CIA Operated Second Taping System at Black Site Prison

By GottaLaff

(Illustration: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t)

My dear friend and ace reporter Jason Leopold has done some great reporting, and has graciously allowed me to cross-post a few excerpts. Please read his whole piece here.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has launched an investigation into the brutal torture of Abu Zubaydah, the "high-value" detainee captured in March 2002 that the Bush administration wrongly claimed was one of the planners of 9/11 and a top al-Qaeda operative, according to several Capitol Hill sources.

The investigation of Zubaydah, who was tortured at a secret black site prison in Thailand, will be conducted alongside the committee's ongoing probe of the Bush administration's interrogation and detention policies.

The panel will pour over thousands of pages of highly classified documents related to Zubaydah's detention and torture to determine, among other things, whether the techniques he was subjected to was accurately reflected in CIA cable traffic sent back to Langley, whether he ever provided actionable intelligence to his torturers, and how the CIA and other government agencies came to rely on flawed intelligence that led the Bush administration to classify him as the No. 3 person in al-Qaeda and its first high-value detainee, Hill sources said. [...]

"It was a very partisan group," Mickum said about the briefing. "Republicans had their agenda and they were not very interested in hearing the facts of the case. I told them what my views were on the case. I'm delighted [the committee] has decided to take a hard look at the case now." [...]

Meanwhile, highly placed intelligence sources directly knowledgeable about Zubaydah's torture said some of the interrogation sessions captured on at least 90 videotapes between April and August 2002 showed Zubaydah being subjected to torture methods not approved by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). [...]

The OLC did not approve the use of water dousing as an interrogation technique until August 2004. [...]

[F]ive intelligence sources said in interviews conducted over the past month that they were aware of a second taping system that was set up at the black site prison in Thaliand--possibly one they said was installed by an outside contractor--which captured Zubaydah's torture sessions that were stored on computers and separate hard drives.

There's more, including how this ties in to Yoo's torture memos. Go.

****

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here.

Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Commenter in "New Yorker" seeks info on tortured, murdered uncle/detainee's body

By GottaLaff

The Salt Pit

Jane Mayer has a piece out in the New Yorker that is a must-read. It concerns the death of a detainee, and includes a revelation about the unintended identification of the detention C.I.A. officer who was allegedly responsible:

In an apparent oversight, however, the identity of the manager of the Salt Pit at the time of Rahman’s death appeared recently in a public document. The officer, who continues to work for the C.I.A., is mentioned by name in a footnote in the October, 2009, legal response to allegations of unprofessional conduct filed by lawyers for Jay Bybee, the former head of the Office of Legal Counsel. The Bybee document was released last February by the Justice Department. Apparently unnoticed at the time, it revealed both the surname of the Salt Pit manager and the identity of the victim, Rahman.

[UPDATE, April 1, 6:40 P.M.: In an interesting disappearing act, unspecified government officials have now mysteriously redacted the name of the C.I.A. officer in charge of the Salt Pit from the public record described above. The document is easily accessible on the House Judiciary Committee’s Web site (pdf). But where footnote No. 28 previously identified the surname of the Salt Pit manager, as of April 1st, the name has been blacked out. The victim’s name, however, is still visible. It was evidently too late to keep that out of the public eye after the A.P. story.]

The story is horrendous, the deeds unspeakable. But something on that page caught my eye in Comments:

can you please tell us about the death body of rehman from where we can get it i am his nephew

Posted 3/31/2010, 11:32:10pm by sulimankhail

Think about that for a moment.

A news story about the death of a detainee at a black site causes a person who identifies himself as family, as the nephew of the victim, to try to locate the body after eight years... in a comment under the post.

He is asking for help in getting the body of a family member back. In Comments.

Assuming "sulimankhail" is who he says he is, what does this tell you? How does it make you feel that torture and murder has been done in our name... and now a prisoner's relative has to leave a comment under a story in the New Yorker in order to find the remains of his uncle?

