Updated: Feb. 20, 2013
Grady Carter·Feb 18, 2013 Continue reading
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by Michael Isikoff
Newsweek.com
February 19, 2010
The chief author of the Bush administration’s “torture memo” told Justice Department investigators that the president’s war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be “massacred,” according to a report released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.
The views of former Justice lawyer John Yoo were deemed to be so extreme and out of step with legal precedents that they prompted the Justice Department’s internal watchdog office to conclude last year that he committed “intentional professional misconduct” when he advised the CIA it could proceed with waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques against Al Qaeda suspects.
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h/t: CLG
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by Kate Randall
http://www.wsws.org
2 February 2010
Bush administration lawyers whose secret memos justified waterboarding and other forms of torture will not be referred to authorities for possible sanctions, according to a forthcoming ethics report.
Unnamed sources who spoke to Newsweek magazine said the Obama Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has concluded that John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who penned the infamous memos, used “poor judgment” but will not be subject to disciplinary action. Yoo and Bybee worked in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, along with Steven Bradbury, who is also named in the report.
Hardball-Isikoff & Corn – The Cheney-Libby lies and memory loss about Wilson, Plame, everything
firedoglake
November 02, 2009
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The Ed Show – David Shuster cuts through the Cheney-Libby ‘memory issue’ muck
Democracy Now!
August 24, 2009
Newsweek: Inspector General Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions
The Justice Department is scheduled today to disclose a long-suppressed 2004 report by the CIA’s inspector general detailing prisoner abuse. Among the findings are that CIA interrogators staged mock executions on prisoners. The report also describes how one detainee was threatened with a handgun and an electric power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. Newsweek magazine first reported details from the report on its website on Friday night. We speak with Michael Isikoff, investigative correspondent for Newsweek.
The Justice Department’s ethics office has recommended the attorney general reopen and pursue nearly a dozen CIA prisoner-abuse cases, the New York Times is reporting. The move would reverse Bush administration policy which had closed the cases, and could expose CIA employees and contractors to criminal prosecution.
The Times reports the recommendation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was recently presented to Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder is also expected to announce within days his decision on whether to appoint a prosecutor to conduct a new investigation into prisoner abuse.
The ethics recommendation comes as the Justice Department is scheduled today to disclose a long-suppressed 2004 report by the CIA’s inspector general detailing prisoner-abuse. Among the findings are that CIA interrogators staged mock executions on prisoners. The federal law banning the use of torture expressly forbids threatening a detainee with “imminent death.” The report also describes how one detainee–suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri–was threatened with a handgun and an electric power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. Newsweek magazine first reported details from the report on its website on Friday night. Michael Isikoff is the investigative correspondent for Newsweek. He joins us on the telephone from Washington DC.
Michael Isikoff, investigative correspondent for Newsweek magazine.
video/transcript: Newsweek: Inspector General Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions
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Mock Executions! CIA Report On Torture To Be Released Next Week
Keith talks to Jerrold Nadler about Karl Rove’s claim of executive privilege and whether he will appear before Congress on Monday.
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Rachel Maddow Show: Michael Isikoff on Rove’s Claim of Executive Privilege
Rachel Maddow talks to Michael Isikoff about Karl Rove’s claim of Executive privilege and just before leaving office Bush sent Rove’s lawyer a letter saying that he was immune from any future subpoenas.
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Countdown: Wiretapping, Torture and Rove Subpoena + Ghost Detainees (updated)