Report on CIA Black Sites and Torture May Provoke a Constitutional Crisis

[G_j]

http://billmoyers.com/2014/03/11/report-on-cia-black-sites-and-torture-may-provoke-a-constitutional-crisis/

On Tuesday, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) accused the Central Intelligence Agency of violating federal law and undermining Congress’ constitutional oversight powers. She alleges that CIA officials monitored secure computers used by Capitol Hill staffers to prepare a report that reveals the agency’s Bush era legacy of black detention sites and enhanced interrogation programs – methods many have denounced as torture.

This is the latest development in a long-standing feud between the intelligence agency and Congress. Wrangling over the report, which runs over six thousand pages and cost the government $42 million to prepare, has led to what some are calling a “constitutional crisis.”

Three national security reporters in McClatchy Newspapers’ DC office — Jonathan Landay, Ali Watkins and Marisa Taylor — first reported the alleged snooping last week. BillMoyers.com caught up with Landay to get some background. Below is a transcript that has been lightly edited for clarity.

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Holland: This story starts with this report about the so-called enhanced interrogation program, the detention program. What do your sources indicate is in the report that the CIA wants to keep under wraps?

Landay: That is the question at the heart of the matter, and that’s something that we have not been able to ascertain. That report is still very much locked up by the Senate Intelligence Committee, nearly 15 months after they approved a final draft. They are in a major battle with the CIA over the report, and in particular their demands for additional documents.

...more...

[jsr]

1. Everything will be fine. They'll just come over and kiss her ass for a while.

[northoftheborder]

2. This is very important, basic to the constitutional functioning of our government.

[malaise]

3. Is the CIA part of the US Constitution? n/t

[G_j]

7. +1000

[CJCRANE]

4. Here is Dianne Feinstein's statement:

http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=db84e844-01bb-4eb6-b318-31486374a895

It's worth reading.

Excerpt:

"The interrogations and the conditions of confinement at the CIA detention sites were far different and far more harsh than the way the CIA had described them to us".

[Kelvin Mace]

5. You know, there is a simple way to fix the CIA

Simply defund it until such time the agency is brought under proper oversight.

But no one is congress has the pallones.

[reddread]

8. release every detail of JFK's assassination. n/t

[gordianot]

6. This is the price to be paid prosecuting & executing War Criminals from WWII, ignoring our own.

For example Cheney deserved a fate similar to Tojo in International Court (authorized water torture) and should have been tried for treason at home when he outed CIA field agents. What a waste of a heart transplant. The murderers of the Bush Cheney years are a permanent blot on America that pile of shit is hard to move away from the stench continues to follow.

[reddread]

9. quite right

[malaise]

10. +1,000 n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. Obama DOJ Asks Court to Grant Immunity to George W. Bush For Iraq War

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., (Aug. 20, 2013) — In court papers filed today (PDF), the United States Department of Justice requested that George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz be granted procedural immunity in a case alleging that they planned and waged the Iraq War in violation of international law.


Plaintiff Sundus Shaker Saleh, an Iraqi single mother and refugee now living in Jordan, filed a complaint in March 2013 in San Francisco federal court alleging that the planning and waging of the war constituted a “crime of aggression” against Iraq, a legal theory that was used by the Nuremberg Tribunal to convict Nazi war criminals after World War II.
"The DOJ claims that in planning and waging the Iraq War, ex-President Bush and key members of his Administration were acting within the legitimate scope of their employment and are thus immune from suit,” chief counsel Inder Comar of Comar Law said.



The “Westfall Act certification,” submitted pursuant to the Westfall Act of 1988, permits the Attorney General, at his or her discretion, to substitute the United States as the defendant and essentially grant absolute immunity to government employees for actions taken within the scope of their employment.
In her lawsuit, Saleh alleges that:


http://warisacrime.org/content/obama-doj-asks-court-grant-immunity-george-w-bush-iraq-war


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/22/1233110/-DOJ-Asks-Court-to-Grant-Immunity-to-Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-for-Iraq-War

The case is Saleh v. Bush (N.D. Cal. Mar. 13, 2013, No. C 13 1124 JST).

See the attached certification, publicly filed on ECF / PACER system.

http://warisacrime.org/sites/afterdowningstreet.org/files/Certification%20of%20Scope%20of%20Employment.pdf

[GoneFishin]

12. The Republican obstructionists made him request immunity for GWB et al.

[gordianot]

14. Typical the key members get a pass but the guards do not, another American solution.

I remember when this came out. Maybe someday they will meet their fate when they travel to the wrong place.

[kenny blankenship]

13. Oh we never have those anymore! The surest way to avoid Constitutional Crises is also the simplest:

Just pitch the old shit and blood smeared sheepskin into the trash like we've done, and forget about it. No more nagging crises of "legitimacy" in government ever again, and not one penny more in lawyer's fees had to be spent to make it happen. Here's one instance when the two parties can and should applaud each other's frugality and thoroughness.

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. Obama DOJ Asks Court to Grant Immunity to Bush.Cheney Rumsfeld,For Iraq War

This does include the torture memos and tapes.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., (Aug. 20, 2013) — In court papers filed today (PDF), the United States Department of Justice requested that George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz be granted procedural immunity in a case alleging that they planned and waged the Iraq War in violation of international law.


Plaintiff Sundus Shaker Saleh, an Iraqi single mother and refugee now living in Jordan, filed a complaint in March 2013 in San Francisco federal court alleging that the planning and waging of the war constituted a “crime of aggression” against Iraq, a legal theory that was used by the Nuremberg Tribunal to convict Nazi war criminals after World War II.
"The DOJ claims that in planning and waging the Iraq War, ex-President Bush and key members of his Administration were acting within the legitimate scope of their employment and are thus immune from suit,” chief counsel Inder Comar of Comar Law said.



The “Westfall Act certification,” submitted pursuant to the Westfall Act of 1988, permits the Attorney General, at his or her discretion, to substitute the United States as the defendant and essentially grant absolute immunity to government employees for actions taken within the scope of their employment.
In her lawsuit, Saleh alleges that:


http://warisacrime.org/content/obama-doj-asks-court-grant-immunity-george-w-bush-iraq-war


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/22/1233110/-DOJ-Asks-Court-to-Grant-Immunity-to-Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-for-Iraq-War

The case is Saleh v. Bush (N.D. Cal. Mar. 13, 2013, No. C 13 1124 JST).

See the attached certification, publicly filed on ECF / PACER system.

http://warisacrime.org/sites/afterdowningstreet.org/files/Certification%20of%20Scope%20of%20Employment.pdf

[philly_bob]

16. I hope it provokes a constitutional crisis.

Stand in front of history and say that President Bush authorized torture and, it took a decade, but we stopped him!

Belief in system restored.