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This is a scalable context timeline. It contains events related to the event January-September 2004: British Terror Suspect 'Rendered' to 'Dark Prison' in Afghanistan. You can narrow or broaden the context of this timeline by adjusting the zoom level. The lower the scale, the more relevant the items on average will be, while the higher the scale, the less relevant the items, on average, will be.
Upon his return from a brief tour of the Guantanamo detention facility (see January 30, 2009), Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) delivers a speech on the floor of the Senate recommending that the facility remain open, despite President Obama's decision to close it (see January 22, 2009). Inhofe says, "The military detention facilities at GTMO meet the highest international standards and are a fundamental part of protecting the lives of Americans from terrorism." He says "[t]he detainees are being treated humanely," there are "two lawyers for every detainee that has been charged or had charges preferred against them," and there is one health care professional for every two detainees, ensuring that they receive the highest level of medical care (see April-May 2002, August 8, 2002-January 15, 2003, and March 10-April 15, 2007). Guantanamo "is the only complex in the world that can safely and humanely hold these individuals who pose such a grave security risk to the US," Inhofe insists. "It is a secure location away from population centers, provides the maximum security required to prevent escape, provides multiple levels of confinement opportunities based on the compliance of the detainee, and provides medical care not available to a majority of the population of the world." He goes on: "Furthermore, GTMO is the single greatest repository of human intelligence in the war on terror. This intelligence has prevented terrorist attacks and saved lives in the past and continues to do so today (see Summer 2000 and November 30, 2008). New intelligence is continually being collected from detainees at GTMO and is being used to fight terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the globe." Since the US "will continue to capture, hold and detain enemy combatants," he says, "we require a location to safely detain and care for these detainees." [US Senate, 2/5/2009] Fellow Republican Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), who joined Inhofe on the tour, agrees, saying that the Guantanamo facility is "well thought out and in keeping with our nation's highest ideals." Burr adds that it is the US guards, not the prisoners, who are being mistreated: "If anyone receives mistreatment at Guantanamo, it is the guard force. They must endure frequent verbal and physical attacks from detainees while maintaining the highest standard of care for those same individuals." [US Senate, 2/2/2009] Neither Inhofe nor Burr address the hunger strike among Guantanamo detainees, nor the allegations that prisoners are being force-fed and beaten (see February 8, 2009). Satyam Khanna of the left-leaning website Think Progress notes: "It is unclear how Inhofe and his conservative colleagues failed to see 50 detainees on hunger strike, some near death, while touring the prison. Conveniently, none of the senators alerted the public to these facts upon their return." [Think Progress, 2/9/2009]
Entity Tags: Richard Burr, Barack Obama, James M. Inhofe, Satyam Khanna
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Civil Liberties
Binyam Mohamed. [Source: Independent]A lawyer for a Guantanamo detainee demands the release of her client because he is near death. Lieutenant Colonel Yvonne Bradley is in London to ask that her client, British resident Binyam Mohamed (see May-September, 2001), who is still in Guantanamo even though all charges against him have been dropped (see October-December 2008), be released. Through Bradley, Mohamed claims that he has been repeatedly tortured at the behest of US intelligence officials (see April 10-May, 2002, May 17 - July 21, 2002, July 21, 2002 -- January 2004, and January-September 2004). Bradley says that Mohamed is dying in his cell. Mohamed and some twenty other detainees are so unhealthy that they are on what Bradley calls a "critical list." Hunger Strike, Beatings - Fifty Guantanamo detainees, including Mohamed, are on a hunger strike, and are being strapped to chairs and force-fed; those who resist, witnesses say, are beaten. Mohamed has suffered drastic weight loss, and has told his lawyer that he is "very scared" of being attacked by guards after witnessing what The Guardian describes as "a savage beating for a detainee who refused to be strapped down and have a feeding tube forced into his mouth." Bradley is horrified at Mohamed's description of the state of affairs in the prison. She says: "At least 50 people are on hunger strike, with 20 on the critical list, according to Binyam. The JTF [the Joint Task Force running Guantanamo] are not commenting because they do not want the public to know what is going on. Binyam has witnessed people being forcibly extracted from their cell. SWAT teams in police gear come in and take the person out; if they resist, they are force-fed and then beaten. Binyam has seen this and has not witnessed this before. Guantanamo Bay is in the grip of a mass hunger strike and the numbers are growing; things are worsening. It is so bad that there are not enough chairs to strap them down and force-feed them for a two- or three-hour period to digest food through a feeding tube. Because there are not enough chairs the guards are having to force-feed them in shifts. After Binyam saw a nearby inmate being beaten it scared him and he decided he was not going to resist. He thought, 'I don't want to be beat, injured or killed.' Given his health situation, one good blow could be fatal.… Binyam is continuing to lose weight and he is going to get worse. He has been told he is about to be released, but psychologically and physically he is declining." Demanding Documents to Prove Torture, Rendition - Bradley is also demanding documents that she says will prove her client was tortured, and may also prove British complicity in Mohamed's treatment (see February 24, 2009). An American court in San Francisco is also slated to hear evidence that Mohamed was subjected to "extraordinary rendition" by the CIA, where Mohamed and other prisoners were sent to other countries that tortured them. That lawsuit was originally dismissed when the Bush administration asserted "state secrets privilege" (see March 9, 1953), but lawyers for Mohamed refiled the case hoping that the Obama administration would be less secretive. US Intelligence Wants Mohamed Dead? - The Guardian also notes that "some sections of the US intelligence community would prefer Binyam did die inside Guantanamo." The reason? "Silenced forever, only the sparse language of his diary would be left to recount his torture claims and interviewees with an MI5 officer, known only as Witness B. Such a scenario would also deny Mohamed the chance to personally sue the US, and possibly British authorities, over his treatment." [Guardian, 2/8/2009]
Entity Tags: Yvonne Bradley, Binyam Mohamed, Bush administration (43), Obama administration
A Justice Department official says that the Obama administration will continue to assert the so-called "state secrets privilege" (see March 9, 1953) in a lawsuit filed by Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed (see February 8, 2009). In the case Mohamed et al v Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc, Mohamed and four former detainees are suing a Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen Dataplan, for cooperating with the CIA in subjecting them to "extraordinary rendition," flying them to foreign countries and secret overseas CIA prisons where, they say, they were tortured. The case was thrown out a year ago, but the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has appealed it. According to a source inside the Ninth US District Court, a Justice Department lawyer tells the presiding judge that its position has not changed, that the new administration stands behind arguments that the previous administration made, with no ambiguity at all. The lawyer says the entire subject matter remains a state secret. According to Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller, "It is the policy of this administration to invoke the state secrets privilege only when necessary and in the most appropriate cases, consistent with the United States Supreme Court's decision in Reynolds that the privilege not 'be lightly invoked.'" Miller adds that Attorney General Eric Holder is conducting a review of all state secret privilege matters. "The Attorney General has directed that senior Justice Department officials review all assertions of the State Secrets privilege to ensure that the privilege is being invoked only in legally appropriate situations," Miller says. "It is vital that we protect information that, if released, could jeopardize national security. The Justice Department will ensure the privilege is not invoked to hide from the American people information about their government's actions that they have a right to know. This administration will be transparent and open, consistent with our national security obligations." The ACLU's Anthony Romero says that the Obama administration is doing little besides offering "more of the same." He continues: "Eric Holder's Justice Department stood up in court today and said that it would continue the Bush policy of invoking state secrets to hide the reprehensible history of torture, rendition, and the most grievous human rights violations committed by the American government. This is not change. This is definitely more of the same. Candidate Obama ran on a platform that would reform the abuse of state secrets, but President Obama's Justice Department has disappointingly reneged on that important civil liberties issue. If this is a harbinger of things to come, it will be a long and arduous road to give us back an America we can be proud of again." ACLU attorney Ben Wizner, who argued the case for Mohamed and the other plaintiffs, adds: "We are shocked and deeply disappointed that the Justice Department has chosen to continue the Bush administration's practice of dodging judicial scrutiny of extraordinary rendition and torture. This was an opportunity for the new administration to act on its condemnation of torture and rendition, but instead it has chosen to stay the course. Now we must hope that the court will assert its independence by rejecting the government's false claims of state secrets and allowing the victims of torture and rendition their day in court." [ABC News, 2/9/2009]
Entity Tags: Binyam Mohamed, Anthony D. Romero, American Civil Liberties Union, Ben Wizner, US Department of Justice, Obama administration, Eric Holder, Central Intelligence Agency, Matthew Miller, Jeppesen Dataplan
Timeline Tags: Civil Liberties
A newly released government threat analysis shows that slain trust-fund millionaire James G. Cummings, an American Nazi sympathizer from Maine who was killed by his wife Amber in December 2008, possessed the radioactive components necessary to build a so-called "dirty bomb." Cummings, infuriated by the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, purchased depleted uranium over the Internet from an American company. FBI Confiscates Radioactive Materials - The Bangor Daily News reports, "According to an FBI field intelligence report from the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center posted online by WikiLeaks, an organization that posts leaked documents, an investigation into the case revealed that radioactive materials were removed from Cummings's home after his shooting death on December 9." According to the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center: "Amber [Cummings] indicated James was very upset with Barack Obama being elected president. She indicated James had been in contact with 'white supremacist group(s).' Amber also indicated James mixed chemicals in the kitchen sink at their residence and had mentioned 'dirty bombs.'" An FBI search of the Cummings home found four jars of depleted uranium-238 labeled "uranium metal" and the name of an unidentified US corporation, another jar labeled "thorium" and containing that material, and a second, unlabeled jar which also contained thorium-232. Other materials found in Cummings's home were consistent with the manufacture of an explosive device, which if detonated could have spread radioactive debris throughout a relatively large local area. The FBI also found information on how to build "dirty bombs," and information about cesium-137, strontium-90, cobalt-60, and other radioactive materials. FBI evidence shows Cummings had numerous ties to a variety of right-wing white supremacist groups. Cummings also owned a collection of Nazi memorabilia which, according to local tradesmen, he proudly displayed throughout his home. Police reports show that Cummings has a long history of violence. Amber Cummings contends she is innocent of her husband's murder by reason of insanity, and claims she suffered years of mental, physical, and sexual abuse at his hands. The Department of Homeland Security has refused to comment on the incident. [Bangor Daily News, 2/10/2009; Raw Story, 3/9/2009] Local law enforcement officials downplay the threat Cummings posed, and the national media virtually ignores the story. [Time, 9/30/2010] Later Information Shows Depth of Threat Posed by Cummings - Additional information gleaned by Time reporter Barton Gellman from Cummings's notes and records later shows that the threat posed by Cummings was even more serious than initially reported. Cummings had applied to join the National Socialist Party (the American Nazi organization), and had detailed plans on how to assassinate President-elect Obama. Gellman will call Cummings "a viciously angry and resourceful man who had procured most of the supplies for a crude radiological dispersal device and made some progress in sketching a workable design." Gellman says that in his attempt to construct a nuclear weapon, Cummings "was far ahead of Jose Padilla, the accused al-Qaeda dirty-bomb plotter (see June 10, 2002), and more advanced in his efforts than any previously known domestic threat involving a dirty bomb." The materials were later confirmed to be the radioactive materials they were labeled as being; Amber Cummings will say that her husband bought them under the pretense of conducting legal research for a university. Although the materials Cummings had would not, themselves, succeed in unleashing large amounts of radiation over a large area, he was actively searching for three ingredients that would serve such a purpose: cobalt-60, cesium-137, and strontium-90. He had succeeded in manufacturing large amounts of TATP, an explosive favored by Islamist suicide bombers and brought on board an aircraft by "shoe bomber" Richard Reid (see December 22, 2001). "His intentions were to construct a dirty bomb and take it to Washington to kill President Obama," Amber Cummings says. "He was planning to hide it in the undercarriage of our motor home." She says her husband had practiced crossing checkpoints with dangerous materials aboard, taking her and their daughter along for an image of innocence. Maine state police detective Michael McFadden, who participated in the investigation throughout, says he came to believe that James Cummings posed "a legitimate threat" of a major terrorist attack. "When you're cooking thorium and uranium under your kitchen sink, when you have a couple million dollars sitting in the bank and you're hell-bent on doing something, I think at that point you become someone we want to sit up and pay attention to," he says. "If she didn't do what she did, maybe we would know Mr. Cummings a lot better than we do right now." [Time, 9/30/2010]
Entity Tags: Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center, US Department of Homeland Security, Michael McFadden, Jose Padilla, Amber Cummings, Federal Bureau of Investigation, James G. Cummings, Richard C. Reid, WikiLeaks
Timeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, US Domestic Terrorism
Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck has a special segment called "War Games" during the week's broadcasts. In today's show, he is joined by former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer (see February 1996) and retired Army Sergeant Major, Tim Strong. The three discuss what they say is the upcoming "civil war" in America, which, they assert, will be led by "citizen militias" made up of principled, ideologically correct conservatives. Beck says that he "believes we're on this road." The three decide among themselves that the US military would refuse to obey President Obama's orders to subdue the insurrection and would instead join with "the people" in "defending the Constitution" against the government. [Salon, 2/22/2009] Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin's blog "Hot Air" features an entry that calls Beck's rhetoric "implausible" and "nutty." [Hot Air, 2/22/2009]
Entity Tags: Michael Scheuer, Michelle Malkin, Tim Strong, Fox News, Glenn Beck
Timeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda, US Domestic Terrorism, 2010 Elections
Retired Major General Anthony Taguba, who headed an intensive military investigation into the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison (see March 9, 2004), is one of the most prominent supporters of the call to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation, detention, and torture policies. Taguba joins 18 human rights organizations, former State Department officials, former law enforcement officers, and former military leaders in asking President Obama to create a non-partisan commission to investigate those abuses. Even though prosecuting former Bush officials might be difficult, Taguba says, a commission would provide some measure of accountability for the practices Taguba calls "misguided," "illegal," "despicable and questionable." Taguba wants the commission to study the Bush administration's claims that torture provides good intelligence, which he disputes. He particularly wants the commission to investigate administration officials' claims that the administration's policies were legal. Taguba says he supports "a structured commission with some form of authority with clear objectives and a follow-on action plan. I'm not looking for anything that is prosecutorial in nature, unless a suspected violation of relevant laws occurred, which should be referred to the Department of Justice.… In my opinion, our military prosecuted those who were involved in torture or unlawful interrogation. And I think our military has come to terms with that. We are an institution that prides itself on taking corrective action immediately, admitting to it, and holding ourselves accountable. And we have done that. But I am not so sure that our civilian authorities in government have done that for themselves." Speaking about the Bush Justice Department's findings that torture and indefinite detentions are legal (see Late September 2001, November 11-13, 2001, December 28, 2001, January 9, 2002, August 1, 2002, and August 1, 2002), Taguba says: "This notion that a lot of constitutional legal experts—lawyers with great intellect, well educated—came up with such despicable and questionable legal findings that were contrary to the definition of defending the Constitution? And then they framed this as if the executive branch had the authority to extend beyond the constitution to establish a policy of torture and illegal detention?… Some of those that were tortured were innocent. How do we come to terms with those that were cruelly mistreated and were innocent, never charged, were illegally detained, and never compensated for their suffering? This is not a political issue, but a moral and ethical dilemma which has far-reaching implications." [Salon, 2/21/2009]
Entity Tags: Antonio M. Taguba
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives
Mohamed returning to London. [Source: Lewis Whyld / Associated Press]Binyam Mohamed (see May-September, 2001, February 8, 2009, and February 9, 2009) is released from Guantanamo, and returns to Great Britain. He is flown to Britain on a private chartered Gulfstream jet similar to those used by the CIA in "extraordinary renditions." His sister, Zuhra Mohamed, meets him at the RAF Northolt airbase in west London, and tells reporters: "I am so glad and so happy, more than words can express. I am so thankful for everything that was done for Binyam to make this day come true." His lawyers claim that he has suffered severe physical and psychological abuse, some of which was inflicted in recent days. He suffers from what his lawyers call a huge range of injuries. Doctors have found Mohamed suffering from extensive bruising, organ damage, stomach complaints, malnutrition, sores to feet and hands, and severe damage to ligaments. His weight has dropped from around 170 pounds to 125 pounds. His lawyers say he suffers from serious emotional and psychological problems, which have been exacerbated by the refusal of Guantanamo officials to provide him with counseling. Mohamed's British lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, says his client had been beaten "dozens" of times, with the most recent abuse occurring in the last few weeks (see September 2004 and After). "He has a list of physical ailments that cover two sheets of A4 paper," says Stafford Smith. "What Binyam has been through should have been left behind in the middle ages." Mohamed's American military lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel Yvonne Bradley, adds: "He has been severely beaten. Sometimes I don't like to think about it because my country is behind all this." Britain's former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, an advocate for the closure of Guantanamo, says that allegations of abuse against Mohamed, a British resident, should be raised by Foreign Secretary David Miliband with his American counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "If there are credible accounts of mistreatment then they need to be pursued," Goldsmith says. Care Provided upon Return - Upon his return to Britain, Mohamed will receive physical care and emotional counseling in a secure, secret location by a team of volunteer doctors and psychiatrists. He will be kept under a "voluntary security arrangement," where he must report regularly to authorities, but will not be subject to charges or anti-terror control orders. The US dropped all charges against Mohamed last year, including allegations that he had participated in a "dirty bomb" plot. [Guardian, 2/22/2009; Guardian, 2/24/2009] MI5 to Be Investigated? - At least one MI5 officer may face a criminal investigation over his alleged complicity in torturing Mohamed (see February 24, 2009). And Mohamed's future testimony is expected to shed light upon MI5's own participation in his interrogation and alleged torture; Mohamed may sue the British government and MI5, Britain's counter-intelligence and security service, over its alleged complicity in his detention, abduction, treatment, and interrogation. If filed, Mohamed's lawsuit could force US and British authorities to disclose vital evidence regarding Mohamed's allegations of torture. [Guardian, 2/22/2009]
Entity Tags: Binyam Mohamed, Central Intelligence Agency, Clive Stafford Smith, David Miliband, Zuhra Mohamed, UK Security Service (MI5), Peter Henry Goldsmith, Yvonne Bradley
Former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed (see May-September, 2001), a British citizen who suffered extensive abuse during his detention (see July 21, 2002 -- January 2004 and February 8, 2009) and is just now released (see February 22-24, 2009), says in a written statement that British officials from MI5 played an integral part in his abduction and torture at the hands of the CIA and Moroccan officials. Senior MPs say they intend to investigate his claims. Just after his arrival in London, Mohamed tells reporters: "For myself, the very worst moment came when I realized in Morocco that the people who were torturing me were receiving questions and materials from British intelligence.… I had met with British intelligence in Pakistan. I had been open with them. Yet the very people who I had hoped would come to my rescue, I later realized, had allied themselves with my abusers." Days later, the Daily Mail will obtain documents from Mohamed's American court proceedings that show MI5 agents twice gave CIA agents lists of questions they wanted to have asked, as well as dossiers of photographs. [Guardian, 2/24/2009; Daily Mail, 3/8/2009] Gives Primary Blame to CIA - Mohamed places the bulk of the blame on his rendition and torture on the CIA, and says, "It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways—all orchestrated by the United States government." [Scotsman, 2/24/2009] 'They Sold Me Out' - Mohamed will later say that he reached his "lowest ebb" when he realized British agents were involved in his interrogation and torture. "They started bringing British files to the interrogations," he will recall, "not one, but several of them, thick binders, some of them containing sheaves of photos of people who lived in London and places there like mosques. It was obvious the British were feeding them questions about people in London. When I realized that the British were co-operating with the people who were torturing me, I felt completely naked.… They sold me out." The documents indicate that MI5 did not know where Mohamed was being held, but that its agents knew he was in a third nation's custody through the auspices of the CIA. MI5 agents met with their CIA counterparts in September 2002, well after Mohamed's rendition to Morocco, to discuss the case. [Daily Mail, 3/8/2009] False Confession - He suffered tortures in Pakistan (see April 10-May, 2002), Morocco, and Afghanistan (see January-September 2004), including being mutilated with scalpels, a mock execution, sleep deprivation for days, being fed contaminated food, and being beaten for hours while hanging by his wrists from shackles in the ceiling. He says that the closest he came to losing his mind entirely was when, in US custody in Afghanistan, he was locked in a cell and forced to listen to a CD of rap music played at ear-shattering volume 24 hours a day for a month. It was these tortures that drove him to confess to being part of a plot to build a radioactive "dirty bomb" (see November 4, 2005), a confession he now says was untrue and given merely to avoid further torment. He also confessed to meeting Osama bin Laden and getting a passport from 9/11 plotter Khalid Shaikh Mohammed: "None of it was true." [Daily Mail, 3/8/2009] 'Zero Doubt' of British Complicity - His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, says Mohamed is being cared for under the auspices of his legal team, and is "incredibly skinny and very emaciated." Stafford Smith says he has "zero doubt" Britain was complicit in his client's ill-treatment. "Britain knew he was being abused and left him," he says. Stafford Smith also says Mohamed was subjected to "very serious abuse" in Guantanamo. Mike Gapes, the chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, says he intends to question Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch Brown over "outstanding issues," which include "rendition, what happened to people in Guantanamo Bay, and black sites," a reference to prisons in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Two British judges say they are suppressing "powerful evidence" of Mohamed's torture at the insistence of Miliband and US authorities (see February 4, 2009). [Guardian, 2/24/2009] Miliband says Mohamed's release was effected due to "intensive negotiations with the US government," in which he played a key part. Edward Davey of the Liberal Democrats has little use for Miliband's claims, saying, "It is telling that David Miliband is unable to give a straightforward yes or no as to whether British agents and officials have been complicit in torture," and adds that "Mohamed's case may just be the tip of the iceberg." [Scotsman, 2/24/2009] Evidence that MI5 Lied - The new revelations about MI5's involvement contradict the testimony of MI5 officials, who in 2007 told Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee that the agency had no idea that Mohamed had been subjected to "extraordinary rendition" to Morocco or anywhere else. The Daily Mail will note, "The revelations will put Foreign Secretary David Miliband under even greater pressure to come clean about British involvement in the rendition and alleged torture of Muslim terror suspects." [Daily Mail, 3/8/2009]
Entity Tags: Malloch Brown, Mike Gapes, Central Intelligence Agency, Binyam Mohamed, UK Security Service (MI5), Clive Stafford Smith, David Miliband, Edward Davey
Attorney General Eric Holder confirms the Obama administration's plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility (see November 16, 2008 and January 22, 2009), but calls it a well-run, professional institution. Closing Guantanamo "will not be an easy process," Holder says after visiting the site. "It's one we will do in a way that ensures that people are treated fairly and that the American people are kept safe." Holder leads the administration's effort to close the facility within a year. Most of that time will be spent reviewing the case files and histories of the 245 inmates currently incarcerated there: "It's going to take us a good portion of that time to look at all of the files that we have to examine, until we get our hands around what Guantanamo is, and also what Guantanamo was," he says. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), an outspoken advocate of keeping Guantanamo open (see February 5, 2009), says he is encouraged by Holder's remarks. "I believe as more time goes by there is a chance the administration will grow to realize that we need Gitmo and must keep it open," he says. "More time will allow facts to replace political rhetoric." Inhofe is promoting legislation that will bar any Guantanamo detainees from coming to the US. [Associated Press, 2/25/2009]
Entity Tags: Eric Holder, James M. Inhofe, Obama administration
A federal appeals court rejects the Obama administration's assertion that a potential threat to national security should stop a lawsuit challenging the government's warrantless wiretapping program. The Justice Department had requested an emergency stay in a case brought by a defunct Islamic charity, the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation (see February 28, 2006). Al Haramain has asked that classified information be made available to the court to prove its case that the electronic surveillance brought to bear against it by the government was illegal; Justice Department lawyers contend that the information needs to remain classified and unavailable to the court, and cite the "state secrets" privilege (see March 9, 1953) as legal justification. Although the court rejects the request for the stay, Justice Department lawyers say they will continue fighting to keep the information secret. "The government respectfully requests that the court refrain from further actions to provide plaintiffs with access to classified information," says a filing made by the Justice Department in regards to the ruling. A lawyer for Al Haramain, Steven Goldberg, says: "All we wanted was our day in court and it looks like we're finally going to get our day in court. This case is all about challenging an assertion of power by the executive branch which is extraordinary." The American Civil Liberties Union's Ann Brick says the court has now crafted a way to review the issue in which "national security isn't put at risk, but the rule of law can still be observed." [Associated Press, 2/27/2009] Days later, the Justice Department will file a brief announcing its intention to refuse to honor the appeals court's decision (see March 2, 2009).
