WaPo Cheney expose part 2

[jaysunb]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/chapters/pushing_the_enevelope_on_presi/

[kurth]

1. "U.S. and treaty laws forbidding any person to commit torture do not apply to Bush"

However, threatening to bury a prisoner alive ain't kosher.

[proud patriot]

2. wowzers

lots of info to digest

[jaysunb]

3. yup...

I had to read it twice...

[glowing]

4. Please, somebody, tell me how torture is vituous... the last line

blew me away..

[proud patriot]

Only in DicK's twisted mind

x(

[originalpckelly]

5. I'm reading it, and so far the most important revelation is about the Bybee torture memo...

it was not hypothetical, but an actual response to a real question by the CIA about the legal limits of torture.

"This previously unreported meeting sheds light on the origins of one of the Bush administration's most controversial claims. The Justice Department delivered a classified opinion on Aug. 1, 2002, stating that the U.S. law against torture "prohibits only the worst forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" and therefore permits many others. Distributed under the signature of Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee, the opinion also narrowed the definition of "torture" to mean only suffering "equivalent in intensity" to the pain of "organ failure ..... or even death."

When news accounts unearthed that opinion nearly two years later, the White House repudiated its contents. Some officials described it as hypothetical, without disclosing that the opinion was written in response to specific questions from the CIA. Administration officials attributed authorship to Yoo, a Berkeley law professor who had come to serve in the Office of Legal Counsel."

[originalpckelly]

6. I keep reading this. I think Cheney's going to be impeached because of this article.

It's laying it all out in a coherent timeline that most people can understand. Cheney's going down because of this.

[originalpckelly]

7. In addition, Abu Graib was the result of policy, not rogue soldiers:

"That same day, Aug. 1, 2002, Yoo signed off on a second secret opinion, the contents of which have never been made public. According to a source with direct knowledge, that opinion approved as lawful a long list of specific interrogation techniques proposed by the CIA -- including waterboarding, a form of near-drowning that the U.S. government classified as a war crime in 1947. The opinion drew the line against one request: threatening to bury a prisoner alive.

Yoo said for the first time in an interview that he verbally warned lawyers for the president, Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that it would be dangerous as a matter of policy to permit military interrogators to use the harshest techniques, because the armed services, vastly larger than the CIA, could overuse the tools or exceed the limits. "I always thought that only the CIA should do this, but people at the White House and at DOD felt differently," Yoo said. The migration of those techniques from the CIA to the military, and from Guantanamo Bay to Abu Ghraib, aroused worldwide condemnation when abuse by U.S. troops was exposed."

[proud patriot]

8. Both part 1 and 2 seem like an extrodinary amount of research

went into it ..And if DicK is as scary as we all believe he is ..

Well some serious shit is about to go down IMO..

[jaysunb]

9. But then there's this...

We have to pay very close attention to everything that happens these days, including the possibilities outlined here.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/24/214027/649

[proud patriot]

16. I hadn't seen that

thanks for posting :)

[pacalo]

10. When "more than 2 dozen current & former officials" talk to a WaPo reporter about Cheney,

the wheels of the bus are presumably about to come off. I hope.

[jaysunb]

11. Yes, but I can't help but wonder

what's bringing on this "awakening."

There must be something big out there coming our way.

[originalpckelly]

13. The most important question is unanswered: How will Cheney react to this and its fallout?

:scared:

[pacalo]

20. Well, here's our first indication of how he reacted...

These were posted by Stephanie today...

[proud patriot]

17. IMO

Greg Palast has been digging and getting more attention

[originalpckelly]

12. I believe so, I think they've been amassing this story, and then when the time came...

they pulled the trigger and out came this whole long account.

[jaysunb]

15. I think you're right

and from the kos diary, it seems an editor made insertion to update it.

[proud patriot]

18. That's what it looks like to me

I only hope other Journalists STEP UP Stand Strong and defend this Nation .

[originalpckelly]

14. You know, I think I remember people bringing this up at Gonzo's confirmation hearing.

I wonder if he lied under oath about this? I seem to remember him dismissing this as only "hypothetical".

[Blackhatjack]

19. Cheney has thrown down the gauntlet to the Executive AND Judicial Branches...

This article makes it clear that Cheney will NOT honor the holdings of the SCOTUS and will not follow the laws passed by Congress, except to the extent they agree with him and his ever expansive power theory.

Cheney needs to be removed from office at the earliest possible moment, before he can do even more damage to this country --and the rest of the world.

There is more than enough here to support impeachment of Cheney. And Democrats need to put Repubs on the spot --ask them will the stand up for someone who has consistently broken the law and threatened our government by ignoring the Legislative and Judicial branches.

This will not pass unnoticed --we have a constitutional crisis, and it must be resolved.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

22. *ahem* with GWB's complete "blessing".

Yes. The PNACing neocons have CREATED a constitutional crisis that must be resolved.

It's U.S.A vs PNAC and the neocons.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

23. CAVEAT: It IS the calculative neocons who wanted this crisis to test THEIR powers.

So, be ready for the OVERT war (they've already waged an 'information/manipulation war' against the American people). It WILL be a struggle.

[northofdenali]

21. Isn't there something in our Constitution that allows

a FUCKING NUT to be removed immediately?

Or are all the govmint shrinks too scared?