Banana Republicans

From THE HILL:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) compared President Trump‘s consideration of a plan to strip half a dozen former national security and intelligence officials of their security clearances to “a banana republic kind of thing.”

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DiFi: “You don’t write, you don’t call…”

From The Washington Post:

President-elect Barack Obama said yesterday that he has selected a “top-notch intelligence team” that would provide the “unvarnished” information his administration needs, rather than “what they think the president wants to hear.”

…snip…

On Capitol Hill, Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence were still stewing over Obama not consulting them on the choice before it was leaked Monday and continued to question Panetta’s intelligence experience. Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. acknowledged that the transition team had made a “mistake” in not consulting or even notifying congressional leaders, and Obama telephoned committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her predecessor, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), yesterday to apologize.

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What the Dickens Is Going On at the State Department?

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The passport file of any American could be exposed, but there have been only a few breaches of the Passport Office’s security system, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday.

Those few incidents were likely “imprudent curiosity,” he said.

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(Sean looks better with a hat, doesn’t he?)

V for Vile

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) – President George W. Bush will veto legislation on Saturday banning U.S. intelligence agents from using waterboarding and other controversial interrogation methods, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said on Friday.

Last month, Congress sent Bush a broad intelligence authorization bill that contained new limits on CIA interrogation techniques, despite Bush administration warnings that such a measure would be rejected.

“The president will veto the intelligence authorization bill tomorrow,” Fratto told reporters.

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If torture doesn’t stink, why does Mike McConnell have to hold his nose?

LONDON (AP) — One of the United States’ top judges said in an interview broadcast in Britain on Tuesday that interrogators can inflict pain to obtain critical information about an imminent terrorist threat.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that aggressive interrogation could be appropriate to learn where a bomb was hidden shortly before it was set to explode or to discover the plans or whereabouts of a terrorist group.

“It seems to me you have to say, as unlikely as that is, it would be absurd to say you couldn’t, I don’t know, stick something under the fingernail, smack him in the face. It would be absurd to say you couldn’t do that,” Scalia told British Broadcasting Radio Corp.

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Devolution…

From Reuters (transcript of White House press briefing 12-07-07):

WASHINGTON–(Business Wire)–James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

12:42 P.M. EST

MS. [Dana] PERINO: Good afternoon. I don’t have anything to start with on
this Friday, so I’ll go straight to questions. Jennifer.

Q Thanks. On these CIA videotapes, did either the President or
Vice President or Condoleezza Rice, when she was National Security
Advisor, or Steve Hadley, see them before they were destroyed?

MS. PERINO: I spoke to the President, and so I will have to defer
on the others. But I spoke to the President this morning about this.
He has no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their
destruction before yesterday. He was briefed by General Hayden
yesterday morning. And as to the others, I’ll have to — I’ll refer
you to the Vice President’s office and I’ll see if I can get the
others.

Q Was there any White House involvement in approving or commenting
upon their destruction?

MS. PERINO: As I said, the President has no recollection knowing
about the tapes or about their destruction, and so I can’t answer the
follow up.

…snip…

What Are You Hidin’, Hayden?

From the Guardian Unlimited:

The CIA destroyed video evidence of the coercive interrogation of al-Qaida operatives held under its secret rendition programme in order to shield agents from prosecution, it was revealed yesterday.

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Tortured Logic

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 — President Bush, reacting to a Congressional uproar over the disclosure of secret Justice Department legal opinions permitting the harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects, defended the methods on Friday, declaring, “This government does not torture people.”

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