Entity Tags: Obama administration, Ann Brick, Steven Goldberg, US Department of Justice, Al Haramain Islamic Foundation
The Justice Department defies a recent court order (see February 27, 2009) and refuses to provide a document that might prove the Bush administration conducted illegal wiretaps on a now-defunct Islamic charity. The Justice Department files a brief with a California federal district court challenging the court's right to carry out its own decision to make that evidence available in a pending lawsuit. Even though the document is critical to the lawsuit, the lawyers can obtain the necessary top-secret clearances, and the document would not be made public, the Justice Department claims that the document cannot be entered into evidence. The lawyers for Al Haramain, the Islamic charity and the plaintiffs in the suit, calls the Justice Department's decision "mind-boggling." Government's Position - For its part, the Justice Department writes in a brief that the decision to release the document "is committed to the discretion of the executive branch, and is not subject to judicial review." The document has been in the possession of the court since 2004, when the government inadvertently released it to the plaintiffs. In the same brief, the Justice Department writes: "If the Court intends to itself grant access to classified information directly to the plaintiffs' counsel, the government requests that the Court again provide advance notice of any such order, as well as an ex parte, in camera description of the information it intends to disclose, to enable the government to either make its own determination about whether counsel has a need to know, or to withdraw that information from submission to the Court and use in this case. If the Court rejects either action by the government, the government again requests that the Court stay proceedings while the government considers whether to appeal any such order." The statement is an implied threat that the Justice Department lawyers will themselves physically remove the document from the court files if the judge says he has the right to allow Al Haramain's lawyers to see it. Response from Plaintiff's Attorney - Jon Eisenberg, a lawyer for Al-Haramain, says in an e-mail: "It's a not-so-thinly veiled threat to send executive branch authorities (the FBI? the Army?) to Judge [Virginia] Walker's chambers to seize the classified material from his files! In my view, that would be an unprecedented violation of the constitutional separation of powers. I doubt anything like it has happened in the history of this country." Eisenberg says that the Obama administration, through the Justice Department, "seems to be provoking a separation-of-powers confrontation with Judge Walker." Administration's Second Use of State Secrets - This is the second time the Obama administration has invoked the "state secrets" privilege to keep information secret (see February 9, 2009). Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) says: "In the Bush administration, the state secrets doctrine was used to buttress the power of the president and make it difficult if not impossible to contest such issues as presidential authority to conduct warrantless wiretapping in the United States. We would think that when such disagreements occur, it's properly before the judiciary to resolve them. But the Bush administration asserted the state secrets doctrine for the purpose of making it effectively impossible for courts to review the matter." The Al Haramain case is significant because of "the apparent willingness of the Obama administration's Justice Department to carry further that same argument in federal court. It is of great concern." [Washington Independent, 3/2/2009]
Entity Tags: Obama administration, Bush administration (43), Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, Jon Eisenberg, US Department of Justice, Marc Rotenberg, Virginia Walker
Columnist and international law expert Scott Horton writes of his horror and shock at the nine just-released Bush administration memos from the Justice Department designed to grant President Bush extraordinary executive authority (see March 2, 2009). 'Disappearing Ink' - Horton writes: "Perhaps the most astonishing of these memos was one crafted by University of California at Berkeley law professor John Yoo. He concluded that in wartime, the president was freed from the constraints of the Bill of Rights with respect to anything he chose to label as […] counterterrorism operations inside the United States" (see October 23, 2001, and October 23, 2001). Horton continues: "John Yoo's Constitution is unlike any other I have ever seen. It seems to consist of one clause: appointing the president as commander in chief. The rest of the Constitution was apparently printed in disappearing ink." Timing of Repudiation Proves Bush Officials Found Claims Useful - Horton has no patience with the claims of former Office of Legal Counsel chief Steven Bradbury that the extraordinary powers Yoo attempted to grant Bush were not used very often (see January 15, 2009). "I don't believe that for a second," Horton notes, and notes Bradbury's timing in repudiating the Yoo memos: five days before Bush left office. "Bradbury's decision to wait to the very end before repealing it suggests that someone in the Bush hierarchy was keen on having it," Horton asserts. Serving Multiple Purposes - The memos "clear[ly]" served numerous different purposes, Horton notes. They authorized, or provided legal justification for, the massive domestic surveillance programs launched by military agencies such as the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency (see September 25, 2001). But the memos went much farther, Horton says: "[T]he language of the memos suggest that much more was afoot, including the deployment of military units and military police powers on American soil. These memos suggest that John Yoo found a way to treat the Posse Comitatus Act as suspended." They also gave Bush the apparent legal grounds to order the torture of people held at secret overseas sites (see March 13, 2002), and to hold accused terrorist Jose Padilla without charge or due process, even though the administration had no evidence whatsoever of the crimes he had been alleged to commit (see June 8, 2002). American Dictatorship - Horton's conclusion is stark. "We may not have realized it at the time, but in the period from late 2001-January 19, 2009, this country was a dictatorship," he writes. "The constitutional rights we learned about in high school civics were suspended. That was thanks to secret memos crafted deep inside the Justice Department that effectively trashed the Constitution. What we know now is likely the least of it." [Harper's, 3/3/2009]
Entity Tags: National Security Agency, US Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel (DOJ), Scott Horton, Steven Bradbury, George W. Bush, Jose Padilla, Bush administration (43), Defense Intelligence Agency, John C. Yoo
Legal experts and civil libertarians are "stunned" by the recently released memos from the Bush-era Justice Department which assert sweeping powers for the president not granted by the Constitution (see March 2, 2009 and March 3, 2009). Yale law professor Jack Balkin calls the memos a demonstration of the Bush "theory of presidential dictatorship." Balkin continues: "They say the battlefield is everywhere. And the president can do anything he wants, so long as it involves the military and the enemy.… These views are outrageous and inconsistent with basic principles of the Constitution as well as with two centuries of legal precedents. Yet they were the basic assumptions of key players in the Bush administration in the days following 9/11." George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr agrees. "I agree with the left on this one," he says. The approach in the memos "was simply not a plausible reading of the case law. The Bush [Office of Legal Counsel, or OLC] eventually rejected [the] memos because they were wrong on the law—and they were right to do so" (see January 15, 2009). Balkin says the time period of most of the memos—the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks—merely provided a convenient excuse for the administration's subversion of the Constitution. "This was a period of panic, and panic creates an opportunity for patriotic politicians to abuse their power," he says. [Jack Balkin, 3/3/2009; Los Angeles Times, 3/4/2009] Civil litigator and columnist Glenn Greenwald writes that the memos helped provide the foundation for what he calls "the regime of secret laws under which we were ruled for the last eight years… the grotesque blueprint for what the US government became." [Salon, 3/3/2009] Duke University law professor Walter Dellinger says that, contrary to the memos' assertion of blanket presidential powers in wartime, Congress has considerable powers during such a time. Congress has, according to the Constitution, "all legislative powers," including the power "to declare war… and make rules concerning captures on land and water" as well as "regulation of the land and naval forces." Dellinger, who headed the OLC during the Clinton administration, continues: "You can never get over how bad these opinions were. The assertion that Congress has no role to play with respect to the detention of prisoners was contrary to the Constitution's text, to judicial precedent, and to historical practice. For people who supposedly follow the text [of the Constitution], what don't they understand about the phrase 'make rules concerning captures on land and water'?" [Los Angeles Times, 3/4/2009]
Entity Tags: Orin S. Kerr, US Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel (DOJ), Jack Balkin, Walter Dellinger, Glenn Greenwald, Bush administration (43)
Court documents filed by the government show that the CIA destroyed 12 videotapes specifically depicting two detainees being tortured by interrogators. Though the CIA has previously admitted to destroying 92 videotapes (see March 2, 2009), this is the first time it has admitted that some of the tapes showed detainees being tortured. The agency does not use the word "torture," but instead uses the phrase "enhanced interrogation techniques." According to the heavily redacted classified document: "There are 92 videotapes, 12 of which include EIT [enhanced interrogation techniques] applications. An OGC [Office of General Counsel] attorney reviewed the videotapes" and the CIA's "OIG [Office of Inspector General} reviewed the videotapes in May 2003." The document, along with others, are filed pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit begun by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU has asked that the CIA be found in contempt for destroying the videotapes, a motion that is still pending. The videotapes were destroyed to prevent disclosure of evidence showing that CIA interrogators actively tortured detainees, using waterboarding and other methods. The destruction is under investigation by acting US Attorney John Durham (see January 2, 2008). The two detainees depicted in the videotapes are Abu Zubaida and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, both of whom were waterboarded by the CIA (see March 2002, April - June 2002, and (November 2002)). The document describing the destroyed videotapes says "interrogators administered the waterboard to Al-Nashiri." The videotapes are believed to have been made at the CIA's secret detention center in Thailand. The CIA has promised to release more information about the videotapes by March 20. However, according to acting US Attorney Lev Dassin, "to date, the CIA is not aware of any transcripts of the destroyed videotapes." An unredacted version of the inventory of the destroyed videotapes will only be made available for the ACLU to view behind closed doors in court: "This inventory identifies the tapes and includes any descriptions that were written on the spine of the tapes." Much of the information sought by the ACLU will remain classified, Dassin says. ACLU attorney Amrit Singh says the "government is needlessly withholding information about these tapes from the public, despite the fact that the CIA's use of torture—including waterboarding—is no secret. This new information only underscores the need for full and immediate disclosure of the CIA's illegal interrogation methods. The time has come for the CIA to be held accountable for flouting the rule of law." Author and reporter Jane Mayer believes the tapes were destroyed at least in part because Democratic members of Congress briefed on the tapes began inquiring whether the interrogations of Zubaida and al-Nashiri were legal. [Public Record, 3/6/2009]
Entity Tags: John Durham, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Abu Zubaida, Central Intelligence Agency, American Civil Liberties Union, Lev Dassin, Amrit Singh, Jane Mayer
Oath Keepers logo, as pictured on a T-shirt sold on the organization's Web site. [Source: Oath Keepers (.com)]The Oath Keepers, a newly formed far-right "patriot" organization whose membership is restricted to soldiers, police officers, firefighters, and military veterans (see March 2010), is formed at a pro-militia rally in Lexington, Massachusetts, the site of the first battle of the Revolutionary War. It is founded by Army veteran and lawyer Stewart Rhodes, who delivers a fiery speech at the rally. "You need to be alert and aware to the reality of how close we are to having our constitutional republic destroyed," he tells the assemblage. "Every dictatorship in the history of mankind, whether it is fascist, communist, or whatever, has always set aside normal procedures of due process under times of emergency.… We can't let that happen here. We need to wake up!" The crowd of listeners includes many well-known "patriot movement" members, including Richard Mack, a former Arizona sheriff who refused to enforce the federal Brady law (see November 30, 1993) in his jurisdiction; Mike Vanderboegh of the "Three Percenter" movement (see October 1995 and After); and others. Rhodes gives the rally his group's "Orders We Will Not Obey," a list of 10 orders he considers unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable, whether they are issued by commanding officers, policemen, or the president. When Rhodes finishes, Captain Larry Bailey, a retired Navy SEAL who leads a group called Gathering of Eagles, asks the crowd to raise their right hands and retake their oath—not to the president, but to the Constitution. [Mother Jones, 3/2010] Posting the 'Orders' - On the Oath Keepers blog, Rhodes posts the "Orders We Will Not Obey" along with an introductory statement culled from the speech given by then-General George Washington before the Battle of Long Island: "The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army." Rhodes writes: "Such a time is near at hand again. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this Army—and this Marine Corps, This Air Force, This Navy and the National Guard and police units of these sovereign states." He calls the Oath Keepers "non-partisan," and issues his list of orders they will refuse to obey, calling these "acts of war" against the American people "and thus acts of treason." He cites Revolutionary War actions and precedents for each of his 10 statements. "1. We will NOT obey any order to disarm the American people." Rhodes explains that this means the government will not attempt to restrain gun ownership in any way, and states his group's opposition to any bans on assault rifles or any attempts to enforce gun regulation or registration. "2. We will NOT obey any order to conduct warrantless searches of the American people, their homes, vehicles, papers, or effects—such as warrantless house-to-house searches for weapons or persons." Rhodes compares these to the Revolutionary War-era "writs of assistance," carried out by British soldiers against American colonists without judicial orders. The Constitution proscribes warrantless searches, Rhodes says. "We expect that sweeping warrantless searches of homes and vehicles, under some pretext, will be the means used to attempt to disarm the people," he writes, and says Oath Keepers will not follow such orders. "3. We will NOT obey any order to detain American citizens as 'unlawful enemy combatants' or to subject them to trial by military tribunal." Any such detentions (see June 26, 2002 and June 9, 2002) are unconstitutional, harking back to Revolutionary War-era admiralty courts and the British "star chambers." Rhodes predicts that the federal government will attempt to detain its own citizens under international law. "4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a 'state of emergency' on a state, or to enter with force into a state, without the express consent and invitation of that state's legislature and governor." Rhodes fears that "states of emergency" will be declared in the aftermath of a natural disaster such as a hurricane or a massive flood, or perhaps another 9/11-level terror attack, and then used to impose tyranny and martial law on the American populace. "5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty and declares the national government to be in violation of the compact by which that state entered the Union." As many as 20 individual states have either passed or considered what Rhodes calls "courageous resolutions affirming states rights and sovereignty" that take powers from the federal government and give them over to the states. The federal government may attempt to use force to retake these powers, Rhodes writes, especially if a state attempts to secede or declare itself of equal sovereignty with the federal government. "6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps." One of Rhodes's most strongly stated fears is what he believes will be the attempts of the federal government to build concentration camps and detain citizens. "7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext." "8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on US soil against the American people to 'keep the peace' or to 'maintain control' during any emergency, or under any other pretext. We will consider such use of foreign troops against our people to be an invasion and an act of war." Rhodes believes that the US government may use foreign troops, perhaps under the auspices of the United Nations, to conduct military operations against its own citizenry. "9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies, under any emergency pretext whatsoever." "10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances." Rhodes concludes: "The above list is not exhaustive but we do consider them to be clear tripwires—they form our 'line in the sand'—and if we receive such orders, we will not obey them. Further, we will know that the time for another American Revolution is nigh. If you the people decide that you have no recourse, and such a revolution comes, at that time, not only will we NOT fire upon our fellow Americans who righteously resist such egregious violations of their God given rights, we will join them in fighting against those who dare attempt to enslave them.… The mission of Oath Keepers is to vastly increase their numbers. We are in a battle for the hearts and minds of our own troops. Help us win it." [Stewart Rhodes, 3/9/2009] Army spokesman Nathan Banks will remind the members that following through on their Oath Keepers pledge could mean serious repercussions. "You have every right to disobey an order if you think it is illegal," Banks will say. "But you will face court-martial, and so help you God if you are wrong. Saying something isn't constitutional isn't going to fly." Associated with Tea Party Movement - After the 2009 rally, Rhodes's organization will become closely affiliated with the tea party movement; on July 4, 2009, Rhodes will send speakers to administer his organization's "oath" at over 30 tea party rallies across the nation. He will take part in the September 12, 2009 "9/12" march in Washington, DC (see September 12, 2009), and host rallies in Florida and other states. [Mother Jones, 3/2010]
Entity Tags: Richard Mack, Nathan Banks, Mike Vanderboegh, Oath Keepers, Gathering of Eagles, Larry Bailey, Stewart Rhodes
Timeline Tags: US Domestic Terrorism
The New York Review of Books publishes a lengthy article documenting the Red Cross's hitherto-secret report on US torture practices at several so-called "black sites." The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a report on "The Black Sites" in February 2007 (see October 6 - December 14, 2006), but that report has remained secret until now. These "black sites" are secret prisons in Thailand, Poland, Afghanistan, Morocco, Romania, and at least three other countries (see October 2001-2004), either maintained directly by the CIA or used by them with the permission and participation of the host countries. Specific Allegations of Torture by Official Body Supervising Geneva - The report documents the practices used by American guards and interrogators against prisoners, many of which directly qualify as torture under the Geneva Conventions and a number of international laws and statutes. The ICRC is the appointed legal guardian of Geneva, and the official body appointed to supervise the treatment of prisoners of war; therefore, its findings have the force of international law. The practices documented by the ICRC include sleep deprivation, lengthy enforced nudity, subjecting detainees to extensive, intense bombardment of noise and light, repeated immersion in frigid water, prolonged standing and various stress positions—sometimes for days on end—physical beatings, and waterboarding, which the ICRC authors call "suffocation by water." The ICRC writes that "in many cases, the ill-treatment to which they [the detainees] were subjected while held in the CIA program… constituted torture." It continues, "In addition, many other elements of the ill-treatment, either singly or in combination, constituted cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment." Both torture and "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" are specifically forbidden by Geneva and the Convention Against Torture, both of which were signed by the US (see October 21, 1994). The 14 "high-value detainees" whose cases are documented in the ICRC report include Abu Zubaida (see March 28, 2002), Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (see Shortly After February 29 or March 1, 2003), and Tawfiq bin Attash (see March 28, 2002-Mid-2004). All 14 remain imprisoned in Guantanamo. [New York Review of Books, 3/15/2009 ; New York Review of Books, 3/15/2009] Based on the ICRC report and his own research, Danner draws a number of conclusions. The US government began to torture prisoners in the spring of 2002, with the approval of President Bush and the monitoring of top Bush officials, including Attorney General John Ashcroft. The torture, Danner writes, "clearly violated major treaty obligations of the United States, including the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture, as well as US law." Bush, Ashcroft, and other top government officials "repeatedly and explicitly lied about this, both in reports to international institutions and directly to the public. The president lied about it in news conferences, interviews, and, most explicitly, in speeches expressly intended to set out the administration's policy on interrogation before the people who had elected him." Congress was privy to a large amount of information about the torture conducted under the aegis of the Bush administration. Its response was to pass the Military Commissions Act (MCA—see October 17, 2006), which in part was designed to protect government officials from criminal prosecutions under the War Crimes Act. While Congressional Republicans were primarily responsible for the MCA, Senate Democrats did not try to stop the bill—indeed, many voted for it. Danner blames the failure on its proximity to the November 2006 midterm elections and the Democrats' fear of being portrayed as "coddlers of terrorists." He quotes freshman Senator Barack Obama (D-IL): "Soon, we will adjourn for the fall, and the campaigning will begin in earnest. And there will be 30-second attack ads and negative mail pieces, and we will be criticized as caring more about the rights of terrorists than the protection of Americans. And I know that the vote before us was specifically designed and timed to add more fuel to that fire." (Obama voted against the MCA, and, when it passed, he said, "[P]olitics won today.") The damage done to the US's reputation, and to what Danner calls "the 'soft power' of its constitutional and democratic ideals," has been "though difficult to quantify, vast and enduring." Perhaps the largest defeat suffered in the US's "war on terror," he writes, has been self-inflicted, by the inestimable loss of credibility in the Muslim world and around the globe. The decision to use torture "undermin[ed] liberal sympathizers of the United States and convinc[ed] others that the country is exactly as its enemies paint it: a ruthless imperial power determined to suppress and abuse Muslims. By choosing to torture, we freely chose to become the caricature they made of us." A Need for Investigation and Prosecution - Danner is guardedly optimistic that, under Democratic leadership in the White House and Congress, the US government's embrace of torture has stopped, and almost as importantly, the authorization and practice of torture under the Bush administration will be investigated, and those responsible will be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. But, he notes, "[i]f there is a need for prosecution there is also a vital need for education. Only a credible investigation into what was done and what information was gained can begin to alter the political calculus around torture by replacing the public's attachment to the ticking bomb with an understanding of what torture is and what is gained, and lost, when the United States reverts to it." [New York Review of Books, 3/15/2009]
Entity Tags: Khallad bin Attash, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Bush administration (43), Barack Obama, Abu Zubaida, New York Review of Books, Central Intelligence Agency, George W. Bush, Geneva Conventions, John Ashcroft, International Committee of the Red Cross, Mark Danner
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline
Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff and now chairs the New America Foundation/US-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative, writes an op-ed titled "Some Truths about Guantanamo Bay" for the Washington Note. Wilkerson explains why he believes so many people were captured and so many of those were tortured, for so little gain, and in the process covers several other issues regarding the Bush administration. Handling of Terror Suspects - Wilkerson writes that the entire process of capturing, detaining, and processing suspected Islamist militants was marked by incompetence and a casual, improvisational approach. Most of the "suspects" captured during the first weeks and months of the Afghanistan invasion (see October 7, 2001) were merely picked up in sweeps, or bought from corrupt regional warlords, and transported wholesale to a variety of US bases and military camps, and then sent to Guantanamo, mostly in response to then-Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's exhortation to "just get the b_stards to the interrogators." Wilkerson blames the civilian leadership, for failing to provide the necessary information and guidance to make sensible, informed decisions about who should and should not have been considered either terror suspects or potential sources of information. When detainees were found not to have had any ties to Islamist radical groups, nor had any real intelligence value, they were kept at Guantanamo instead of being released. Wilkerson writes that "to have admitted this reality would have been a black mark on their leadership from virtually day one of the so-called Global War on Terror and these leaders already had black marks enough.… They were not about to admit to their further errors at Guantanamo Bay. Better to claim that everyone there was a hardcore terrorist, was of enduring intelligence value, and would return to jihad if released." He writes that State Department attempts to rectify the situation "from almost day one" experienced almost no success. Data Mining Called for Large Numbers of Detainees - Wilkerson notes what he calls "ad hoc intelligence philosophy that was developed to justify keeping many of these people," a data mining concept called in the White House "the mosaic philosophy." He explains: "Simply stated, this philosophy held that it did not matter if a detainee were innocent. Indeed, because he lived in Afghanistan and was captured on or near the battle area, he must know something of importance (this general philosophy, in an even cruder form, prevailed in Iraq as well, helping to produce the nightmare at Abu Ghraib). All that was necessary was to extract everything possible from him and others like him, assemble it all in a computer program, and then look for cross-connections and serendipitous incidentals—in short, to have sufficient information about a village, a region, or a group of individuals, that dots could be connected and terrorists or their plots could be identified. Thus, as many people as possible had to be kept in detention for as long as possible to allow this philosophy of intelligence gathering to work. The detainees' innocence was inconsequential. After all, they were ignorant peasants for the most part and mostly Muslim to boot." Unfortunately for this data mining effort, the gathering, cataloging, and maintenance of such information was carried out with what he calls "sheer incompetence," rendering the information structure virtually useless either for intelligence or in prosecuting terror suspects. No Information of Value Gained from Guantanamo Detainees - And, Wilkerson adds, he is not aware of any information gathered from Guantanamo detainees that made any real contribution to the US's efforts to combat terrorism: "This is perhaps the most astounding truth of all, carefully masked by men such as Donald Rumsfeld and Richard Cheney in their loud rhetoric—continuing even now in the case of Cheney—about future attacks thwarted, resurgent terrorists, the indisputable need for torture and harsh interrogation, and for secret prisons and places such as Gitmo." Hindrance to Prosecution - This incompetence in gathering and storing information had a powerful impact on the ability of the US to prosecute the two dozen or so detainees who actually might be what Wilkerson calls "hardcore terrorists." For these and the other detainees, he writes, "there was virtually no chain of custody, no disciplined handling of evidence, and no attention to the details that almost any court system would demand" (see January 20, 2009). Shutting Down Guantanamo - Wilkerson writes that the Guantanamo detention facility could be shut down much sooner than President Obama's promised year (see January 22, 2009), and notes he believes a plan for shutting down the facility must have existed "[a]s early as 2004 and certainly in 2005." War on Terror Almost Entirely Political - Wilkerson charges that the Bush administration's driving rationale behind the "never-ending war on terror" was political: "For political purposes, they knew it certainly had no end within their allotted four to eight years," he writes in an op-ed about the US's detention policies. "Moreover, its not having an end, properly exploited, would help ensure their eight rather than four years in office." Cheney's Criticisms of Obama 'Twisted ... Fear-Mongering' - Wilkerson excoriates former Vice President Dick Cheney for his recent statements regarding President Obama and the "war on terror" (see February 4, 2009). Instead of helping the US in its fight against al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorism, Wilkerson writes, Cheney is making that fight all the more difficult (see February 5, 2009). "Al-Qaeda has been hurt, badly, largely by our military actions in Afghanistan and our careful and devastating moves to stymie its financial support networks. But al-Qaeda will be back. Iraq, Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, heavily-biased US support for Israel, and a host of other strategic errors have insured al-Qaeda's resilience, staying power, and motivation. How we deal with the future attacks of this organization and its cohorts could well seal our fate, for good or bad. Osama bin Laden and his brain trust, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are counting on us to produce the bad. With people such as Cheney assisting them, they are far more likely to succeed." [Washington Note, 3/17/2009]
Entity Tags: Colin Powell, Barack Obama, Bush administration (43), Richard ("Dick") Cheney, US Department of Defense, Lawrence Wilkerson, Obama administration, US Department of State
The Justice Department informs CIA Director Leon Panetta that, after due deliberation, it will recommend to the White House that it release four Bush-era "torture memos" almost uncensored (see April 16, 2009), in compliance with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Panetta, who is about to leave for an overseas trip, tells Attorney General Eric Holder and White House officials that the administration needs to consider the possibility that the memos' release might expose CIA officers to lawsuits on allegations of torture and abuse. He also demands more censorship of the memos. The Justice Department informs other senior CIA officials, and as a courtesy, former agency directors Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet, and John Deutch. Senior CIA officials object, arguing that the memos' release could damage the agency's ability to interrogate prisoners in the future and would further besmirch CIA officers who had acted on the Bush administration's legal guidance. They also warn that the release might harm foreign intelligence services' trust in the CIA's ability to protect national security secrets. The four former directors also raise objections, arguing that the release might compromise ongoing intelligence operations. The torture authorized by the Bush White House had been approved under Tenet's directorship. On March 19, the Justice Department requests a two-week delay in releasing the memos; department officials tell the court handling the lawsuit that the administration is considering releasing the memos without waiting for a court verdict. Two weeks later, Justice Department officials tell the court that the memos would come out on or before April 16. President Obama becomes more and more involved in the matter, leading a National Security Council (NSC) session on the issue and holding high-level sessions with Holder and other Cabinet members. Obama also discusses the issue with lower-level officials, and with an unidentified NSC official from the Bush administration. Obama's biggest worry is the possibility of endangering ongoing intelligence operations. The Justice Department argues that the ACLU lawsuit would in the end force the administration to release the documents anyway. Obama eventually agrees, and the White House decides it will be better to release the memos voluntarily and avoid the perception of only releasing them after being forced to do so by a court ruling. Obama also decides that very few redactions should be made in the documents. The only redactions in the memos are the names of US employees, foreign services, and items related to techniques still in use. To mollify CIA personnel concerns, Obama will send a personal letter to CIA employees reassuring them that he supports them, understands the clandestine nature of their operations, and has no intention of prosecuting CIA employees who followed the legal guidelines set forth in the memos. [Associated Press, 4/17/2009]
Entity Tags: John Deutch, Barack Obama, American Civil Liberties Union, Bush administration (43), George J. Tenet, Leon Panetta, US Department of Justice, Eric Holder, Michael Hayden, Porter J. Goss
Baltasar Garzon. [Source: Presidency of Argentina]A Spanish court begins preliminary work towards opening a criminal investigation into allegations that six former top Bush administration officials may be guilty of war crimes related to torture of prisoners at Guantanamo. Spanish law allows the investigation and prosecution of people beyond its borders in the case of torture or war crimes. Investigative judge Baltasar Garzon, who ordered the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and has overseen the prosecution of numerous terrorists and human rights violators, wants to prosecute former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Justice Department lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee, former Defense Department officials William Haynes and Douglas Feith, and David Addington, the former chief of staff to then-Vice President Cheney. Many legal experts say that even if Garzon's case results in warrants being issued, it is highly doubtful that the warrants would ever be served as long as the six potential defendants remain in the US. Spain has jurisdiction in the case because five Spanish citizens or residents have claimed to have been tortured at Guantanamo; the five faced charges in Spain, but were released after the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that evidence obtained through torture was inadmissible. Garzon's complaint rests on alleged violations of the Geneva Conventions and the 1984 Convention Against Torture (see October 21, 1994). The complaint was prepared by Spanish lawyers with the assistance of experts in Europe and America, and filed by the Association for the Dignity of Prisoners, a Spanish human rights group. Lawyer Gonzalo Boye, who filed the complaint, says that Gonzales, Yoo, and the others have what he calls well-documented roles in approving illegal torture techniques, redefining torture, and ignoring the constraints set by the Convention Against Torture. "When you bring a case like this you can't stop to make political judgments as to how it might affect bilateral relations between countries," Boye says. "It's too important for that." Boye adds: "This is a case from lawyers against lawyers. Our profession does not allow us to misuse our legal knowledge to create a pseudo-legal frame to justify, stimulate, and cover up torture." The US is expected to ignore any extradition requests occuring from the case. [New York Times, 3/28/2009; Associated Press, 3/28/2009]
Entity Tags: William J. Haynes, Jay S. Bybee, David S. Addington, John C. Yoo, Geneva Conventions, Convention Against Torture, Gonzalo Boye, Association for the Dignity of Prisoners, Alberto R. Gonzales, Baltasar Garzon, Bush administration (43)
