torture

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Torture Tools For Sale to Nicest Bidder

Collection of medieval flesh-rippers to be sold to aid human rights organizations

(Newser) - A huge collection of medieval tongue tearers, thumbscrews, and assorted flesh-rippers is hitting the auction block soon, but ghouls and dictators won't be welcome bidders, the Los Angeles Times reports. The owner—moved to sell the inherited collection by the debate on Bush-era harsh interrogation—is keen to ensure it...

Pelosi Backtracks on CIA Claims
Pelosi Backtracks on CIA Claims
May 16, 2009 2:16 AM CDT

Pelosi Backtracks on CIA Claims

Speakers shifts focus to Bush administration after Panetta rebuff

(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi retreated yesterday from her claim the CIA lied to Congress about its interrogation program and shifted the blame to the Bush administration, Politico reports. The speaker said her criticism is "separate from my respect for those in the intelligence community who work to keep our country safe....

CIA 'Briefed Truthfully' in '02: Panetta

(Newser) - CIA director Leon Panetta today denied Nancy Pelosi’s claim that the agency misled lawmakers in a 2002 briefing, the Hill reports. In a memo to employees, Panetta said “CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing ‘the enhanced techniques that had been employed.’...

'Moral Calculus' Made Torture OK: Krauthammer

Krauthammer doing 'moral calculus'

(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi’s “contemptible hypocrisy” on the torture issue tells us a great deal about the “moral calculus” behind the issue, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post. “Our jurisprudence has the ‘reasonable man’ standard,” he argues, which asks a jury to decide what a...

Cheney Didn't Even Torture for Right Reasons
Cheney Didn't Even Torture for Right Reasons
OPINION
May 15, 2009 11:40 AM CDT

Cheney Didn't Even Torture for Right Reasons

VP wanted to link Iraq and al-Qaeda, not stop next attack: Powell aide

(Newser) - The interrogation methods Dick Cheney so highly touts were put in place in 2002 not to prevent another terror attack, a former aide to Colin Powell writes in the Washington Note, but to dig up an Iraq-al-Qaeda connection to justify going to war. And it was Cheney himself, “frightened”...

Pelosi Raises Stakes in Torture Debate

Speaker puts herself at center of storm over Bush policies

(Newser) - Whether by accident or design, Nancy Pelosi has turned the debate on the Bush administration's anti-terror program into a high-stakes game of brinksmanship, Dan Balz writes in the Washington Post. Pelosi's declaration yesterday that the CIA lied to Congress amounts to "a declaration of war," Balz writes, setting...

Pelosi's CIA Charges Hardly Jibe With Obama Talk Points

(Newser) - Nancy Pelosi’s accusation that the CIA lied to Congress about waterboarding will likely have broad political consequences, Chris Cillizza writes in the Washington Post. In the short term, Pelosi has stolen President Obama’s thunder on credit-card reform and could force the early announcement of a Supreme Court nominee...

CIA Denies Cheney Request for Torture Docs

Bush-era order on docs under pending litigation stymies ex-VP

(Newser) - The CIA today denied Dick Cheney’s request that documents possibly proving the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques be declassified, MSNBC reports. An executive order “excludes from review information that is the subject of pending litigation,” the CIA said. The two documents “contain information that falls into...

Pelosi: CIA Misled Me on Waterboarding

(Newser) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today she was not complicit in the government’s decision to waterboard terrorist suspects, and she claimed the CIA misled her about whether the interrogation technique considered torture by many was being used. “To the contrary … we were told explicitly that waterboarding was...

Rove: Pelosi's an Accomplice to Torture
Rove: Pelosi's an Accomplice to Torture
OPINION
May 14, 2009 6:50 AM CDT

Rove: Pelosi's an Accomplice to Torture

'Someone appears not to be telling the truth' about waterboarding

(Newser) - Karl Rove indulges in a bit of revenge on Nancy Pelosi in his Wall Street Journal column today, writing that "the political persecution of Bush administration officials she has been pushing may now ensnare her." As evidence mounts that the CIA told her as early as 2002 about...

Obama's Photo Flip-Flop Has Political Roots
Obama's Photo Flip-Flop Has Political Roots
ANALYSIS
May 14, 2009 6:26 AM CDT

Obama's Photo Flip-Flop Has Political Roots

White House wasn't prepared for scale of torture outrage

(Newser) - Barack Obama's about-face on the release of photographs of abused detainees has angered civil libertarian groups, who have denounced the president for turning back on campaign promises. But as Politico writes, the move demonstrated how carefully the administration is treading on an issue that has become explosive, subsuming George Bush's...

Courts Unlikely to Block Release of Torture Pics

White House has slim hopes for appeal, may look to Congress

(Newser) - Barack Obama has said he wants to prevent the publication of photos depicting abuse of  detainees, but legal experts say the White House has an uphill battle in reversing the court decision to release them. The administration thinks that the Bush-era lawyers did not make a sufficiently strong case in...

Anti-Torture Memo May Embarrass Bush Camp
Anti-Torture Memo May Embarrass Bush Camp
analysis
May 13, 2009 4:52 PM CDT

Anti-Torture Memo May Embarrass Bush Camp

(Newser) - Probably the most newsworthy item out of today’s Senate hearing into alleged torture techniques is that a memo written by a former State Department counselor who questioned their legality has been located and may be released, writes Zachary Roth for Talking Points Memo. Philip Zelikow’s memo, which he...

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...

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...

GOP Blasts Pelosi as Dems Rip CIA Over Torture

(Newser) - Republicans are slamming Nancy Pelosi for saying she felt she had no recourse when informed of harsh interrogation tactics in 2003, Politico reports. “If she felt it was wrong, she should have acted,” John McCain said. Some critics suggest the House speaker could have written a letter or...

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...

US Threatens to Limit Intel Sharing With UK

... if British courts release details on Guantanamo abuse

(Newser) - The Obama administration says it will cut down on intelligence sharing with the UK if British courts reveal details on the treatment of a former Guantanamo detainee, the Washington Times reports. In a letter to the British Foreign Office, the administration says that releasing a report on the treatment of...

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...

Let's Put Cheney Out to Pasture
 Let's Put Cheney Out to Pasture 
OPINION
May 12, 2009 9:03 AM CDT

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...

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