Ex-MI5 chief: US misled allies over torturing detainees

By GottaLaff

How many times have we heard this now? Enough to finally act on it? Nah, too bothersome. Keep looking forward, don't look back. Learning from our past is so true justice ago:

United States intelligence agencies misled key allies, including Britain, about its mistreatment of suspected terrorists, the former head of the country's domestic spy agency, MI5, said Tuesday.

Eliza Manningham-Buller, who retired in 2007 and is now a member of the House of Lords, said the U.S. deliberately suppressed details of its harsh handling of some detainees, including accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

No way! Piffle! Why, BushCo would never think of doing such a thing!

"The Americans were very keen that people like us did not discover what they were doing," Manningham-Buller told a meeting at Britain's Parliament.

Of course they were. They knew they'd get nailed for war crimes.

A few years ago, back in 2002 or so, Manningham-Buller wondered how the U.S. got KSM to spill his guts, as it were, and the response was that it was KSM's pride in "his achievements" that made him talk when interrogated. However:

"It wasn't actually until after I retired that I read that, in fact, he had been water boarded 160 times," Manningham-Buller said.

See how proud he was? And how proud BushCo has been of that "achievement"?

"Americans were very keen to conceal from us what was happening, as they were from many of their own people." Manningham-Buller spent 33 years in British intelligence, and was head of MI5 between 2002 and 2007. [...] "The government did lodge protests and I'm not going to say any more on that," Manningham-Buller said.

So, hey, remember all the jokes about how BushCo was like, totally into "24"? And how it affected their policies? Yes, a Tee Vee show...

Here's the sick punch line:

"One of the sad things is Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush all watched '24,'" Manningham-Buller said...

Some jokes just aren't funny.

Rush Holt: "Congress was being misled" by CIA

By GottaLaff

Andrea Mitchell is interviewing Anna Eshoo and Rush Holt right now on MSNBC, re: the CIA lying/withholding information from Congress. Liveblogging:

Rush Holt: There's no question that Congress was being misled... Pattern that's gone on for a long time, not just this issue, but others.... infringing on liberties.

Anna: If we don't get the proper information, how can we conduct our oversight... shape policy based on that information.

Andrea Mitchell: Intel Authorization Act will get vetoed by President Obama

Holt: You're getting into what this is about. You said earlier that the relationship between Nancy Pelosi and Leon Panetta is the bigger issue... NO, it's the smaller issue. The bigger issue is how well-examined is the CIA? Oversight... A principle point will be the degree to which the CIA keeps Congress informed about what they are doing.

This is exactly on point with the Lt. Col. Wingard/Fayiz al-Kandari series that I've been posting about. The media is distracted by waterboarding, and the word "torture". The issue is really everything else the CIA was doing, and Fayiz's story represents that.

If you are not convinced by my posts, read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side.

VIDEO: Fox News Caught Repeatedly Cropping, Manipulating Video

By GottaLaff



Fair, balanced, and accurate, huh? Um, no:

In a more lengthy report, however, Media Matters has other candidates that are fitting examples of these games with videotape, well worth reviewing. Key examples include Sean Hannity's intentional omission of Obama's admonishment of Europeans' "casual...insidious" anti-Americanism to make it look like Obama was apologizing for the United States, and Wendell Goler's splice-happy report that made it look like Obama was in favor of "European-style health care," when he was actually specifically opposing it. Also close to my heart is Fox's misleading insertion of an out-of-context Joe Biden clip into a report, for which the network eventually had to apologize. At the time, I opined:

It's very sad, and weird, because Fox News would have made their point just fine if they hadn't included the misleading part of this clip. All they've really done is demonstrate that they do not have enough faith in their own editorial premises to avoid bolstering them with falsehoods. But more to the point, whoever is responsible for putting this video together needs to accept a new prevailing reality, that stupid little lies like this will be debunked and exposed very quickly, so they may as well just cut out this nonsense entirely.

Their attempts to destory President Obama are failing and they know it. Yet they continue to use dirty tricks, smears, and deception. Business as usual. They're digging themselves into such a deep hole... it'll take the strength, common sense, and wisdom of someone like, well, Obama to pull them out.

H/t: Itsanity

Worst headline ever

By GottaLaff

Most misleading. Worst. Most idiotic. Headline. Ever:

After less than a week in office, Barack Obama's approval rating plunges 15 points

Barack Obama might have been in office for less than a week, but the euphoria is beginning to wane.

The new President's approval ratings have fallen from a stratospheric 83 per cent to a more modest - although still impressive - 68 per cent.

Washington analysts said the scale of the drop in the Gallup poll underlines the immense challenges Mr Obama faces in trying to turn round the U.S.'s battered fortunes.

He still remains vastly more popular than his predecessor George Bush - who left office with around 25 per cent approval.

But there were signs yesterday that reality has set in following the wave of optimism surrounding his inauguration last Tuesday.

He's one of the hightest ranking new presidents we can remember, right up there with JFK, but his popularity has plunged! Plunged, do you hear me, plunged!

But there is optimism, a whole wave of it. I hope it's enough to pull him out of the doldrums. I'm not sure he can show his face now. After less than a week in office, he's utterly embarrassed himself.

Will he ever recover? Has he lost all credibility? Will he be impeached? Recalled? Annulled? Jailed? All we can do is... hope for the best... sniffle... and have faith that, somewhere in our heart of hearts, that... sob!... he will somehow, some way... whimper!... survive.

VIDEO: John King and Mike Pence Cite Nonexistent CBO Report on "State of the Union"

By GottaLaff

John King and Congressman Mike Pence citing the nonexistent CBO report debunked by the Huffington Post here.

Debunked, guys. De. Bunked.

Paddy tells me: Mark Green was on "In the Money" and he didn't dispute it when it was brought up by Amy Holmes. If the owner of Air America doesn't stand up for us....

Either these talking-asses don't read, or they're shortsighted invertebrates who enjoy making idiots of themselves and/or their parties on international television. Either way, they don't deserve to be hosting and/or opining to a woefully ill-informed, gullible public.

VIDEO: President Fetus

By GottaLaff

Misleading? Repugnant? The answer to both is a resounding "yes":


Via David Weigel:

This ad has been making the rounds in pro-life circles and among pro-choicers who find it disgusting. [...]

For one, nobody who has profiled Barack Obama’s family has encountered evidence that the 18-year-old Ann Dunham and the 25-year-old Barack Obama, Sr. conceived their son by accident. [...]

It’s rather silly of Mark Hemingway to “speculate what a 19-year-old (sic) Ann Dunham would have done if abortion had been a legal option.” She wanted to have a baby.

It's also a despicable use of Obama 's image. Count me in as one of the "pro-choicers who finds it disgusting."