The CIA's torture of a supposed high-ranking al-Qaeda operative, Abu Zubaida, produced no information that helped foil any terrorist attacks or plots, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Zubaida was subjected to intensive waterboarding and other tortures (see April - June 2002), and provided information about a fantastic array of al-Qaeda plots that sent CIA agents all over the globe chasing down his leads. But none of his information panned out, according to the former officials. Almost everything Zubaida said under torture was false, and most of the reliable information gleaned from him—chiefly the names of al-Qaeda members and associates—was obtained before the CIA began torturing him. Moreover, the US's characterization of Zubaida as "al-Qaeda's chief of operations" and a "trusted associate" of Osama bin Laden turned out to be false as well. Several sources have challenged the government's characterization of Zubaida as a "high-level al-Qaeda operative" before now (see Shortly After March 28, 2002 and April 9, 2002 and After). 'Fixer' for Islamists before 9/11 - Zubaida, a native Palestinian, never even joined al-Qaeda until after 9/11, according to information obtained from court documents and interviews with current and former intelligence, law enforcement, and military sources. Instead, he was a "fixer" for a number of radical Islamists, who regarded the US as an enemy primarily because of its support for Israel. Many describe Zubaida as a "travel agent" for al-Qaeda and other radical Islamists. He joined al-Qaeda because of the US's preparations to invade Afghanistan. US officials are contemplating what, if any, charges they can use to bring him into court. Zubaida has alleged links with Ahmed Ressam, the so-called "Millennium Bomber" (see December 14, 1999), and allegedly took part in plans to retaliate against US forces after the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001 (see December 17, 2001). But some US officials worry that bringing him into a courtroom would reveal the extent of his torture and abuse at the hands of the CIA, and that any evidence they might have against him is compromised because it was obtained in part through torture. Those officials want to send him to Jordan, where he faces allegations of conspiracy in terrorist attacks in that country. Defending Zubaida's Information - Some in the US government still believe that Zubaida provided useful information. "It's simply wrong to suggest that Abu Zubaida wasn't intimately involved with al-Qaeda," says a US counterterrorism official. "He was one of the terrorist organization's key facilitators, offered new insights into how the organization operated, provided critical information on senior al-Qaeda figures… and identified hundreds of al-Qaeda members. How anyone can minimize that information—some of the best we had at the time on al-Qaeda—is beyond me.… Based on what he shared during his interrogations, he was certainly aware of many of al-Qaeda's activities and operatives." But the characterization of Zubaida as a well-connected errand runner was confirmed by Noor al-Deen, a Syrian teenager captured along with Zubaida at a Pakistani safe house (see March 28, 2002). Al-Deen readily answered questions, both in Pakistan and in a detention facility in Morocco. He described Zubaida as a well-known functionary with little knowledge of al-Qaeda operations. (Al-Deen was later transferred to Syria; his current whereabouts and status are unknown to the public.) A former Justice Department official closely involved in the early investigation of Zubaida says: "He was the above-ground support" for al-Qaeda and other radicals. "He was the guy keeping the safe house, and that's not someone who gets to know the details of the plans. To make him the mastermind of anything is ridiculous." A former intelligence officer says the US spent an inestimable amount of time and money chasing Zubaida's "leads" to no effect: "We spent millions of dollars chasing false alarms." Connected to KSM - Zubaida knew radical Islamist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed for years. Mohammed, often dubbed "KSM" by US officials, approached Zubaida in the 1990s about finding financial backers for a plan he had concocted to fly a small plane into the World Trade Center. Zubaida declined involvement but recommended he talk to bin Laden. Zubaida quickly told FBI interrogators of Mohammed and other al-Qaeda figures such as alleged "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla (see May 8, 2002). He also revealed the plans of the low-level al-Qaeda operatives he fled Afghanistan with. Some wanted to strike US forces in Afghanistan with bombs, while others harbored ideas of further strikes on American soil. But he knew few details, and had no knowledge of plans by senior al-Qaeda operatives. At this point, the CIA took over the interrogations, and the torture began (see Mid-April-May 2002). As a result of the torture, Zubaida began alternating between obstinate silence and providing torrents of falsified and fanciful "intelligence"; when FBI "clean teams" attempted to re-interview some detainees who had been tortured in order to obtain evidence uncontaminated by abusive treatment, Zubaida refused to cooperate. Joseph Margulies, one of Zubaida's attorneys, says: "The government doesn't retreat from who KSM is, and neither does KSM. With Zubaida, it's different. The government seems finally to understand he is not at all the person they thought he was. But he was tortured. And that's just a profoundly embarrassing position for the government to be in." Margulies and other lawyers want the US to send Zubaida to another country besides Jordan—Saudi Arabia, perhaps, where Zubaida has family. Military prosecutors have already deleted Zubaida's name from the charge sheets of detainees who will soon stand trial, including several who were captured with Zubaida and are charged with crimes in which Zubaida's involvement has been alleged. Pressure from the White House - The pressure from the White House to get actionable information from Zubaida was intense (see Late March 2002), according to sources. One official recalls the pressure as "tremendous." He says the push to force information from Zubaida mounted from one daily briefing to the next. "They couldn't stand the idea that there wasn't anything new. They'd say, 'You aren't working hard enough.' There was both a disbelief in what he was saying and also a desire for retribution—a feeling that 'He's going to talk, and if he doesn't talk, we'll do whatever.'" [Washington Post, 3/29/2009]
Entity Tags: Jose Padilla, Al-Qaeda, Ahmed Ressam, Abu Zubaida, Bush administration (43), Federal Bureau of Investigation, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, US Department of Justice, Joseph Margulies, Central Intelligence Agency, Noor al-Deen
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, in an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, refuses to acknowledge his role in approving the torture of suspected terrorists. In 2008, ABC News named Powell as one of the members of the National Security Council's principals committee who repeatedly authorized a variety of torture techniques to be used on detainees (see April 9, 2008). He also declines to affirm that several techniques, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation, qualify as torture. Powell says the torture of Abu Zubaida (see April - June 2002) and other al-Qaeda suspects "were not play-by-play discussed but there were conversations at a senior level with regard to what could be done with these types of interrogation. I cannot say further because I don't have knowledge of all the meetings that took place or what was discussed at each of those meetings and I think it's going to have to be in the written record of that meeting what will determine whether anything improper took place. But it is always the case that at least in the State Department's standpoint, we should be consistent with the requirements of the Geneva Convention and that's why this was such a controversial, controversial issue that you have to go—in due course I think we all will go to the written record. I'm not sure what memos were signed or not signed. I didn't have access to all of that information." Maddow asks, "If there was a meeting, though, at which senior officials were giving the approval for sleep deprivations, stress positions, waterboarding, were those officials committing crimes when they were getting their authorization?" Powell refuses to answer, saying, "I don't know If any of these items would be considered criminal and I would wait for whatever investigation that the government or the Congress intends to pursue with this." Maddow asks if he regrets his own participation in discussions about interrogations and torture, but Powell cuts her off to state: "There was no meeting on torture. It is constantly said that the meetings—I had an issue with this—we had meetings on what torture to administer. What I recall, the meetings I was in, I was not in all the meetings and I was not an author of many of the memos that have been written and some have come out and some have not come out. The only meetings I recall was where we talked about what is it we can do with respect to trying to get information from individuals who were in our custody. And I will just have to wait until the full written record is available and examined.… I don't know where these things were being approved at a political level." [MSNBC, 4/1/2009; Think Progress, 4/1/2009]
Entity Tags: Rachel Maddow, Colin Powell
The CIA says it intends to close down the network of secret overseas prisons it used to torture suspected terrorists during the Bush administration. CIA Director Leon Panetta says that agency officers who worked in the program "should not be investigated, let alone punished" because the Justice Department under President Bush had declared their actions legal. Justice Department memos (see April 16, 2009) and investigations by the International Committee of the Red Cross (see October 6 - December 14, 2006) have shown that torture was used on several prisoners in these so-called "black sites." Panetta says the secret detention facilities have not been used since 2006, but are still costing taxpayers money to keep open. Terminating security contracts at the sites would save "at least $4 million," he says. The CIA has never revealed the location of the sites, but independent investigations and news reports place at least some of them in Afghanistan, Thailand, Poland, Romania, and Jordan. Agency officials have claimed that fewer than 100 prisoners were ever held in the sites, and around 30 of them were tortured. The last 14 prisoners were transferred to Guantanamo in 2006 (see September 2-3, 2006), but then-President Bush ordered the sites to remain open for future use. Since then, two suspected al-Qaeda operatives are known to have been kept in the sites. Panetta also says that the CIA will no longer use private contractors to conduct interrogations. [New York Times, 4/10/2009]
Entity Tags: Leon Panetta, Central Intelligence Agency
One of Hayden's Twitter posts. [Source: Twitteradar (.com)]Daniel Knight Hayden, an Oklahoma man who has declared himself affiliated with local tea party organizations and the "Oath Keeper" movement (see March 9, 2009 and March 2010), is arrested by FBI agents after posting a series of messages on Twitter threatening to unleash a violent attack on Oklahoma state government officials on April 15, "Tax Day." On April 13, under the moniker "CitizenQuasar," Hayden began posting a blizzard of "tweets" about his intention to be on the Oklahoma State Capitol steps on the 15th, at first as part of a peaceful tea party event, then escalating into harsher rhetoric, and eventually threats of violence. On April 14, he wrote: "Tea Parties: And Poot Gingrich wants to stand in the limelight. He is a NWO operative," referring to former Republican House Speaker and tea party favorite Newt Gingrich, and accusing him of being an "operative" for the "New World Order" (see September 11, 1990). Towards midnight of April 14, Hayden begins the following series of posts: "Maybe it's time to die. Let's see if I can video record the Highway Patrol at the entrance to the Oklahoma State Capitol." "While trying to inform them of Oath Keepers" (and links to the Oath Keepers blog). "And post it on the internet. Since i live on this sorry f_cking state,that is as good a place as ANY to die and start a WAR. WEshallsee." "I WISH I had someone to watch my back with MY camera." "AND, no matter WHAT happens, to post it on the internet IMMEDIATELY, AND send it to Alex Jones!!!!!!!!!!!!" (referring to radio talk show host Alex Jones). "Damnit!" "Alas… WE SHALL see the TRUTH about this sorry f_cking state!!!!!!!" After a few more posts, Dyer begins posting direct threats of violence (later removed from the Twitter account, but presented in the FBI affidavit). "The WAR wWIL start on the stepes of the Oklahoma State Capitol. I will cast the first stone. In the meantime, I await the police." "START THE KILLING NOW! I am wiling to be the FIRST DEATH! I Await the police. They will kill me in my home." "After I am killed on the Capitol Steps like REAL man, the rest of you will REMEMBER ME!!!" "I really don' give a sh_t anymore. Send the cops around. I will cut their heads off the heads and throw the on the State Capitol steps." Hayden is taken into custody before he can go to the Capitol building, and arrested for transmitting threats to kill or injure people using interstate communication tools over the Internet. FBI agent Michael Puskas confirms that Dyer posted under the moniker "CitizenQuasar," and says Dyer also has MySpace and Blogger accounts under similar monikers. Wired magazine says it "appears to be [the] first criminal prosecution to stem from posts on the microblogging site," and calls Dyer's MySpace page "a breathtaking gallery of right-wing memes about the 'New World Order,' gun control as Nazi fascism, and Barack Obama's covert use of television hypnosis, among many others." Dyer will be arraigned on April 16 and ordered released to a halfway house, a move the Associated Press reports as suggesting "the magistrate judge does not consider him a genuine threat." [Wired News, 4/24/2009; Associated Press, 4/26/2009] Posters on the conservative blog Free Republic, commenting on Hayden's arrest, label him a "leftist" who intended to kill tea party protesters, a contention they say is proven by Hayden's vows to seek revenge for the government's execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). One poster writes: "Hayden appears to be one of those mixtures of far out ideologies. On one hand he seems to support nazism but accused Obama of using mind control." [Free Republic, 4/24/2009]
Entity Tags: Wired News, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Daniel Knight Hayden, Free Republic, Newt Gingrich, Michael Puskas, Oath Keepers
President Obama presides over a deeply divided group of top advisers as he decides whether or not to release four Bush-era Justice Department memos documenting the Bush administration's torture policies (see April 16, 2009). CIA Director Leon Panetta and his four immediate predecessors have already registered their flat disapproval of the memos' release (see March 18, 2009 and After), as has Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan. On the other side are Attorney General Eric Holder, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, and White House counsel Gregory Craig. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has indicated he supports the release because it is inevitable anyway—the memos are the subject of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit—and because Obama is willing to promise that no CIA officers will be prosecuted for abuse. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen sides with Gates. Obama presides over a "mini-debate" in the office of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, where each side designates a spokesperson to present its views. When the debate is concluded, Obama immediately dictates a draft of his announcement of the memos' release. During the discussion, Obama rejects the proposal that the memos' release be delayed in anticipation of a so-called "truth commission" to investigate Bush torture policies, saying that such delay would just create further divisiveness. Craig argues persuasively that the judge overseeing the FOIA lawsuit is unlikely to grant any delays. Obama aides later say the president's decision is in keeping with his frequent campaign promises that he would not only stop the torture and abuse of prisoners in US custody, but get to the truth behind the Bush administration's torture policies. [Newsweek, 4/18/2009; Washington Post, 4/24/2009]
Entity Tags: Robert M. Gates, US Department of Justice, Rahm Emanuel, Leon Panetta, Greg Craig, Dennis C. Blair, Barack Obama, John O. Brennan, Eric Holder, Michael Mullen
The White House releases four key Justice Department memos documenting the CIA's use of harsh interrogation methods—torture—against suspected terrorists. The memos were released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The documents show that two high-level detainees were subjected to waterboarding at least 266 times between them. Al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaida was waterboarded at least 83 times in August 2002, contradicting earlier CIA reports that he "broke" after a single waterboarding session (see December 10, 2007). Confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was waterboarded at least 183 times in March 2003. The so-called "insect" technique—exposure to insects within an enclosed box—was approved for use on Zubaida, but apparently never used. Numerous prisoners were subjected to "walling" and "sleep deprivation," with at least one detainee subjected to the technique for 180 hours (over seven days). Three of the memos were written by then-Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) chief Steven Bradbury in May 2005 (see May 10, 2005, May 10, 2005, and May 30, 2005), and the fourth by Bradbury's predecessor, Jay Bybee, in August 2002 (see August 1, 2002). [American Civil Liberties Union, 4/16/2009; New York Times, 4/19/2009; BBC, 4/23/2009] Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) says: "These legal memoranda demonstrate in alarming detail exactly what the Bush administration authorized for 'high value detainees' in US custody. The techniques are chilling. This was not an 'abstract legal theory,' as some former Bush administration officials have characterized it. These were specific techniques authorized to be used on real people." [CNN, 4/17/2009] House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-MI) agrees, saying: "This release, as well as the decision to ban the use of such techniques in the future, will strengthen both our national security and our commitment to the rule of law and help restore our country's standing in the international community. The legal analysis and some of the techniques in these memos are truly shocking and mark a disturbing chapter in our nation's history." [Think Progress, 4/16/2009] Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), whose committee is conducting an investigation of abusive interrogation methods used during the Bush administration, says Bush officials "inaccurately interpreted" the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture. "I find it difficult to understand how the opinions found these interrogation techniques to be legal," she says. "For example, waterboarding and slamming detainees head-first into walls, as described in the OLC opinions, clearly fall outside what is legally permissible." [United Press International, 4/16/2009] White House Condemns Methods, Opposes Investigations - Attorney General Eric Holder says of the memos: "The president has halted the use of the interrogation techniques described in these opinions, and this administration has made clear from day one that it will not condone torture. We are disclosing these memos consistent with our commitment to the rule of law." Holder adds that, according to a Justice Department statement, "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." Holder states, "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." [US Department of Justice, 4/16/2009] President Obama condemns what he calls a "dark and painful chapter in our history," and promises that such torture techniques will never be used again. However, he restates his opposition to a lengthy investigation into the program, saying that "nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past." In contrast, Leahy says that the memos illustrate the need for an independent investigation. Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, points out that the memos were written at a time when the CIA was working to prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks. "Those methods, read on a bright, sunny, safe day in April 2009, appear graphic and disturbing," he says. "But we will absolutely defend those who relied on these memos." [New York Times, 4/19/2009] The ACLU demands criminal prosecution of Bush officials for their torture policies (see April 16, 2009). [American Civil Liberties Union, 4/16/2009] Techniques Include Waterboarding, Insect Exposure, 'Walling' - The memos show that several techniques were approved for use, including waterboarding, exposure to insects within a "confinement box," being slammed into a wall, sleep deprivation, stress positions, forced nudity, and others. [American Civil Liberties Union, 4/16/2009; New York Times, 4/19/2009; BBC, 4/23/2009] Waterboarded Well beyond Allowed Procedures - Because the information about the waterboarding of Zubaida and Mohammed comes from the classified and heavily redacted CIA's inspector general report, which has not yet been released to the public, the information is at least in part based on the videotapes of Zubaida's interrogation sessions that were later destroyed by CIA officials (see March 6, 2009). The CIA memo explained that detainees could be waterboarded between 12 and 18 times in a single day, but only on five days during a single month—which mathematically only adds up to 90 times in a month, and thus does not explain how Mohammed could have been waterboarded 183 times in a month if these procedures were being followed. The memos also reveal that in practice, the waterboarding went far beyond the methodologies authorized by the Justice Department and used in SERE training (see December 2001 and July 2002). Information Unearthed by Blogger - Initial media reports fail to divulge the extraordinary number of times Zubaida and Mohammed were waterboarded. It falls to a blogger, Marcy Wheeler, to unearth the information from the CIA memo and reveal it to the public (see April 18, 2009). [Marcy Wheeler, 4/18/2009]
Entity Tags: Marcy Wheeler, Central Intelligence Agency, Dennis C. Blair, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Dianne Feinstein, Jay S. Bybee, Geneva Conventions, Eric Holder, Barack Obama, Bush administration (43), John Conyers, Office of Legal Counsel (DOJ), US Department of Justice, American Civil Liberties Union, Steven Bradbury, Patrick J. Leahy, Abu Zubaida, Obama administration
Fox News commentators mock the idea of using insects to torture prisoners, as was revealed in recently released Justice Department torture memos (see April 16, 2009). Mike Huckabee (R-AR), the former governor of Arkansas and a 2008 presidential candidate who now has his own talk show on Fox, says, "Look, I've been in some hotels where there were more bugs than these guys faced." Huckabee goes on to characterize the Obama administration's version of prisoner interrogation, saying, "We're going to talk to them, we're going to have a nice conversation, we're going to invite them down for some tea and crumpets." Huckabee's fellow commentators Gretchen Carlson and Steve Doocy join in the hilarity. [Media Matters, 4/17/2009; Media Matters, 4/21/2009]
Entity Tags: Gretchen Carlson, Fox News, Steve Doocy, Mike Huckabee
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Domestic Propaganda
Marcy Wheeler. [Source: Project Censored]Progressive blogger Marcy Wheeler, who posts under the moniker "emptywheel" at FireDogLake.com, finds that, upon careful perusal of the March 30, 2005 CIA torture memo just released by the Obama administration (see May 30, 2005 and April 16, 2009), two suspected terrorists, Abu Zubaida and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, were waterboarded 266 times. Initial, more cursory news reports on the memo did not reveal this fact. The next day, the New York Times will cite Wheeler in its report on the discovery. [Marcy Wheeler, 4/18/2009; New York Times, 4/19/2009] Wheeler writes: "The CIA wants you to believe waterboarding is effective. Yet somehow, it took them 183 applications of the waterboard in a one month period to get what they claimed was cooperation out of KSM. That doesn't sound very effective to me." [Marcy Wheeler, 4/18/2009] Days later, an unidentified "US official with knowledge of the interrogation program" will tell a Fox News reporter that the claim of 183 waterboardings for Mohammed is inaccurate and misleading. Mohammed was only waterboarded five times, the official will claim. The figure of 183 is the number of "pours" Mohammed was subjected to. "The water was poured 183 times—there were 183 pours," the official says, adding, "[E]ach pour was a matter of seconds." The report of five waterboardings for Mohammed comes from a 2007 Red Cross report, the official will say. [Fox News, 4/28/2009]
Entity Tags: Marcy Wheeler, Obama administration, FireDogLake (.com), Central Intelligence Agency, Abu Zubaida, New York Times, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden refuses to confirm information from a recently released CIA memo that shows alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed had been waterboarded 183 times in a single month (see April 16, 2009). Even though the memo has been released to the public, Hayden says he believes that information is still classified. Hayden says he opposed the release of the memo and three others recently released by the White House. Even though President Obama has said that the US will never use waterboarding and other "harsh interrogation techniques" again, Hayden says: "At the tactical level, what we have described for our enemies in the midst of a war are the outer limits that any American would ever go to in terms of interrogating an al-Qaeda terrorist. That's very valuable information. Now, it doesn't mean we would always go to the outer limits, but it describes the box within which Americans will not go beyond. To me, that's very useful for our enemies, even if as a policy matter, this president at this time had decided not to use one, any, or all of those techniques. It reveals the outer limits. That's very important." Hayden also disputes reports that suspected terrorist Abu Zubaida revealed nothing new after being tortured; he says that after Zubaida was subjected to waterboarding and other unspecified "techniques," he revealed information leading to the capture of suspected terrorist Ramzi bin al-Shibh. [New York Times, 4/19/2009; Think Progress, 4/19/2009] Days later, former FBI interrogator Ali Soufan will reveal information that disputes Hayden's claims (see Late March through Early June, 2002 and April 22, 2009).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Michael Hayden
Responding to the news that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in a single month (see April 18, 2009), Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reiterates his opposition to waterboarding and to torture: "One is too much. Waterboarding is torture, period. I can ensure [sic] you that once enough physical pain is inflicted on someone, they will tell that interrogator whatever they think they want to hear. And most importantly, it serves as a great propaganda tool for those who recruit people to fight against us." He adds, "The image of the United States of America throughout the world is a recruiting tool for Islamic extremists." However, McCain says it was a "serious mistake" for the Obama administration to release the CIA torture memos (see April 16, 2009), saying, "The release of these memos helps no one, doesn't help America's image, does not help us address the issue." [Think Progress, 4/20/2009]
Entity Tags: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Obama administration, John McCain
The Senate Armed Services Committee releases a report showing that CIA and Pentagon officials explored ways to "break" Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees in early 2002, eight months before the Justice Department issued its "golden shield" memo (see August 1, 2002) approving the use of waterboarding and nine other methods of interrogation that most legal observers believe amount to torture. The report, under Pentagon review since before its release, focuses solely on military interrogations, and not on interrogations carried out by CIA officers and contractors; it rejects claims by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other Bush administration officials that Pentagon policies played no role in the torture of prisoners in US custody. Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) says the report shows a direct link between early Bush administration policy decisions and the torture and abuse of detainees. "Senior officials sought out information on, were aware of training in, and authorized the use of abusive interrogation techniques," Levin says. "Those senior officials bear significant responsibility for creating the legal and operational framework for the abuses. The paper trail on abuse leads to top civilian leaders, and our report connects the dots. This report, in great detail, shows a paper trail going from that authorization" by Rumsfeld "to Guantanamo to Afghanistan and to Iraq." [Senate Armed Services Committee, 11/20/2008 ; New York Times, 4/21/2009; Agence France-Presse, 4/21/2009; Washington Post, 4/22/2009] Torture Policies Driven from Top - One of the report's findings is that top Bush administration officials, and not a "few bad apples" as many of that administration's officials have claimed, are responsible for the use of torture against detainees in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. Levin says in a statement that the report proves that such claims "were simply false." He adds that the report is "a condemnation of both the Bush administration's interrogation policies and of senior administration officials who attempted to shift the blame for abuse—such as that seen at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and Afghanistan—to low-ranking soldiers." [Senate Armed Services Committee, 11/20/2008 ; Washington Post, 4/22/2009] The report adds details to the material already released that showed Bush officials, particularly those in the Offices of the Vice President and Defense Secretary, pushed for harsher and more brutal interrogation techniques to be used during the run-up to war with Iraq, in hopes that results might prove the link between Iraq and al-Qaeda that administration officials had long touted (see December 11, 2008). Levin says: "I think it's obvious that the administration was scrambling then to try to find a connection, a link [between al-Qaeda and Iraq]. They made out links where they didn't exist." Senior Guantanamo interrogator David Becker confirmed that only "a couple of nebulous links" between al-Qaeda and Iraq were uncovered during interrogations of unidentified detainees. [McClatchy News, 4/21/2009] Ignored Warnings that Torture Techniques Worthless, Illegal - The report, released in classified form in December 2008 (see December 11, 2008), also documents multiple warnings from legal sources and trained interrogation experts that the techniques could backfire, producing false and erroneous intelligence, and might violate US and international law. One Army lieutenant colonel warned in 2002 that coercion "usually decreases the reliability of the information because the person will say whatever he believes will stop the pain," according to the Senate report. Another official, after being briefed on plans to use "extreme methods" on detainees, asked, "Wouldn't that be illegal?" [Senate Armed Services Committee, 11/20/2008 ; Agence France-Presse, 4/21/2009; Washington Post, 4/22/2009] Torture Methods Became Procedures at Detention Sites - Instead of being abandoned, the methods became the basis for harsh interrogations at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and other US detention facilities around the world, including the CIA's so-called "black sites." [Senate Armed Services Committee, 11/20/2008 ; Washington Post, 4/22/2009] White House Officials Ignorant of SERE Techniques - The report—261 pages long and with almost 1,800 footnotes—documents how techniques from a US military training program called Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) were adapted for use against detainees. SERE trains US soldiers to resist harsh interrogation methods if captured by an enemy that does not observe the Geneva Conventions' ban on torture. The military's Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JRPA) reverse-engineered SERE methods to use against detainees (see December 2001). Other tactics, such as waterboarding, were culled from methods used by Chinese Communists against US soldiers captured during the Korean War (see July 2002). [Senate Armed Services Committee, 11/20/2008 ; Agence France-Presse, 4/21/2009; Washington Post, 4/22/2009] According to the report, Bush White House officials seemed unaware of the Chinese Communist origins of the SERE tactics, and were apparently unaware that veteran SERE trainers insisted that the methods were useless for getting reliable information from a prisoner. Moreover, the former military psychologist who recommended that the CIA adopt SERE techniques "had never conducted a real interrogation." One CIA official called the process "a perfect storm of ignorance and enthusiasm." Bush administration officials also ignored concerns raised by military legal experts over the efficacy and legality of the techniques (see November 2002). Torture Policies Directly Responsible for Abu Ghraib Scandal - The Armed Service Committee concludes that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were a direct result of the Bush torture policies. It writes: "The abuses of detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own.… Rumsfeld's December 2, 2002 authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques and subsequent interrogation policies and plans approved by senior military and civilian officials (see December 2, 2002) conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees in US custody." [Senate Armed Services Committee, 11/20/2008 ]
Entity Tags: Carl Levin, Central Intelligence Agency, Senate Armed Services Committee, Donald Rumsfeld, US Department of Defense, Geneva Conventions, Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, Bush administration (43)
Rachel Maddow and Ron Suskind during their MSNBC interview. [Source: Huffington Post]MSNBC host Rachel Maddow interviews author Ron Suskind, who has written several books documenting the clandestine activities of the Bush administration. Maddow is most interested in the recent release of the Senate Armed Services Committee report documenting the use of torture against prisoners in US custody (see April 16, 2009 and April 21, 2009). Suskind notes that there were two separate but parallel tracks being followed in the administration, authorizing both the military and the CIA to torture prisoners. He believes the administration's underlying motive was to find, or create through false confessions, a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda that would justify the invasion of Iraq. Suskind tells Maddow: "What's fascinating here is that if you run the timelines side by side, you see for the first time… that the key thing being sent down by the policymakers, by the White House, is 'Find a link between Saddam [Hussein] and al-Qaeda, so that we can essentially link Saddam to the 9/11 attacks and then march into Iraq with the anger of 9/11 behind us.' That was the goal and was being passed down as the directive.… It's often called 'the requirement' inside the CIA, for both agents with their sources and interrogators with their captives: 'Here's what we're interested in, here's what we, the duly elected leaders want to hear about. Tell us what you can find.' What's fascinating, is in the Senate report, is finally, clear confirmation that that specific thing was driving many of the activities, and, mind you, the frustration inside of the White House… as frustration built inside of the White House that there was no link that was established, because the CIA told the White House from the very start that there is no Saddam to al-Qaeda link—'We checked it out, we did it every which way, sorry'—the White House simply wouldn't take no for an answer, and it went with another method: torture was the method. 'Get me a confession, I don't care how you do it.' And that bled all the way through the government, both on the CIA side and the Army side." Suskind notes that the "impetus was not to foil potential al-Qaeda attacks. The impetus here was largely political and diplomatic. The White House had a political/diplomatic problem. It wanted it solved in the run up to the war." [Huffington Post, 4/22/2009; MSNBC, 4/22/2009]
Entity Tags: Bush administration (43), Al-Qaeda, Rachel Maddow, Saddam Hussein, Ron Suskind, Senate Armed Services Committee, Central Intelligence Agency
Liz Cheney, a former State Department official and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, defends the Bush administration's practices of torture by denying that anything authorized by the administration was, in fact, torture. Cheney, interviewed on MSNBC, is responding to the issues raised by the recent Senate Armed Services Committee report on Bush-era torture policies (see April 21, 2009). "The tactics are not torture, we did not torture," she says. To bolster her denial, Cheney says that the tactics are not torture because they were derived from training methods employed in the SERE program (see December 2001, January 2002 and After, and July 2002). "Everything that was done in this program, as has been laid out and described before, are tactics that our own people go through in SERE training," Cheney says. "We did not torture our own people. These techniques are not torture." Progressive news Web site Think Progress notes that in the May 30, 2005 torture memo (see May 30, 2005), then-Justice Department official Steven Bradbury wrote, "Individuals undergoing SERE training are obviously in a very different situation from detainees undergoing interrogation; SERE trainees know it is part of a training program, not a real-life interrogation regime, they presumably know it will last only a short time, and they presumably have assurances that they will not be significantly harmed by the training." [Think Progress, 4/23/2009]
Entity Tags: Bush administration (43), Steven Bradbury, Senate Armed Services Committee, Elizabeth ("Liz") Cheney
Jordan's King Abdullah, during an interview on NBC, says the US indeed tortured prisoners during the last administration. "Well, from what we've seen and what we've heard, there are enough accounts to show that this is the case," Abdullah says. Interviewer David Gregory says: "That's an important point. You actually do believe that the United States engaged in torture." Abdullah responds, "What I see on the press… shows that there were illegal ways of dealing with detainees." [Think Progress, 4/25/2009]
Entity Tags: David Gregory, Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein
As calls mount for the impeachment of Judge Jay Bybee (see April 21, 2009), who signed off on two key Bush-era torture memos as the head of the Justice Department's Office of Special Counsel (see August 1, 2002 and August 1, 2002), some friends of Bybee's say that he now regrets signing the memos. "I've heard him express regret at the contents of the memo," says a fellow legal scholar who refuses to allow his name to be published. "I've heard him express regret that the memo was misused. I've heard him express regret at the lack of context—of the enormous pressure and the enormous time pressure that he was under. And anyone would have regrets simply because of the notoriety." The scholar adds: "On the primary memo, that legitimated and defined torture, he just felt it got away from him. What I understand that to mean is, any lawyer, when he or she is writing about something very complicated, very layered, sometimes you can get it all out there and if you're not careful, you end up in a place you never intended to go. I think for someone like Jay, who's a formalist and a textualist, that's a particular danger." Democratic lawmakers complain that Bybee won quick Senate confirmation for his judgeship (see February 5, 2003) in part because he did not discuss the memos during his confirmation hearings. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says, "If the Bush administration and Mr. Bybee had told the truth, he never would have been confirmed." Leahy says that now, "the decent and honorable thing for him to do would be to resign." ACLU senior official Jameel Jaffer says that whatever regrets or caveats Bybee may be experiencing are moot. "I don't think the August 2002 memos reflect serious attempts to grapple in good faith with the law," Jaffer says. "These are documents that are meant to justify predetermined ends. They're not objective legal memos at all." [Washington Post, 4/25/2009; Think Progress, 4/25/2009]
Entity Tags: Office of Special Counsel, Bush administration (43), Jameel Jaffer, Jay S. Bybee, US Department of Justice, Patrick J. Leahy
Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain (R-AZ), a strong opponent of torture (see July 24, 2005 and After, October 1, 2005, November 21, 2005, December 13, 2005, December 15, 2005, and April 20, 2009), says that the US must "move on" from the Bush era of torture and not investigate the Bush administration's torture policies. McCain refuses to support Democratic calls to impeach former Justice Department official Jay Bybee, who authored several of the torture memos (see August 1, 2002 and August 1, 2002), even as he acknowledges Bybee broke the law. McCain says: "He falls into the same category as everybody else as far as giving very bad advice and misinterpreting, fundamentally, what the United States is all about, much less things like the Geneva Conventions. Look, under President Reagan we signed an agreement against torture. We were in violation of that." McCain says that "no one has alleged, quote, wrongdoing" on the part of Bush officials such as Bybee, saying only that they gave "bad advice" to Bush and other senior officials. [Think Progress, 4/26/2009]
Entity Tags: John McCain, Bush administration (43), Jay S. Bybee
Der Spiegel reports new evidence proving that the CIA ran a secret prison in Poland and tortured prisoners there. The prison is identified as the Polish military airbase of Stare Kiejkuty, about an hour's drive north of the Szymany military airbase. One of the most well-known of the "high-value" prisoners kept there was accused 9/11 plotter Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was tortured (see March 7 - Mid-April, 2003) and waterboarded (see After March 7, 2003) in the facility. A Gulfstream N379P jet, known to Polish investigators as the "torture taxi," landed at least five times at Szymany between February and July 2003. According to Der Spiegel, "Flight routes were manipulated and falsified for this purpose and, with the knowledge of the Polish government, the European aviation safety agency Eurocontrol was deliberately deceived." A witness told the public prosecutor's office in Warsaw of seeing people wearing handcuffs and blindfolds being led from the aircraft at Szymany, far from the control tower. The witness said it was always the same individuals and the same civilian vehicles that stood waiting on the landing field. Mohammed told delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that most of the group at the airfield wore ski masks, presumably to avoid being identified. "On arrival the transfer from the airport to the next place of detention took about one hour," he told the ICRC. "I was transported sitting on the floor of a vehicle. I could see at one point that there was snow on the ground. Everybody was wearing black, with masks and army boots, like Planet-X people." Robert Majewski, the Warsaw public prosecutor who took the witness statement cited above, has been investigating former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller's government on allegations of abuse of office. One of the issues surrounding the Miller administration is its alleged secret cooperation with the CIA, and its alleged granting of free rein to the agency over the Stare Kiejkuty military base for its extraterritorial rendition program and torture interrogations. Majewski is also investigating whether the Polish intelligence agency, WSI, made 20 of its agents available to the CIA. Recently, two Polish journalists, Mariusz Kowalewski and Adam Krzykowski, have discovered flight record books from Szymany that had been declared lost. Based on these documents, and on a number of interviews with sources, the two journalists have put together a patchwork of evidence pointing to the CIA's use of Stare Kiejkuty for secret rendition and torture purposes. They say that they lack a final piece of proof—that CIA interrogator Deuce Martinez, one of the primary interrogators of Mohammed, was in Poland at the time of Mohammed's detention in Stare Kiejkuty. Rumors abound of Martinez's presence, but Kowalewski and Krzykowski lack the evidence to prove it. Much of Kowalewski and Krzykowski's reporting has been confirmed by a 2007 investigation conducted by the special investigator for the Council of Europe, Dick Marty. A WSI official told the Marty investigators, "The order to give the CIA everything they needed came from the very top, from the president," meaning former President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who denies the allegation. The CIA has always denied any knowledge of, or involvement with, such a facility. [Der Spiegel (Hamburg), 4/27/2009]
Entity Tags: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Der Spiegel, Central Intelligence Agency, Aleksander Kwasniewski, Adam Krzykowski, Deuce Martinez, International Committee of the Red Cross, Dick Marty, Robert Majewski, Leszek Miller, Mariusz Kowalewski, Eurocontrol, Stare Kiejkuty, Wojskowe Sluzby Informacyjne
Former Bush National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has returned to Stanford University to teach political science and serve as a senior fellow at the university's conservative Hoover Institute [Stanford University News, 1/28/2009] , refuses to take any responsibility for the Bush administration's torture policies. All she ever did, she tells students, was "convey… the authorization of the administration" (see Late 2001-Early 2002, April 2002 and After, Mid-May, 2002, July 17, 2002, September or October 2002, Summer 2003, May 3, 2004, and April 9, 2008). However, Rice adds, since President Bush authorized the torture program, it was by definition legal, no matter what domestic law or international treaties stipulated. "The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside of our obligations, legal obligations under the Convention Against Torture" (see October 21, 1994), she says. "So that's—and by the way, I didn't authorize anything. I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency, that they had policy authorization, subject to the Justice Department's clearance. That's what I did." Asked if waterboarding constitutes torture, Rice responds: "I just said, the United States was told, we were told, nothing that violates our obligations under the Convention Against Torture. And so by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture." Ali Frick, a reporter with the progressive news Web site Think Progress, writes in response: "Rice is attempting to hide her central role in approving torture.… Rice's opinion that a presidential authorization—'by definition'—grants something legality is deeply disturbing. In fact, the United States—and its president—are bound by US statute and international treaties that ban the use of cruel, humiliating, degrading treatment, the infliction of suffering, and the attempt to extract coerced confessions. Memo to Rice: Bush may have been 'the Decider,' but he didn't have the authority to make an illegal act magically legal." [Think Progress, 4/30/2009] In the same conversation, Rice seems to say that al-Qaeda poses a greater threat to the US than did Nazi Germany, and again denies that the US ever tortured anyone. A student asks, "Even in World War II facing Nazi Germany, probably the greatest threat that America has ever faced—" and Rice interjects, "Uh, with all due respect, Nazi Germany never attacked the homeland of the United States." "No, but they bombed our allies—" the student replies, and Rice once again interrupts: "No, just a second, just a second. Three thousand Americans died in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon [referring to the 9/11 attacks]." The student observes, "500,000 died in World War II—" to which Rice replies, "Fighting a war in Europe." The student continues, "—and yet we did not torture the prisoners of war." Rice says, "We didn't torture anybody here either." [Think Progress, 4/30/2009]
Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, Bush administration (43), Ali Frick, Al-Qaeda, Convention Against Torture, George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice
ABC News learns that two former military officers, both psychologists, were paid $1,000 a day to design a program to torture and waterboard detainees in US custody. The psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen (see January 2002 and After, April 16, 2002, Mid-April 2002, and Between Mid-April and Mid-May 2002), were recipients of a contract awarded by the CIA to their firm, Mitchell Jessen and Associates. Mitchell and Jessen told the CIA that waterboarding was safe to use on prisoners. The American Civil Liberties Union's Jameel Jaffer says, "It's clear that these psychologists had an important role in developing what became the CIA's torture program." According to ABC, "Associates say the two made good money doing it, boasting of being paid a thousand dollars a day by the CIA to oversee the use of the techniques on top al-Qaeda suspects at CIA secret sites." Air Force interrogator Colonel Steven Kleinman says, "The whole intense interrogation concept that we hear about is essentially their concepts." ABC notes that "neither Mitchell nor Jessen had any experience in conducting actual interrogations before the CIA hired them." A military officer says that the CIA "went to two individuals who had no interrogation experience. They are not interrogators." The CIA came to believe that the waterboarding "expertise" they claimed was "misrepresented," and therefore the claims that waterboarding was "medically safe" and "effective" were questionable. As ABC notes, "The waterboarding used on al-Qaeda detainees was far more intense than the brief sessions used on US military personnel in the training classes." [ABC News, 4/30/2009; Raw Story, 5/1/2009]
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, ABC News, Al-Qaeda, Bruce Jessen, Steve Kleinman, Jameel Jaffer, James Elmer Mitchell, Mitchell Jessen and Associates
John Durham, a special counsel appointed by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate the destruction of video tapes made by the CIA of detainees' interrogations (see January 2, 2008), summons CIA officers from overseas to testify before a grand jury. "Three legal sources familiar with the case" also say that Durham wants testimony from agency lawyers who gave advice relating to the November 2005 decision by Jose Rodriguez, then chief of the CIA's clandestine service, to destroy the tapes (see Before November 2005 and November 2005). Newsweek will say this comes as a surprise to the CIA, whose officials have "plenty to worry about." Previously, some lawyers on the case had thought Durham intended to wind down the probe without recommending any charges be brought. However, his recent activity has made them unsure. Newsweek will speculate that Durham "might simply be tying up loose ends." Alternatively, he may be fixing to have charges brought. [Newsweek, 5/2/2009]
Entity Tags: US Department of Justice, Central Intelligence Agency, John Durham
Bryce Lefever, a former military psychologist who worked with the US military's SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) program, says the techniques reverse-engineered from the program and used to torture terrorism suspects in US custody are justified. Lefever has worked with two military psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, since 1990, developing techniques for SERE training. That training helps prepare US soldiers to resist torture if they are captured by enemy forces and interrogated. Mitchell and Jessen helped create the torture program of interrogation used by the US against suspected terrorists (see January 2002 and After, April 16, 2002, and Mid-April 2002). Lefever himself served as a military psychologist at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where prisoners were routinely tortured and brutalized. Patriots - Unlike many critics who have attacked the psychologists' lack of ethics and concern, Lefever calls Mitchell and Jessen patriots. "I think the media ought to give us a big ol' thank you for our efforts on behalf of America," Lefever says. "There should be some recognition of the effort—the really extreme effort—that we've gone through to help." Ethically Compelled to Construct Torture Program - Lefever says the criticism of Mitchell and Jessen is unfounded and stems from a basic misunderstanding of the ethical mission of psychologists. "[T]he idea that they would be involved in producing some pain just seems at first blush to be something that would be wrong, because we 'do no harm,'" he says, but "the ethical consideration is always to do the most good for the most people." Because torturing a "few" prisoners might well produce intelligence that would help prevent another attack on the magnitude of 9/11, Lefever says, it was incumbent on Mitchell, Jessen, and himself to use their knowledge of SERE tactics to construct an interrogation program that might elicit such actionable intelligence. "America's house was broken into on 9/11 and someone had to raise their hand to stop it," he says. "And early on there was a sense of desperation in intelligence-gathering." Lefever has no doubts that torture works to produce reliable intelligence. "You know, the tough nut to crack, if you keep him awake for a week, you torture him, you tie his arms behind him, you have him on the ground—anyone can be brought beyond their ability to resist." Indeed, he says, it would have been unethical for him not to come forward: "America is my client; Americans are who I care about. I have no fondness for the enemy and I don't feel like I need to take care of their mental health needs." Mitchell, Jessen, and other military psychologists felt the same way, he says. "Anyone who wants to throw stones in this situation really needs to step back and figure out what they themselves would do in these situations and not just be 'ivory tower' critics," he notes. "Most of the time they have no idea what they're talking about." [National Public Radio, 5/4/2009] Accused of Abandoning Ethical Code - Psychologist Stephen Soldz, who writes for the organization Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice, is highly critical of Lefever's stance, accusing him of renouncing the psychologists' code of ethics, and notes that Lefever implicitly acknowledges that SERE tactics were used on US detainees, an admission CIA and Pentagon officials have been loath to make. [Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice, 5/4/2009]
Entity Tags: James Elmer Mitchell, Bruce Jessen, Bryce Lefever, Stephen Soldz
Experts say that the so-called "ticking time bomb" scenario, which is often used to justify the use of torture, is fallacious. Many novels (see 1960), movies, and television shows, most recently Fox's 24 (see Fall 2006), routinely portray a time-critical scene where the hero of the story must torture a prisoner to obtain information needed to avert an imminent attack, usually the "ticking time bomb" planted and ready to explode. Terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman says that such scenarios are dubious at best. "I've personally been told that they happen but I have to admit that in the years, in now the decade I have been told about it, I have become increasingly skeptical," he says. "A ticking bomb becomes a default assumption which in turn becomes a legitimization or justification for torture. And in actual fact, even though people have told me about it, I have yet to see an actual documented case independently of what I was told." Former CIA agent Michael Scheuer says that he knows of cases where torture elicited useful and critical information, but refuses to give specifics. CIA officials are unwilling or unable to provide details of the effectiveness of techniques such as waterboarding. Former military interrogator Matthew Alexander (see December 2-4, 2008) says of the CIA's waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (see April 16, 2009 and April 18, 2009), "What I get most out of the waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is that any approach—I don't care what it is—if you have to do it 183 times, it is not working," he says. "When they did use the waterboard on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, what they were getting each time was the absolute minimum he could get away with. And that's what you get when you use torture—you get the absolute minimum amount of information." [National Public Radio, 5/5/2009]
Entity Tags: Bruce Hoffman, Matthew Alexander, Michael Scheuer, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
In an interview on CBS's Face the Nation, former Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledges that President Bush knew of the torture program as performed under his administration. However, he again says that in his view the practices employed by the US on enemy detainees did not constitute torture (see December 15, 2008). He also reiterates earlier claims that by dismantling Bush-era policies on torture and warrantless wiretapping, the Obama administration is making the country more vulnerable to terrorist attacks (see January 22, 2009, January 22, 2009, January 23, 2009, February 2009, March 17, 2009, March 29, 2009, April 20, 2009, April 21, 2009, April 22, 2009, April 22, 2009, April 22, 2009, April 23, 2009, and April 26, 2009), and reiterates his claim that classified documents will prove that torture was effective in producing actionable intelligence (see April 20, 2009). Claims Documents Prove Efficacy of Torture - Cheney says: "One of the things that I did six weeks ago was I made a request that two memos that I personally know of, written by the CIA, that lay out the successes of those policies and point out in considerable detail all of—all that we were able to achieve by virtue of those policies, that those memos be released, be made public (see April 22, 2009). The administration has released legal opinions out of the Office of Legal Counsel. They don't have any qualms at all about putting things out that can be used to be critical of the Bush administration policies. But when you've got memos out there that show precisely how much was achieved and how lives were saved as a result of these policies, they won't release those. At least, they haven't yet." Host Bob Schieffer notes that Attorney General Eric Holder has denied any knowledge of such documents, and that other administration officials have said that torture provided little useful information. Cheney responds: "I say they did. Four former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency say they did, bipartisan basis. Release the memos. And we can look and see for yourself what was produced." Cheney says the memos specifically discuss "different attack planning that was under way and how it was stopped. It talks [sic] about how the volume of intelligence reports that were produced from that.… What it shows is that overwhelmingly, the process we had in place produced from certain key individuals, such as Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaida (see After March 7, 2003), two of the three who were waterboarded.… Once we went through that process, he [Mohammed] produced vast quantities of invaluable information about al-Qaeda" (see August 6, 2007). Opponents of Bush torture policies, Cheney says, are "prepared to sacrifice American lives rather than run an intelligent interrogation program that would provide us the information we need to protect America." Bush Knew of Torture Program - Cheney also acknowledges that then-President Bush knew of the torture program, saying: "I certainly, yes, have every reason to believe he knew—he knew a great deal about the program. He basically authorized it. I mean, this was a presidential-level decision. And the decision went to the president. He signed off on it." Cheney concludes by saying that he would be willing to testify before Congress concerning the torture program and his administration's handling of its war on terror, though he refuses to commit to testifying under oath. [Congressional Quarterly, 5/10/2009; CBS News, 5/10/2009 ]
Entity Tags: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaida, George W. Bush, Obama administration, Richard ("Dick") Cheney
One of the billboards erected by WorldNetDaily. [Source: WorldNetDaily]The conservative news blog WorldNetDaily (WND), which has been at the forefront of the "birther" movement challenging President Obama's citizenship (see August 1, 2008 and After, October 21, 2008, October 24, 2008, November 12, 2008 and After, and December 5, 2008), begins erecting billboards asking "Where's the Birth Certificate?" Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, calls the billboard initiative "the truth and transparency campaign." The first, a digital electronic billboard, is displayed along Highway 165 in Ball, Louisiana, and two more standard billboards are being prepared for display in Los Angeles and Pennsylvania. Farah says the "national [billboard] campaign is going to be big and long-lasting," and uses WND to solicit donations for more billboards. Farah says he and the WND staff deliberately chose not to name Obama in the billboards: "There are several reasons we chose the message, 'Where's the birth certificate?' There is only one birth certificate controversy in this country today—despite the near-total absence of this issue from coverage in the non-WND media. This is a grass-roots issue that resonates around the country, as our own online petition with nearly 400,000 signers suggests. In addition, I like the simplicity of the message. I like the fact that the message will cause some people to ask themselves or others about the meaning of the message. It will stir curiosity. It will create a buzz. I'm assuming when these billboards are springing up all over the country, it might even make some in the news media curious. And there's one more factor that persuaded me this was the way to go. Come 2012, campaign laws will pose restrictions on political advertising mentioning the names of presidential candidates. This one clearly doesn't. I would like to see the federal government make the case that this is somehow a political ad." Farah blames "timid elected officials in Washington, corrupt judges around the country, and a news media that show a stunning lack of curiosity about the most basic facts of Obama's background—especially how it relates to constitutional eligibility for the highest office in the land" for failing to investigate the "birther" controversy. Obama released his birth certificate in 2008 (see June 13, 2008), and since then it has been validated by multiple governmental and independent sources (see June 27, 2008, July 2008, August 21, 2008, and October 30, 2008). Farah, however, is not convinced, and believes the birth certificate "controversy" is part of a larger, sinister scheme by the Obama administration: "As Obama transforms this country from self-governing constitutional republic to one governed by a central ruling elite, the simple fact remains that no controlling legal authority has established that he is indeed a 'natural born citizen' as the Constitution requires," he says. "Obama's promises of transparency have become a bad joke as he continues to hide simple, innocuous documents like his birth certificate and his student records." Farah says WND is operating as an "independent watchdog on government" by launching the billboard campaign, and not acting as a partisan organization. "I wish such a campaign were not absolutely necessary," he says. "I wish there were checks and balances in our political and electoral systems to ensure that constitutional eligibility of presidential candidates was established before politicians could assume the highest office in the land. I wish my colleagues in the news media believed the Constitution really means what it says and pressed this issue as hard as we have pressed it at WND. I wish radio talk show hosts were bold enough to ask this question. But wishing is not enough. It's time to raise the visibility of this issue vital to the rule of law in America. I ask everyone to pitch in and help WND make a simple yet profound statement: The Constitution still matters." [WorldNetDaily, 5/20/2009] In November 2010, WND will erect a "birth certificate" billboard along Highway 93 near Kingman, Arizona, the small town in which Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh planned the destruction of the Murrah Federal Building (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). Other billboards will be erected in Pennsylvania, Texas, Alabama, and Delaware. [WorldNetDaily, 11/8/2010]
Entity Tags: Joseph Farah, Barack Obama, Timothy James McVeigh, WorldNetDaily
Timeline Tags: Domestic Propaganda
TV station KMBC reports on the arrest of Scott Roeder in connection with the murder of late-abortion-providing OB/GYN Dr. George Tiller (see May 31, 2009), and mentions an envelope found in the getaway car with the words "Op Rescue" and "Cheryl" and a phone number on it. [KMBC-TV, 6/3/2009] Kansas news blogger Justin Kendall finds out that the number is a direct line to Cheryl Sullenger, a senior policy advisor with Operation Rescue, a hardline anti-abortion activism group. Sullenger served two years imprisonment after bombing an abortion clinic in 1988. She tells Kendall she hasn't spoken to Roeder recently and says: "You know, he's somebody who's been around. My name is on the Internet. It's on every press release. My phone number is on every press release it. It's all over the Internet. I don't know. He probably has lots of people's phone numbers." [The Pitch, 6/1/2009] Sullenger says she kept Roeder up to date on court hearings involving Tiller, who was acquitted of failing to properly justify late-term abortions in January 2009: "He would call and say, 'When does court start? When's the next hearing?' I was polite enough to give him the information. I had no reason not to. Who knew? Who knew, you know what I mean?" [Kansas City Star, 6/3/2009] Kendall also reveals that in a May 2007 comment on an Operation Rescue forum, a "Scott Roeder" advocated attending Tiller's church—the eventual scene of his murder—with "as many people as possible" to ask questions of church leaders and members and bring attention to Tiller. [Scott Roeder, 5/19/2007] In 1996, Roeder, then a member of the anti-government militia group known as the Freemen, was arrested on charges of possessing explosives (see April 16, 1996). In 2010, Roeder will be convicted of murdering Tiller (see January 29, 2010).
Entity Tags: George Tiller, Cheryl Sullenger, Operation Rescue, Scott Roeder
Timeline Tags: US Health Care, Domestic Propaganda, US Domestic Terrorism
Journalist Daphne Eviatar writes that during the eight years of the Bush presidency, prosecutions and enforcement of the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE—see May 1994) "cratered," with Justice Department officials refusing to prosecute or sometimes even investigate complaints of vandalism, harassment, and assault. After the recent murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller (see May 31, 2009), Eviatar and the Washington Independent obtained government data showing that enforcement of the FACE law, and other federal laws designed to protect abortion providers and clinics, declined by 75 percent during the Bush presidency. Between 1994 and 1999, when President Clinton was in office, the Justice Department filed 17 complaints under the FACE Act. Between 2001 and 2009, when President Bush was in office, the Justice Department only filed a single case. Tiller's own clinic was vandalized numerous times, but complaints against the actions were ignored by the department. Statistics provided by the National Abortion Federation (NAF) show that over 3,200 acts of violence against abortion providers in the US and Canada were committed between 2000 and 2008, and the organization says the number of actual incidents was probably "much higher." The number does not include threats, vandalism, and harassment. NAF statistics show that at least 17 cases of "extreme" violence against abortion providers in the US were reported, including arson, stabbings, bombings, and fake anthrax mailings. But the Bush Justice Department only prosecuted 11 individuals for these attacks. The two highest-profile anti-abortion prosecutions were those of anthrax mailer Clayton Waagner (see 1997-December 2001) and bomber Eric Rudolph (see April 14, 2005). However, none of Waagner's or Rudolph's associates in the extremist organization Army of God (see 1982) were ever prosecuted as accessories to the two activists' crimes. Neither was the Army of God ever investigated as a potential domestic terrorist organization (see Early 1980s). [Washington Independent, 6/12/2009]
Entity Tags: National Abortion Federation, Bush administration (43), Clayton Waagner, Clinton administration, Daphne Eviatar, Eric Robert Rudolph, US Department of Justice, George Tiller, Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act
The CIA releases heavily redacted documents containing statements by Guantanamo detainees concerning their allegations of torture and abuse at the hands of CIA personnel. The documents are released as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The lawsuit seeks uncensored transcripts from Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) that determine if prisoners held by the Defense Department at Guantanamo qualify as "enemy combatants." Previously released versions were redacted so heavily as to contain almost no information about abuse allegations; the current versions, while still heavily redacted, contain some new information. ACLU attorney Ben Wizner, the lead attorney on the FOIA lawsuit, says: "The documents released today provide further evidence of brutal torture and abuse in the CIA's interrogation program and demonstrate beyond doubt that this information has been suppressed solely to avoid embarrassment and growing demands for accountability. There is no legitimate basis for the Obama administration's continued refusal to disclose allegations of detainee abuse, and we will return to court to seek the full release of these documents." The ACLU press release notes, "The newly unredacted information includes statements from the CSRTs of former CIA detainees," and includes quotes from alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (see Shortly After February 29 or March 1, 2003); alleged high-level al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaida (see Mid-May 2002 and After); and accused terrorists Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (see (November 2002)) and Majid Khan (see March 10-April 15, 2007). These statements include details about their treatment, which the ACLU refers to as "torture and coercion": Abu Zubaida - "After months of suffering and torture, physically and mentally, they did not care about my injuries that they inflicted to my eye, to my stomach, to my bladder, and my left thigh and my reproductive organs. They didn't care that I almost died from these injuries. Doctors told me that I nearly died four times.… They say 'this in your diary.' They say 'see you want to make operation against America.' I say no, the idea is different. They say no, torturing, torturing. I say 'okay, I do. I was decide to make operation.'" Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri - "[And, they used to] drown me in water." Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - "This is what I understand he [a CIA interrogator] told me: you are not American and you are not on American soil. So you cannot ask about the Constitution." Majid Khan - "In the end, any classified information you have is through… agencies who physically and mentally tortured me." [American Civil Liberties Union, 6/15/2009]
Entity Tags: American Civil Liberties Union, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Abu Zubaida, Ben Wizner, Central Intelligence Agency, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Majid Khan, Obama administration, US Department of Defense
The cover of Mark Klein's 'Wiring Up the Big Brother Machine… and Fighting It.' [Source: BookSurge / aLibris (.com)]Former AT&T technician Mark Klein self-publishes his book, Wiring Up the Big Brother Machine… and Fighting It. In his acknowledgements, Klein writes that he chose to self-publish (through BookSurge, a pay-to-publish venue) because "[t]he big publishers never called me," and the single small publishing house that offered to publish his book added "an unacceptable requirement to cut core material." Klein based his book on his experiences as an AT&T engineer at the telecom giant's San Francisco facility, where he primarily worked with AT&T's Internet service. In 2002 and 2003, Klein witnessed the construction of of a "secret room," a facility within the facility that was used by the National Security Agency (NSA) to gather billions of email, telephone, VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), and text messages, most of which were sent by ordinary Americans. The NSA did its electronic surveillance, Klein writes, secretly and without court warrants. Klein describes himself as "wiring up the Big Brother machine," and was so concerned about the potential illegality and constitutional violations of the NSA's actions (with AT&T's active complicity) that he retained a number of non-classified documents proving the extent of the communications "vacuuming" being done. Klein later used those documents to warn a number of reporters, Congressional members, and judges of what he considered a horrific breach of Americans' right to privacy. [Klein, 2009, pp. 9-11, 21-24, 33, 35, 38, 40] In 2007, Klein described his job with the firm as "basically to keep the systems going. I worked at AT&T for 22 and a half years. My job was basically to keep the systems going. They were computer systems, network communication systems, Internet equipment, Voice over Internet [Protocol (VoIP)] equipment. I tested circuits long distance across the country. That was my job: to keep the network up." He explained why he chose to become a "whistleblower:" "Because I remember the last time this happened.… I did my share of anti-war marches when that was an active thing back in the '60s, and I remember the violations and traffic transgressions that the government pulled back then for a war that turned out to be wrong, and a lot of innocent people got killed over it. And I'm seeing all this happening again, only worse. When the [NSA] got caught in the '70s doing domestic spying, it was a big scandal, and that's why Congress passed the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] law, as you know, to supposedly take care of that (see 1978). So I remember all that. And the only way any law is worth anything is if there's a memory so that people can say: 'Wait a minute. This happened before.' And you've got to step forward and say: 'I remember this. This is the same bad thing happening again, and there should be a halt to it.' And I'm a little bit of that institutional memory in the country; that's all." [PBS Frontline, 5/15/2007]
Entity Tags: National Security Agency, AT&T, BookSurge, Mark Klein
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik says in an interview that Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders are not in Pakistan, so US drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal region are futile. Malik says: "If Osama was in Pakistan we would know, with all the thousands of troops we have sent into the tribal areas in recent months.… If he and all these four or five top people were in our area they would have been caught, the way we are searching.… According to our information Osama is in Afghanistan, probably Kunar, as most of the activities against Pakistan are being directed from Kunar." He adds that US drone strikes are hitting mid-level militants at best, and are "counterproductive because they are killing civilians and turning locals against our government. We try to win people's hearts, then one drone attack drives them away." [London Times, 7/12/2009] Malik's statement about bin Laden not being in Pakistan is not consistent with the facts (see January 2005, Late 2005-Early 2006, August 2007, September 2008, and May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, Rehman Malik
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, War in Afghanistan
Two luxury hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, are hit by suicide bombers within five minutes of each other. Seven people are killed, plus the two bombers, and fifty people are injured. At least four of the dead are Westerners. The Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels are the targets. The Marriott was bombed in 2003 as well (see August 5, 2003). Nobody takes credit, but the al-Qaeda linked group Jemaah Islamiyah is immediately blamed. Experts also blame militant Noordin Mohammed Top, saying that the bombs used are exactly the same to the ones Top used in previous bombings. [Bloomberg, 7/19/2009] Top actually created a Jemaah Islamiyah splinter group in 2005 called Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad. These are the first significant bombings in Indonesia since 2005 (see October 1, 2005).
Entity Tags: Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah, Noordin Mohammed Top, Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline
National Public Radio reports that Saad bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, has probably been assassinated by the US in Pakistan. The assassination was performed by a Predator drone, using Hellfire missiles. Saad was not the intended target of the missiles and was not a missile target at all, but was just "in the wrong place at the wrong time," according to a counterterrorism official. [National Public Radio, 7/22/2009] US drones are operated by the CIA in Pakistan. [New Yorker, 10/26/2009] Uncertainty about Death and Role - The exact date of Saad's death is unclear, and it is reported only as "sometime this year." The death is also not completely certain, as the US does not obtain a body to conduct tests on. However, a senior US counterterrorism official will say the US is "80 to 85 percent" certain that Saad is dead. Saad had escaped from house arrest in Iran around December 2008 or January 2009 (see (Between December 2008 and January 2009)). [National Public Radio, 7/22/2009] The relatives with whom he was imprisoned in Iran will indicate he had no involvement with terrorism during the seven years he was held in Iran. [Times (London), 12/23/2009] However, the counterterrorism official says Saad was active in al-Qaeda, but was not a major player. "We make a big deal out of him because of his last name," he adds. [National Public Radio, 7/22/2009] Missed Intelligence Opportunity - Others point out that Saad might have been much more valuable if he'd been captured alive, if only because of what he knew about his father. Hillary Mann Leverett, a former adviser to the National Security Council, claims that the US had several opportunities to interrogate Saad during the years he was in Iran (see Spring 2002 and Mid-May 2003). She says, "The Iranians offered to work out an international framework for transferring terror suspects, but the Bush administration refused." She adds: "We absolutely did not get the most we could. Saad bin Laden would have been very, very valuable in terms of what he knew. He probably would have been a gold mine." [New Yorker, 10/26/2009]
Entity Tags: Saad bin Laden, Hillary Mann, Central Intelligence Agency
Mary Patrice Brown. [Source: Allgov (.com)]The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) recommends reversing a Bush-era policy and reopening nearly a dozen prisoner abuse investigations, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan. The decision could potentially expose CIA employees and contractors to prosecution for crimes involving brutalizing and torturing prisoners in US custody, particularly as some detainees died in custody and others were physically and mentally abused. The OPR makes the recommendation in early August, but the information is not reported in the media until later in the month. The decision comes as the Justice Department is ready to disclose new information on prisoner abuse from a 2004 report by the CIA's inspector general that has never before been released (see May 7, 2004). The Bush-era Justice Department chose not to pursue investigations into any of the allegations, deciding that none of them warranted further inquiry. However, Attorney General Eric Holder reconsidered that decision after he saw the allegations and the accompanying evidence, much of which is contained in the 2004 CIA report. The OPR gives Holder additional leverage to reopen the investigations. The OPR report is primarily authored by the office's new chief, Mary Patrice Brown, a federal prosecutor picked to replace the office's former head, H. Marshall Jarrett, who is working elsewhere in the Justice Department. One case under review is that of Iraqi citizen Manadel al-Jamadi, who died in 2003 at Abu Ghraib prison (see Between 4:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. November 4, 2003) after being captured by a team of Navy SEALs. Prosecutors believe he received his fatal injuries from his captors, but lawyers for the SEALs deny the charge. During President Bush's tenure, the Justice Department responded to inquiries about the incidents from Democratic lawmakers with little more than summaries of the numbers of cases under scrutiny, and provided virtually no details about individual cases or explanations as to why the department chose not to prosecute. [New York Times, 8/24/2009]
Entity Tags: H. Marshall Jarrett, Central Intelligence Agency, Eric Holder, US Department of Justice, Manadel al-Jamadi, Mary Patrice Brown, Office of Professional Responsibility
Representative Brian Baird (D-WA) tells MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that there is a real danger of violence being fomented by anti-health care protesters (see June 30, 2009, July 6, 2009, July 25, 2009, July 27, 2009, July 27, 2009, July 31, 2009, August 1, 2009, August 1, 2009, August 2, 2009, August 3, 2009, August 3, 2009, August 3, 2009, August 3, 2009, August 4, 2009, August 4, 2009, August 5, 2009, August 5, 2009, August 6, 2009, August 6, 2009, and August 6-8, 2009). "[T]he first violence that's happening is violence in the democratic process," he says. "If people set out to disrupt town hall meetings, to intimidate people who sincerely want to discuss important issue, the first victim is the democracy itself. But beyond that, some of the rhetoric that we're hearing is vaguely—not vaguely, but eerily reminiscent of the thing that drove Tim McVeigh to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995).… [W]hen a concerted effort is made to intimidate, to suppress discussion, to threaten people, that crosses the line and it actually blocks the democratic process and informed debate." Says Constituents Intimidated, Unwilling to Participate - Baird acknowledges that he has not held any in-person town hall meetings, though he has scheduled so-called "telephone town halls" conducted via telephone and Internet connections. "What I'm opting not do is create a venue where people can purposefully intimidate other members of the community who want to be heard and want to express their views," he says. "You know, when you read these Web sites, Rachel, it's all about attack early, intimidate, shout them down, don't get them have a word in edgewise. I've had town halls where that kind of thing has happened and average citizens have said: 'This is frightening to me. This is not what my country is about. I'm not coming to these anymore.' So, if you get a point where the only purpose to have a town hall is to have it disrupted and reasonable people who want to have a debate can't be there, what's the point of having the town hall?" GOP Must Call for Restraint - Baird says that the Republican Party has a direct responsibility to "call for civility, because this is a question of our democratic process itself. Remember, they will have town halls as well. And we don't really want a situation where our side decides, well, we've got to show up and scream and shout them down—because then you basically resort to mob rule. And that's not what a constitutional democratic republic is about. It's not enough for them to say, 'We're not coordinating it, we're not condoning it.' They must do as John McCain did (see August 5, 2009), and vigorously—vigorously oppose this." [MSNBC, 8/7/2009] 'Death to All Marxists' - The next day, Baird receives a fax at his office. The fax depicts President Obama with a Communist hammer and sickle drawn on his forehead, and the message "Death to all Marxists, foreign and domestic" written underneath. [MSNBC, 8/13/2009]
Entity Tags: Republican Party, Brian Baird
Timeline Tags: US Health Care, Domestic Propaganda, US Domestic Terrorism, 2010 Elections
FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds testifies under oath in a deposition for the Schmidt v. Krikorian case. David Krikorian, a 2010 Democratic candidate for US Representative of Ohio, had been sued by Jean Schmidt (R-OH) in response to his claim that she had accepted "blood money" from the Turkish lobby in exchange for opposing an Armenian genocide resolution. As part of his defense against Schmidt's charge that he had libeled her, Krikorian subpoenaed Edmonds's testimony, as she had previously spoken and written about corruption of members of Congress by the Turkish Lobby. In two unrelated lawsuits prior to this one, Edmonds had been blocked from testifying by former Attorney General John Ashcroft, under the State Secrets Act. In Schmidt v. Krikorian, however, the Department of Justice under Attorney General Eric Holder does not reinvoke the claim of "state secrets" or otherwise move to block the testimony, and does not dispatch legal counsel to raise objections during the deposition. At the deposition, Krikorian is represented by Dan Marino of Mark Geragos' law firm, Schmidt is represented by Bruce Fein, and Edmonds has retained Stephen M. Kohn of the National Whistleblower Center. Kohn says he has "asked [Sibel Edmonds] to limit her responses only to the information that she believes to be publicly available or she has learned from sources outside of her employment." Marino begins his examination of Edmonds by asking basic questions about her background and work with the FBI, then works through a lengthy series of questions based on public statements Edmonds had made regarding events she witnessed. Much of this information has previously been reported, but for the first time, Edmonds is swearing to it under oath. [Edmonds, 8/8/2009] The following subjects were covered in attorney Dan Marino's initial examination of Sibel Edmonds: Edmonds' Experience with Her FBI Co-worker Melek Can Dickerson and Her Husband, Major Douglas Dickerson - Edmonds and her husband Matthew Edmonds had previously said former FBI colleague Melek Can Dickerson and her husband, Major Douglas Dickerson, attempted to bribe her to pass on sensitive information (see December 2, 2001), and she confirms this. Edmonds had also previously reported to Congress and the Justice Department Inspector General that Melek Can Dickerson was spying for subjects of the FBI's investigations (see (Late October 2001)), and she confirms this as well. [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 22-34, 38] Turkish Entities Targeted by FBI Investigations of Influence and Espionage - When asked if the American Turkish Council was a target of FBI investigations (see Late 1990s-Early 2001, Edmonds confirms it, but when asked to identify others, she declines to specifically name any. When asked about the "Turkish Lobby", Edmonds says there is an overt and a covert lobby. The covert lobby involves "trying to obtain very sensitive, classified, highly classified US intelligence information, weapons technology information, classified congressional records, recruiting—recruiting key US individuals with access to highly sensitive information, blackmailing, bribery." She testifies the Turkish government is indirectly involved, and that its concerns include access to US aid and weapons, as well as preventing Congress from passing a resolution acknowledging the Turkish genocide of the Armenians. [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 26-41] Edmonds' 'State Secrets Privilege Gallery' - Marino asks the meaning of the 'State Secrets Privilege Gallery' at her website, justacitizen.com (see January 6, 2008). The gallery is a collection of photos without names; Edmonds explains it features the subjects of FBI investigations Edmonds was part of during her time as an FBI translator, whose names and criminal activities were being protected by claims of State Secrets and the gag orders she had been placed under. The twenty-one photos (including three place holders with question marks) feature current and former State and Defense Dept. officials; current and former members of Congress; and lobbyists and members of think tanks. Marino then names nine of the people listed in the gallery, and asks why they're listed. As it had been reported by others that Marc Grossman was the person involved, Edmonds discusses, in some detail, her knowledge of his involvement with a criminal network stealing and selling US nuclear secrets (see January 6, 2008 and After), as well as his disclosure to a Turkish agent that Brewster Jennings was a CIA front company investigating nuclear trafficking (see Summer-Autumn 2001). Edmonds discusses the others in more general terms; Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Dan Burton (R-IN), Stephen Solarz (D-NY), Bob Livingston (R-LA) and Tom Lantos (D-CA) are all variously accused of accepting bribes in exchange for serving the interests of foreign governments, as well as involvement in blackmail and money laundering. Lantos is also accused of "disclosing highest level protected US intelligence and weapons technology information both to Israel and to Turkey." Edmonds indicates the question mark in the Congressional group is a bisexual woman and a current member of Congress. Turkish agents wanted her to oppose an Armenian genocide resolution, and because her husband was an influential businessman. Edmonds did not include her photo in the gallery, and declines to name her in the deposition, as she is unaware if the congresswoman had actually been blackmailed, or done anything illegal. However, in an interview published in the November 2008 American Conservative, Edmonds names her as Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 42-84] Indirect Knowledge of Illicit Israeli Influence on Congress - Asked if she is "aware of the Israeli government or Israeli organizations influencing members of Congress," Edmonds responds, "Indirectly, based on how they work, some of the largest Israeli lobby groups with the entities such as ATC and also the Turkish diplomatic community and how they actually trained and make it possible for the Turkish lobby and these entities to do it. [T]hey had training period in '96 and '98 from individuals that were sent to them from both [AIPAC] and JINSA, both the lobbying, but also on… covering up the money track." [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 64] Behrooz Sarshar's Testimony regarding FBI 9/11 Foreknowledge - Marino asks Edmonds about an entry on her Wikipedia page that said, "[Edmonds] claims that the FBI received information in April 2001 from a reliable Iranian intelligence asset that Osama bin Ladin was planning attacks on four to five cities with planes. Some of the people were already in the country, and the attacks would happen in a few months." Edmonds clarifies that she knew of this incident from FBI translator Behrooz Sarshar (see April 2001), and her role was that she, "facilitated Mr. Sharshar's meeting with 9/11Commission and also with the Glenn Fine, Department of Justice Inspector General's Office, and… put him in touch with the members of media." [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 66-67] How Blackmail Operations Are Conducted by Turkish Operatives - Sibel Edmonds explains how blackmail operations were conducted by Turkish agents. "[E]veryone was taught in [FBI] counterintelligence—that the target[,] US persons, whether they are in Congress or executive branch or whatever, first go by foreign entities to what they refer to as hooking period, and it was very common; it's a very common way of trying to find vulnerability, and that is sexual, financial, any other kinds of greeds, and it was… being done a lot, and in some cases certain people from Pentagon would send a list of individuals with access to sensitive data, whether weapons technology or nuclear technology, and this information would include all their sexual preference, how much they owed on their homes, if they have gambling issues, and the State Department, high level State Department person would provide it to these foreign operatives, and those foreign operatives then would go and hook those Pentagon people, whether they were at RAND or some other Air Force base. And then the hooking period would take some times. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes one year. They would ask for small favor, but eventually after they reviewed the targets… then they would go blackmail and that person would give them everything, nuclear related information, weapons related information. It always worked for them. So it was not always money." [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 72-74] The Historical Reality and Turkish Denial of the Armenian Genocide - Edmonds acknowledges the Ottoman genocide of Armenians as historical fact. She also notes that in Turkish society acknowledgment of the genocide is not permitted, and there are active efforts to suppress and dispute information and views related to it. [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 78-81] The Revolving Door between the US Government and the Turkish Lobby - Asked if she was aware that members of Congress have left office and become lobbyists for Turkey, Edmonds affirms her knowledge of Hastert, Solarz and Livingston having done so. She also adds, "But then there are people who work for these lobbying firms who are not the top, but they have received their share while they were working, whether they are in Pentagon. One person was Defense Intelligence Agency person, Dana Bauer, and now she works for Bob Livingston, but this individual, Ms. Bauer, did a lot of favors and illegal favors… for [the] government of Turkey and others, and then was hired by Livingston and put on a big salary to represent Turkish government. So it's not only top tier of the lobbying firm, but then the people who work for them later and the various layers of those people." [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 83] Quid Pro Quo: Congress and the Turkish Lobby - Attorney Marino solicits Edmonds understanding of Congress, lobbyists and 'quid pro quo', with a hypothetical example he deems "particularly relevant to our case", saying: "You have a hypothetical Congresswoman from State X. Her district has no Turkish population to speak of or Armenian population to speak of. She's the largest recipient of Turkish PAC money in the 2008 election cycle. All right? She meets with Livingston and Rogers or Livingston Group when they're escorting members of the Turkish parliament to a reception. She receives fact sheets from the Livingston Group talking about Turkish relations; goes to luncheons in honor of the Turkish Foreign Minister, and she opposes Armenian genocide resolution and, in fact, refuses to even recognize the genocide as a historical fact." Edmonds responds, "Based on several that I personally know about in terms of how they conduct and how they behave, those elected officials who are serving the foreign government's interest, I would say that's modus operandi that you describe. It's a classic fit of how individuals who happen to owe their position and favors to a foreign government, in this particular case Turkey, behave… and the kinds of people they associate with. That modus operandi classically matches of the individuals I know who were serving Turkish government's and other Turkish entities' interest." [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 84-87] Turkish Practices and Policies 'Inimical to American Interests' that Resulted in 'Lost Lives' - Edmonds is asked about a deposition-related declaration in which she stated that she had, "obtained evidence that the government of Turkey had engaged in practices and policies that were inimical to American interests and had, in fact, resulted in both the direct and indirect loss of American lives." As examples, Edmonds refers to the setting up of Madrassahs in order to radicalize Muslims to be Mujahedeen and use them as proxies in conflicts and terrorism; trafficking in heroin; "illegally obtaining and selling" US military weapons and technology including nuclear secrets, as well as other top secret information, including foreign policy secrets; and the exposure of Brewster-Jennings as a CIA front company investigating nuclear trafficking (see Summer-Autumn 2001). [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 88-94] Fethullah Gulen, US-Protected Madrassah Financier - When asked who Fethullah Gulen (spelled Fetullah Gulan in the transcript) is, Edmonds states his network controlled around $25 billion and had set up 300 Madrassahs in Central Asia. She says he fled Turkey when Turkish authorities linked him to plans to overthrow the secular Turkish government, and he was permitted to enter and remain in the US without a visa. Edmonds states he is establishing Madrassah's in the US that are allegedly moderate but are in fact radicalizing Muslims, and that Gulen is being protected by US authorities because US entities consider his network useful for waging proxy wars over Central Asian energy resources. As an analogy, Edmonds says the "Cold War is not over". [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 94-98] After Marino's examination, Bruce Fein cross-examines Edmonds, then Marino re-examines and Fein cross-examines her again. The entire deposition lasts about four and a half hours. [Edmonds, 8/8/2009, pp. 104-216]
Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tom Lantos, Douglas Dickerson, Bruce Fein, Bob Livingston, American Turkish Council, Stephen Solarz, Sibel Edmonds, Dan Burton, Richard Gephardt, John Ashcroft, Jan Schakowsky, Fethullah Gulen, Dennis Hastert, Roy Blunt, Melek Can Dickerson, Michael Kohn, Marc Grossman
Malcolm Nance, the former master instructor and chief of training at the Navy's Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) School who now serves as a consultant on counterterrorism and terrorism intelligence for the US government, makes a cogent point about "breaking" interrogation subjects. Nance is interviewed by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who asks: "One of the other things that I think is a term that sort of gets bandied around by civilians who don't have experience in these things when we talk about, not only the politics of interrogation, but also the utility of interrogation, is this idea of somebody being broken, a prisoner, the subject of an interrogation being a broken person. And that was described by political actors about interrogation techniques as sort of the goal, about what the idea was to—what the object was of what we wanted to be doing to al-Qaeda prisoners. Does breaking a person in interrogation terms make sense if what you're trying to do is get real information out of them?" Nance replies, "The process of 'breaking,' quote-unquote, a prisoner is not something interrogators do. Interrogators really don't want to break you down as a human being and take away all of your ability to think and reason and give a coherent answer. That was something that was developed by totalitarian and hostile regimes who saw that a confession is what they wanted out of you. They didn't care whether you had done it or not. A confession is what they needed out of you, and to get that confession, what they would do is break you physically, psychologically, and mentally so that you could get into a state of learned helplessness and you would comply no matter what they would say. Now, this killed hundreds, if not thousands, of American service members in Korea, World War II, and Vietnam. And this is not something which any real interrogator would want to try because, of course, at that point, you are not getting information. You are just getting compliance. And any idiot can comply and that makes no intelligence whatsoever." Nance and Maddow note that former SERE psychologists Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell, the two SERE psychologists who designed the US torture program (see Late 2001-Mid-March 2002, January 2002 and After, Late March through Early June, 2002, April - June 2002, Mid-April 2002, April 16, 2002, Between Mid-April and Mid-May 2002, Mid-May 2002 and After, June 2002, July 2002, April 2009, and April 30, 2009), were experienced in the methodologies of "breaking" prisoners and not in extracting useful information. [MSNBC, 8/13/2009]
Entity Tags: Bruce Jessen, Rachel Maddow, Malcolm Nance, James Mitchell
According to ABC News, the Justice Department's release of a 2004 report by the CIA's inspector general (see May 7, 2004 and August 24, 2009) is preceded by a "profanity-laced screaming match" between CIA Director Leon Panetta and White House officials. This apparently produces disquiet among White House officials regarding Panetta. According to ABC News, some White House officials are "worrying about the direction of its newly-appoint[ed] intelligence team." Some reports say that Panetta has already threatened to resign once, and White House officials are discussing "a possible shake-up of top national security officials." According to one unnamed "senior adviser to [President] Obama on intelligence matters," "You can expect a larger than normal turnover in the next year." And another former senior intelligence official predicts, "Leon will be leaving." But a White House spokesman, Denis McDonough, says the reports of Panetta's threatened resignation and a potential "shake-up" of top intelligence and national security officials are "inaccurate." Both Panetta and CIA spokesman George Little say reports of his threatened resignation are "absolutely untrue"; the spokesman says of the alleged tirade that Panetta is known to use "salty language." Former counterterrorism specialist and current ABC News consultant Richard Clarke says: "It would be a shame if such as talented a Washington hand as Panetta were to leave after one year. It takes that long for any senior bureaucrat to begin to understand what needs to get done and how to do it. The CIA needs some stability." [ABC News, 8/24/2009] Newsweek's Mark Hosenball says that Panetta has been sending mixed messages. "Panetta had been kind of ambiguous, at least in terms of his public statements and even his private messages, as to whether he's strongly opposed to release of documents like this or not," he says. "Some cases it's looked like he's been in favor of releasing documents like this; in other cases, it's looked like he's been against it. I think he's trying to straddle the issue here. I mean, certainly, previous CIA directors like General Mike Hayden and George Tenet have strongly expressed the view that this stuff shouldn't have been released. Panetta hasn't been quite as strong in saying that publicly, anyway." [PBS, 8/24/2009]
Entity Tags: Mark Hosenball, Central Intelligence Agency, Denis McDonough, Leon Panetta, Obama administration, Richard A. Clarke, George Little
The White House announces the formation of a new unit to question "high-value" terrorism suspects. The unit is called the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG). It operates out of the FBI, but is overseen by the National Security Council; this structure removes the CIA as the primary interrogators of high-level detainees and gives the White House direct oversight. According to author and reporter David Ignatius, the HIG will be composed of small groups of "special interrogation experts" sent out to interrogate certain detainees. [PBS, 8/24/2009] Administration officials say all interrogations overseen by the HIG will comply with guidelines contained in the Army Field Manual, which prohibits the use of physical force. The group will study other interrogation methods, however, and may add additional noncoercive methods in the future. Tom Malinkowski of the organization Human Rights Watch says the new interrogation policy represents a significant step toward more humane treatment, though he wants stricter limits on rendition (see August 24, 2009]). Overall, Malinkowski says the Obama administration's approach to counterterrorism issues is strong, noting that the government has now adopted "some of the most transparent rules against abuse of any democratic country." [New York Times, 8/25/2009] De-Emphasizing CIA's Role in Interrogations - Author and reporter Jane Mayer observes: "[T]o to some extent, this is bringing the CIA back to its earlier role traditionally, before 9/11, but still it's taking authority away from the CIA. It's also—the new rules for interrogation are going to make the CIA use only techniques that are allowed for the military. They're not going to have any special dispensation to do enhanced interrogation techniques, so you're basically seeing them kind of knocked down to just having to act like everybody else." Ignatius adds: "My conversations today with the people who know the CIA tells me that the feeling out there is kind of, 'Let this cup pass from our lips.' You know, they are sick of this interrogation issue. They were in many cases reluctant to get into it in the first place. This has been a nightmare for them. Careers have been destroyed. Officers feel like their lives have been wrecked. And I think the career people there say, 'Fine, you know, if the FBI wants to do this, let them have it.'… [T]he only thing that worries me is putting it so directly under the White House, having the White House running interrogation programs, that seems a little odd to me." [PBS, 8/24/2009] CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano says that the agency will continue to be involved in interrogations. "The CIA took active part in the work of the task force, and the agency's strong counterterrorism knowledge will be key to the conduct of future debriefings," he says. "That won't change." [New York Times, 8/25/2009] Worries that Obama Administration May be Taking Too Much Power for Itself - MSNBC's Alison Stewart says the decision "might cause involuntary eyebrow-raising among people who thought the Bush administration gave itself too much power in these matters." Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) supports the decision, saying that "it brings for the first time… a very rigorous and serious overview to our interrogation of high-value detainees. If you set aside all of the spin and all of the nonsense that you heard out of the top layers of the Bush administration, what you really saw was—for a lot of these high-value detainees, you saw very amateurish investigation by people who knew nothing about al-Qaeda, who knew nothing about interrogation, who had familiarity with antique techniques that were used by brutal tyrant regimes for propaganda purposes not for intelligence gathering purposes, and were put for reasons that are still not adequately explained into high value interrogations. We know from testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that at least one very productive investigation was interrupted and probably ruined by the intervention of these amateurish and brutal techniques into an investigation—an interrogation that was generating absolutely first-class interrogation for our country." Whitehouse does not identify the subject of that "productive interrogation," but he could be referring to the interrogation of Abu Zubaida (see March 28, 2002). [MSNBC, 8/25/2009]
Entity Tags: Alison Stewart, High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, David Ignatius, Tom Malinkowski, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jane Mayer, National Security Council, Paul Gimigliano, Obama administration
Noordin Mohammed Top, the most wanted Islamist militant left in Indonesia, is killed in a shootout with police in Surakarta on the island of Java, Indonesia. Top was an expert bomb maker and planner, and was wanted for a role in a series of bombings in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings (see October 12, 2002), a 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta (see August 5, 2003), a 2004 Australian embassy bombing (see September 9, 2004), a 2005 Bali bombing (see October 1, 2005), and two Jakarta hotel bombings in 2009 (see July 17, 2009). He first was a leader of the al-Qaeda linked and Southeast Asia-based militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. But in 2005, he former a splinter group Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad, whose name in English means "Al-Qaeda Jihad Organization for the Malay Archipelago," after some other Jemaah Islamiah leaders drifted away from a policy of violent attacks. Counterterrorism expert Sidney Jones says, "There isn't another radical leader in Indonesia who has given that same [pro-Osama bin Laden] message so consistently." She calls his death "a huge blow for the extremist organizations in Indonesia and the region." [Reuters, 9/17/2009]
Entity Tags: Sidney Jones, Al-Qaeda, Noordin Mohammed Top, Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad, Jemaah Islamiyah
The US Justice and Defense Departments announce that five detainees are to be moved from Guantanamo to New York, where they will face trial in ordinary civilian courts for the 9/11 attacks. The five are alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM), Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who helped coordinate the attacks, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, who assisted some of the 19 hijackers in Asia, and Khallad bin Attash, who attended a meeting with two of the hijackers in January 2000 (see January 5-8, 2000). The five previously indicated they intend to plead guilty (see December 8, 2008). US Attorney General Eric Holder says: "For over 200 years, our nation has relied on a faithful adherence to the rule of law to bring criminals to justice and provide accountability to victims. Once again we will ask our legal system to rise to that challenge, and I am confident it will answer the call with fairness and justice." Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was also involved in the decision on where to try the men. [US Department of Justice, 11/13/2009] However, five detainees are to remain in the military commissions system. They are Ibrahim al-Qosi, Omar Khadr, Ahmed al-Darbi, Noor Uthman Mohammed, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. [McClatchy, 11/14/2009] These five detainees are fighting the charges against them: Ibrahim al-Qosi denies the charges against him, saying he was coerced into making incriminating statements; [USA v. Ihrahm Ahmed Mohmoud al Qosi, 7/16/2009 ] Khadr's lawyers claim he was coerced into admitting the murder of a US solider in Afghanistan; [National Post, 11/14/2009] Ahmed Muhammad al-Darbi also claims he was forced to make false confessions (see July 1, 2009); [al-Darbi, 7/1/2009] Noor Uthman Mohammed denies most of the charges against him (see (Late 2004)); Al-Nashiri claims he was forced to confess to trumped up charges under torture (see March 10-April 15, 2007). [US department of Defense, 3/14/2007 ]
Entity Tags: Eric Holder, US Department of Justice, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Ahmed Muhammad al-Darbi, Khallad bin Attash, US Department of Defense, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Robert M. Gates, Noor Uthman Muhammed, Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi, Omar Khadr
Former Bush administration press secretary Dana Perino tells a Fox News audience that no terrorist attacks took place on American soil during President Bush's two terms. Perino is forgetting, or ignoring, the 9/11 attacks, the most lethal and costly attacks in US history. On Sean Hannity's Fox show, Hannity asks Perino if President Obama "really understand[s]" that the US has a national security concern about terrorism. Perino begins by denying that her remarks are political, then says that the US recently suffered "a terrorist attack on our country," obviously referring to the 9/11 attacks. The Obama administration is loath to call the US's involvement a "war on terror," Perino says, when it should be labeled as such "because we need to face up to it so we can prevent it from happening again." She says she does not know what thinking is going on in the Obama administration, "but we did not have an attack on our country during President Bush's term. I hope they're not looking at this politically. I do think we owe it to the American people to call it what it is." Neither Hannity nor his other guest, Fox Business personality Stuart Varney, correct Perino's statement; instead Varney begins questioning Obama's commitment to fighting terrorism. [Media Matters, 11/24/2009] Perino had not yet joined the Bush administration in 2001, but was working as a public relations representative for a high-tech firm in San Diego. [Austin Chronicle, 9/21/2007]
Entity Tags: Fox News, Barack Obama, Bush administration (43), Dana Perino, Sean Hannity, Stuart Varney, George W. Bush
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, Domestic Propaganda
According to a US government diplomatic document, senior Tajik counterterrorism official General Abdullo Sadulloevich Nazarov tells US officials that Pakistani officials are tipping off al-Qaeda militants about raids. The document states, "In Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden wasn't an invisible man, and many knew his whereabouts in North Waziristan, but whenever security forces attempted a raid on his hideouts, the enemy received warning of their approach from sources in the [Pakistani] security forces." The document will be made public by Wikileaks prior to the US raid that kills bin Laden (see May 2, 2011). [Daily Telegraph, 5/2/2011] The warning may not be entirely accurate, since it appears bin Laden was hiding for years in Abbottabad, not North Waziristan.
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Abdullo Sadulloevich Nazarov
On a visit to London, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani says he thinks Osama bin Laden is not in Pakistan. The statement is made against a background of Western demands that Afghanistan and Pakistan take more action against militants, including stepping up their efforts to find bin Laden, to accompany the surge in Western troops to Afghanistan. "I doubt the information which you are giving is correct because I don't think Osama bin Laden is in Pakistan," says Gillani in response to a question. The New York Times observes, "The Pakistani leader did not indicate where Mr. bin Laden might be if he is not in Pakistan." [New York Times, 12/3/2009] The next day, the BBC will run an article brokered by a Pakistani intelligence service in which a detainee claims he recently received information bin Laden was in Afghanistan (see Before December 4, 2009). Gillani's statement is not accurate (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Al-Qaeda, Pakistan
A CIA officer who hunted Osama bin Laden after 9/11 says that the al-Qaeda leader must be dead, according to former CIA officer and journalist Robert Baer. The officer adds, "No wonder there's no intelligence on him." When Baer asks him about the numerous audio and videotapes that appear to have been released by bin Laden over the past few years, the officer says they easily could have been digitally mastered from old recordings. However, he admits that the CIA has no evidence bin Laden died and his comments are only based on a hunch. Baer will say this theory is not popular in Washington because "it veers off into the realm of conspiracies," and people are scared that "the moment they air their view, bin Laden will reappear." Nevertheless, according to Baer: "[I]t's a real possibility that bin Laden was killed at Tora Bora in late 2001 and is now buried under tons of rock, never to be found. Or that he died of ill health in the intervening years." [Time, 12/8/2009] Baer will later be proven incorrect (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Robert Baer, Al-Qaeda, Central Intelligence Agency
A man on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit is subdued by passengers after attempting to detonate a makeshift bomb hidden in his undergarments. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old man from Nigeria, tries to ignite a mixture of plastic and liquid explosives sewn into his underwear as the Airbus 330 makes its final descent into Detroit. Abdulmutallab is set afire and suffers serious burns along with two other passengers, is detained by passengers and crew, and is arrested after landing. The suspect previously flew on a KLM flight from Lagos to Amsterdam. MI5 and US intelligence officials begin an investigation into his social ties and background. Abdulmutallab is the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker and studied engineering at University College London for three years until June 2008. His father claims to have informed Nigerian and American officials of his son's increasingly unusual behavior and activities. US officials allegedly placed the 23-year-old on a list of suspected extremists, yet he possesses a US visa valid from June 2008 to June 2010, and appears on no lists prohibiting air travel to the US. Following the event, the US government will request that all passengers traveling from Britain to the US be subjected to additional personal and baggage searches. Security measures at US airports will also be heightened. [The Telegraph, 12/26/2009; New York Times, 12/26/2009]
Entity Tags: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, US Department of Homeland Security, UK Security Service (MI5)
Mary Matalin, the former press adviser for then-Vice President Dick Cheney, makes two false statements on CNN: the Bush administration inherited both a failing economy and the 9/11 attacks from the Clinton administration. The US entered a period of steep recession three months after Bush's first term began, and the 9/11 attacks occurred eight months after Bush took office. On CNN's State of the Union, Matalin says, "I was there, we inherited a recession from President Clinton, and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation's history." A month ago, former Bush administration press secretary Dana Perino made a similar claim about the timing of the 9/11 attacks on Fox News (see November 24, 2009). Lee Fang of the progressive news Web site Think Progress writes of the two statements, "Former Bush administration officials seem intent on misrepresenting history to pretend that the country never suffered its worst terror attack in history under Bush's watch." [Media Matters, 12/27/2009; Think Progress, 12/27/2009]
Entity Tags: Clinton administration, Bush administration (43), CNN, Mary Matalin, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Lee Fang
Las Vegas Review-Journal publisher Sherman Frederick falsely claims that "the two cases of domestic terrorism since 9/11" have taken place "on Obama's watch." In recent months, two former Bush administration officials have denied that 9/11 took place during the Bush presidency (see November 24, 2009 and December 27, 2009). The progressive media watchdog Web site Media Matters will write, "Frederick joins [the] list of conservatives denying existence of terrorist attacks under Bush." Frederick writes: "If this is what it takes to wake up Obama to the evils of this world, then he learned an easy lesson. But tell that to the personnel who lost their lives to terrorism at Fort Hood [referring to the November 9, 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, perpetrated by a Muslim US Army psychiatrist with suspected ties to extremist groups]. Then, as now, the Obama administration fails to swiftly acknowledge the threat. They demur in describing our enemy as radical Muslims. They plan to close the offshore prison for terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and transfer the prisoners to the United States. They give the enemy combatants who killed more than 3,000 people on 9/11 the privilege of a civilian federal trial in New York City when a military tribunal is more appropriate. And for three days our president failed to address his people directly on Abdulmutallab's failed effort to blow up a commercial flight over Detroit on Christmas Day [referring to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to detonate an explosive device carried in his underwear on a Northwest Airlines flight—see December 25, 2009]. All of this on top of President Obama's noticeable refusal to characterize our struggle as a 'war' on 'terror.' In the wake of fierce criticism, Obama now talks tough about keeping America safe. But in the two cases of domestic terrorism since 9/11—both on Obama's watch—red flags flew aplenty." Frederick either forgets or ignores a string of domestic terrorist attacks on US targets during the Bush presidency, including the 2001 anthrax attacks (see September 17-18, 2001, October 5-November 21, 2001, October 6-9, 2001, and October 15, 2001); the attempt to blow up a transatlantic plane by "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who has ties to al-Qaeda (see December 22, 2001); the 2002 attack on the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport, designated by the Justice Department as an official "act of international terrorism"; the 2002 sniper shootings in the Washington, DC, area, carried out by John Allen Muhammed, who was convicted of terrorism charges; and the 2006 attack on the University of North Carolina campus, where a Muslim student struck nine pedestrians in his SUV because, he said, he wanted to "avenge the deaths or murders of Muslims around the world." [Media Matters, 1/6/2010]
Entity Tags: John Allen Muhammed, Barack Obama, Bush administration (43), Las Vegas Review-Journal, Media Matters, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Richard C. Reid, Sherman Frederick
Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a 2008 contender for the Republican presidential nomination, tells an ABC audience that the US experienced "no domestic attacks" during the Bush administration. Giuliani is forgetting, or ignoring, the 9/11 attacks, the most lethal and costly terrorist attacks in US history, a curious omission considering Giuliani was mayor when two hijacked jetliners struck New York City's World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001, eight months into the Bush administration. In recent months, two former Bush administration officials have also denied that 9/11 took place during the Bush presidency (see November 24, 2009 and December 27, 2009), as has a Nevada newspaper publisher just days ago (see January 3, 2010). Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos begins by asking Giuliani about his opposition to trying suspected terrorists in civilian courts instead of in military tribunals (see November 13, 2001 and January 29, 2009). Giuliani asks "why stop" torturing suspects instead of putting them on trial, saying that the US may continue to get "good information" from them, presumably about plans for future terrorist attacks. Giuliani says that while Bush "didn't do everything right" in the "war on terror," what Obama "should be doing is following the right things [Bush] did. One of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror, we had no domestic attacks under Bush, we had one under Obama." Stephanopoulos notes that Obama has "stepped up" actions against terrorists, but does not correct Giuliani's claim that the US "had no domestic attacks under Bush." [Media Matters, 1/8/2010]
Entity Tags: Barack Obama, ABC News, George Stephanopoulos, Bush administration (43), Rudolph ("Rudy") Giuliani
Federal judge Vaughn Walker dismisses Jewel v. NSA, a lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) against the National Security Agency and senior Bush administration officials over the administration's warrantless surveillance program (see September 18, 2008). Walker rules that the privacy harm to millions of Americans from the illegal spying dragnet was not a "particularized injury" but instead a "generalized grievance" because almost everyone in the United States has a phone and Internet service. EFF legal director Cindy Cohn says: "We're deeply disappointed in the judge's ruling. This ruling robs innocent telecom customers of their privacy rights without due process of law. Setting limits on executive power is one of the most important elements of America's system of government, and judicial oversight is a critical part of that." EFF attorney Kevin Bankston says: "The alarming upshot of the court's decision is that so long as the government spies on all Americans, the courts have no power to review or halt such mass surveillance even when it is flatly illegal and unconstitutional. With new revelations of illegal spying being reported practically every other week… the need for judicial oversight when it comes to government surveillance has never been clearer." The EFF indicates it will appeal Walker's decision. [Electronic Frontier Foundation, 1/21/2010] The Obama administration echoed claims made in previous lawsuits by the Bush administration, invoking the "state secrets" privilege (see Late May, 2006) and supporting previous arguments by the Bush-era Justice Department. The administration even went a step further than its predecessor in arguing that under the Patriot Act, the government can never be sued for illegal wiretapping unless there is "willful disclosure" of the communications. [Klein, 2009, pp. 116-117]
Entity Tags: Obama administration, Bush administration (43), Cindy Cohn, Electronic Frontier Foundation, National Security Agency, Vaughn Walker, Kevin Bankston
Testimony by Patrick F. Kennedy, an under secretary for management at the State Department, before the House Committee on Homeland Security confirms that US intelligence officials prevented the State Department from revoking the US visa of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The 23-year-old Nigerian student, whom US intelligence believed was working with the Yemeni arm of al-Qaeda, attempted to set off a bomb on Northwest Flight 253 into Detroit on December 25, 2009 (see December 25, 2009). Kennedy informs the committee's chairman, Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS): "We will revoke the visa of any individual who is a threat to the United States, but we do take one preliminary step. We ask our law enforcement and intelligence community partners, 'Do you have eyes on this person and do you want us to let this person proceed under your surveillance so that you may potentially break a larger plot?' And one of the members—and we'd be glad to give you that out of—in private—said: 'Please do not revoke this visa. We have eyes on this person. We are following this person who has the visa for the purpose of trying to roll up an entire network, not just stop one person.'" With the exception of a story appearing in the Detroit News, this revelation will go unreported in mainstream news media outlets. [US Congress. House. Committee on Homeland Security, 1/27/2010; Detroit News, 1/27/2010]
Entity Tags: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, US Department of State
The US Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility refuses to refer two former Bush administration officials to authorities for criminal or civil charges regarding their authorizations of the torture of suspected terrorists (see Before April 22, 2009). John C. Yoo and Jay S. Bybee, two senior officials in the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel, provided the legal groundwork that allowed American interrogators to use sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and other torture methods against terror suspects (see Late September 2001, January 9, 2002, and August 1, 2002). The report finds that Yoo and Bybee, along with former OLC head Steven Bradbury, exhibited "poor judgment" in their actions. The OPR refuses to make the report's conclusions public. It is known that senior Justice Department official David Margolis made the decision not to refer Yoo and Bybee for legal sanctions. [Office of Professional Responsibility, US Department of Justice, 7/29/2009 ; Washington Post, 1/31/2010]
Entity Tags: John C. Yoo, Bush administration (43), David Margolis, Jay S. Bybee, Office of Professional Responsibility, US Department of Justice, Steven Bradbury, Office of Legal Counsel (DOJ)
Private Lee Pray, a member of the Oath Keepers. His finger tattoo spells out 'THOR.' [Source: Mother Jones]The progressive news magazine Mother Jones publishes a detailed examination of the Oath Keepers (see March 9, 2009), one of the fastest-growing "patriot" groups on the far right. The group was founded in April 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, a lawyer who once served as an aide to libertarian US Representative Ron Paul (R-TX). According to author Justine Sharrock, it has become "a hub in the sprawling anti-Obama movement that includes Tea Partiers, Birthers, and 912ers." (Sharrock is referring to the burgeoning "tea party" movement, the people who believe President Obama is not an American citizen (see August 1, 2008 and After and October 8-10, 2008), and the "9/12" organization formed by lobbying organization FreedomWorks and Fox News host Glenn Beck—see March 13, 2009 and After.) Beck, MSNBC commentator Pat Buchanan (see May 28, 2009, June 20, 2009, and July 16, 2009), and CNN host Lou Dobbs have publicly praised the organization. In December 2009, a grassroots summit organized by the Oath Keepers drew lawmakers such as US Representatives Phil Gingrey (R-GA) and Paul Broun (R-GA). Sharrock's profile is based on research and interviews with Rhodes, other Oath Keeper leaders, and ordinary members such as Private Lee Pray, who is stationed at Fort Drum, New York. Group Made Up of Uniformed Citizens - What sets the group apart from others on the far-right fringe is that its membership is restricted to US citizens in uniform—soldiers, police officers, and veterans. At its ceremonies, members reaffirm their official oaths of service, pledging to protect the Constitution, but then go a step further, vowing to disobey "unconstitutional" orders from what they view as an increasingly tyrannical government. Pray says he knows of five fellow Oath Keepers at Fort Drum. Preparing for Tyranny, Martial Law - He and other members are actively recruiting, arguing that under Obama, the US government is turning increasingly tyrannical and must be opposed, violently if need be. Pray says that many Oath Keepers had problems with some government policies under President Bush, but those reservations have grown with Obama's ascension to power. Rhodes tells Sharrock: "Too many conservatives relied on Bush's character and didn't pay attention. Only now, with Obama, do they worry and see what has been done. Maybe you said, 'I trusted Bush to only go after the terrorists.' But what do you think can happen down the road when they say, 'I think you are a threat to the nation?'" Pray, like many members, believes it will be a year at most before Obama declares martial law, perhaps under the pretext of a natural disaster or another 9/11-level terror attack, and begin detaining citizens en masse and banning interstate travel. Another Oath Keeper advises Sharrock to prepare a "bug out" bag with 39 items including gas masks, ammunition, and water purification tablets, so that she will be prepared "when the sh_t hits the fan." Pray and his friends have a "fortified bunker" at one of their member's parents' home in rural Idaho, where they have stashed survival gear, generators, food, and plenty of weapons. If need be, they say, they will attack their fellow soldiers. Pray describes himself as both a "birther" and a "truther," believing that Obama is an illegitimate president installed by a government that launched the 9/11 attacks on its own soil to drive the country further down the road towards tyranny. Pray has suffered demotion for a drinking problem, and was denied deployment to Iraq when he injured his knees in a fall. Right now his job involves operating and maintaining heavy equipment on base, and he is listed currently as "undeployable." He and his fellow Oath Keepers on base spend their free time researching what they call the "New World Order" (see September 11, 1990) and conspiracies about detention camps. Pray is one of the few active-duty members who will agree to have his name made public; Rhodes encourages active-duty soldiers and police officers to hide their membership in the group, saying a group with large numbers of anonymous members can instill in its adversaries the fear of the unknown—a "great force multiplier," he calls it. Pray worries that the CIA is monitoring his phone calls and insists that unmarked black cars follow him when he drives. A fellow Fort Drum Oath Keeper who only allows his first name of Brandon to be used, and who is also "undeployable" due to his own injuries, says that the off-limits areas of Fort Drum contain concentration camps. Sharrock notes that the soldiers' behavior might be considered "paranoid," but writes, "Then again, when you're an active-duty soldier contemplating treason, some level of paranoia is probably sensible." Stewart Rhodes - Rhodes, a Yale graduate and constitutional lawyer, is working on a book currently titled We the Enemy: How Applying the Laws of War to the American People in the War on Terror Threatens to Destroy Our Constitutional Republic. He is an Army veteran who was honorably discharged after injuring his spine in a parachute jump, and worked for a time supervising interns in Ron Paul's Congressional office. He briefly practiced law in Montana, has worked as a sculptor and a firearms instructor, and writes a gun-rights column for SWAT magazine. He describes himself as a libertarian, a staunch constitutionalist, and a devout Christian. He decided to abandon electoral politics in 2008 after Paul's presidential bid failed, and turned instead to grassroots organizing. In college, he became fascinated with the idea that had German soldiers and police refused to follow orders in the 1930s, Adolf Hitler could have been stopped. In early 2008, he read a letter in SWAT magazine declaring that "the Constitution and our Bill of Rights are gravely endangered" and that service members, veterans, and police "is where they will be saved, if they are to be saved at all!" Rhodes responded with a column predicting a future President Hillary ("Hitlery") Clinton turning the US into a despotism while dressed in her "Chairman Mao signature pantsuit." He asked readers if they intended to follow this "dominatrix-in-chief," hold militia members as enemy combatants, disarm citizens, and shoot all resisters. If "a police state comes to America, it will ultimately be by your hands," he wrote. You had better "resolve to not let it happen on your watch." Shortly thereafter, he set up a blog he called "Oath Keepers," asking for testimonials from soldiers and veterans, and began gaining popularity. Military officers offered assistance. A Marine Corps veteran invited Rhodes to speak at a local tea party event. Paul campaigners provided strategic advice. In March 2009, Rhodes attended a rally staged by a pro-militia group, and in front of the crowd of some 400 participants, officially launched the Oath Keepers movement (see March 9, 2009). Buchanan and Beck have praised Rhodes, with Buchanan predicting that he "is headed for cable stardom." Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of Infowars.com has repeatedly featured Rhodes and the Oath Keepers on his radio talk show. Attracts Attention of Anti-Hate Organizations - The Oath Keepers has come to the attention of anti-hate organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which have cited the group in their reports on rising anti-government extremism. Rhodes has accused the SPLC of trying "to lump us in with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and of course make the insinuation that we're the next McVeigh," referring to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). Author David Neiwert, an expert on right-wing groups, tells Sharrock that it would be a mistake to term them another amalgamation of "right-wing crackpots" or "extremist nimrods," as other press outlets have done. "[T]he reality is a lot of them are fairly intelligent, well-educated people who have complex worldviews that are thoroughly thought out," Neiwert says. Neiwert and Sharrock tie Rhodes's message to the much earlier views expressed by members of the now-defunct Posse Comitatus (see 1969), and note that the last reemergence of this brand of rhetoric took place during the last time a Democrat, Bill Clinton, was in the White House. Today, groups like the Oath Keepers use the Internet, particularly Facebook and YouTube, and cable news networks, to connect with like-minded citizens around the world. "The underlying sentiment is an attack on government dating back to the New Deal and before," Neiwert says. "Ron Paul has been a significant conduit in recent years, but nothing like Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann [R-MN] and Sarah Palin (see October 10, 2008)—all of whom share that innate animus." While Rhodes and most Oath Keepers say they will only begin active disobedience under the delineated circumstances laid out by the group, some members have gone down their own paths of violence. Oath Keeper Daniel Knight Hayden set off a controversy last April 15 with a barrage of messages on Twitter stating his intention to "START THE KILLING NOW!" by engaging in a gun battle at the Oklahoma State Capitol and urging other Oath Keepers to join him (see April 14-15, 2009). Rhodes denounced Hayden, but Neiwert notes that Rhodes's inflammatory and inciteful rhetoric can have what he calls "an unhinging effect" on people inclined toward violent action. "It puts them in a state of mind of fearfulness and paranoia, creating so much anger and hatred that eventually that stuff boils over." In January, ex-Marine and Oath Keeper spokesman Charles Dyer, who beat a treason charge for advocating armed resistance to the government, was arrested on charges of raping a 7-year-old girl, and authorities found stolen military weaponry at his home; some militia groups have hailed Dyer as "the first POW of the second American Revolution," but Rhodes removed information about him from the organization's Web sites and now denies he was ever a member (see January 21, 2010). Rhodes says he and his Web staff are "overwhelmed" with the need to delete messages encouraging racism and violence from their blog, and recently he shut down one Internet forum because of members' attempts to use it to recruit for militia organizations. Chip Berlet of the watchdog group Political Research Associates and an expert on far-right movements equates Rhodes's rhetoric to yelling fire in a crowded theater. "Promoting these conspiracy theories is very dangerous right now because there are people who will assume that a hero will stop at nothing." What will happen, he adds, "is not just disobeying orders but harming and killing." Rhodes acknowledges that to follow through on his rhetoric could be risky, and reminds Sharrock that freedom "is not neat or tidy, it's messy." Gold Standards, Muslim Rights, and Treasonous Federal Institutions - During a recent meeting at a North Las Vegas casino, Sharrock took part in discussions of whether Muslim citizens had rights under the Constitution, why the Federal Reserve was a treasonous institution, why the government should be run under Biblical law and a gold standard, and how abortion-rights advocates are part of a eugenics plan targeting Christians. The group takes no official stance on the US's war on terror or its foreign engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, but a recent Oath Keeper member who promoted his dual membership in the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) on the Oath Keepers blog had his post removed by Rhodes, who called the IVAW a "totalitarian" and "communist" organization. Expanding Membership - Rhodes says the group has at least one chapter in each of the 50 states, and claims the group has some 29,000 members, not counting the ones who keep their membership off the computer lists. Volunteers are preparing a large "outreach" to soldiers serving overseas. The organization has worked hard to become a staple of tea party events, and tells tea partiers that bringing guns to those events reminds participants of their constitutional rights. The organization has made strong connections with groups such as the Constitution Party and Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, and national figures such as Ralph Reed, the former director of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, and Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America. Elected officials such as Broun, Gingrey, Bachmann, and Steve King (R-IA) have expressed their interest in sponsoring legislation crafted by Oath Keeper leaders. [Mother Jones, 3/2010]
Entity Tags: David Neiwert, Daniel Knight Hayden, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Steve King, Stewart Rhodes, Timothy James McVeigh, Chip Berlet, Alex Jones, Ralph Reed, Anti-Defamation League, Charles Alan Dyer, Barack Obama, Posse Comitatus, Southern Poverty Law Center, Paul Broun, Justine Sharrock, Glenn Beck, George W. Bush, FreedomWorks, Eagle Forum, Larry Pratt, Phil Gingrey, Patrick Buchanan, Lee Pray, Mother Jones, Oath Keepers, Constitution Party, Michele Bachmann, Lou Dobbs
Logo of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks the activities of so-called 'hate groups' around the US. [Source: GuideStar]The number of extremist militia and "patriot" groups has expanded dramatically since the election of President Obama, according to a report issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit organization that tracks "hate groups" and other, similar organizations. The number has expanded from 149 in 2008 to 512 in 2009—a 244 percent increase. "That is a lot of change in a short period of time," says SPLC research director Heidi Beirich. The SPLC report says the number has "exploded in 2009 as militias and other groups steeped in wild, antigovernment conspiracy theories exploited populist anger across the country and infiltrated the mainstream." While many of these groups do not espouse violence and are not considered a direct threat to government officials, government property, or citizens, some of them do advocate violent strikes against government organizations and/or "liberal" groups or individuals. The number dwindled during the eight years of the Bush presidency, the SPLC reports, but since the election of a black, Democratic president, along with a poorly performing economy and a female speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), as catalyzing factors, the number has increased, and continues to grow. "The country is becoming more diverse," Beirich says. "Some people find it hard to handle.… These are extreme stressors for people." Chip Berlet, an analyst for Political Research Associates, writes: "We are in the midst of one of the most significant right-wing populist rebellions in United States history. We see around us a series of overlapping social and political movements populated by people [who are] angry, resentful, and full of anxiety. They are raging against the machinery of the federal bureaucracy and liberal government programs and policies including health care, reform of immigration and labor laws, abortion, and gay marriage." The SPLC tracked 42 armed and potentially violent militias in 2008; that number has grown by over 300 percent, to 127, since then. The SPLC writes: "Patriot groups have been fueled by anger over the changing demographics of the country, the soaring public debt, the troubled economy, and an array of initiatives by President Obama and the Democrats that have been branded 'socialist' or even 'fascist' by his political opponents (see August 1, 2008 and After, October 10, 2008, October 27, 2008, January 2009, March 4-6, 2009, March 17, 2009, March 25, 2009, March 29, 2009, April 1-2, 2009, April 3-7, 2009, April 9-22, 2009, May 13, 2009, May 28, 2009, July 24, 2009, Late July, 2009, August 10, 2009, August 11, 2009, August 18, 2009, September 1, 2009, September 12, 2009, September 17, 2009, November 5, 2009, January 27, 2010, May 7, 2010, May 19, 2010, May 25, 2010, July 3-4, 2010, September 13, 2010, September 18, 2010, September 21, 2010, September 29, 2010, September 29, 2010, October 3, 2010, October 14, 2010, October 26, 2010, November 16, 2010, and April 27, 2011). Report editor Mark Potok says: "This extraordinary growth is a cause for grave concern. The people associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead" (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). Moreover, the report finds, the "patriot" movement has made common cause with the "tea party" political movement, and the two are becoming more and more entwined. The report finds, "The 'tea parties' and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups, but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories, and racism." The "patriot" movement's central ideas are being promoted by national figures, such as Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck and lawmakers such as House member Michele Bachmann (R-MN). The number of identified "racist hate groups" has not increased significantly from 2008 from 2009, the report finds, growing from 926 to 932. However, the growth rate would have been far higher if it were not for the collapse of the American National Socialist Workers Party, a key neo-Nazi network whose founder was arrested in October 2008 (see December 18, 2009). So-called "nativist extremist" groups, vigilante organizations that go beyond advocating strict immigration policy and actually confront or harass suspected immigrants, have also grown in number, from 173 in 2008 to 309 in 2009, a rise of nearly 80 percent. The SPLC reports: "These three strands of the radical right—the hate groups, the nativist extremist groups, and the Patriot organizations—are the most volatile elements on the American political landscape. Taken together, their numbers increased by more than 40 percent, rising from 1,248 groups in 2008 to 1,753 last year." The report warns that the number and intensity of violence from these groups, and from "lone wolf" extremists perhaps triggered by these groups' rhetoric and actions, is increasing. Since Obama took office in January 2009, six law enforcement officers have been murdered by right-wing extremists. There are large and increasing numbers of arrests of racist "skinheads" for plotting to assassinate Obama, and an increasing number of anti-government extremists have been arrested for fomenting bomb plots. [Southern Poverty Law Center, 3/2010; Southern Poverty Law Center, 3/2/2010; Detroit Free Press, 3/31/2010] A Detroit Free Press report will directly tie the Michigan Hutaree, a radical Christian group arrested for planning the murder of local police officers (see March 27-30, 2010), to the growing trend of militant activity documented in the SPLC report. Political science professor Michael Barkun, an expert on extremist religious groups, says of the Hutaree arrests: "I don't think this is the last we're going to see of these groups. The number of such groups has increased fairly dramatically in the last couple of years." Beirich will note that the Hutaree were not isolated from other militias: "They were part of the broader militia movement," she says. However, her conclusion is disputed by Michigan militia member Michael Lackomar. "They more closely fit the definition of a cult," Lackomar will say. "They believe the world is about to end according to how it was written in the Bible, and their job is to stand up and clear the way for Jesus and fight alongside him against the forces of darkness." While "[a] lot of people are upset at an ever-growing government that is overreaching," Lackomar will say, most militias do not go to the Hutaree's extremes. He will call the Hutaree's plans to attack police officers "despicable." [Detroit Free Press, 3/31/2010]
Entity Tags: Michael Barkun, Glenn Beck, Chip Berlet, Bush administration (43), Barack Obama, American National Socialist Workers Party, Heidi Beirich, Hutaree, Mark Potok, Michele Bachmann, Nancy Pelosi, Southern Poverty Law Center, Michael Lackomar
