ABC NEWS– In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News. The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of “combined” interrogation techniques — using … Read More
MCCLATCHY– The long-awaited release Thursday of four Bush-era memos lays out in clinical detail many of the controversial interrogation methods secretly authorized by the Bush administration — from waterboarding to trapping prisoners in boxes with insects — while former President George W. Bush was publicly condemning the use of torture. The memos were made public by the Justice Department with … Read More
Remarks by the President to the Troops in Afghanistan by Barack Obama THE PRESIDENT: How’s it going, Bagram? (Applause.) Well, you know, it turns out that the American people, they let me use this plane called Air Force One. And so I thought I’d come over and say hello. (Applause.) Couple of people I want to thank, in addition to … Read More
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR– US signals intelligence – the much-vaunted ability of American military and spy units to eavesdrop on the radio calls and other electronic communications of an adversary – failed at crucial moments during the Vietnam War, according to a just-declassified National Security Agency history of the effort. The 10,000 cryptographers and other signals personnel in Southeast Asia at … Read More
WASHINGTON POST– The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects – U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike – may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say. The elements of this new system are already familiar from President Bush’s orders and his … Read More
