Secret CIA Torture Cells Are On The Honor System
Stephen Hadley, National Security Advisor, tried to turn his Press Briefing on Bush's trip to Argentina into a simple travelogue, but some reporter insisted on talking about Dick Cheney's idee fixe, the need to preserve secret CIA torture sells free from the restraints of the Geneva Convention and US laws that make torture a crime. Hadley, a lawyer, took the bait, and disclosed a lovely circular rationale that argues that people will behave virtuously if you allow them to act in secret. Certainly then Dick Cheney and Ken Lay were morally uplifted when they secretly joined to fashion a national energy policy in secret. It's nice when a guy like Hadley can put a high polish on a turd. Shows his education didn't go to waste.
I don't know, though, I think Trent Lott is onto something. They've got to stop the leaks. There are trails of stinking shit up and down the halls of Congress, in the Office of the Vice President, and all over the West Wing, most of them heading straight into the Oval Office. Maybe it just has to do with age. Sphincter muscles weaken after a lifetime of clenching. A lotta folks just use Attends.
[quote="Raw Story at mediachannel.org“]Senator Tells CNN He Believes Republican Leaked Info on CIA Jails
Submitted by editor4 on November 9, 2005 - 2:55pm.
Source: Raw Story
Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) told CNN's Ed Henry Tuesday afternoon that he believed it was a Republican senator who gave information about secret CIA jails abroad to the Washington Post, RAW STORY can report.
Lott said that much of the information contained in the Post report — which stated that the U.S. was holding terrorist suspects in secret CIA jails overseas — was discussed at a meeting of Republican senators last Tuesday.
The revelation appears to torpedo the political gambit of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) who called on the Senate and House intelligence committees to investigate who leaked the information to the Post.
The Post story cited as sources ”U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.“
CNN's Ed Henry: ”Trent Lott stunned reporters by declaring that this subject was actualy discussed at a Senate Republican luncheon, Republican senators only, last tuesday the day before the story ran in the Washington Post. Lott noted that Vice President Cheney was also in the room for that discussion and Lott said point blank “a lot of it came out of that room last tuesday, pointing to the room where the lunch was held in the capitol.” He added of senators “we can't keep our mouths shut.” He added about the vice president, “He was up here last wek and talked up here in that room right there in a roomful of nothing but senators and every word that was said in there went right to the newspaper.” He said he believes when all is said and done it may wind up as an ethics investigation of a Republican senator, maybe a Republican staffer as well. Senator Frist's office not commenting on this development. The Washington Post not commenting either."[/quote]
WhiteHouse.gov wrote:
Q Can I ask you a quick one on another subject? Why does the administration feel it's necessary to maintain a network of secret detention centers around the world, out of sight of the Congress and the American people, and out of reach of American law and values?
MR. HADLEY: There have been some press reports this morning that have touched on that subject. And as you can appreciate, they raise some issues about possible intelligence operations. And as you know, we don't talk about intelligence operations from this podium.
Q Don't they also raise issue of our values and our reputation in the world?
MR. HADLEY: Right, and I think the President has been pretty clear on that, that while we have to do what we — do what is necessary to defend the country against terrorists attacks and to win the war on terror, the President has been very clear that we're going to do that in a way that is consistent with our values. And that is why he's been very clear that the United States will not torture. The United States will conduct its activities in compliance with law and international obligations.
And in some of the issues involving detainees and the like, as you know, where there have been allegations that people have not met the standard the President has set, there have been investigations, and they have been of two forms. There are over a dozen investigations that have been done in the Department of Defense to find out what has been going on. Two things have happened as a result. There have been revisions of procedures and practices to ensure that the standard the President set is met; and then there have been investigations, prosecutions, and people punished for the failure to meet those standards. So we think that, consistent with the President's guidance, we are both protecting the country against the terrorists and doing it in a way that is consistent with our values and principles.
Q If I could just press you on that, how do those self-correcting mechanisms that affirm our values and our laws, how do they work if the sites are secret to begin with?
MR. HADLEY: Well, the fact that they are secret, assuming there are such sites, does not mean that simply because something is — and some people say that the test of your principles are what you do when no one is looking. And the President has insisted that whether it is in the public, or is in the private, the same principles will apply, and the same principles will be respected. And to the extent people do not meet up, measure up to those principles, there will be accountability and responsibility.
Sen. Lott Wants End to Leaking -- Try Attends!
The Fools on the Hill are shrieking because someone caught them keeping secrets about the secret jails. First they fire up a torchlight parade to “get the leakers!” Since the CIA jail news is “bad for Republicans,” they figured that if they could accuse a Democrat of leaking the information, it might help them to Reverse-Spin Rovegate back at their partisan opponents. But then it turns out that the Washington Post story just tracks the information that Cheney and a bunch of Republican Senators had gotten the day before. So that's it boys, douse those torches, false alarm, just our guys doin' their thing.I don't know, though, I think Trent Lott is onto something. They've got to stop the leaks. There are trails of stinking shit up and down the halls of Congress, in the Office of the Vice President, and all over the West Wing, most of them heading straight into the Oval Office. Maybe it just has to do with age. Sphincter muscles weaken after a lifetime of clenching. A lotta folks just use Attends.
[quote="Raw Story at mediachannel.org“]Senator Tells CNN He Believes Republican Leaked Info on CIA Jails
Submitted by editor4 on November 9, 2005 - 2:55pm.
Source: Raw Story
Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) told CNN's Ed Henry Tuesday afternoon that he believed it was a Republican senator who gave information about secret CIA jails abroad to the Washington Post, RAW STORY can report.
Lott said that much of the information contained in the Post report — which stated that the U.S. was holding terrorist suspects in secret CIA jails overseas — was discussed at a meeting of Republican senators last Tuesday.
The revelation appears to torpedo the political gambit of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) who called on the Senate and House intelligence committees to investigate who leaked the information to the Post.
The Post story cited as sources ”U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.“
CNN's Ed Henry: ”Trent Lott stunned reporters by declaring that this subject was actualy discussed at a Senate Republican luncheon, Republican senators only, last tuesday the day before the story ran in the Washington Post. Lott noted that Vice President Cheney was also in the room for that discussion and Lott said point blank “a lot of it came out of that room last tuesday, pointing to the room where the lunch was held in the capitol.” He added of senators “we can't keep our mouths shut.” He added about the vice president, “He was up here last wek and talked up here in that room right there in a roomful of nothing but senators and every word that was said in there went right to the newspaper.” He said he believes when all is said and done it may wind up as an ethics investigation of a Republican senator, maybe a Republican staffer as well. Senator Frist's office not commenting on this development. The Washington Post not commenting either."[/quote]