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In reply to the discussion: Massive leak exposes how the wealthy and powerful hide their money [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)167. President Obama has been tough on whistleblowers.
![](http://i.imgur.com/eu7VRO9.jpg)
Mouths Wide Shut: Obamas War on Whistleblowers
by JOHN FEFFER
CounterPunch, OCTOBER 9, 2015
EXCERPT...
At first, it seemed as though the new president was fully prepared to take the high road. He immediately signed an executive order banning torture and detention by the CIA. This move effectively shuttered the secret prisons the CIA was running to conduct its own foreign policy. And, with a stroke of the pen, he closed Guantanamo, the very not-secret place where all manner of abuses have taken place.
Unfortunately, Congress pushed back against the Guantanamo closure, forcing the administration to opt for Plan B by releasing the detainees in dribs and drabs. The Senate eventually voted to ban torture earlier this year, codifying the presidents order. But because the president didnt fully repudiate the legal memorandum that authorized the torture programs the gloves come off Memorandum of Notification (MON) of September 17, 2001 he left open the possibility that the United States could again use such extreme tactics.
Indeed, the administration hasnt revised or removed Appendix M, which authorizes a variety of abusive techniques and which the Bush administration added to the Armys interrogation manual. Also, exploiting the same arguments used in the notorious MON, the administration expanded drone strikes, which eliminated the need for torture by eliminating the suspects altogether.
Plus, given the secrecy enshrouding the national security complex, no one could be entirely certain including our elected representatives whether the intelligence agencies were complying with these orders. In 2011, for instance, the administration authorized the secret detention and interrogation of a suspected Somali terrorist on a U.S. vessel in international waters. Well just have to take Washingtons word that the interrogators went by the book (the U.S. Army Field Manual, in this case). There were also reports of the United States handing over detainees to Afghan authorities despite evidence of human rights abuses.
But one of the most perplexing paradoxes of the administration has been its attitude toward whistleblowers. Surely if Obama the candidate was willing to take these moral positions on torture and secrecy, he would embrace all the people in government who risked their livelihoods to do the right thing.
And yet the Obama administration has been ruthless in its prosecution of whistleblowers. I recently had an opportunity to ask a trio of Americas bravest whistleblowers John Kiriakou, Jesselyn Radack, and Tom Drake to explain why the president came into office like a civil liberties lion and has behaved instead like a national security sheep (albeit one with very sharp teeth). Their responses were both revealing and depressing.
CONTINUED...
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/09/mouths-wide-shut-obamas-war-on-whistleblowers/
Seems to me, the whistleblowers are the ones in jail and traitors who lied and their warmonger cronies who profit from war walk free.
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Jackson Stevens ties also to the Clintons, Alltel, Systematics, Beverly Enterprises
LiberalArkie
Apr 2016
#31
wondering how long it will be before the clintons and their foundation are implcated
Ferd Berfel
Apr 2016
#129
I don't think they will be and if they were it would not make any difference at all.
LiberalArkie
Apr 2016
#131
The way I see it is that most of the HRC supporters are for big business less regulation.
LiberalArkie
Apr 2016
#135
Of course not, it'll be all 'we had NO idea what that investment firm was up to, we're as outraged
AtheistCrusader
Apr 2016
#133
Leak from just one firm. Imagine what the rest of them have, helping offshore tax dodgers?
Octafish
Apr 2016
#16
As Ambassador DeSadesky said: ''That is an astonishingly good idea you have there, Doctor.''
Octafish
Apr 2016
#71
Bumping, in response to the DU'er who dissed Octafish some time back on one
silvershadow
Apr 2016
#5
Panama Papers: Iceland’s prime minister had offshore holdings in collapsed banks
bemildred
Apr 2016
#6
Yeah, I think our media is working overtime to cover up the Americans involved.
fasttense
Apr 2016
#117
'The story behind the #PanamaPapers?' tweets Edward Snowden. 'Courage is contagious.'
Octafish
Apr 2016
#68
Panama papers: Biggest data leak in history exposes offshore holdings of 12 current and former world
bemildred
Apr 2016
#9
Ted Cruz just named Phil Gramm his economic advisor. Here's Gramm's economic legacy:
KoKo
Apr 2016
#154
Phil Gramm toils at UBS with Bill Clinton in WEALTH MANAGEMENT (cough OFFSHORING?).
Octafish
Apr 2016
#156
More than half companies listed in #PanamaPapers are registered in British-administered tax havens
LiberalArkie
Apr 2016
#11
2.6 terabytes, 11.5 million documents, and 214,000 shell companies. Details
LiberalArkie
Apr 2016
#14
Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals New Zealand used to keep tax secrets
bemildred
Apr 2016
#15
This is one reason that going after "Wall Street" is like regulating buggy whips...
Sancho
Apr 2016
#19
You are right about the need for "stronger agreements and cooperation with other governments" but
pampango
Apr 2016
#82
Wouldn't be surprised CGI donors on this list awa in the Unaoil/Ahsani bribe machinery
stuffmatters
Apr 2016
#44
Wonderful Octafish! This will take a while....you bring the good stuff! Thanks! nt
haikugal
Apr 2016
#41
They're not hoarding it or stashing it on an island - they're hiding the flows
muriel_volestrangler
Apr 2016
#80
Zeitung responce to lack of U.S. individuals in the docs, saying "Just wait for what is coming next"
krawhitham
Apr 2016
#46
Certainly does. Remember how Princess Christina of Spain is under indictment for tax evasion?
Octafish
Apr 2016
#99
UBS one of the 10 Banks that Requested the Most Offshore Companies for Clients
Octafish
Apr 2016
#149
This isn't news, this is information. None of this is a shock or scandal to anyone who is
underahedgerow
Apr 2016
#70
So these are all the non-U.S. tax dodgers in just one (smallest) of the top four
valerief
Apr 2016
#93
and in 1987 reagan repealed the fairness doctrine and a CIA connected company
certainot
Apr 2016
#118
Over 200,000 shell companies are involved in the Panama Papers leak — here's why that's a big deal
bemildred
Apr 2016
#115
The Nazi, CIA And Nevada Connections... And Why It's Now Rothschild's Turn
Ichingcarpenter
Apr 2016
#120
K&R#199 Catherine Austin Fitts was revealing some of the structures from that Reagan/Bush/Clinton
bobthedrummer
Apr 2016
#126
Sirota: Hillary Pushed Panama Free Trade Agreements Amid Warnings this Would Happen
berni_mccoy
Apr 2016
#147
Foreign Policy asks: Will the ‘Panama Papers’ Bring Down Ukraine’s Chocolate King?
Octafish
Apr 2016
#155