National Security
Yoo-Bybee II: (Sort of) Revealed!
It's a landmark day for torture-disclosure. Today, the ACLU obtained and released a redacted version of one of the most important building blocks in the Bush administration's architecture of torture -- the very, very, closely-held August 2002 memo, known as "Yoo-Bybee II," from the Justice Dept.'s Office of Legal Counsel that authorized the CIA to perform specific methods of torture when interrogating Al Qaeda detainees. Almost the entire memo is redacted, but it reads a lot like legal guidance on how CIA interrogators can break anti-torture laws and get away with it.
Ackerman on Al-Jazeera
Al Jazeera's Shedrine Tadros does a good piece on the Cheeto-eaters influencing the 2008 election. In addition to swinging by the Flophouse (verrrrrry early on a recent Saturday morning) to interview myself and Matthew "Igylesis," she paid a visit to the Flower Station to chat with our ex-boss, Josh Marshall.
So Now The Surge Equals The Anbar Awakening?
The McCain-Surge death-spiral continues. In a supermarket cheese aisle, McCain submits that the surge is really a... counterinsurgency strategy... and so any counterinsurgency strategy is a surge... and the Anbar Awakening was part of a counterinsurgency strategy... so even though it occurred months before the surge, it's still... a surge! (Via Ilan Goldenberg.) The following exchange with an incredulous reporter is both telling and best read in a Hans Moleman voice.
Kurds Reject Provincial Elections in Iraq
To return to my obsession with the powder-keg known as northern Iraq, Kurdish anger over the prospect of dividing Kirkuk -- they want to whole megillah -- has led Iraqi President/Kurdish potentate Jalal Talabani to veto the latest provincial elections bill. The elections were supposed to be held in October; then they were delayed to December; now they might be held... who knows. There's supposed to be another national election in 2009, so maybe they'll try to hold the provincials at the same time. Reports The New York Times:
Using Law to Justify Torture
The Bush White House might be on shaky ground in relying on memos written by administration lawyers to justify "enhanced interrogation" policies.
Mukasey on Guantanamo
The House Judiciary Committee is, thankfully, taking a recess from its plodding interrogation of AG Michael Mukasey. The most notable moments have occurred when lawmakers asked Mukasey about innocent people now detained at Guantanamo Bay. If Mukasey is losing sleep over providing justice for these people, he's not showing it. He just told Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) that everybody detained at Guantanamo is an illegal enemy combatant. But what about people that might challenge their detention and be released? Mukasey seems most concerned that those people don't end up in America, because they don't have U.S. citizenship rights and would, therefore be illegal immigrants.
It's Settled: Vice President Is Part of the Executive Branch!
Michael Mukasey, the highest legal official in the land: "the Vice President is obviously one of the close advisers to the president and is within the executive branch."
Mukasey on Arar: It Was Safer to Send Him to Syria than Canada
The Attorney General just managed to say absolutely nothing about why the Justice Dept. won't appoint a special prosecutor to look into the case of Maher Arar.
Arar is a Canadian who the U.S. judged a foreign terror suspect. They questioned him, found nothing, but, then, instead of sending him back to Canada, flew him to Syria.
Washington Post Ed Board Wrong on Maliki
It's amazing that a paper with such a great Iraq bureau as the Washington Post could have such a misguided editorial board. Today it publishes an editorial on Maliki's call for a 2010 withdrawal that's either totally ignorant or an outright lie, all in the service of punishing Barack Obama and Nouri al-Maliki for forging a U.S.-Iraq consensus on extrication. Much as with the McCain campaign, in order for the Post's editorial to get off the ground, it needs to pretend that Maliki doesn't actually believe a withdrawal is necessary. Here's the relevant paragraph:
Mukasey: Pass A Gitmo/Habeas Law Now
Michael Mukasey was just given a chance by Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) to talk about one of his favorite topics: the need for Congress to pass a law on Guantanamo detainees who may assert their newly provided habeas corpus rights. Much of the hearing has so far dealt with immigration-- the number of Justice Dept. prosecutions of undocumented immigrants is up, up, up. So it makes sense that Mukasey is focusing on his fears that these detainees will get rights accorded to U.S. citizens.
McCain's Ignorance of The Surge Is A Big Deal
Following on our post yesterday about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) not understanding the surge and the Anbar awakening, Matt Yglesias, Ilan Goldenberg, Seth Colter Wallis and others have added important reporting and context. My favorite summation, I think, is Ilan's:
On the Surge and the Awakening, McCain Doesn't Know What He's Talking About
Marc Ambinder brings us John McCain's interview with Katie Couric, in which he re-writes history about Iraq and claims Obama is the revisionist.
Sure Blackwater Is Leaving the World of Private Security
Spencer flagged this morning that Blackwater Worldwide's president, Gary Jackson, says the company is moving away from the private security business. Normally, I uncritically accept a Blackwater executive's word. But there may be some indications that the war contracting behemoth is not radically changing its business model.
McCain Adviser: Iraqi Government Not Part of Withdrawal Equation
In a McCain campaign conference call with reporters this morning, Randy Scheunemann, senior foreign-policy adviser to Sen. John McCain, took a question from The Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman about how McCain can hold fast to his anti-timeline position in the face of opposition from the Iraqi government:
Blackwater to Get Out of Private Security Biz
Say it ain't so, Erik Prince! Via Josh Marshall, Blackwater is hanging up its spurs as a private security company. Too much unprovoked Baghdad killing?
Maliki to Bush/McCain: Am I Making Myself Clear Now?
To build off my piece today about how Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki's call for a U.S. withdrawal along the lines of Sen. Barack Obama's proposal lands a body blow to Bush and McCain: the Washington Post reports that Maliki is leaving absolutely no doubt that Der Spiegel magazine quoted him accurately, despite the White House pressure to get him to backtrack.
Maliki Comments a Blow to McCain
Both the Bush administration's argument for a long-term occupation and Sen. John McCain's vision for a Korea-style presence in Iraq are undermined by Iraqi prime minister's support for a 16-month withdrawal plan.
Batman's 'Dark Knight' Reflects Cheney Policy
REEL LIFE
AEI: Um, Sorry No One's Around
I just called the American Enterprise Institute for a forthcoming TWI story about the importance of Nouri al-Maliki's de facto endorsement of Barack Obama's Iraq plan. You know me -- gotta be fair and balanced. And wouldn't you know it! Tom Donnelly's not in the country. Neither is Fred Kagan. What about Dani Pletka? Not in the office today. They said they don't really have anyone who studies this issue available for comment. I have the worst luck.
On Iraq, Game Over For McCain?
On Saturday, Nouri al-Maliki endorsed -- unprompted and by name -- Barack Obama's call for withdrawal from Iraq within 16 months to the German magazine Der Spiegel. In response, a sometime McCain consultant correctly observed to Marc Ambinder, "We're fucked." The only hope for the McCain campaign, and for the White House, was to try to say that Maliki was incorrectly quoted, and so U.S. Central Command put out a statement citing Maliki spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh kinda-sorta saying that.
But the GOP consultant was right the first time. Today, al-Dabbagh -- the very guy used by Centcom for Operation Maliki Walkback! -- says, in English:
