Saturday, June 21, 2008

Inside a 9/11 Mastermind’s Interrogation. The story of an analyst who interrogated Khalid Shaikh Mohammed without using harsh tactics offers the closest look to date at the C.I.A.’s interrogation program. [NYT > NYTimes.com Home] 3:34:12 PM    comment []

Report: Scaliaâo[dot accent]s Claim That Released Gitmo Prisoners Have Killed Americans Is An âo[breve]Urban Legendâo[dot accent]. A new report from the Seton Hall University School of Law explodes the myth that some 30 detainees released from Guantanamo Bay prison have “returned to the battlefield” against American forces. This conservative urban legend was recently parroted by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in his dissent from the Court’s Boumediene decision. Scalia wrote that granting habeas corpus rights to Gitmo detainees “will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed,” and supported this view by asserting that “at least 30 of those prisoners hitherto released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to the battlefield.” The new Seton Hall report (pdf) states that “Justice Scalia[base ']Äôs claim of 30 recidivist detainees is belied by all reliable data” : Despite being repeatedly debunked, this statement has been reflexively accepted as true by Members of Congress and much of the American public. Justice Scalia is only the most recent disseminator of an urban legend that refuses to die. […] [Scalia’s] source was a year-old Senate Minority Report, which in turn was based on misinformation provided by the Department of Defense. Justice Scalia[base ']Äôs reliance on these sources would have been more justifiable had the urban legend he perpetuated not been (one would have thought) permanently interred by later developments, including a 2007 Department of Defense Press Release and hearings before the House Foreign Relations Committee less than two weeks before Justice Scalia[base ']Äôs dissent was released. Among the report’s conclusions: – According to the Department of Defense[base ']Äôs published and unpublished data and reports, not a single released Guant[radical]°namo detainee has ever attacked any Americans. – Despite national security concerns, the Department of Defense does not have a system for tracking the conduct or even the whereabouts of released detainees. While there is little evidence that fighters interred at Guantanamo Bay — that is, those who were fighters before they got there — have attacked Americans, there is quite a bit of evidence that, for those falsely imprisoned there and for many young Muslims watching around the world, Guantanamo has a politically radicalizing effect. Maintaining Guantanamo and other illegal detention sites hurts America’s image abroad, and calls into question America’s support for human rights and the rule of law. There is no good argument against closing it down. Cross-posted on The Wonk Room. [Think Progress] 3:15:06 PM    comment []

Reid: I ‘will try to have a separate vote on immunity.’. Yesterday, the House passed a [base ']Äúcompromise[base ']Äù wiretapping bill that “condones the actions of telecommunications companies that cooperated with illegal warrantless surveillance after 9/11 by virtually assuring the dismissal of the dozens of lawsuits pending against them.” While indicating his [base ']Äúsupport[base ']Äù for the bill, Sen. Barack Obama said he will [base ']Äúwork in the Senate to remove[base ']Äù the provision granting retroactive immunity to the telecoms. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said he will [base ']Äútry to have a separate vote on immunity.[base ']Äù [base ']ÄúProbably we can’t take that out of the bill, but I’m going to try,[base ']Äù he said. Watch it: In the interview, Reid did not say whether he will vote for the bill. “We’ll have to see,” he said. [Think Progress] 1:48:55 PM    comment []

US energy chief: Low oil production drives price JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — The U.S. energy secretary said Saturday that insufficient oil production, not financial speculation, was driving soaring crude prices. Secretary Samuel Bodman's comments on the eve of an energy summit in the Saudi port city of Jiddah set the stage for a showdown between the U.S. and conference host Saudi Arabia, which has largely blamed speculation in the oil markets for record prices. The U.S. and many other Western nations have put increasing pressure on Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, to increase production. Saudi officials have been hesitant to do so, arguing that soaring prices have not been caused by a shortage of supply. Bodman disputed that assertion Saturday, saying oil production has not kept pace with growing demand, especially from developing countries like China and India. "Market fundamentals show us that production has not kept pace with growing demand for oil, resulting in increasing prices and increasingly volatile prices," Bodman told reporters. "There is no evidence that we can find that speculators are driving futures prices" for oil. He said commodities markets have experienced a huge influx of money from financial investors in recent years, but they have been following the market upward rather than driving the increase in the price of oil. Saudi Arabia called the unusual meeting in Jiddah between oil producing and consuming nations as a way to show that it was not deaf to international cries that high oil prices have caused social and economic turmoil. The Gulf nation has also become increasingly concerned that record oil prices could hinder growth in the U.S. and other major industrialized economies, potentially leading to a decline in oil demand and a sharp drop-off in prices. While Saudi Arabia has been reluctant to drastically increase production, it has announced several small increases recently that it says were made to satisfy increased customer demand. The country has consistently said that it will produce enough oil to ensure the market is supplied. The kingdom increased oil production by 300,000 barrels a day in May, and a Saudi official confirmed Saturday that the country would add another 200,000 barrels a day in July. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi also confirmed the increase ahead of the conference. But neither announcement has done much to stem the run-up in the price of oil, which closed near $135 on Friday. Saudi assistant oil minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, told a news conference Saturday that the delegates were "congregating to achieve results" and try to draw "a collective way forward for how to attend to this situation." "This situation as we see it today as it exists needs everybody's attention simply because it no longer is a luxury to talk about it or ... to keep bouncing back and forth blame," he added. The prince said that Saudi Arabia has been working with several international organizations to put together a background paper to focus Sunday's discussions and reiterated that the kingdom was ready to meet demand from its customers and foster stable prices. He said it would be "wrong" to judge the success of the meeting by oil prices the day after it ends. Many countries around the world have experienced social unrest by populations angry that rising fuel prices have driven significant increases in the cost of food and other basic goods. Bodman said that every 1 percent increase in the demand for oil requires a 20 percent rise in price to balance the market. Demand in China, India and the Middle East has been soaring in recent years as the countries consume more energy to fuel economic growth. Rising demand in the developing world has coincided with historically low levels of spare oil production capacity, which fell below two million barrels per day among OPEC countries in May for the first time since the third quarter of 2006, according to the International Energy Agency. Bodman made clear that the responsibility for reducing oil prices did not simply fall on the shoulders of producing nations, saying consuming countries must increase energy efficiency and invest in the development of alternative fuels. But he saved his strongest words for oil producers like Saudi Arabia, who he said must step up long-term investment in production and spare capacity. "The incentive (for investing) is simply reasonable prices so that we're not faced with having to drop everything and race to Jiddah for a meeting that was called on a week's notice," said Bodman. Saudi Arabia is completing a $50 billion plan to increase capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day but has signaled it would not go beyond that. CNBC said Saturday that Saudi Arabia's current capacity is 11.3 million barrels per day, quoting al-Naimi's adviser, Ibrahim al-Muhanna. Previous estimates by the International Energy Agency put current Saudi capacity at about 10.7 million barrels per day. The kingdom currently produces about 9.5 million barrels per day. ___ Associated Press Writer Donna Abu Nasr contributed to this report. <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=98f7d0a9e4c332ce3c7a3c07b3573017"; height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=98f7d0a9e4c332ce3c7a3c07b3573017"; style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> - The Huffington Post News Editors [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com] 1:45:08 PM    comment []