I'm ashamed, and I am sickened.

A related story drives the point home:

Michael Sulick, head of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service, told a student audience last week that the spy agency has seen no fall-off in intelligence since waterboarding was banned by the Obama administration.

Be proud, BushCo.

****

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects to U.S. In CIA 'Intelligence Coup'

By GottaLaff

ABC has this exclusive report about what the CIA is calling a big intel coup:

An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, has defected to the CIA and been resettled in the United States, according to people briefed on the operation by intelligence officials.

The officials were said to have termed the defection of the scientist, Shahram Amiri, "an intelligence coup" in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine Iran's nuclear program. [...]

"The significance of the coup will depend on how much the scientist knew in the compartmentalized Iranian nuclear program," said former White House counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant. "Just taking one scientist out of the program will not really disrupt it."

No, but we do have someone who is helping us to sort things out, from the inside. The insights must be invaluable, and any information is more than we have now.

Does anyone else feel a sense of enormity about what this administration is accomplishing? It's beginning to become more obvious as times goes on.

Kind of a rush.

Video- Obama Was A Secret CIA Agent In Pakistan In 1981

I'm with Oliver, awesome².

Intel bill pulled over torture provision

By GottaLaff

Mustn't ever try to punish the torturers, tsk tsk:

House Republicans charged Democrats with trying to sneak a provision into the intelligence authorization bill that would establish criminal punishment for CIA agents and other intelligence officials who engage in “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” during interrogations.

Seriously, who would object to that? Wait, don't tell me. Rhymes with Shmepublicans?

Damn those ethical types who refuse to allow interrogators to murder, destroy lives, inflict pain, and damage psyches!

The provision, previously not vetted in committee, applied to “any officer or employee of the intelligence community” who during interrogations engages in beatings, infliction of pain or forced sexual acts. The bill said the acts covered by the provision would include inducing hypothermia, conducting mock executions or “depriving the [detainee] of necessary food, water, sleep, or medical care.”

The language gave Congress the discretion to determine what the terms mean, and it would have imposed punishments of up to 15 years in prison, and in some cases, life sentences if a detainee died as a result of the interrogation.

Republicans criticized the language and the way it was introduced.

I find it so amusing that, when the Rushpublics are in power, procedural tricks, sneaky late night changes, and secret meetings are perfectly acceptable.

If the Dems try to throw something into a bill, fugettaboutit:

“I’m hearing from Republicans that we are somehow sacrificing our national security” through this bill, said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). She said the language underscores existing law and enhances national security.

Because Reyes included it in his manager's amendment, Republicans were not able to try to strike it from the bill before passage. The only recourse they had was to try to excise it during the House-Senate conference. The Senate version does not contain similar language.

More details here.

Officials: Taliban leader killed by missile strike

By GottaLaff

Another one bites the dust:

Pakistani intelligence officials say a Taliban commander wanted in connection with the 2006 bombing of the U.S. consulate in Karachi has been killed in a suspected CIA missile strike.

Two intelligence officials said Mohammed Qari Zafar was among 13 people killed in the missile attack Wednesday in the Dargah Mandi area of North Waziristan region near the border with Afghanistan.

Memos: Destroying C.I.A. Tapes Wasn’t Opposed by Republican Senator Pat Roberts

By GottaLaff

Qeqzadjkwrksdazttt!!!

At a closed briefing in 2003, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee raised no objection to a C.I.A. plan to destroy videotapes of brutal interrogations, according to secret documents released Monday.

The senator, Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, also rejected a proposal to have his committee conduct its own assessment of the agency’s harsh interrogation methods, which included wall-slamming and waterboarding, the documents say.

But Mr. Roberts, through a spokesman, denied having approved the destruction of the videotapes, which is under criminal investigation, and defended his record in overseeing the interrogation program.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, a very special WTF moment:

“Senator Roberts listened carefully and gave his assent,” the C.I.A. memo says.

