Apr 16 2009

Newsflash 2! Liveblogging the memos.

The tv box just said that the released memos state that waterboarding is NOT torture.

Holder says it is.

Where does THAT put us!

Busy day, lol.

Rolling updates to follow.

Update: Placing insects into detainees confinement boxes was allowed.

Anything further I will post as comments.

 

Update: The ACLU now has Bush Administration’s Secret Legal Memos posted. — Magnifico

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  1. Bush’s Torture Lite=Torture

    Bush’s Torture Lite=Torture (Pt. 2)

    Knocking Down Bush’s Legal Advice Torture Defense

  2. msnbc has had Obama in Mexico all day.

  3. Holder also stressed that intelligence community officials who acted reasonably and relied in good faith on authoritative legal advice from the Justice Department that their conduct was lawful, and conformed their conduct to that advice, would not face federal prosecutions for that conduct.  

    ~snip~

    “It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department,” Holder said.

    mcjoan has detailed stuff over there…

  4. … really annoying:

    This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history. But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.

    Reflection?  Yes, let us reflect upon torture.  Let us see that demanding justice and accountability is nothing more than laying blame and retribution.  Let us forget there have been laws broken.  Let those whose loved ones — so many of them innocent people — were tortured and killed, not waste their time and energy hoping for justice.

    And what is is, by the way, we are to reflect upon?  And does Obama think we haven’t been reflecting on this a long long time?

    Highly offensive, imo.

  5. Obama is walking a political highwire tightrope on a plank off the side of a pirate ship with shark infested waters below him. The pressure on him (from teh evil ones) is obviously enormous. This sounds to me like CIA has him by the teabags.

    Obama:

    First, the interrogation techniques described in these memos have already been widely reported. Second, the previous Administration publicly acknowledged portions of the program – and some of the practices – associated with these memos. Third, I have already ended the techniques described in the memos through an Executive Order. Therefore, withholding these memos would only serve to deny facts that have been in the public domain for some time. This could contribute to an inaccurate accounting of the past, and fuel erroneous and inflammatory assumptions about actions taken by the United States.

    In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution. The men and women of our intelligence community serve courageously on the front lines of a dangerous world. Their accomplishments are unsung and their names unknown, but because of their sacrifices, every single American is safer. We must protect their identities as vigilantly as they protect our security, and we must provide them with the confidence that they can do their jobs.

    Going forward, it is my strong belief that the United States has a solemn duty to vigorously maintain the classified nature of certain activities and information related to national security. This is an extraordinarily important responsibility of the presidency, and it is one that I will carry out assertively irrespective of any political concern. Consequently, the exceptional circumstances surrounding these memos should not be viewed as an erosion of the strong legal basis for maintaining the classified nature of secret activities. I will always do whatever is necessary to protect the national security of the United States.  

  6. The ACLU site is getting hammered so I grabbed the memo that was posted on WaPo and reloaded it on the Dharmadocs site here:  OLC memo 08-01-02 (PDF)

    I also OCR’d so that the text to be copy/pasted more easily.  There will still be spelling errors as the Optical Character Recognition is never perfect.  As soon as I can get to the PDFs on the ACLU site I will upload the rest.

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