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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsQuestions for the F.B.I. Nominee - from Coleen Rowley
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. WHEN President Obama nominated James B. Comey to lead the F.B.I., he lauded Mr. Comey as someone who understands the challenge of striking a balance between security and privacy, and had been prepared to give up a job he loved rather than be part of something he felt was fundamentally wrong.
High praise, but was it deserved? We may find out today, when the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on his confirmation.
Mr. Comeys reputation for courage and probity rests largely on a dramatic episode in March 2004 when he and the current F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, tried to squelch the George W. Bush administrations warrantless wiretapping program. But that was just one night in the 20 months that Mr. Comey served as deputy attorney general.
And while it was not the only time he expressed reservations, Mr. Comey apparently did eventually sign off on most of the worst of the Bush administrations legal abuses and questionable interpretations of federal and international law. He ultimately approved the C.I.A.s list of enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, which experts on international law consider a form of torture. He defended holding an American citizen, Jose Padilla, without charges for more than three years as an enemy combatant, and subjecting him to interrogation without counsel to obtain information from him. (Mr. Padilla was ultimately convicted of terrorism charges in civilian court.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/opinion/questions-for-the-fbi-nominee.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130709&_r=0
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Corruption Inc
(1,568 posts)The fact that the current head of the FBI is a torture promoter shows just how corrupt the U.S. is now.
Coleen Rowley is an America hero who knew exactly who was going to pull off the 9/11 attacks and did everything in her power to stop them.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)"What if you lived in a country where, after the Administration negligently failed to prevent a major terrorist attack, they deliberately exploited everyone's fears and utilized shock doctrine to do INSANELY stupid and dangerous things: things like launching costly pre-emptive wars, subverting law, and destroying the checks and balances of the Constitution and common standards of decency by re-instituting torture? Well, We DO live in that country."
SOURCE: http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/portraits/coleen-rowley
PS: Thank you for the heads op on the NYT article, groovedaddy! 11 great questions, hers. Reading them makes me realize exactly how Ms. Rowley would make an excellent President of the United States.