Michael Isikoff
February 19, 2013 by dandelionsalad
Hubris: Selling the Iraq War + Hubris Isn't the Half of It by David Swanson
Updated: Feb. 20, 2013
Grady Carter·Feb 18, 2013 Continue reading →
Posted in 9/11, All Posts News Politics and-or Videos, Dandelion Salad Videos, Iraq on Dandelion Salad, Iraqi Dead (1,000,000+), Politics, War Crimes	| Tagged 9/11 on Dandelion Salad, Bush-George W., Corn-David, David Swanson, Lawrence Wilkerson, Michael Isikoff, Swanson-David | 21 Comments
Report: Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to Be 'Massacred' by Michael Isikoff
https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/
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by Michael Isikoff
The chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.
The views of former Justice lawyer John Yoo were deemed to be so extreme and out of step with legal precedents that they prompted the Justice Department's internal watchdog office to conclude last year that he committed "intentional professional misconduct" when he advised the CIA it could proceed with waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques against Al Qaeda suspects.
via Report: Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to Be 'Massacred' – Declassified Blog – Newsweek.com
h/t: CLG
Posted in Al Qaeda, All Posts News Politics and-or Videos, CIA, Crime and or Corruption, Death-destruction, Politics, Terrorism, Torture, Torture on Dandelion Salad	| Tagged Bush-George W., John Yoo-4th Amendment-Torture, Michael Isikoff, Waterboarding, Yoo-John | 3 Comments
February 2, 2010 by dandelionsalad
US exonerates authors of Bush torture memos + Spanish judge to probe Guantanamo torture claims
by Kate Randall
http://www.wsws.org
Bush administration lawyers whose secret memos justified waterboarding and other forms of torture will not be referred to authorities for possible sanctions, according to a forthcoming ethics report.
Unnamed sources who spoke to Newsweek magazine said the Obama Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has concluded that John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who penned the infamous memos, used "poor judgment" but will not be subject to disciplinary action. Yoo and Bybee worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, along with Steven Bradbury, who is also named in the report.
Posted in All Posts News Politics and-or Videos, Dandelion Salad Videos, Gitmo, Justice or Injustice, Politics, Torture, Torture on Dandelion Salad	| Tagged Barack Obama, Democracy Now! on Dandelion Salad, Horton-Scott, Jay Bybee, John Yoo-4th Amendment-Torture, Meet the new boss the same as the old boss, Michael Isikoff, Spain, Steven Bradbury, Yoo-John | 9 Comments
November 2, 2009 by dandelionsalad
The Cheney-Libby lies and memory loss about Wilson, Plame, everything
Hardball-Isikoff & Corn – The Cheney-Libby lies and memory loss about Wilson, Plame, everything
more about "Hardball-Isikoff & Corn – The Cheney-…", posted with vodpod
The Ed Show – David Shuster cuts through the Cheney-Libby 'memory issue' muck
Posted in All Posts News Politics and-or Videos, Cheney-Dick, CIA, Dandelion Salad Videos, Justice or Injustice, Politics	| Tagged CIA Leak Case, David Shuster, John Dean, Libby-Scooter, Michael Isikoff, Olbermann-Keith, Plame-Valerie
Newsweek: Inspector General Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions
The Justice Department is scheduled today to disclose a long-suppressed 2004 report by the CIA's inspector general detailing prisoner abuse. Among the findings are that CIA interrogators staged mock executions on prisoners. The report also describes how one detainee was threatened with a handgun and an electric power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. Newsweek magazine first reported details from the report on its website on Friday night. We speak with Michael Isikoff, investigative correspondent for Newsweek.
The Justice Department's ethics office has recommended the attorney general reopen and pursue nearly a dozen CIA prisoner-abuse cases, the New York Times is reporting. The move would reverse Bush administration policy which had closed the cases, and could expose CIA employees and contractors to criminal prosecution.
The Times reports the recommendation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was recently presented to Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder is also expected to announce within days his decision on whether to appoint a prosecutor to conduct a new investigation into prisoner abuse.
The ethics recommendation comes as the Justice Department is scheduled today to disclose a long-suppressed 2004 report by the CIA's inspector general detailing prisoner-abuse. Among the findings are that CIA interrogators staged mock executions on prisoners. The federal law banning the use of torture expressly forbids threatening a detainee with "imminent death." The report also describes how one detainee–suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri–was threatened with a handgun and an electric power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. Newsweek magazine first reported details from the report on its website on Friday night. Michael Isikoff is the investigative correspondent for Newsweek. He joins us on the telephone from Washington DC.
Michael Isikoff, investigative correspondent for Newsweek magazine.
video/transcript: Newsweek: Inspector General Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions
Mock Executions! CIA Report On Torture To Be Released Next Week
Torture on Dandelion Salad
Posted in All Posts News Politics and-or Videos, CIA, Dandelion Salad Videos, Gitmo, Justice or Injustice, Politics, Torture, Torture on Dandelion Salad	| Tagged Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Democracy Now!, Democracy Now! on Dandelion Salad, Michael Isikoff | 4 Comments
MoxNewsDotCom
August 21, 2009 MSNBC Rachel Maddow Show
Posted in All Posts News Politics and-or Videos, CIA, Dandelion Salad Videos, Death-destruction, Gitmo, Justice or Injustice, Politics, Torture, Torture on Dandelion Salad, War Crimes	| Tagged Holder-Eric, John Yoo-4th Amendment-Torture, Maddow-Rachel, Mark Hosenball, Michael Isikoff | 4 Comments
April 14, 2009 by dandelionsalad
Obama Takes Bush Position On Habeas Corpus
starwomanspirit
April 13, 2009 MSNBC Rachel Maddow Show
Posted in All Posts News Politics and-or Videos, Civil Rights, Dandelion Salad Videos, Gitmo, Habeas Corpus, Obama-Barack, Politics, Prisons, Rendition, Torture, Torture on Dandelion Salad, War Crimes	| Tagged Barack Obama, Maddow-Rachel, Meet the new boss the same as the old boss, Michael Isikoff | 3 Comments
January 29, 2009 by dandelionsalad
Countdown: Rove Subpoenas + Rove's Claim of Executive Privilege
heathr456
Keith talks to Jerrold Nadler about Karl Rove's claim of executive privilege and whether he will appear before Congress on Monday.
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Rachel Maddow Show: Michael Isikoff on Rove's Claim of Executive Privilege
Rachel Maddow talks to Michael Isikoff about Karl Rove's claim of Executive privilege and just before leaving office Bush sent Rove's lawyer a letter saying that he was immune from any future subpoenas.
more about "Rachel Maddow Show: Michael Isikoff o…", posted with vodpod
Obama to Face Test on Executive Privilege After Rove Subpoenaed Again Over Attorney Firings, Siegelman Prosecution
Countdown: Wiretapping, Torture and Rove Subpoena + Ghost Detainees (updated)
Conyers Subpoenas Karl Rove: "It's Time to Talk"
Posted in All Posts News Politics and-or Videos, Crime and or Corruption, Dandelion Salad Videos, Executive Privilege, Politics	| Tagged Maddow-Rachel, Michael Isikoff, Nadler-Jerrold, Olbermann-Keith, Rove-Karl | 5 Comments
September 1, 2007 by dandelionsalad
Behind Allawi's Bid for Power By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
08/31/07 "Newsweek"
The former Iraqi prime minister speaks out on how he hired a well-connected Washington lobbying firm to help pave his attempt to oust the current government. Who's footing the bill?
The powerhouse Washington lobbying firm hired by former Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi is talking to the Justice Department about how to amend its foreign-agent filings after department lawyers questioned whether the firm had adequately disclosed who was paying the firm's tab.
The talks came as Allawi told NEWSWEEK that two Iraqi supporters of his were footing the $300,000 bill for the contract he recently signed with Barbour Griffith & Rogers—a firm with close connections to the Bush administration and the Republican Party.
But Allawi—who in the past was supported by the CIA—refused to identify his financial backers, citing "security reasons." Asked whether he would name the people who are underwriting his lobbying campaign in Washington, Allawi replied, "Of course not. They may be killed by the Iranians, they may be killed by the sectarian people … These are details I am not interested in answering."
While acknowledging the need to amend their filing with Justice, however, Barbour Griffith officials may not shed much additional light on a lobbying blitz that has injected new elements of controversy into the Washington debate over Iraq policy.
One change being considered by Barbour Griffith is to simply list Allawi's political party, the Iraqi National Accord, rather than Allawi himself, as its client. That move may bring it into compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the firm's lawyers believe. Under the law, lobbying firms are usually permitted to list foreign political parties as their clients without identifying the financial sponsors of those parties.
The firm's original filing a week and a half ago listed Allawi himself as the client. But that filing drew scrutiny from lawyers in the Justice Department's Foreign Agents Registration Unit after Allawi told CNN's Wolf Blitzer last Sunday that an unidentified Iraqi financial supporter was paying the cost of his lobbying efforts. "When you think about the purpose of the law, who's paying the tab is what it's all about," said Mark MacDougall, a Washington lawyer who is a specialist in foreign-agents registration law.
After firm officials met with Justice Department lawyers Wednesday to discuss the disclosure issue, the firm made its first public comment on the filing dispute. "We are working with the Department of Justice to ensure we are meeting the requirements of the statute," said Walker Roberts, a spokesman for Barbour Griffith.
