It’s also a sad fact that one must have journalists in order to have a free press. Define journalists as you will. The alternative is to have lackeys churning out press releases and printing them under a headline. We call that propaganda. Try the finger test again. Many countries’ press operations function this way. Run a story the Dear Leader or Generalissimo doesn’t like and see what happens.
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Oh really? Not when a major rightwing blog is attacking Hillary for her “pro-Islamist sop” (more on that attack below). And take a look at how Hillary Clinton handled this trick question from Tim Russert in September 2007:

Oh really? Check out what Barack Obama had to say about Donald Rumsfeld, a chief instigator of the Bush administration’s policy on torture: (more…)

(Thank you, C.S., for the fast video work!)

Earlier: Larry Johnson will be on ABC World News tonight to discuss Bush’s veto today of the legislation that bans waterboarding. Tune in, or check for video here.

UDPATE, via MakeThemAccountable.com, from ThinkProgress “MSNBC Host Falsely Claims McCain Opposes Bush On Torture Bill Veto“:

On MSNBC this morning, anchor Monica Novotny claimed that President Bush’s impending veto of the Intelligence Authorization Bill would put “a chill” in his alliance with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Bush is vetoing the bill because of an amendment that puts the CIA’s interrogation program under the standards of Army Field Manual, which Novotny claims McCain supports.

“He doesn’t like a provision that’s been pushed by, you guessed it, Sen. McCain,” claimed Novotny. Watch it: [VIDEO]

The problem is that Novotny has her facts dead wrong.

Though McCain has criticized the use of torturous interrogation techniques in the past, he voted against the bill that Bush is set to veto tomorrow: …

Here’s the news story, via Fox News, “Bush Vetoes Legislation Barring Waterboarding, Says It Preserves Tool in War on Terrorism,” along with Larry’s writings here on torture, and more: (more…)

Powell’s UN Fiasco: Fresh and Festering

By Ray McGovern

Yesterday was a difficult day for Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. It was hard to celebrate the fifth anniversary of our first corporate memorandum, a same-day critique of Colin Powell’s Feb. 5, 2002 UN address, when we could not escape the reality that this speech greased the skids for death and destruction in Iraq and brought unprecedented shame on our country. We found no solace in the realization that those who saw our analysis should have seen disaster coming.

A handful of former CIA intelligence officers joined me in forming the VIPS movement in Jan. 2002, after we concluded that our profession had been corrupted to “justify” what was, pure and simple, a war of aggression. Little did we know at the time that a month later Colin Powell, with then-CIA Director George Tenet plumped down conspicuously behind him, would provide the world with a textbook example of careerism and cowardice in cooking intelligence to the recipe of his master.

Powell’s Prior Practice

It was hardly Powell’s first display of such behavior.

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Finally, the truth is seeping out. Contrary to how President George W. Bush has tried to justify the Iraq war in the past, he has now clumsily—if inadvertently—admitted that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was aimed primarily at seizing predominant influence over its oil by establishing permanent (the administration favors “enduring”) military bases. (more…)

[I]t seems to me that it’s newsworthy when a person in that position [Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture] says (1) waterboarding is unequivocally torture and (2) that U.S. officials must be held to account by international courts — specifically, that it was a good thing for several groups to have pursued Rumsfeld on his recent trip to Paris but that French jurists dropped the ball by not indicting him. Nowak goes further, generalizing about the use of torture as practiced by authoritarian/dictatorial regimes, brings in some historical discussion, and talks about the optimistic trend he sees, internationally, against torture.

Frankly, it’s a disgrace that the mainstream media has not been talking to Nowak about his views.

Kenney’s fine radio program, Electronic Politics, did an exceptional in-depth discussion yesterday on the root questions surrounding torture:

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AFTERNOON UPDATE: My senator, Patty Murray, has issued a powerful statement that she will not vote for Mukasey’s confirmation. It is a must-read in full (and I posted it in the comments here), but a couple key themes are “Now, more than ever, the Attorney General needs to be the people’s lawyer, not the President’s lawyer. The Attorney General should be independent enough to stand up for the American people and say “No” to the President. And I am concerned that Judge Mukasey’s testimony shows that he is unwilling to be that voice.” and “Judge Mukasey’s refusal to recognize waterboarding as an act of torture and to say outright that it is illegal is of particular concern. …” (HEY, KEITH: GET SEN. MURRAY ON COUNTDOWN!)

MEMO TO LARRY: Have you, or other signers, received any kind of response from the Senate Judiciary Committee to your superb letter asking for a hold on Mukasey’s confirmation as attorney general? If so, what did they say to you?

NAVY SEAL INSTRUCTOR ON WATERBOARDING: “Former Navy Interrogator Tells Congress Waterboarding Technique Should Be Banned“: In case you missed the story I posted yesterday about Malcolm Wrightson Nance, a former Navy instructor of prisoner of war and terrorist hostage survival programs, his testimony is now complete, and detailed in this new wire story.

LEAHY KEEPS ON KEEPING ON: “November 15 marks the one year anniversary of Sen. Pat Leahy’s first letter to the White House requesting documents on U.S. torture policy. A year later, Leahy is still sending letters and the White House is still stonewalling.” (TPM)

JOE GALLOWAY ON WATERBOARDING: “Memo to Media: I Witnessed ‘Waterboarding’ — And, Yes, It is Torture ”

Forgive the interruption: MSNBC is showing us the vastly more important live hearing for O. J. Simpson in Las Vegas. I’m sure that’s far more valuable than showing us the video of Navy SEAL instructor Malcolm Nance before the House today. (I’d try CNN, but it’s probably the same drivel.)

A group of distinguished intelligence and military officers, diplomats, and law enforcement professionals delivered an urgent message this morning to the chairman and the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on them to hold the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey until he takes a clear position on the legality of waterboarding.

Their message strongly endorses the view of former judge advocates general that waterboarding “is inhumane, is torture, is illegal.” The intelligence veterans added it is also a notoriously unreliable way to acquire accurate information.

They noted that the factors cited by the president and Mukasey as obstacles to his giving an opinion on waterboarding can be easily solved by briefing Mukasey on waterboarding and on C.I.A. interrogation methods.

The intelligence veterans noted that during their careers they frequently had to walk a thin line between morality and expediency, all the while doing their best to abide by the values the majority of Americans have held in common over the years. They appealed to Senators Pat Leahy and Arlen Specter to rise to the occasion and discharge their responsibility to defend those same values.

THE MEMORANDUM FOLLOWS. OF NOTE: YOU MAY REPRINT THIS MEMORANDUM AT ANY BLOG OR SITE, IN FULL, AND WITH PROPER ATTRIBUTION AND A LINK BACK TO No Quarter.

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