Photo of a rock included on his blog post by Mike Vanderboegh. The meaning of the Roman numeral III is unclear. [Source: Mike Vanderboegh]Mike Vanderboegh, the former head of the Alabama Constitutional Militia, writes a blog post urging his readers to show their displeasure over the Democrats' health care reform bill by breaking the windows of Democratic legislative offices. "To all modern Sons of Liberty," he writes on his blog, "Sipsey Street Irregulars," "THIS is your time. Break their windows. Break them NOW." Vanderboegh, who lives on government disability payments, writes of what he calls "Nancy Pelosi's Intolerable Act": "So, if you wish to send a message that Pelosi and her party cannot fail to hear, break their windows. Break them NOW. Break them and run to break again. Break them under cover of night. Break them in broad daylight. Break them and await arrest in willful, principled civil disobedience. Break them with rocks. Break them with slingshots. Break them with baseball bats. But BREAK THEM." [Mike Vanderboegh, 3/19/2010; Kansas City Star, 3/22/2010; Think Progress, 3/23/2010; Daily Beast, 3/24/2010; Washington Post, 3/25/2010; Salon, 3/26/2010] Vandalism, Death Threats against Lawmakers and Children in Three States - In the days that follow, windows and glass door panels are shattered in Democratic Party offices and Democrats' district legislative offices in Arizona, Kansas, and New York. At least 10 Democratic legislators report receiving death threats, harassment, and vandalism at their offices. In the Niagara Falls, New York, office of Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY), a voice mail message is left threatening to send snipers to "assassinate… the children of lawmakers who voted yes" on health care reform. [Kansas City Star, 3/22/2010; Think Progress, 3/23/2010; Politico, 3/24/2010; Washington Post, 3/25/2010] Mike Troxel, an organizer for the Lynchburg, Virginia, Tea Party, publishes what he believes to be the home address of Representative Thomas Perriello (D-VA), and urges angry voters to "drop by" for a "good face-to-face chat." (The address is that of Bo Perriello, the brother of Thomas. Troxel refuses to take it down from his blog, but says he would be happy to amend his post with Perriello's own address. Within days of Troxel's post, someone cuts Bo Perriello's propane gas line, an act that could lead to a fire.) Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI), whose last-minute compromise on abortion (see March 24, 2010) guaranteed passage of the health care bill, reports receiving multiple death threats on his home and office answering machines, including one that said, "You're dead; we know where you live; we'll get you." Stupak tells a reporter, "My wife still can't answer the phone." The messages are "full of obscenities if she leaves it plugged in. In my office, we can't get a phone out. It's just bombarded." [Politico, 3/24/2010; Right Wing Watch, 3/24/2010] Prediction of 'Civil War' over Health Care, Taxation - Though Democratic Party officials in New York call for Vanderboegh's arrest, believing he is behind an incident of vandalism in Rochester, he has not as yet been interviewed by law enforcement authorities. Vanderboegh tells Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker that he has no regrets over his call for vandalism and violence, and says that throwing bricks through windows sends a clear message to Democrats that "the health care reform legislation they passed Sunday has caused so much unrest that it could result in a civil war." Vanderboegh, Rucker writes, has "a complicated theory that IRS agents will go after people who refuse to buy insurance or pay the fines," and the result of that action will be "civil war." Vanderboegh says: "The central fact of the health care bill is this, and we find it tyrannical and unconstitutional on its face. The federal government now demands all Americans to pay and play in this system, and if we refuse, we will be fined, and if we refuse to pay the fine, they will come to arrest us, and if we resist arrest… then we will be killed. The bill certainly doesn't say that, but that's exactly and precisely what is behind every bill like this." Throwing bricks through windows, he says, is "both good manners and it's also a moral duty to try to warn people." Vanderboegh describes himself as a "Christian libertarian" and a gun rights advocate who once belonged to two Alabama militia organizations. Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an organization that tracks extremist and hate groups, says the SPLC has been aware of Vanderboegh "forever," and says: "He hasn't been involved in any kind of violence that we know of ourselves, but these causes that he's involved in led to a lot of violence. The ideas that Vanderboegh's militia groups were pushing were the same extreme anti-government ideas that inspired [Timothy] McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing" (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). [Washington Post, 3/25/2010; Salon, 3/26/2010] One of Vanderboegh's blog commentators asks, "Is this our Fort Sumter?" referring to the opening battle of the Civil War. [Mike Vanderboegh, 3/19/2010] Reporter John Avlon writes that the comparison to 1938's "Kristallnacht," the Nazis' "Night of Broken Glass," are "inevitable." He notes that Vanderboegh's home page warns, "All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war." [Daily Beast, 3/24/2010] Prediction of 'Race War' - Vanderboegh tells Avnel that he believes President Obama's election will spark a "race war," saying: "Now we have a gangster culture in the middle of the cities. We've imported into this country over the last 20 years a significant subculture that comes from south of the border [presumably Mexico] that also has not bought in and identified with the larger culture. Our fear is that any breakdown in this country of law and order will turn into a three-sided race war, and I can't think of anything that's more calculated to bring long-term tyranny and chaos than something like that." [Daily Beast, 3/24/2010] Republican Leadership Should 'Stop' Incendiary Rhetoric - Representative C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger (D-MD) says: "The real problem is the people who are calling and talking about a revolution and overthrowing government. They can be angry. We're all for that. But when they talk about taking over the government, the leadership has to do its part to stop that." [Politico, 3/24/2010] Problem for 'Tea Parties'? - Progressive columnist David Weigel predicts that Vanderboegh's "off the rails" post "will end up making a lot of trouble for Tea Parties… calling, many times over, for violence against members of Congress. Vanderboegh basically courts controversy—his blog profile tells readers how to send him anthrax and death threats—but as Democrats make hay from attacks on Congressional offices, this blog post might become a sort of Rosetta Stone of wingnuttery." [Washington Independent, 3/25/2010]
Entity Tags: Louise Slaughter, Mike Vanderboegh, Philip Rucker, John Avlon, Southern Poverty Law Center, Heidi Beirich, Bart Stupak, C.A. Ruppersberger, Alabama Constitutional Militia, David Weigel, Barack Obama, Thomas Perriello, Mike Troxel, Bo Perriello
The Associated Press publishes an article by Adam Goldman and Kathy Gannon revealing the name of the Afghan detainee who died at the CIA-controlled Salt Pit prison near Kabul in November 2002 (see November 20, 2002). The prisoner is named as Gul Rahman, and further details about his capture and death are also revealed for the first time. [Associated Press, 3/28/2010]
Entity Tags: Adam Goldman, Kathy Gannon, Gul Rahman
A US District Court judge awards damages in a lawsuit, finding the NSA illegally monitored the calls of the plaintiffs. The Al Haramain Islamic Foundation and two of its lawyers, Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor, sued the US government in 2006 based on evidence that their calls had been monitored; the US Treasury Department inadvertently provided them with an NSA log in August 2004 showing their calls had been monitored in May of that year (see February 28, 2006). In defending against the suit, the Justice Department argued, first under President Bush and then under President Obama, that the case should be dismissed based on the government's invocation of the state secrets privilege (see March 9, 1953) concerning the NSA log, and that the plaintiffs could not otherwise demonstrate that surveillance had occurred, meaning the plaintiffs had no standing to bring suit. Judge Vaughn Walker rejected these arguments, noting that the plaintiffs had introduced into evidence a speech posted on FBI's Web site by FBI Deputy Director John Pistole to the American Bankers Association (ABA), in which he said that surveillance had been used to develop a case by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) against Al-Haramain, and Congressional testimony by Bush administration officials that disclosed the manner in which electronic surveillance was conducted. In the summary of his decision, Vaughn wrote, "[The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] FISA takes precedence over the state secrets privilege in this case," and "defendants have failed to meet their burden to [provide] evidence that a FISA warrant was obtained, that plaintiffs were not surveilled or that the surveillance was otherwise lawful." [Al-Haramain v. Obama, 3/31/2010; Washington Post, 4/1/2010, pp. A04]
Entity Tags: George W. Bush, Asim Ghafoor, Anthony J. Coppolino, Alberto R. Gonzales, Al Haramain Islamic Foundation (Oregon branch), "Justice Department", Barack Obama, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, Suliman al-Buthe, Keith Alexander, Eric Holder, US Department of the Treasury, Wendell Belew, Vaughn Walker, National Security Agency
The documentary uses an actor and computer effects to simulate McVeigh's actions during the interviews, which were recorded on audio tape, and of his carrying out the bombing. [Source: MSNBC]MSNBC airs a documentary about convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see June 2, 1997 and June 11-13, 1997), who before his execution (see 7:14 a.m. June 11, 2001) confessed to bombing the Murrah Federal Building (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995) to Buffalo News reporters Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck. Michel and Herbeck went on to write a 2001 biography of McVeigh, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing, based on their interviews with McVeigh. The MSNBC documentary, The McVeigh Tapes: Confessions of an American Terrorist, features excerpts drawn from the 45 hours of audio recordings made by Michel. The documentary will be broadcast on April 19, the 15th anniversary of the bombing, and features film of the bombing and its aftermath; computer-generated recreations to augment the actual audio recordings (with an actor playing McVeigh); and interviews with survivors of the bombing and family members of the slain. McVeigh told of his childhood in upstate New York (see 1987-1988), his experiences in the 1991 Gulf War (see January - March 1991 and After), his relationship with convicted co-conspirator Terry Nichols (see March 24, 1988 - Late 1990, December 23, 1997, and June 4, 1998), and of the meticulous planning and execution of the bombing. [MSNBC, 4/15/1995; MSNBC, 4/15/1995] One of the few moments when McVeigh's voice became animated was when he described the moments before the bomb went off, saying, "I lit the two-minute fuse at the stoplight, and I swear to God that was the longest stoplight I've ever sat at in my life." [New York Times, 4/18/1995] The documentary is narrated by MSNBC talk show host Rachel Maddow. Herbeck says he understands that the documentary will evoke strong feelings. "Some people will say they don't want to hear anything about Timothy McVeigh and we respect their feelings on that," he says. "But others are interested in hearing what made a terrorist tick." Michel says, "[It's an] oral blueprint of what turned one young man into one of the worst mass-murderers and terrorists in American history." Herbeck says their book drew similar mixed reactions: "A few of the victims were outraged by our book, and they went public with their feelings. They felt it was wrong to tell the story of a terrorist." Maddow says she is not worried that the documentary will somehow glamorize McVeigh or make him into a martyr figure: "McVeigh is profoundly unsympathetic—even repugnant—on his own terms, you don't need to work to make him seem that way. There's a huge distance between the hero he is in his own mind, and how basely unheroic he seems to anyone hearing the tapes now. I personally am not a supporter of the death penalty… but hearing him talk, it's hard not to wish him gone." In the documentary, Jannie Coverdale, who lost her two young grandchildren in the blast, says: "I was glad when he died. I will never forgive Timothy McVeigh." Oklahoma City Police Department official Jennifer Rodgers, one of the first responders to the bombing (see 9:02 a.m. - 10:35 a.m. April 19, 1995), says her feelings are "still raw.… It just doesn't seem like it was really that long ago." Maddow says the story is important even 15 years later: "The Murrah Building bombing is the worst incident of domestic terrorism we've ever experienced as a nation. We owe pure remembrance of the date, and commemoration of the lives lost and changed. I think it's also an appropriate occasion to talk about the threat of domestic terrorism. How strong is the threat now, 15 years after McVeigh? Are we heeding warning signs that may be out there now?" Former President Clinton, who oversaw the federal efforts to respond to the bombing, has recently warned that ugly and frightening parallels exist between the current political tensions and the anti-government rage that preceded McVeigh's attack, saying: "We can disagree with them [elected officials], we can harshly criticize them. But when we turn them into an object of demonization, we increase the number of threats." Michel says: "There's no question that the militia movement is on the rise again. Some of the same factors that caused McVeigh to believe he had become disenfranchised from mainstream society are again in the mix: growing government regulations, lack of employment. Those are things McVeigh would cite if he were alive." [MSNBC, 4/15/1995; MSNBC, 4/15/1995] In the documentary, Maddow says of the date of the airing: "On this date, which holds great meaning for the anti-government movement, the McVeigh tapes are a can't-turn-away, riveting reminder." Washington Post reviewer Hank Steuver calls the documentary "chilling" and McVeigh's demeanor "arrogan[t]" and unrepentant. "Maddow and company wisely decline to draw too straight a line from 1995 to 2010, but, as she indicates, it might be helpful in crazy times to study this sort of crazy head-on," he writes. "Watching this, it's easy to feel like that fuse is still lit." [Washington Post, 4/18/2010] New York Times reviewer Alessandra Stanley says the use of an actor and computer effects "blunts its impact by relying on stagy computer graphics.… Scenes of this domestic terrorist in shackles during a prison interview or lighting a fuse inside a rented Ryder truck look neither real nor completely fake, but certainly cheesy: a violent video game with McVeigh as a methodical, murderous avatar." [New York Times, 4/18/1995] The documentary is later made available on YouTube. [911Blogger (.com), 4/20/2010]
Entity Tags: Jannie Coverdale, Dan Herbeck, Hank Steuver, Jennifer Rodgers, Lou Michel, Alessandra Stanley, Terry Lynn Nichols, Rachel Maddow, MSNBC, Timothy James McVeigh
Infowars (.com) logo. [Source: The Jeenyus Corner (.com]Kurt Nimmo, writing for the right-wing conspiracy Web site Infowars (.com), calls the recent MSNBC documentary featuring the confession of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see April 15-18, 2010) a "fairy tale." Nimmo writes: "On the fifteenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, MSNBC ran a documentary supposedly detailing Timothy McVeigh's death row 'confession.' The documentary—actually a fairy tale of easily debunked government propaganda hosted by the 'progressive' Rachel Maddow—employs alleged tape recordings of McVeigh coupled with cheesy computer simulations intended to dredge up the government version of events and thus rekindle hysteria manufactured in the 1990s concerning the threat posed by militias and patriot groups." Nimmo says the documentary "omits a large amount of evidence that seriously undermines the government version repeated and amplified by the corporate media (see (see 1983, January 23, 1993 - Early 1994, April 1993, October 12, 1993 - January 1994, August 1994 - March 1995, August - September 1994, September 12, 1994 and After, September 13, 1994 and After, November 1994, December 1994, February 1995, March 1995, (April 1) - April 18, 1995, April 5, 1995, April 8, 1995, and Before 9:00 A.M. April 19, 1995), and recounts a number of oddities surrounding the bombing that have not yet been explained, such as the "inexplicable" absence of FBI and BATF agents in the Murrah Building the day of the bombing (eight federal agents were killed in the blast—see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995), allegations that judicial and FBI officials were warned about the bombing ahead of time, and a raft of unexplained information about other possible conspirators (see April 15, 1995, 9:00 p.m. April 17, 1995, 3:00 p.m. April 17, 1995, April 18, 1995, April 20, 1995, April 21, 1995, April 29, 1995, and June 14, 1995). Nimmo calls the documentary "crude propaganda" designed to conceal what he calls the likelihood that the bombing was a government operation designed to demonize militia and anti-government organizations. He says the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an anti-hate organization that tracks violent anti-government organizations, is one of the organizations behind the documentary, and calls the SPLC's Mark Potok, who appears in the documentary, the organization's "propaganda minister." He concludes: "The OK City bombing was a false flag attack perpetuated by the government 'to gain a political end' and that end was to demonize political opposition. It is an effort that continues today and will expand as the political opposition gains popular support." [Kurt Nimmo, 4/25/2010]
Entity Tags: MSNBC, Kurt Nimmo, Southern Poverty Law Center, Timothy James McVeigh, Rachel Maddow, Mark Potok
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accuses the Pakistani government of knowing where Osama bin Laden and other top militant leaders are hiding. She says, "I'm not saying that they're at the highest levels, but I believe that somewhere in this government are people who know where Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda is, where Mullah Omar and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban is, and we expect more co-operation to help us bring to justice, capture or kill those who attacked us on 9/11." A Pakistani government spokesperson dismisses Clinton's claim. [Daily Telegraph, 5/11/2010] In March 2011, a US strike force will assault a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and kill bin Laden (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Mullah Omar, Al-Qaeda, Hillary Clinton, Pakistan, Taliban, Osama bin Laden
CIA Director Leon Panetta tells ABC News that there are on 50 to 100 al-Qaeda operatives left in Afghanistan, and Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan's tribal region. He says that the number of al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan is "relatively small.… At most, we're looking at 50 to 100, maybe less. It's in that vicinity. There's no question that the main location of al-Qaeda is in the tribal areas of Pakistan." He also says that bin Laden "is in an area of the tribal areas of Pakistan." He concedes that the CIA has not had good intelligence on bin Laden's location for a long time. "It's been a while. I think it goes back almost to the early 2000s, you know in terms of actually when [bin Laden] was leaving from Afghanistan to Pakistan that we had the last precise information about where he might be located. Since then it has been very difficult to get any intelligence on his exact location." [ABC News, 6/27/2010] Almost a year later, bin Laden will be assassinated in his Pakistan hideout (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Leon Panetta, Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda
A key mistake by Osama bin Laden's courier Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed (a.k.a. Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti) lead US intelligence to exact location of bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan (see May 2, 2011). US intelligence already had a good idea that Ahmed was a courier working for bin Laden, and in the summer of 2009, he used a cell phone that allowed analysts to determine he was living somewhere in northwest Pakistan (see Summer 2009). But he drove an hour or two before making his calls, and he changed the SIM cards in his phone, making it impossible to pinpoint his exact location. After a flurry of calls in the summer of 2009, he did not use his phone for nearly a year. [ABC News, 5/19/2011] Phone Call Is Key Mistake - But then, around July 2010, he accepts a call that provides the key intelligence breakthrough. The call is from an unnamed old friend, but the friend's calls are already being monitored by US intelligence for his al-Qaeda links. The friend asks Ahmed innocuous questions, like where have you been and what are you doing now. Ahmed vaguely replies, "I'm back with the people I was with before." Bob Woodward of the Washington Post will later report, "There was a pause, as if the friend knew that [Ahmed's] words meant he had returned to bin Laden's inner circle, and was perhaps at the side of the al-Qaeda leader himself. The friend replied, 'May God facilitate.'" [Washington Post, 5/6/2011] Exact Neighborhood Is Located - According to one account, when Ahmed takes this call, apparently he is in or near the town of Peshawar (about 120 miles from Abbottabad). He is soon spotted there, and then continually monitored. It will take several weeks before he returns to Abbottabad, and the exact location of bin Laden's hideout there is discovered. [New York Times, 5/2/2011] According to another account, Ahmed is either inside bin Laden's compound or very close to it when he takes the call, because the NSA is quickly able to determine the exact neighborhood where the call was received. From there, the CIA and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency search aerial satellite photographs and deduce which house in the neighborhood likely belongs to bin Laden. [ABC News, 5/19/2011] Either way, apparently his hideout will be discovered by US intelligence on August 1 (see August 1, 2010). Bin Laden's Compound Already Known to CIA? - According to the Associated Press, the CIA had already known "for years" that bin Laden's compound was linked to al-Qaeda, but they had dismissed it as not very important since there were no security guards patrolling it. In any case, the compound is located (or relocated), and US intelligence starts to monitor it. [Associated Press, 5/2/2011]
Entity Tags: US intelligence, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed, Central Intelligence Agency, Osama bin Laden
US officials privately brief British Prime Minister David Cameron. In his first visit to Washington, DC, as prime minister, Cameron is briefed by General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to a later account by the Guardian, Cartwright tells Cameron that the ISI, Pakistani's intelligence agency, is at least tolerating terrorism, and may be promoting it. The Guardian will add that Cameron "was not just told in Washington that organizations like Lashkar-e-Toiba were able to launch attacks on India and Britain from Pakistan. Cameron was also warned that Pakistan was providing a haven for al-Qaeda leaders, possibly including Osama bin Laden." [Guardian, 5/2/2011] Exactly one week after this briefing, Cameron will publicly accuse Pakistan of supporting and exporting terrorism (see July 28, 2010). This briefing takes place the same month US intelligence makes a key intelligence breakthrough that soon leads to bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan (see July 2010 and May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Lashkar-e-Toiba, David Cameron, James Cartwright, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan
An illustration of the Abbottabad compound. [Source: CIA]US intelligence officials come to believe more strongly that they have found Osama bin Laden. US intelligence officials have tracked al-Qaeda courier Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed (a.k.a. Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti) to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in August 2010 (see July 2010), and by September they are so convinced that bin Laden is hiding there that they inform President Obama about this (see September 1, 2010). Bin Laden is not directly seen by surveillance, but there are many clues suggesting he could be there: Most importantly, Ahmed fits the profile of an ideal courier for bin Laden, and Ahmed lives at the compound. The compound is surrounded by 12- to 18-foot high walls topped with barbed wire. However, there is no telephone or Internet in the compound. This would seem to be an unusual security precaution, but it also makes the compound hard to monitor. The compound sits on a large plot of land and is about eight times larger than the other homes in the neighborhood. The people in the compound burn their trash instead of leaving it out for collection, like the other neighbors. The main three-story building in the compound has few outside windows. Ahmed and the others known to live in the compound have no known source of wealth that could explain how they pay the expenses of running the compound. [CNN, 5/2/2011] There are no balconies, except for those covered with more high walls. Balconies are a standard feature for wealthy houses like this one in Pakistan. One neighbor will later comment: "It's not a proper house. It's more like a warehouse. It's not like a home where anyone would want to live." [Daily Telegraph, 5/3/2011] A senior Obama administration official will later say, "When we saw the compound where the brothers lived, we were shocked by what we saw—an extraordinarily unique compound." He adds that intelligence analysts conclude the compound was "custom-built to hide someone of significance.… Everything we saw… was perfectly consistent with what our experts expected bin Laden's hideout to look like." [CNN, 5/2/2011] However, according to the Associated Press, US intelligence has known about the compound "for years," but it did not think bin Laden would live there because there were no security guards. [Associated Press, 5/2/2011] Months later, a US strike force will assault the compound and kill bin Laden (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed, Barack Obama, Leon Panetta, US intelligence
US intelligence begins intensively spying on the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound where they strongly suspect Osama bin Laden is hiding (see August-September 2010). The compound was discovered on August 1, 2010 (see August 1, 2010). The Washington Post will later report that "virtually every category of [intelligence] collection in the US arsenal" is used, including satellite imagery and attempts to record voices inside the compound. CIA Safehouse - The efforts include a CIA safehouse located somewhere near the compound. Abbottabad is a tourist town with pleasant weather and colonial era charm, enabling strangers to easily come and go without attracting suspicion. The CIA takes advantage of that atmosphere to send CIA operatives and informants into the town to gather information. A former US official will say, "The [main compound building] was three stories high, and you could watch it from a variety of angles." Moving there "was his biggest mistake." [Washington Post, 5/6/2011] Escape Tunnel? - Analysts even study the water tables in the area in an attempt to figure out if bin Laden could have an escape tunnel. They conclude the soil is too wet to build a tunnel. [ABC News, 5/19/2011] Intelligence Allegedly Still Lacking - The surveillance is so extensive that in December 2010, the CIA has to secretly get Congress to reallocate tens of millions of dollars within various agency budgets to help fund it. But US intelligence is allegedly unable to get a clearly identifiable picture or voice recording of bin Laden before the raid that eventually kills him. The CIA safehouse is abandoned shortly after the May 2, 2011 raid that kills bin Laden (see May 2, 2011), since it has served its purpose. [Washington Post, 5/6/2011]
Entity Tags: US intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Osama bin Laden
Justin Carl Moose. [Source: Christian Nightmares (.com)]The FBI arrests anti-abortion activist Justin Carl Moose and charges him with describing how to make explosives in an attempt to bomb an abortion clinic. Moose, an unemployed father of three, lives in Concord, North Carolina, just outside Charlotte; he posted the information on his Facebook page. Moose calls himself an "extremist," a "radical," and the "Christian counterpart of Osama bin Laden," according to FBI agents, and labels himself a member of the violent anti-abortion group Army of God (AOG—see 1982). The FBI became aware of Moose after being alerted to his Facebook postings by pro-choice organization Planned Parenthood, which told the agency it worried that Moose was advocating extreme violence against abortion providers. The FBI began monitoring the page, and last week read of Moose's collaboration with an FBI informant to bomb a clinic in North Carolina. Moose faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on federal charges of distribution of information relating to explosives. Moose's Facebook page also rails against abortion doctors, President Obama's health care reform plan, and reports of a mosque to be built near the site of the World Trade Center. Moose also wrote several posts in support of those who have killed abortion providers in the past. "Whatever you may think about me, you're probably right," he wrote. "Extremist, Radical, Fundamentalist…? Yep! Terrorist…? Well, I prefer the term 'freedom Fighter.'" Facebook Postings since March 2010 - In March 2010, after Congress voted to pass health care legislation, Moose wrote: "The Death Care Bill passed last night. Keep your phone and rifle close and wait." In May 2010, he wrote, "There are few problems in life that can't be solved with the proper application of high explosives :)" In July 2010, he wrote: "If a mosque is built on ground zero, it will be removed. Oklahoma City style. Tim's not the only man out there that knows how to do it." Moose was referring to Timothy McVeigh, the person responsible for destroying a federal building in Oklahoma City (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995). Other posts included the phrases, "Save a life, shoot an abortionist"; "Make a bomb and light the fuse, another Hero in the news. The monster dead, with hole in head. His end was made and babies were saved"; and: "Calling all Tim McVeighs and Eric Rudolphs (see January 29, 1998)! We must take the war to the enemies of freedom and retaliate with all due force." In August 2010, Moose posted detailed instructions for making TATP, an acronym for an explosive, such as that used by terrorists in the July 2005 London bombings (see July 7, 2005). After the FBI read those instructions, it obtained legal permission to read Moose's private messages; one Moose posted to a fellow anti-abortion activist read: "I have learned a lot from the Muslim terrorists and I have no problems using their tactics. People say sarcastically 'what's the difference between a Christian terrorist and an Islamic terrorist?' I tell them simply that I'm right and I serve a living God! THAT'S the difference." On September 3, a confidential FBI informant told Moose in a recorded phone call that his best friend's wife was about to have an abortion. Moose quickly responded: "Say no more. I understand and I can help." The two men met the next day at a local restaurant, where Moose described several bombs that the confidential informant could make to destroy the abortion clinic his friend's wife was planning to use. Moose also described what he called "surveillance tactics" to be employed against the clinic, including his recommendation to drink some beer and stagger around the clinic pretending to be drunk. On September 5, the informant told Moose he had obtained the materials to make TATP; Moose told him the process for making the explosive. The FBI arrests Moose two days later. [Charlotte Observer, 9/9/2010; US Department of Justice, 9/9/2010 ; Women's Rights, 9/19/2010] Media Fails to Report Moose's Actions, Plans as Terrorism - The Women's Rights blog will note "that not one major news outlet referred to this as terrorism, despite the fact that systematically using violence and harassment to prevent citizens from providing or obtaining constitutionally-protected health care literally defines the term (which even the government reluctantly recognizes).… In the news covering this particular incident, the only reference to terrorism in any mainstream story came from Moose's direct quotes… talking about himself. Look guys, if the dude in question essentially calls himself a terrorist and you can't bring yourselves to follow suit, you're either the world's crappiest journalists or way too afraid of offending people who, quite frankly, deserve to be offended.… The unwillingness to admit that terrorism knows no racial or religious bounds is not a minor, meaningless discrepancy. Words matter, and our refusal to decry violent Christian and/or anti choice terrorism with the same fury we typically reserve only for Islamic fundamentalists both exemplifies and contributes to a culture where racism, religious discrimination, and violence against women and women's rights is tolerated. It's completely and totally unacceptable." [Women's Rights, 9/19/2010]
Entity Tags: Planned Parenthood, Women's Rights (.org), Justin Carl Moose, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Army of God
US-Bahrain Business Council logo. [Source: US-Bahrain Business Council]The US Chamber of Commerce (USCC), in a methodology made legal by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision (see January 21, 2010), uses foreign-generated funds to disseminate "attack ads" against Democrats running for office in the November midterm elections. The USCC has targeted, among others, Jack Conway (D-KY), Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Governor Jerry Brown (G-CA), and Representatives Joe Sestak (D-PA) and Tom Perriello (D-VA). The USCC, a private trade association organized as a 501(c)(6) that can raise and spend unlimited funds without disclosing any of its donors, has promised to spend $75 million to prevent Democrats from winning in the upcoming elections. The USCC has, as of September 15, aired over 8,000 television ads supporting Republican candidates and attacking Democrats, according to information from the Wesleyan Media Project. The USCC has far outspent any other public or private group, including political parties. The funds for the USCC's efforts come from its general account, which solicits foreign funding. Legal experts say that the USCC is likely skirting campaign finance law that prohibits monies from foreign corporations being spent in American elections. The USCC has been very active in recent years in raising funds from overseas sources, with such funds either going directly to the USCC or being funneled to the USCC through its foreign chapters, known as Business Councils or "AmChams." Some of the largest donations come from the oil-rich country of Bahrain, generated by the USCC's internal fundraising department in that nation called the "US-Bahrain Business Council" (USBBC). The USBBC is an office of the USCC and not a separate entity. The USBBC raises well over $100,000 a year from foreign businesses, funds shuttled directly to the USCC. A similar operation exists in India through the auspices of the USCC's US-India Business Council (USIBC). The USIBC raises well over $200,000 a year for the USCC. Other such organizations exist in Egypt, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and other countries, with those nations' laws making it difficult or impossible for the public to learn how much money is being raised and by which foreign entities. Multinational firms such as BP, Shell Oil, and Siemens are also active members of the USCC, and contribute heavily to the organization. If those firms' monies are going to fund political activities, the Citizens United decision makes it legal to keep that fact, and the amount of money being used to fund those political activities, entirely secret. It is known that the health insurer Aetna secretly donated $20 million to the USCC to try to defeat the Affordable Care Act (ACA) last year, and News Corporation, the parent of Fox News, donated $1 million to the USCC to use in political activities (see September 30, 2010). The USCC is a strong opponent of Democrats' efforts to persuade American businesses to hire locally rather than outsourcing jobs to countries such as China and India, and has fought Democrats who oppose free trade deals that would significantly benefit foreign entities. The USCC claims that it "has a system in place" to prevent foreign funding for its "political activities," but refuses to give any details. [Think Progress, 10/5/2010]
Entity Tags: Joe Sestak, British Petroleum, Barbara Boxer, Aetna, Jack Conway, US-India Business Council, Wesleyan Media Project, US Chamber of Commerce, News Corporation, Royal Dutch/Shell, US-Bahrain Business Council, Siemens, Thomas Perriello, Edmund Gerald ("Jerry") Brown, Jr
An unnamed senior NATO official says that Osama bin Laden is hiding in a house somewhere in northwest Pakistan. Al-Qaeda number two leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is also hiding in a house somewhere nearby, but not in the same place as bin Laden. The official says, "Nobody in al-Qaeda is living in a cave." This person adds that al-Qaeda's top leadership is likely living in relative comfort, protected by locals and some members of the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency. Additionally, top Taliban leader Mullah Omar lives in the Pakistani cities of Quetta and Karachi. It is unknown how the NATO official would know all this, but CNN says the person has access to classified information. [CNN, 10/18/2010] When a US raid kills bin Laden in May 2011, he will be found in a house in northwest Pakistan (see May 2, 2011), and there will be accusations that the ISI must have protected him there (see May 2, 2011 and After).