The retention of Barbour Griffith was first disclosed last week by Christina Davidson, who writes a blog called Iraqslogger. To many Capitol Hill staffers and Iraq war pundits, the hiring of the firm appeared to be an extraordinary development, part of an attempt by Allawi and his backers to undermine and ultimately topple the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in the corridors of Washington, rather than through the political process in Baghdad.
No sooner did Allawi hire Barbour Griffith two weeks ago than congressional staffers said they began to be bombarded with e-mails from Allawi (from an Internet domain registered by the lobbying firm) featuring news stories that depict the Maliki government as hopelessly deadlocked and riddled by sectarian militias. "All the e-mails make the Iraqi government look bad," said one congressional staffer who asked not to be publicly identified talking about the Iraq issues.
The e-mails included an Allawi-drafted "Six Point Plan for Iraq," which outlines various steps the former Iraqi leader would pursue if he were returned to power in Baghdad. Among the more controversial recommendations in the plan are suggestions that a "State of Emergency" be declared for up to 2-3 years "until security is restored." The plan flatly recommends that the current Iraqi government be removed "through Parliamentary means" because the "sectarian politics of the Maliki Government … are destroying Iraq."
Adding further intrigue to the lobbying campaign was the disclosure that the Barbour Griffith principal overseeing the firm's Allawi account was former ambassador Robert D. Blackwill—the former Bush White House deputy national-security adviser in charge of Iraq policy, who later served as U.S. special envoy to that country.
Documents filed by Barbour Griffith with Justice show that Blackwill personally signed the firm's contract with Allawi on Aug. 20, stating that he will "lead the team" that will assist "Dr. Allawi and his moderate Iraqi colleagues as they undertake this work."
In light of Blackwill's close ties to Bush White House policymakers, his role has lead to speculation that the retention of Barbour Griffith was a move at least implicitly endorsed, if not encouraged, by some elements of the administration that are fed up with Maliki. While the White House has been critical of Maliki, they maintain official support for his government and have had no comment on Allawi's campaign.
But as described by Allawi, the arrangement may also have been part of an aggressive campaign by Barbour Griffith to solicit lucrative foreign business.
Blackwill himself has not returned phone calls since news of the contract surfaced. Allawi, in an interview Wednesday with NEWSWEEK conducted by telephone from Amman, indicated that Blackwill—whom he described as a "dear friend"—was the one who actually raised the idea that the former Iraqi prime minister hire the firm during a recent lunch the two of them had in Europe.
"He contacted me," Allawi said. "We were having lunch … He spoke to me and he said … there is a vacuum in Washington, and we will be able to help and assist. We know your views. We know the views of your people and we are ready to help in getting your message across to the United States."
Allawi initially said the lobbying campaign was intended to prod the Bush administration to put "pressure" on the Iraqi government to "stabilize the country" and take more aggressive steps to achieve "reconciliation" between rival Shiites and Sunni factions. But his comments left little doubt that he did not believe Maliki's government was interested or even capable of performing such a task. "As you know, the militias now are controlling the government," said Allawi. "I don't think the government is capable or willing or wanting to achieve proper reconciliation … We don't have a country. The country is in chaos and it's in the middle of a civil war … [Maliki] has been ruling for a year and a half … The government has not been able to do anything."
A secular Shiite and former Baath Party member, Allawi left Iraq in the 1970s and became a prominent exile leader opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein. He set up the Iraqi National Accord, a London-based exile group, which received financial support from both the British Secret Intelligence Service (colloquially known as M.I.6) and the CIA. Over time, CIA officials pushed Allawi as a more acceptable and reliable potential successor to Saddam than Ahmed Chalabi, a rival Iraqi exile (and Allawi relative) whose ambitions to succeed Saddam were heavily promoted by neoconservative intellectuals and civilian Pentagon aides to former Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
But Allawi, like Chalabi, was also linked to bogus pre-war intelligence about Saddam's purported weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorism. As NEWSWEEK reported, one of Allawi's previous Washington lobbyists once acknowledged that an associate of his group may have been responsible for feeding officials in the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair information—subsequently discredited—claiming that Saddam could launch WMD attacks on British troops in 45 minutes. The former lobbyist also confirmed that Allawi's group was also responsible for feeding the British media a document purporting to show that Muhammad Atta had undergone terrorist training in Baghdad a few months before he led the 9/11 attacks—a claim that was instantly ridiculed by official sources on both sides of the Atlantic.
Officials familiar with U.S. and U.K. intelligence activities denied that either British or American agencies had any connection to Allawi's recent hiring of Washington lobbyists or his current campaign to depose the Iraqi government and replace Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Any suggestion of CIA support for Allawi's current lobbying activities is "ludicrous," a U.S. intelligence official said. A British official said that M.I.6 officials "distanced themselves" from Allawi several years ago.
© 2007 MSNBC.com
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Posted in Iraq, News &-or Politics, Politics	| Tagged Michael Isikoff