You have to listen very carefully to the exact words of Rumsfield to get to the truth. He keeps saying that his new stress matrix is consistent with the Geneva Conventions and his beloved stress matrix has been approved or reviewed by lawyers. Ok this is the same group that trumped up WMD intelligence reports so I think he got a few Defense department lawyers to review and rubber stamp his beloved Stress Matrix. But then I see this.
In the case of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a high-level detainee who is believed to have helped plan the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, C.I.A. interrogators used graduated levels of force, including a technique known as "water boarding," in which a prisoner is strapped down, forcibly pushed under water and made to believe he might drown.
These techniques were authorized by a set of secret rules for the interrogation of high-level Qaeda prisoners, none known to be housed in Iraq, that were endorsed by the Justice Department and the C.I.A. [New York Times]
Rummy did one up on me by getting the Justice Department to endorse and approve his beloved Stress Matrix. Does that mean that AG Ashcroff is also in the loop? I could have never imagined an entire administration cabinet gone so far to one extreme.
Their whereabouts are such closely guarded secrets that one official said he had been told that Mr. Bush had informed the C.I.A. that he did not want to know where they were. [New York Times]
This is not serious leadership. This is more like High Crimes and a complete lack of understanding of the principles upon which this nation was founded namely separation of powers and the entire bit about "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --"[some unknown document that is currently being trampled on]
This problem can only be solved by the Republicans themselves it clearly does go all the way to the top 6 morons that lost this war, that being key cabinet positions in this administration. I hope John Mcain has one last fight in him because our nation really needs him now.
Concerns are mounting among C.I.A. officers about the potential consequences of their actions. "Some people involved in this have been concerned for quite a while that eventually there would be a new president, or the mood in the country would change, and they would be held accountable," one intelligence source said. "Now that's happening faster than anybody expected."[New York Times]
One can easily predict that in their defense will be "I was only following orders." I think they were. Bush is quoted in Woodward's book Bush at War as actually requesting that the head of Usuma Bin Laudin be delivered to him in a box. As this became public knowledge one can wonder if this fixation by Bush with heads has resulted in what the C.I.A. calls blowback?
I hope that the Supreme Court will live up to its obligation under the constitution in the Padilla case. If as many say that bad intelligence comes from bad interrogation, can that explain why department of justice can't produce enough evidence to support the claims against Padilla to win in a court of his piers?
Under such intensive questioning, Mr. Zubaida provided useful information identifying Jose Padilla, a low-level Qaeda convert who was arrested in May 2002 in connection with an effort to build a dirty bomb. Mr. Zubaida also helped identify Mr. Mohammed as a crucial figure in the 9/11 plot, counterterrorism officials said. [New York Times]
So lacking evidence they label Padilla as an enemy combatant and take all of his writes away, writes the declaration of independence say are granted by god not government.
"There was a debate after 9/11 about how to make people disappear," a former intelligence official said.[New York Times]
Is this my country? Is this really my President?
The thing that still stands out in my Monday morning quarter backing mode is that If Bush would have just spend a little more time thinking about what he was reading in his Aug 6 PDB and postponed his jog and golf match to really think about what he was seeing that much of this very uncomfortable mess could, could maybe have been avoided.
This post 9-11 bumpersticker "kill them before they kill us" needs to somehow be changed to also remember who we are and where we came from or we risk becomming them.
again "There was a debate after 9/11 about how to make people disappear," a former intelligence official said. [New York Times]
This is not us. We can't just make this disappear we must win this war with methods and measures consistent with our declaration of Independence and our constitution and to do this I think it has to start from inside. Its going to take from the grass roots people like Andrew Sullivan all the way up leaders in the republican party like John McCain or others with the clear vision to see and do what is fundamentally American.
Update: Did Justice Department Lawyers know and approve of the Stress Matrix and if so did they lie to the Supreme Court?
Update2: Maybe some in the GOP are beginning to understand their responsibility to the constitution as a Coequal branch of government.
12:56:43 AM 
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