Tag: torture memos

Apr 21 2009

The System Is Working On Torture

So now we have vented, we were appalled at the evil of the Bybee memo and the other memos justifying state sponsored torture of prisoners. Here on the internet our outrage has flared and been shared. This is an important aspect as we must make it clear how seriously the people of the Untied States take this issue, but now it is time to pull back a little. Now it might sound funny for the Dog to be saying this especially after the letter he wrote to the President yesterday, but let the old hound explain a little and you will see where he is going.

Cross posted at Square State

Apr 20 2009

Mr. President You Are Making A Mistake

Dear President Obama;

Sir I have written you multiple letters on the frank necessity of the need to investigate the Bush Administration State Sponsored Torture program. This need was based on the public information available, which to me, as a citizen who believes that unprosecuted apparent crimes undermine the very basis for our justice system and the rule of law.  

Apr 17 2009

Sick Torture Memos Also Lie: A Closer Look at the Bybee Memo

Also posted at AlterNet and Invictus

Reading the just released August 1, 2002 memo by John Yoo (reportedly ghosting for Jay Bybee, then Assistant Attorney General of the United States, and now an Appeals Court Judge for the Ninth Circuit), to John Rizzo, then Acting General Counsel for the CIA, on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, is a surreal experience. There is so much that is strange and awful in it, it's hard to know where to begin.

But one thing that struck me right off the bat was the similarity of the statistics presented in the early part of the memo with the statement of Dr. Jerald Ogrisseg, a psychologist with Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, United States Joint Forces Command, before the Senate Committee on Armed Services on June 17, 2008.

Let's review some of the relevant text.

Apr 17 2009

The Bybee Memo- The Very Anatomy of Evil

The Dog is not a believer in many things but gods is one particular category. As such he almost never uses the word evil, but there are times when this religiously based word is the only apt one in English. Today the Dog has seen evil, in the form of a memo which does a legal tap dance to justify a torture technique known as waterboarding.  

Apr 06 2009

Republicans vs. torture memos release!



Ralph Orlowski / Getty Images


Scott Horton, says

If the president releases the Bush torture memos, Republicans are promising to “go nuclear” and filibuster his legal appointments. Scott Horton reports on a serious threat to Obama’s transparency.

As we all know, the appointment of Dawn Johnsen, as chief of the office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice, has been held up for quite some time now.  

Until recently, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, often considered the “brains” of the department, has been known mostly to legal experts. But for the past eight years, it was the epicenter of allegations of political manipulation and, worse, the source of infamous memoranda on torture. In tapping Eric Holder as attorney general, President Obama has promised to restore standards of professionalism to the department. For Republicans, this is tantamount to a declaration of partisan war

The real reason for their vehement opposition is that Johnsen is committed to overturning the Bush administration’s policies on torture and warrantless surveillance that would clip the wings of the imperial presidency.

The more you dig . . . .

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