interrogation techniques about which he had not been briefed.

“He doesn’t know whether we use that technique [waterboarding] or not,” the president said. Judge Mukasey wrote much the same in his October 30 letter, explaining that he was unable to give an opinion on the legality of waterboarding because he doesn’t know whether it is being used: “I have not been made aware of the details of any interrogation program to the extent that any such program may be classified and thus do not know what techniques may be involved in any such program.” Whether or not the practice is currently in use by U.S. intelligence, it should in fact be easy for him to respond. All he need do is find out what waterboarding is and then decide whether he considers it legal.

The conundrum created to justify the nominee’s silence on this key issue is a synthetic one. It is within your power to resolve it readily. If Mukasey continues to drag his feet, you need only to facilitate a classified briefing for him on waterboarding and the C.I.A. interrogation program. He will then be able to render an informed legal opinion. We strongly suggest that you sit in on any such briefing and that you invite the chairman and the ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to take part as well. Receiving the same briefing at the same time (and, ideally, having it taped) should enhance the likelihood of candor and make it possible for all to be – and to stay – on the same page on this delicate issue.

If the White House refuses to allow such a briefing, your committee must, in our opinion, put a hold on Mukasey’s nomination. We are aware that the president warned last week that it will be either Mukasey as our attorney general or no one. So be it. It is time to stand up for what is right and require from the Executive the information necessary for the Senate to function responsibly and effectively. It would seem essential not to approve a nominee who has already made clear he is reluctant to ask questions of the White House. How can a person with that attitude even be proposed to be our chief law enforcement officer?

We strongly urge that you not send Mukasey’s nomination to the full Senate before he makes clear his view on waterboarding. Otherwise, there is considerable risk of continued use of the officially sanctioned torture techniques that have corrupted our intelligence services, knocked our military off the high moral ground, severely damaged our country’s standing in the world, and exposed U.S. military and intelligence people to similar treatment when captured or kidnapped. One would think that Judge Mukasey would want to be briefed on these secret interrogation techniques and to clarify where he stands.

The most likely explanation for Mukasey’s reticence is his concern that, should his conscience require him to condemn waterboarding, this could cause extreme embarrassment and even legal jeopardy for senior officials this time not just for the so-called “bad apples” at the bottom of the barrel. We believe it very important that the Senate not acquiesce in his silence-and certainly not if, as seems the case, he is more concerned about protecting senior officials than he is in enforcing the law and the Constitution.

It is important to get beyond shadowboxing on this key issue. In our view, condoning Mukasey’s evasiveness would mean ignoring fundamental American values and the Senate’s constitutional prerogative of advice and consent.

At stake in your committee and this nomination are questions of legality, morality, and our country’s values. And these are our primary concerns as well. As professional intelligence officers, however, we must point to a supreme irony-namely, that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation practices are ineffective tools for eliciting reliable information. Our own experience dovetails well with that of U.S. Army intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. John Kimmons, who told a Pentagon press conference on September 6, 2006: “No good intelligence is going to come from abusive practices. I think history tells us that. I think the empirical evidence of the last five years, hard years, tells us that.”

Speaking out so precisely and unequivocally took uncommon courage, because Kimmons knew that just across the Potomac President Bush would be taking quite a different line at a press conference scheduled to begin as soon as Kimmons finished his. At the White House press conference focusing on interrogation techniques, the president touted the success that the C.I.A. was having in extracting information from detainees by using an “alternative set of procedures.” He said these procedures had to be “tough,” in order to deal with particularly recalcitrant detainees who “had received training on how to resist interrogation” and had “stopped talking.”

The Undersigned
(Official duties refer to former government work.)

Brent Cavan
Intelligence Analyst, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA

Ray Close
Directorate of Operations, CIA for 26 years-22 of them overseas; former Chief of Station, Saudi Arabia

Ed Costello
Counter-espionage, FBI

Michael Dennehy
Supervisory Special Agent for 32 years, FBI; U.S. Marine Corps for three years

Rosemary Dew
Supervisory Special Agent, Counterterrorism, FBI

Philip Giraldi
Operations officer and counter-terrorist specialist, Directorate of Operations, CIA

Michael Grimaldi
Intelligence Analyst, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA; Federal law enforcement officer

Mel Goodman
Division Chief, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA; Professor, National Defense University; Senior Fellow, Center for International Policy

Larry Johnson
Intelligence analysis and operations officer, CIA; Deputy Director, Office of Counter Terrorism, Department of State

Richard Kovar
Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director for Intelligence, CIA: Editor, Studies In Intelligence

Charlotte Lang
Supervisory Special Agent, FBI

W. Patrick Lang
U.S. Army Colonel, Special Forces, Vietnam; Professor, U.S. Military Academy, West Point; Defense Intelligence Officer for Middle East, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA); founding director, Defense HUMINT Service

Lynne Larkin
Operations Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA; counterintelligence; coordination among intelligence and crime prevention agencies; CIA policy coordination staff ensuring adherence to law in operations

Steve Lee
Intelligence Analyst for terrorism, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA

Jon S. Lipsky
Supervisory Special Agent, FBI

David MacMichael
Senior Estimates Officer, National Intelligence Council, CIA; History professor; Veteran, U.S. Marines (Korea)

Tom Maertens
Foreign Service Officer and Intelligence Analyst, Department of State; Deputy Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, Department of State; National Security Council (NSC) Director for Non-Proliferation

James Marcinkowski
Operations Officer, Directorate of Operations, CIA by way of U.S. Navy

Mary McCarthy
National Intelligence Officer for Warning; Senior Director for Intelligence Programs, National Security Council

Ray McGovern
Intelligence Analyst, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA; morning briefer, The President’s Daily Brief; chair of National Intelligence Estimates; Co-founder, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

Sam Provance
U.S. Army Intelligence Analyst, Germany and Iraq (Abu Ghraib); Whistleblower

Coleen Rowley
Special Agent and attorney, FBI; Whistleblower on the negligence that facilitated the attacks of 9/11.

Joseph Wilson
Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Ambassador and Director of Africa, National Security Council.

Valerie Plame Wilson
Operations Officer, Directorate of Operations

Also posted at Invictus and Never In Our Names