Of course he did. And after he listened carefully, too.

So what can be done?

A prosecutor, John H. Durham, is trying to determine whether it violated court orders to preserve evidence related to detention and interrogation or violated any laws.

Last August, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. directed Mr. Durham to expand his inquiry to consider whether the interrogations themselves broke any law.

Of course, this isn't surprising, but it's still jaw-dropping.

Yeah. We're all thinking the same thing here.

Much more at this link.

UPDATE: I should have added this in:

The same document says that Senator Bob Graham of Florida, the Democrat who had preceded Mr. Roberts as chairman, had proposed that the committee “undertake its own ‘assessment’ of the enhanced interrogation,” the C.I.A.’s term for coercive methods. Agency officials told Mr. Roberts that they would oppose allowing any Senate staff members to observe interrogations or visit the secret overseas prisons where they were taking place.

Emptywheel (Marcy Wheeler) pointed out to me that "more importantly, Roberts shut down Bob Graham's efforts to actually exercise oversight torture. We knew he approved tape destruction."

Thank you Marcy.

More from Marcy, who scooped the Times, here.

CIA historian: “The debate’s over, Torture stained the honor of the United States.”

By GottaLaff

Former BushCo employee Marc Thiessen has been publicly ripping President Obama's national security/terrorism policies, and builds a verbal shrine to those of the Bush crime family.

Watch the video of Thiessen get a royal smackdown by Lawrence O'Donnell here. Then watch it again, because it's that good.

Now read about another evisceration of Thiessen, this time by a Pulitzer Prize-winning CIA historian:

“It was not the most successful intelligence program in the history of the CIA by a long shot,” he emails. Weiner added that by the long view of the CIA’s history, there is no more debate.

“The debate’s over,” he said. “Torture stained the honor of the United States.”

Weiner also strongly contested the notion that Obama’s approach represents a dialing back to a pre-9/11 mentality. “The Obama administration has some pretty robust programs going on, killing suspects all over Afghanistan and Pakistan with armed drones,” he said.

Weiner also contested another Thiessen chesnut: That the Obama administration is killing too many terrorists, rather than subjecting more of them to enhanced interrogation. Weiner dismissed Thiessen’s case as tantamount to arguing that targeting terrorists abroad “more closely resembles treason than counterterrorism.”

Treason indeed.

Of course, Dickless McHeartStent needs to sell his future book, so he'll join Thiessen's irrational, drool-stained love affair with torture, and continue to sputter and stammer about his man crush on waterboarders and how he and his band of thugs saved America. ... after they allowed 9/11 to happen.

Gradually, we will eradicate the toxic Bush stain.

Veterans Today- Landrieu Senate Burglary: CIA domestic Black-Op Team Arrested

By GottaLaff

(Photos via)

I'm not sure what to make of this, but here is the headline over at Veterans Today.com:

ALL 4 INVOLVED IN SENATE HOMELAND SECURITY BREAKIN CIA “N-O-C” AGENTS

CIA PROGRAM MAY HAVE TRAINED DOMESTIC “DEATH SQUADS”

That sure seems like a huge deal. What about evidence to back it up?

Last week’s breakin at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office in the New Orleans Federal Building was more than it seemed, much more. All of the 4 arrested had been trained by the CIA and, possibly, Israel. One arrested, Stan Dai, is listed as an Operations Officer of the Department of Defense Irregular Warfare Program and a known expert and lecturer on, not only surveillance but explosives training, assassinations and “false flag operations.” If you wanted a plane to crash, an enemy to get sick and die or a building to blow up, Dai would be the man to know how to make it happen. Problem is, his skills were being used as part of a criminal conspiracy inside the United States against members of our own government. [...]

What is not initially known is whether this was the first attempt or, as is much more likely, an additional incursion to plant new bugs as the ones in place were missing key conversations. Also, it is not known how many “black ops” crews are being run by the CIA inside the United States in violation of their charter or if their operations are being limited to spying on Democratic lawmakers or if operations of a more threatening nature have been performed but remain undiscovered.