Entity Tags: Mullah Omar, Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence
Some leaders of US Congress are briefed about intelligence on Osama bin Laden's secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, will later say: "We were briefed about suspicions about the size, about the structure of the compound, about the absence of people going in or out. We were actually shown overhead long distance photos from the air and we were essentially told that there were suspicions, serious suspicions, that this may be the place where Osama bin Laden was and that there was a 24/7 oversight of this compound." [Time, 5/3/2011] It is likely that all of the "Big 8"—the leaders of each party in the House and Senate and the top lawmakers from each party on the House and Senate intelligence committees—are informed about the intelligence. They will continue to receive periodic updates up until the raid that kills bin Laden on May 2, 2011 (see May 2, 2011). They will get calls from CIA Director Leon Panetta two days before the raid saying that the action against bin Laden is likely to take place soon. [Time, 5/3/2011; Politico, 5/3/2011]
Entity Tags: Dianne Feinstein, Leon Panetta, Osama bin Laden
Vice Admiral William McRaven. [Source: CBS News]Navy Vice Admiral William McRaven, commander of Joint Special Operations Command, meets with intelligence officials at CIA headquarters and is shown photographs and maps of Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. McRaven is one of the first military officers to be told the highly classified intelligence. He begins planning options on how the US could kill or capture bin Laden (if bin Laden is in the compound). McRaven assigns an unnamed Navy captain from SEAL Team 6 to work on the options. The captain will work daily with CIA officials on the plans. McRaven and his associates will come up with three main options on how to raid the compound (see March 14, 2011). [Wall Street Journal, 5/23/2011; ABC News, 6/9/2011]
Entity Tags: William H. McRaven, Osama bin Laden, US Naval Special Warfare Development Group, Navy Seals
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani at arraignment in New York, June 9th, 2009. [Source: Reuters / Christine Cornell]Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa (see 10:35-10:39 a.m., August 7, 1998). US District Judge Lewis Kaplan imposes the maximum sentence. In November 2010, Ghailani was convicted of conspiracy to destroy buildings or property of the United States. The verdict included a special finding that his conduct caused at least one death. But this was only one of the 285 charges against him, and he was acquitted of 273 counts of murder or attempted murder. Ghailani was captured in Pakistan in 2004 (see July 25-29, 2004), kept in the CIA's secret prison system, and then was held in the US prison in Guantanamo, Cuba, starting in late 2006 (see September 2-3, 2006). He was transferred to the mainland of the US in 2009. He was the first former Guantanamo prison to be tried in a US civilian court, and his trial has been widely seen as a test case on whether other prisoners held outside the US legal system should be tried in US courts. Critics argue that Ghailani's verdict shows the other prisoners still in Guantanamo should be tried in military tribunals there. But others point to the verdict as an example of the fairness of the US justice system. Prosecutors had been seeking life in prison for Ghailani, and that is the sentence he ultimately receives, even though he is only convicted of one count. His defense lawyers didn't try to argue that Ghailani had no role in the embassy bombings, but instead argued that he was duped by other people and didn't really know what he was doing. [Christian Science Monitor, 1/25/2011]
Entity Tags: Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
An image from a 'Team Themis' proposal given to the US Chamber of Commerce in late 2010. [Source: Docstoc (.com)]The liberal news Web site Think Progress, an affiliate of the Center for American Progress, reports that it has discovered evidence of a potentially illegal scheme to entrap and destabilize political organizations, including Think Progress, that support President Obama and other Democrats. The scheme, in development since November 2010 at least, centers around the US Chamber of Commerce (USCOC), a large trade organization that makes large secret donations to Republican candidates and organizations (see January 21-22, 2010 and October 2010), and a law firm, Hunton and Williams, hired by the USCOC. According to emails secured by Think Progress, Hunton and Williams is working with a set of private security firms—HBGary Federal, Palantir, and Berico Technologies (collectively called "Team Themis")—to develop tactics to damage progressive groups and labor unions. Some of the organizations and unions targeted include Think Progress, a labor coalition called Change to Win, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), US Chamber Watch, and StopTheChamber.com. The last two are small organizations dedicated to exposing some of the secretive practices of the USCOC. One project proposed by Team Themis is an entrapment scheme. The proposal called for the creation of a "false document, perhaps highlighting periodical financial information," to give to a progressive group opposing the USCOC, and then exposing the document as a fraud, thus undermining the credibility of the organization. Another proposal involved using potentially illegal computer-hacking techniques to create what the group calls a "fake insider persona" to "generate communications" with Change to Win and to undermine the credibility of US Chamber Watch. The proposal actually advocates the creation of two such personas, one to be used "as leverage to discredit the other while confirming the identity of the second." Together, "Team Themis" asked for $200,000 for initial background research and another $2 million for an active disinformation campaign. It is unclear from the emails whether any of the proposals were accepted, and if the disinformation campaign was ever launched. Think Progress was recently provided with the emails by members of "Anonymous," an online "hacktivist" community responsible for attacking the Web sites of oppressive regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, along with American corporations that have censored the online information repository WikiLeaks. The emails were secured from HBGary Federal after one of that firm's executives, Aaron Barr, tried to take Anonymous down. Barr claimed to have penetrated the group and intended to sell the data he collected to Bank of America (BoA) and to US federal authorities. In return, Anonymous hackers penetrated Barr's email account and published some 40,000 company emails. Barr intended to approach Bank of America, Think Progress writes, because WikiLeaks is believed to have sensitive information about the firm that it intends to publish later in the year. BoA hired Hunton and Williams and other law firms to pursue WikiLeaks. BoA's legal team also targeted Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald, an outspoken supporter of WikiLeaks, saying that it had plans for "actions to sabotage or discredit" him. The USCOC posts a response to Think Progress on its blog dismissing the report as "baseless attacks." And prominent liberal blogger Marcy Wheeler (see April 18, 2009) says that the Think Progress report will probably "cause the Chamber of Commerce to rethink the spying work with HBGary it apparently has been considering." [Berico Technologies, 11/3/2010 ; Think Progress, 2/10/2011] Liberal blogger Brad Friedman, who has spent years covering voter suppression tactics by political organizations, will soon learn that he is targeted by Team Themis. An email sent by Barr and provided to Friedman "focused on me included names, personal information, home addresses, etc. of myself, family members, and a number of other members of VR," Friedman will write. (Velvet Revolution is an "umbrella group" that includes StopTheChamber.) "Part of the plan included highlighting me as a 'Tier 1' player in a sophisticated disinformation/discrediting scheme that relied on high-tech tools developed for the US government's 'War on Terror.' Team Themis' US Chamber of Commerce plan was to deploy the very same techniques and technology used to track terrorists, terror organizations, and nations such as Iran, against private non-profit political advocates and citizens in the US." The email also lists the names of people whom Barr clearly believes to be Friedman's wife and two children (Friedman says the names listed are not family members—he is not married and has no children). The email also lists a Maryland address as Friedman's home—another error, as Friedman lives in another state. Friedman will write that obviously Barr and his researchers found another, unrelated person named Brad Friedman and learned personal details about that person and his family. Prominent officials such as Ilyse Hogue of MoveOn.org and Robert Weissman of Public Citizen are also listed for "targeting." [Brad Friedman, 2/14/2011]
Entity Tags: Democratic Party, Change to Win, WikiLeaks, Berico Technologies, Barack Obama, Bank of America, Aaron Barr, US Chamber Watch, Think Progress (.org), US Chamber of Commerce, Service Employees International Union, Ilyse Hogue, Marcy Wheeler, Hunton and Williams, Glenn Greenwald, HBGary Federal, StopTheChamber.com, Robert Weissman, Palantir, Brad Friedman
A meeting about Osama bin Laden's possible hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan (see 2003-Late 2005 and January 22, 2004-2005), is held at CIA headquarters. The attendees include commander of Joint Special Operations Command Navy Vice Admiral William McRaven, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers, vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and other senior CIA officials. They meet around a large and highly accurate scale model of the suspect Abbottabad compound built by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency from satellite imagery. They discuss the intelligence about the compound and possible courses of action. Three choices of action are discussed: a Stealth bomber bomb strike; a Special Forces helicopter raid; and a joint operation raid with the Pakistani government. Analysts have concluded that there is a high-value target in the compound (which is now called Abbottabad Compound One, or AC1), and there is a strong possibility that the target is bin Laden. However, it is also possible the target could be someone else important like al-Qaeda number two leader Ayman al-Zawahiri or top Taliban leader Mullah Omar, or bin Laden's family could be there without him. To be more certain, a "red team" analysis is ordered, which means that analysts so far unaware of the compound are given the evidence and asked to critically appraise it. [Wall Street Journal, 5/23/2011; ABC News, 6/9/2011] Three months later, a US strike force will assault the compound and kill bin Laden (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Michael Vickers, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, Osama bin Laden, William H. McRaven, Mullah Omar, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, James Cartwright
President Obama heads a National Security Council meeting to discuss possible courses of action against Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Obama is presented with three basic courses of action that he can take: Bombing Option - One is to have B-2 stealth bombers drop a few dozen 2,000-pound guided bombs on the compound. The stealth bombers would bomb the compound thoroughly to make sure bin Laden was killed, that all of the people in the compound, including women and children, would be killed, and many neighbors would probably be killed as well. The odds are good that nothing would remain of bin Laden, so it would be unlikely to find any of his DNA to firmly conclude he was killed. Special Forces Option - The other is to have US Special Forces arrive by helicopter and then assault the compound on the ground. This is considered the riskier option, because many things could go wrong and US soldiers could be killed. As ABC News will later comment: "The helicopters could be detected coming in. Bin Laden might be warned a few minutes out, and he could go into a hole, escape, set off a suicide vest, set a booby-trap bomb, prepare for a firefight." Pakistani Government Participation - Another option is a joint raid with Pakistani government forces. The US and Pakistan have successfully worked together on high-profile captures in the past, such as the capture of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Pakistan in 2003 (see February 29 or March 1, 2003). However, in recent years, the US has stopped giving the Pakistani government advanced warning about the targets of drone strikes on militant leaders in Pakistan's tribal region, because of incidents where it appeared the targets were tipped off. No Final Decision Yet - Obama decides not to involve Pakistan in the raid or even warn it in advance. He does not make up his mind between the remaining two options, the bombing raid and the Special Forces raid. He tells his advisers to act quickly with further preparations on both. He also rules out using more invasive measures to gather better intelligence on the compound, figuring that the potential gain is not worth the risk of discovery. [New York Times, 5/2/2011; Wall Street Journal, 5/23/2011; ABC News, 6/9/2011]
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, National Security Council, Barack Obama
President Obama meets again with the National Security Council to decide how to act on intelligence that Osama bin Laden is probably hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan (see 2003-Late 2005 and January 22, 2004-2005). Two weeks earlier, he had narrowed down the options to two: bomb the compound with stealth bombers and thus completely destroy it, or send in US Special Forces by helicopter and kill bin Laden with a ground assault (see March 14, 2011). Since that meeting, CIA analysts have been unable to rule out the possibility that there is a tunnel network under the compound. To be sure tunnels could not be used to escape, the amount of bombing on the compound would need to be greatly increased. At least one nearby house would be in the blast radius and probably a dozen or so neighbors would be killed. Furthermore, the heavy bombing would make it even less likely that DNA evidence could be acquired to prove that bin Laden had been killed. By the end of the meeting, Obama rules out the bombing option, leaving only the Special Forces helicopter raid option. He tells Navy Vice Admiral William McRaven, commander of Joint Special Operations Command, to come back to him by April 18 with a more detailed helicopter raid plan and an opinion on how likely such a plan would be successful. [New York Times, 5/2/2011; Wall Street Journal, 5/23/2011; ABC News, 6/9/2011] Five weeks later, a US strike force will assault the compound and kill bin Laden (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden, William H. McRaven
Umar Patek with the Abu Sayyaf militant group in the Philippines, 2007. [Source: Associated Press]The Associated Press makes public for the first time the arrest of an Indonesian militant named Umar Patek in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on January 25, 2011. It will later turn out that Osama bin Laden is in hiding in Abbottabad at this time, and Patek may have been there to meet with him (see January 25, 2011). The Associated Press claims that the information was provided by Indonesian and Philippine intelligence officials one day earlier, and then it was confirmed by Pakistani officials before publication. [Associated Press, 3/30/2011] News reports two weeks later even reveal that an "alleged al-Qaeda facilitator" and Abbottabad resident named Tahir Shehzad was arrested as well, after he gave up Patek's location. Plus, it is reported that Shehzad had been monitored by Pakistani intelligence for a year before that. [Associated Press, 4/14/2011; Associated Press, 4/14/2011] Who Is to Blame? - Bin Laden does not immediately move from Abbottabad after these reports come out. After he is killed in May 2011 (see May 2, 2011), the Pakistani government will register displeasure that Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd confirmed the information about the arrest on March 30. But Rudd's confirmation comes after the Associated Press article has been published. A Pakistani official will say that an attempt was made to keep the arrest a secret for fear that "subsequent leads would all go dead." No Reaction from Bin Laden? - The Australian will later note, "Many security experts have… expressed surprise that the leaking of Patek's arrest in Abbottabad did not trigger alarm bells in the bin Laden compound and prompt [bin Laden] to flee the area." [Australian, 5/6/2011]
Entity Tags: Kevin Rudd, Umar Patek, Tahir Shehzad, Associated Press, Osama bin Laden
CIA Director Leon Panetta meets with Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, head of the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency. The meeting, at CIA headquarters, is meant to help repair relations between tUS and Pakistan. A CIA contractor named Raymond Davis caused a major diplomatic crisis after he shot and killed two Pakistanis in disputed circumstances. He was held in Pakistan for two months and released on March 16. Pasha asks Panetta to be more forthcoming about what the CIA is doing in Pakistan. Panetta promises to respond to Pasha's concerns. But at the time, the US government is secretly planning to raid Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan (see March 30-April 19, 2011), and Panetta does not say a word about this. His goal is to appease Pasha so relations with Pakistan will be improved by the time the bin Laden raid takes place. [Wall Street Journal, 5/23/2011] Bin Laden will be killed less than a month later (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: Leon Panetta, Ahmad Shuja Pasha, Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, Raymond Davis, Osama bin Laden
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, US International Relations, War in Afghanistan
President Obama is briefed again on how the plan to raid Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, is progressing. Navy Vice Admiral William McRaven, commander of Joint Special Operations Command, has been preparing a raid by Navy SEAL Team Six, and he updates Obama on the latest preparations (see March 30-April 19, 2011). Obama mostly discusses the contingency plans for the many things that could go wrong. For instance, what if the helicopters transporting the SEAL team crash? Or what if the Pakistani military reacts quickly and attacks the team? McRaven says he plans to have a quick reaction force nearby to help extract the team if things go horribly wrong. Also, Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, plans to call General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, head of the Pakistani military, and implore him not to attack the team, if it looks like Pakistan is on the verge of doing so. But no one can be sure how Pakistan will react in such a situation. Nevertheless, plans for the raid continue to advance. [ABC News, 6/9/2011] Two weeks later, a Navy SEAL Team Six strike force will assault the compound and kill bin Laden (see May 2, 2011).
Entity Tags: US Naval Special Warfare Development Group, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, William H. McRaven, Barack Obama, Michael Mullen
The press learns that the Obama administration is considering having President Obama (see January 27-29, 2010) issue an executive order that would force federal contractors to disclose donations over $5,000 to political organizations. Such firms seeking government contracts would be required to disclose contributions to groups that air political ads either attacking or supporting candidates. Both Republicans and Democrats say that if issued, the order would have an immediate effect. Groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce (USCOC), a large Republican donor that has made large undisclosed donations to Republican-supporting candidates and organizations (see January 21-22, 2010 and October 2010), attacks the White House over the considered executive order, saying it proves Obama is using his executive power to punish political adversaries and reward supporters. USCOC spokesperson Blair Latoff calls the proposed order "an affront to the separation of powers [and] to free speech" (see January 21, 2010) that would create a litmus test for companies wanting to work with the federal government. The order, Latoff adds, could mean "prospective contractors that fund political causes unpopular with the government or the current administration may find that they don't get a contract award due to political discrimination." Republican senators will raise the same concerns in a letter sent to the White House the next day. Lawyer Jan Baran, who has worked for both the USCOC and Republican interests, acknowledges that the order could curtail fundraising attempts for the 2012 elections. White House officials and Congressional Democrats say the order would prevent the 2012 elections from being taken over by wealthy anonymous donors on both sides of the political aisle. Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, a nonprofit group that favors stricter campaign finance rules, says, "The fact that Congressional Republicans may oppose disclosure does not mean that efforts to obtain it are, by definition, partisan." [United Press International, 4/20/2011; Los Angeles Times, 4/21/2011; New York Times, 4/27/2011] A week later, Bruce Josten, the top lobbyist for the USCOC, will assail Obama and the White House over the proposed executive order, telling a reporter that the organization "is not going to tolerate" what it considers a "backdoor attempt" by the White House to silence private-sector opponents by disclosing their political spending. Josten will even indirectly compare Obama to Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi; citing the Obama administration's efforts to hasten the deposing of al-Qadhafi, Josten will say of the order: "We will fight it through all available means. To quote what they say every day on Libya, all options are on the table." White House spokesman Jay Carney will say in response to Josten's attack, "What the president is committed to is transparency, and he certainly thinks that the American taxpayer should know where his or her money is going." Josten is joined by the Business Roundtable, a powerful business association made up of a number of chief executives, which will call the proposed order "yet another example of regulatory over-reach," and will claim the order would increase paperwork and drive up costs for businesses. [Think Progress, 4/27/2011] Lee Fang, a reporter for the liberal news Web site Think Progress, will write that the executive order could have a powerful impact on the USCOC. "[T]he White House's disclosure rule threatens the entire existence of the Chamber," Fang will write. "This is because the Chamber only exists to hide the identity of corporations seeking to fight nasty political battles without having their name or brand exposed. As the Wall Street Journal noted, the Chamber's 'most striking innovation has been to offer individual companies and industries the chance to use the chamber as a means of anonymously pursuing their own political ends.' The Chamber's members include defense contractors, bailed out banks, and other donors likely to be affected by the government contractor campaign disclosure rule." Fang will also cite a recent plan by the USCOC to sabotage organizations that support Obama and Democratic candidates by using legally questionable tactics such as false entrapment strategies and even computer hacking (see February 10, 2011). The funding for the scheme was never made public. He also cites recent monies secured by the USCOC from foreign entities that, because of the Citizen United decision, could be flowing into US political activities without disclosure (see October 2010). [Think Progress, 4/27/2011] Republicans in Congress will move to pass legislation that would thwart the order, if it is ever issued (see May 26, 2011 and July 15, 2011).
Entity Tags: Barack Obama, Fred Wertheimer, Blair Latoff, Business Roundtable, Jan Witold Baran, US Chamber of Commerce, Lee Fang, Wall Street Journal, Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, Obama administration, Bruce Josten
WikiLeaks, a non-profit whistleblower group, releases some files on about 750 prisoners held at the US-run prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. This covers all but about 15 of the prisoners who have passed through the prison since it opened in early 2002 (see January 11, 2002). Nearly all of the prisoners were accused of belonging to al-Qaeda or the Taliban, or associated Islamist militant groups. The files were written by US military intelligence officials between the prison's opening and January 2009. They contain assessments on whether each prisoner should remain in US custody, be imprisoned by another country, or be set free. Most of the prisoners have been released over the years, and no new prisoners have been sent to Guantanamo since 2007, but 172 prisoners remain at Guantanamo in April 2011. Seven news organizations—the New York Times, The Guardian, McClatchy Newspapers, the Washington Post, El Pais, Der Spiegel, and NPR (National Public Radio)—were given early access to the files by WikiLeaks in order to vet and analyze them. Their publication was sped up when the New York Times prepared to publish them after claiming to get copies of them from another unnamed source. The Obama administration immediately condemns the publication of the classified information in the files. [New York Times, 4/24/2011; New Yorker, 4/25/2011] Files Often Contain Dubious Evidence - Journalists who analyze the files question the accuracy of their prisoner assessments. The New York Times comments that the files "show that the United States has imprisoned hundreds of men for years without trial based on a difficult and strikingly subjective evaluation of who they were, what they had done in the past, and what they might do in the future." Furthermore, the files "reveal that the analysts sometimes ignored serious flaws in the evidence—for example, that the information came from other detainees whose mental illness made them unreliable. Some assessments quote witnesses who say they saw a detainee at a camp run by al-Qaeda but omit the witnesses' record of falsehood or misidentification. They include detainees' admissions without acknowledging other government documents that show the statements were later withdrawn, often attributed to abusive treatment or torture." [New York Times, 4/24/2011] The Guardian comments that Guantanamo has been "a place that portrayed itself as the ultimate expression of a forensic and rational war run by the most sophisticated power on the planet, with the best intelligence available. The reality was an almost random collection of [prisoners who were] the bad, the accidental, and the irrelevant." [Guardian, 4/25/2011] McClatchy Newspapers comments: "The world may have thought the US was detaining a band of international terrorists whose questioning would help the hunt for Osama Bin Laden or foil the next 9/11. But [the files] not meant to surface for another 20 years shows that the military's efforts at Guantanamo often were much less effective than the government has acknowledged. Viewed as a whole, the secret intelligence summaries help explain why in May 2009 President Barack Obama, after ordering his own review of wartime intelligence, called America's experiment at Guantanamo 'quite simply a mess.'" Files Dependant on Dubious Informants - McClatchy further claims that the files were "tremendously dependant on informants—both prison camp snitches repeating what they'd heard from fellow captives and self-described, at times self-aggrandizing, alleged al-Qaeda insiders turned government witnesses who Pentagon records show have since been released." The information in the files is based on other sources, including intelligence documents and some confessions. [McClatchy Newspapers, 4/24/2011] The New York Times similarly comments that "Guantanamo emerges from the documents as a nest of informants, a closed world where detainees were the main source of allegations against one another and sudden recollections of having spotted a fellow prisoner at an al-Qaeda training camp could curry favor with interrogators." [New York Times, 4/24/2011] Files Also Based on Torture and Legally Questionable Methods - The files rarely mention the abuse and torture scandals concerning treatment of US prisoners in Guantanamo, in secret CIA prisons, in other overseas US-run prisons, and in prisons run by some US allies where the use of torture was more widespread. However, there are hints. For instance, one file on an Australian man sent to Guantanamo in 2002 mentions that he confessed while "under extreme duress" and "in the custody of the Egyptian government" to training six of the 9/11 hijackers in martial arts. But despite the apparent seriousness of this accusation, he was released in early 2005. Additionally, important prisoners such as Abu Zubaida held in secret CIA prisons were shown photos of Guantanamo prisoners and asked about them around the time they were subjected to waterboarding and other torture methods. The interrogations of Zubaida, who was waterboarded many times (see May 2003), are cited in over 100 prisoner files. However, his accusations against others have been systematically removed from government filings in court cases in recent years, which would indicate that officials are increasingly doubtful about his reliability and/or the legality of his tortured confessions. Also, many foreign officials were allowed to interrogate some prisoners in Guantanamo, including officials from China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Yemen, Kuwait, Algeria, and Tajikistan. Information in some files comes from these legally questionable interrogation sessions. [McClatchy Newspapers, 4/24/2011; New York Times, 4/24/2011] One well-known case of torture involved Mohamed al-Khatani, the alleged 20th 9/11 hijacker (see December 2001). While being held in Guantanamo, he was interrogated for months with techniques that the senior Bush administration official in charge of bringing Guantanamo prisoners to trial later said legally met the definition of torture (see August 8, 2002-January 15, 2003 and January 14, 2009). His file says, "Although publicly released records allege detainee was subject to harsh interrogation techniques in the early stages of detention," his confessions "appear to be true and are corroborated in reporting from other sources." Claims al-Khatani made regarding 16 other Guantanamo prisoners are mentioned in their files without any caveats about the interrogation methods used on him. [New York Times, 4/24/2011] Some Prisoners Unjustly Held - Some prisoners appear to be clearly innocent, and yet they often were held for years before being released. Some prisoners are still being held even though their files indicate that their interrogators are not even sure of their identities. In some cases, prisoners were held for years not because they were suspected of any crime, but because it was thought they knew useful information. For instance, files show one prisoner was sent to Guantanamo because of what he knew about the secret service of Uzbekistan. [McClatchy Newspapers, 4/24/2011; New York Times, 4/24/2011] In a cruel twist of fate, one man, Jamal al-Harith, appears to have been imprisoned mainly because he had been imprisoned by the Taliban. His file states, "He was expected to have knowledge of Taliban treatment of prisoners and interrogation tactics." [Guardian, 4/25/2011] Prisoner Releases Based More on Luck than Evidence - The New York Times claims the determination of which prisoners were released has mostly been a "lottery" that was largely based on which country the prisoner came from. "Most European inmates were sent home, despite grave qualms on the analysts' part. Saudis went home, even some of the most militant, to enter the rehabilitation program; some would graduate and then join al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemenis have generally stayed put, even those cleared for release, because of the chaos in their country. Even in clearly mistaken arrests, release could be slow." [New York Times, 4/24/2011] In 2009, the new Obama administration put together a task force that re-evaluated the 240 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo. However, these more recent assessments remain secret. [New York Times, 4/24/2011]
Entity Tags: WikiLeaks, Jamal al-Harith, US Military, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Mohamed al-Khatani, Barack Obama, Abu Zubaida
In the evening, President Obama meets with his national security team to make final preparations for the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan (see March 30-April 19, 2011). Obama meets with four advisers: National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, and chief of staff Bill Daley. As the meeting begins, Obama tells them he has finally given approval for the raid. He says, "It's a go." The raid is planned to take place the next day. However, officials warn that because of cloudy weather, the raid probably will be delayed one day to May 1 (which is May 2 in Pakistan). That will turn out to be the case (see May 2, 2011). [New York Times, 5/2/2011; ABC News, 6/9/2011]
Entity Tags: Tom Donilon, Barack Obama, Denis McDonough, John O. Brennan, Osama bin Laden, William Michael ("Bill") Daley
Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound in flames. Apparently, the fires are mainly due to a crashed US helicopter. The picture comes from a neighbor's cell phone. [Source: Reuters] (click image to enlarge)Osama bin Laden is shot and killed inside a secured private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, according to US government sources. The operation is carried out by US Navy SEAL Team Six, the "Naval Special Warfare Development Group." The covert operation takes place at 1:00 a.m. local time (+4:30GMT). Two US helicopters from bases in Afghanistan fly low over the compound in Abbottabad, and 30 to 40 SEALs disembark and storm the compound. According to White House sources, bin Laden and at least four others are killed. The team is on the ground for only 40 minutes; most of that time is spent searching the compound for information about al-Qaeda and its plans. The helicopters are part of the 160th Special Ops Air Regiment, itself a detachment from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The CIA oversees the operation, but the operation is tasked to, and carried out by, Special Forces. When President Obama announces bin Laden's death, he says: "His demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity. Justice has been done." Of the soldiers that eliminated bin Laden, and the other military personnel deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere, Obama says: "We are reminded that we are fortunate to have Americans who dedicate their lives to protecting ours. We may not always know their names, we may not always know their stories, but they are there every day on the front lines of freedom and we are truly blessed." The members of Team Six are never identified, and it is unlikely their names will ever be made public. [CNN News, 5/1/2011; ABC News, 5/2/2011] Bin Laden is said to have ordered the 9/11 attacks, among other al-Qaeda strikes against American and Western targets. In a 1997 CNN interview, he declared "jihad," or "holy war," against the US. He had been number one on American military and law enforcement "Most Wanted" lists well before the 9/11 attacks. [CNN News, 5/1/2011]
Entity Tags: Osama bin Laden, US Department of the Navy, Obama administration, Al-Qaeda, Leon Panetta, Barack Obama, Bush administration (43), US Naval Special Warfare Development Group, Joint Special Operations Command, Central Intelligence Agency
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline, War in Afghanistan
Osama bin Laden's killing by US forces on May 2, 2011 (see May 2, 2011) reignites the debate about the usefulness of the torture techniques used by US intelligence. The debate centers on how US intelligence learned about bin Laden's location and whether the torture of prisoners helped find him. Courier Provides the Key Lead - According to Obama administration officials, bin Laden was located through US intelligence agencies' "patient and detailed intelligence analysis" of "a mosaic of sources," including evidence garnered from detained inmates at Guantanamo Bay. The first clue to bin Laden's whereabouts came when US intelligence learned of an al-Qaeda courier that worked with bin Laden, Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed, who used the pseudonym "Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti." Ahmed is one of those killed during the Abbottabad raid. US intelligence had known of Ahmed since 2002, after a Kuwaiti detainee told interrogators about him, and it has taken this long for CIA and other intelligence officers to identify him, locate him, track his communications, and then follow him to the large and well fortified compound in Abbottabad. Do Bush Administration Techniques Deserve Credit? - Some former Bush administration officials, such as former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Justice Department legal adviser John Yoo, claim that the Bush administration and not the Obama administration deserves the credit for finding bin Laden. According to a report in the Christian Science Monitor, "the former director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, Jose Rodriguez, said the first important leads about Kuwaiti came from alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) and Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the third-ranking al-Qaeda leader at the time of his capture." KSM was repeatedly waterboarded (see March 7 - Mid-April, 2003). [Christian Science Monitor, 5/5/2011] Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey states that the path to bin Laden "began with a disclosure from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who broke like a dam under the pressure of harsh interrogation techniques that included waterboarding. He loosed a torrent of information—including eventually the nickname of a trusted courier of bin Laden." [Wall Street Journal, 5/2/2011] Rebuttal from CIA Director Panetta - However, according to information in a letter CIA Director Leon Panetta sends to Senator John McCain, these assertions are false or misleading. In the letter, Panetta says: "Nearly 10 years of intensive intelligence work led the CIA to conclude that bin Laden was likely hiding at the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. There was no one 'essential and indispensible' key piece of information that led us to this conclusion. Rather, the intelligence picture was developed via painstaking collection and analysis. Multiple streams of intelligence—including from detainees, but also from multiple other sources—led CIA analysts to conclude that bin Laden was at this compound. Some of the detainees who provided useful information about the facilitator/courier's role had been subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. Whether those techniques were the 'only timely and effective way' to obtain such information is a matter of debate and cannot be established definitively. What is definitive is that that information was only a part of multiple streams of intelligence that led us to bin Laden. Let me further point out that we first learned about the facilitator/courier's nom de guerre from a detainee not in CIA custody in 2002. It is also important to note that some detainees who were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques attempted to provide false or misleading information about the facilitator/courier. These attempts to falsify the facilitator/courier's role were alerting. In the end, no detainee in CIA custody revealed the facilitator/courier's full true name or specific whereabouts. This information was discovered through other intelligence means." [Washington Post, 5/16/2011] Officials Says Torture Techinques Played No Role - Also, nine US military interrogators and intelligence officials state in an open letter: "The use of waterboarding and other so-called 'enhanced' interrogation techniques almost certainly prolonged the hunt for bin Laden and complicated the jobs of professional US interrogators who were trying to develop useful information from unwilling sources like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Reports say that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Faraq al-Libi did not divulge the nom de guerre of a courier during torture, but rather several months later, when they were questioned by interrogators who did not use abusive techniques." [Human Rights First, 5/4/2011]
Entity Tags: Jose Rodriguez, Jr., Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Obama administration, Osama bin Laden, Leon Panetta, John C. Yoo, Michael Mukasey, Central Intelligence Agency, Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Donald Rumsfeld, Barack Obama, Al-Qaeda, Bush administration (43)
Timeline Tags: Torture of US Captives, Complete 911 Timeline, War in Afghanistan
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