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Obama Held Hostage by Cheney on National Security, Says MoDo »

Lord knows I miss no opportunity to take Maureen Dowd to task for her near criminal Hillary bashing, but today her column is a scathing satire entitled “Cheney’s Third Term” which depicts the former Vice President and Don Rumsfeld sharing a fancy Washington dinner while gamely bragging they are controlling President Obama on national security. [...]

“Black Box Voting” Part 2 »

DISCLAIMER: We do not personally endorse BlackBoxVoting and, while we are aware of the complex stories behind the controversies, we are not focusing on those stories during this presentation and haven’t any inclination to get into those stories via e-mails or blog posts. What we are concerned about is the legitimacy of voting methodologies in [...]

‘Action Memo’ For Obama: Recommendations For Dealing With Torture »

(bumped up from Monday) To: The President of the United States Fm: Melvin A. Goodman Date: April 25, 2009 Subj: Recommendations for Dealing with the CIA on Issues of Torture and Abuse President Obama is displaying ambivalence in handling the issue of torture and abuse. He clearly wants to do the right thing and, as [...]

Nancy: The Hits Keep Comin’ [UPDATE: Boehner Ups The Ante] »

(bumped up and updated extensively)

Nancy Pelosi Is Lying »

Now that President Obama has teed her up — by releasing documents before he thought out all the possible repercussions (except, he thought, to make his MoveOn crowd happy [as if]) — Nancy Pelosi is yowling loudly no way no how, no siree, au contraire, that she was aware that she and lead Congressional members [...]

Tyler Drumheller on Torture »

Tyler Drumheller had a distinguished career in the CIA and was chief of the CIA’s covert operations in Europe at the time that the Bush administration was cooking the facts to justify going to war against Iraq. Since he was in Europe, he had intimate knowledge of the infamous “Curveball,” being held in Germany, and [...]

Lieberman Opportunity Fire On Torture Memos »

Is it a coincidence that Joe Lieberman of Connecticut opens fire on the Torture Memos imbroglio at the same time as Dick Cheney? No. Both unchained pols were given a free shot by the POTUS trip to the CIA yesterday in order to explain, explain, explain the release of the memos. The Obama administration has [...]

Why POTUS at the CIA? »

The POTUS visit to the CIA HQ this news cycle is mysterious. The case is presented that the White House decision to release the so-called Torture Memos, over the counsel of former DCIs (left, Mike Hayden of the Bush administration) and even the present DCI, Leon Panetta, has caused a rift that the POTUS seeks [...]

Larry Johnson on ABC News »

Larry is joined on ABC News by his good friend, Jane Mayer, whose book is featured in our middle column:

Obama’s Search For A Moral Compass »

Some countries never acknowledge their crimes. It has been 95 years since the Turkish genocide against its Armenian population, but the Turkish government will not confess to any role in crimes that were committed. The Japanese have never admitted the terrible crimes committed throughout Northeast and Southeast Asia during World War II. And Israel has [...]

Goodbye, Bill of Rights »

(Susan’s April 13th Note: I AM PISSED OFF. This essay is bumped up because, dammit, I need to restore my FOCUS on the ELEPHANTS in the room! While it’s fascinating to debate the pirate crisis, it is foremost VITAL to focus on the dangerous stories such as Obama’s power-hungry expansion of executive authority, known in [...]

Panetta And More On Rendition »

Well, Leon Panetta has been confirmed as the new CIA Director. He has confirmed the position of this White House, same as the last White House, on rendition. And he has added this little bonus tidbit: Obama has signed an executive order limiting interrogation techniques to the 19 outlined in the Army Field Manual, but [...]

Rendition and “State Secrets” »

And I don’t mean the movie. Well, yeah, I kinda do mean the movie, at least the theme of it. I received the following email from the ACLU the other day (and yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU. Have been for years.): Dear ACLU Supporter, Yesterday, ACLU lawyers encountered a recurring — [...]

The New Intelligence Team * Open Thread »

i found this discussion on Charlie Rose, on Friday night, especially helpful in understanding the dynamics of the imposition of a “parent” national intelligence director over the CIA and other intelligence agencies, as well as the reasoning behind Obama’s selections of former Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta to head the CIA and retired Admiral [...]

The CIA’s Handling Of The Washington Post »

Melvin A. Goodman, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, is a former intelligence analyst at the CIA (1966-1990) and the author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA. Mr. Goodman is a longtime friend of Larry Johnson’s and gave his express consent to reprint this article. We strongly suggest [...]