Additionally, as this was a covert op against US government investigations of, not only terrorism and terrorism funding but major financial crimes against the United States, it is unclear who the recipient of the “product,” an intelligence industry term for “output” or information put up for “distribution” might be. Potential buyers could be the Republican Party, Israel, Turkey, India, Russia, China, Venezuela, North Korea or financial institutions involved in massive money laundering schemes being investigated by the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security of which Senator Landrieu is a member. [...]

With much of the CIA’s former leadership now employed by Blackwater/Xe, a company owned and controlled by Republican party leadership, the lines between domestic and foreign intelligence operations have become blurred.

Please go read the whole thing.

I'd like to know a whole lot more. It's good to have facts and more facts, and the tone of this piece is urgent, but more information is needed. Still, the background on Dai is, well, intriguing.

H/t: Tymlee

CIA Guy: Waterboarding works? Did I say that? My bad.

By GottaLaff

Those wacky zany torturers! They love to messin' with our minds... and those that they, you know, tortured:

Well, it's official now: John Kiriakou, the former CIA operative who affirmed claims that waterboarding quickly unloosed the tongues of hard-core terrorists, says he didn't know what he was talking about.

Kiriakou, a 15-year veteran of the agency's intelligence analysis and operations directorates, electrified the hand-wringing national debate over torture in December 2007 when he told ABC's Brian Ross and Richard Esposito in a much ballyhooed, exclusive interview that senior al Qaeda commando Abu Zubaydah cracked after only one application of the face cloth and water.

Just kidding!

Of course, Boss Limpdong is just as credible, and true to form, pushed the lie:

"It works, is the bottom line," conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh exclaimed on his radio show the day after Kiriakou's ABC interview. "Thirty to 35 seconds, and it works."

If anyone understands all things bottom, it's Boss Limpdong.

But let's get back to Kiriakou-kou:

On the next-to-last page of a new memoir, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror (written with Michael Ruby), Kiriakou now rather off handedly admits that he basically made it all up.

Off handedly? Off handedly?? People were tortured and he goes all Casual Carl on us?

"Pfft! You believed me?? Really? Psyche!! Wow, you are, like, so gullible! Punk'd your ass, didn't I?"

"I wasn't there when the interrogation took place; instead, I relied on what I'd heard and read inside the agency at the time."

In a word, it was hearsay, water-cooler talk.

"Say, Stan, how about them Lakers? Oh, and last night we drove a guy crazy by drowning him to the point of screams of anguish and near death. So! Who's up for a ham wrap?"

"Now we know," Kiriakou goes on, "that Zubaydah was waterboarded eighty-three times in a single month, raising questions about how much useful information he actually supplied."[...]

And he claims that the disinformation he helped spread was a CIA dirty trick: "In retrospect, it was a valuable lesson in how the CIA uses the fine arts of deception even among its own."

Oh well then. So long as all the CIA boys learned a lesson.

After Kiriakou repeated his waterboarding-efficiency claims to the Washington Post, the New York Times, National Public Radio, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and other media organizations last year, a CNN anchor called him "the man of the hour."

Be proud, John.

By the way, anyone heard about this on the Tee Vee Machine? No? Me neither.

H/t: HarborGuy

Report: CIA planned to 'rendition' suspects in Germany

By GottaLaff

Report: I'm reporting a report, it's been reported. My sources are confidential because of the sensitive nature of the sensitivity of the as of yet unreported report that I'm reporting.

Reportedly--now I'm not saying this for certain, but it's out there-- this happened, according to unnamed sources, or so it's been reported:

The CIA had 25 agents in Germany after the September 11 attacks and planned to "rendition" illegally al-Qaeda suspects without informing the German government, Spiegel magazine reported Sunday.

"It was about grabbing people without the Germans knowing about it," the German weekly magazine cited an unnamed former CIA agent as saying. "We were planning stuff that was totally illegal."

The plan went so far that other parts of the Central Intelligence Agency were in the loop, but in the end it was scrapped because of objections by the agency's German section, Spiegel cited its source as saying.

As soon as they report more in another report, I'll report it to you, sources say.

If Napolitano should resign, Bush and Cheney should have been impeached

By GottaLaff

See that blog title (by Brent Budowsky)? IMHO, the "if" part could have been dropped. Bush and Cheney should have been impeached. Period:

If Janet Napolitano should be fired for her role in the Christmas bombing plot, George W. Bush should have been impeached for being warned about planes flying into buildings in New York and ignoring those warnings, and Dick Cheney should have been impeached for his role in the CIA leak case and prosecuted for his role surrounding torture.

That cannot be be stated often or more strongly enough.

[...] Napolitano could have handled this better, but the consequences of her mistakes are nothing compared to the consequences of mistakes by Bush, Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and many others.

BushCo could have puffed themselves up, donned their codpieces, and strutted around spewing their fear mongering and threats for another decade, but that wouldn't have compensated for the thousands who died on their watch. They didn't follow through, people were killed, and yet they boast like 8-year-olds about "keeping America safe".

President Obama has "kept us safe" longer than BushCo did, and he gets attacked relentlessly from the very man who was in charge on 9/11: Dick Cheney. It is he and his gang of thugs who should be condemned.

Perhaps the Obama administration could have handled the Christmas day situation better, but nobody died. The Obama administration says they are working to improve national security. Good. It needs improving, and most likely always will. Has any country eliminated terrorism completely? Is that even possible? No.

At least this president didn't ignore a briefing that warned him of some guy with explosives in his underwear, nor is he acting like an arrogant flight-suited peacock, bragging and parading around like a spoiled brat.

And again, nobody died.

It's time that the Rushpublics practice what they preach and support their commander in chief. Here's a thought: Try coming up with some solutions for a change. That would be a real step toward "keeping America safe".

AP sources: Suicide bomber was invited on base

By GottaLaff

(GoogleEarth)

FOB Chapman is also home to Khost's Provincial Reconstruction Team

What a horror story:

The Associated Press has learned that the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees at a remote outpost in southeastern Afghanistan had been invited onto the base and was not searched.

A former senior intelligence official says the man was being courted as an informant and that it was the first time he had been brought inside the camp.

President Obama's Letter to CIA Employees

By GottaLaff

Via MSNBC: Leon Panetta said that news was slow to come out about the CIA workers who were killed, because they wanted to personally notify each family before releasing news about them:

To the men and women of the CIA:

I write to mark a sad occasion in the history of the CIA and our country. Yesterday, seven Americans in Afghanistan gave their lives in service to their country. Michelle and I have their families, friends and colleagues in our thoughts and prayers.

These brave Americans were part of a long line of patriots who have made great sacrifices for their fellow citizens, and for our way of life. The United States would not be able to maintain the freedom and security that we cherish without decades of service from the dedicated men and women of the CIA. You have helped us understand the world as it is, and taken great risks to protect our country. You have served in the shadows, and your sacrifices have sometimes been unknown to your fellow citizens, your friends, and even your families.

In recent years, the CIA has been tested as never before. Since our country was attacked on September 11, 2001, you have served on the frontlines in directly confronting the dangers of the 21st century. Because of your service, plots have been disrupted, American lives have been saved, and our Allies and partners have been more secure. Your triumphs and even your names may be unknown to your fellow Americans, but your service is deeply appreciated. Indeed, I know firsthand the excellent quality of your work because I rely on it every day.

The men and women who gave their lives in Afghanistan did their duty with courage, honor and excellence, and we must draw strength from the example of their sacrifice. They will take their place on the Memorial Wall at Langley alongside so many other heroes who gave their lives on behalf of their country. And they will live on in the hearts of those who loved them, and in the freedom that they gave their lives to defend.

May God bless the memory of those we lost, and may God bless the United States of America.

President Barack Obama

Aiding and Abetting The Enemy: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My very caring, impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about BushCo's generous contribution to the national INsecurity of our country since 9/11. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Aiding and Abetting The Enemy

Recently former Vice President Dick Cheney and former special assistant to President George W. Bush Ron Christie stated on television that President Obama is “aiding and abetting the enemy“; while activist Peter Gadiel, on Sean Hannity’s show suggested that Obama should be tried for treason.

All this talk about “aiding and abetting the enemy”-- and treason-- is due to the fact that the U.S. government has decided to put Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and four of his cohorts, on trial in a civilian court in New York City.

I’m not going to discuss whether the decision to try the defendants in a federal court is the right decision or not, but what I want to discuss is who I believe has aided and abetted the enemy.

After the 9/11 tragedy, the United States had the full support on the world community to find and capture Osama bin Laden and members of the Al-Qaeda organization who claimed responsibility for the horrendous acts. When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, many nations provided logistical support and/or armed forces to help in our endeavor.

We started to lose world support, especially in the Middle East, when it became apparent that the reasons given by the Bush/Cheney administration for invading Iraq were based on lies and misinformation.

As the world became aware of the following events-- (1) Abu Ghraib Prison Photos, (2) Rendition Prisons operated by the CIA, (3)Guantanamo Bay detention camp, (4) Torture and (5) Unexplained deaths at various prison sites-- it enabled Al-Qaeda to recruit terrorists for Jihads attacks against American forces and the people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan.

But now we are also learning the war policies and practices of Bush/Cheney are having consequences in this country. Recent events show there is a growing trend of U.S. citizens participating in and joining in a global jihad.

One need only to look at such recent events as the arrest of a U.S. citizen accused of helping to plot the Mumbai, India attack; the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas; and the arrest of five young Americans in Pakistan for a possible terrorist connections... to see this global jihad is happening.

So I say to Dick Cheney, Ron Christie and Peter Gadiel: It’s not President Obama who has aided and abetted the enemy; it's the policies of the Bush/Cheney administration who have aided and abetted the enemy and have made this country unsafe and possibly open to another terrorist attack.

Dick Cheney you reap what you sow.

Many thanks again for another important, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. This one hit home with me, in light of the many posts I've done on Gitmo detainee Fayiz al-Kandari and the subject of torture. You never fail to say what so many of us are thinking and feeling, and your perspective is invaluable.

Video- Liz Cheney: Obama is "Slandering" the CIA

You knew she was just waiting in the wings, dincha?

Blackwater participated in clandestine CIA raids

By GottaLaff

I just got a news alert from the New York Times. I can't find the link yet, but here's the e-mail:

Blackwater Guards Tied To Covert Raids by the C.I.A.

Private security guards from Blackwater Worldwide participated in some of the C.I.A.'s most sensitive activities -- clandestine raids with agency officers against people suspected of being insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and the transporting of detainees, according to former company employees and intelligence officials.

The raids against suspects occurred on an almost nightly basis during the height of the Iraqi insurgency between 2004 and 2006, with Blackwater personnel playing central roles in what company insiders called "snatch and grab" operations, the former employees and current and former intelligence officers said.

So Blackwater "transported" the detainees. Big surprise. They most certainly must have had a little to do with their torture, er, treatment too.

The convoluted relationship between the U.S. government and this bunch of thugs explains why legal remedies are so difficult. How can you prove something that doesn't exist? Besides, Blackwater had virtual immunity anyway.

The more we learn about Blackwater's activities, the scarier it gets. Why are we still employing them again?

Where is Jeremy Scahill when you need him?

The case against military tribunals

By GottaLaff

After many, many conversations with Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, who represents Gitmo prisoner Fayiz al-Kandari, I have had my eyes opened about military commissions (tribunals) and their system of injustice. Hearsay is allowed. Testimony derived from torture is accepted. Access to evidence is denied to the defense.

Here is an op-ed that explains further:

The casual use of the word "war" has lead to a mentality among the public and even in the government that the rules of war could apply to those held at Guantanamo. But the rules of war apply only to those involved in a lawfully declared war, and not to something that the government merely calls a war. Only Congress can declare war -- and thus trigger the panoply of the government's military powers that come with that declaration. Among those powers is the ability to use military tribunals to try those who have caused us harm by violating the rules of war. [...]

]T]he [Supreme] court declared that a formal declaration of war is the legal prerequisite to the government's use of the tools of war. The federal government adhered to this principle of law from World War II until Bush's understanding of the Constitution animated government policy.

The recent decision to try some of the Guantanamo detainees in federal District Court and some in military courts in Cuba is without a legal or constitutional bright line. All those still detained since 9/11 should be tried in federal courts because without a declaration of war, the Constitution demands no less. [...]

The framers of the Constitution feared letting the president alone decide with whom we are at war, and thus permitting him to trigger for his own purposes the military tools reserved for wartime. They also feared allowing the government to take life, liberty or property from any person without the intercession of a civilian jury to check the government's appetite and to compel transparency and fairness by forcing the government to prove its case to 12 ordinary citizens. Thus, the 5th Amendment to the Constitution, which requires due process, includes the essential component of a jury trial. And the 6th Amendment requires that when the government pursues any person in court, it must do so in the venue where the person is alleged to have caused harm. [...]

We have a "war" on drugs; can drug dealers be tried before military tribunals? We have a "war" on the Mafia; can mobsters be sent to Gitmo and tried there? The Obama administration has arguably declared "war" on Fox News. Are Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and I and my other colleagues in danger of losing our constitutional rights to a government hostile to our opinions? [...]

Only unflinching public fidelity to the Constitution will preserve the freedoms of us all.

Andrew P. Napolitano, a former judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, is the senior judicial analyst at the Fox News Channel. His next book is "Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History."

There is much, much more here.

******

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Another Gitmo Detainee Wins in Federal Court

By GottaLaff

Good news and hope for those detainees who should not be there in the first place:

Farhi Saeed bin Mohammed, an Algerian national who was captured in Pakistan and turned over to the U.S. military after fleeing from Afghanistan, was ordered released from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay by a U.S. District Court judge yesterday, according to the human rights group CagePrisoners.

Per Daphne Eviatar: The score is Detainees 31, United States 8.

CagePrisoners is a great site, by the way.

Now about that Fayiz al-Kandari...

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All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

ABC EXCLUSIVE: CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

By GottaLaff

This is disturbing, but sadly, not surprising:

The CIA built one of its secret European prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current Lithuanian government official and a former U.S. intelligence official told ABC News this week.

Where affluent Lithuanians once rode show horses and sipped coffee at a café, the CIA installed a concrete structure where it could use harsh tactics to interrogate up to eight suspected al-Qaeda terrorists at a time. A full report on the can be seen on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson tonight.

That's called torture, not "harsh tactics"... torture. Got it?

Lithuanian officials provided ABC News with the documents of what they called a CIA front company, Elite, LLC, which purchased the property and built the "black site" in 2004.

Lithuania agreed to allow the CIA prison after President George W. Bush visited the country in 2002 and pledged support for Lithuania's efforts to join NATO. [...]

Former CIA officials told ABC News that the prison in Lithuania was one of eight facilities the CIA set-up after 9/11 to detain and interrogate top al-Qaeda operatives captured around the world. Thailand, Romania, Poland, Morocco, and Afghanistan have also been identified as countries that housed secret prisons for the CIA. President Barack Obama ordered all the sites closed shortly after taking office in January. [...]

"It obviously took a lot of effort to keep [the prison] secret," said John Sifton, whose firm One World Research investigates human rights abuses. "There's a reason this stuff gets kept secret."

"It's an embarrassment, and a crime."

Yes, and yes. Emphatically.

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All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.