Memo Draws Focus To Bush--Aide: President Set Broad Guidelines

[Khephra]

By Mike Allen and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, June 9, 2004; Page A03


The disclosure that the Justice Department advised the White House in 2002 that the torture of al Qaeda terrorist suspects might be legally defensible has focused new attention on the role President Bush played in setting the rules for interrogations in the war on terrorism.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday that Bush set broad guidelines, rather than dealing with specific techniques. "While we will seek to gather intelligence from al Qaeda terrorists who seek to inflict mass harm on the American people, the president expects that we do so in a way that is consistent with our laws," McClellan said.

White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales said in a May 21 interview with The Washington Post: "Any time a discussion came up about interrogations with the president . . . the directive was, 'Make sure it is lawful. Make sure it meets all of our obligations under the Constitution, U.S. federal statutes and applicable treaties.' "

"I felt my job was to make sure that the president had all the tools available" Gonzales said. "As part of that, we obviously looked at what can we do in terms of treatment, in terms of interrogations with the enemy that we've captured."

more.............

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26401-2004Jun8.html

[fearnobush]

1. Why is this on page A3!!! WTF

[LittleApple81]

2. Because probably ReaganThon is on pages 1 and 2 n/t

[sundancekid]

3. you know what they say: fish rots from the head down ...

... and, notice how rotten fish gathers unto itself more mangy carps and sharks ...
IMHO, there are enough wheels coming off all over, and each nook and cranny is revealing that everything they touched turned to sh*t; could it just be that dimson may have "jumped the shark" after all? wouldn't that be the BEST?

[MO_Dem]

4. Well, we know Gonzales is lying

he says GeeDub's directive was "make sure it meets all our obligations under the constitution, U S federal statutes and applicable treaties". C'mon, now, we know the li'l Dummy can't use language like that! I mean, the Bumpkin is just not capable of that saying things that way!

[Leilani]

5. Gonzales is the criminal

who referred to parts of the Geneva Convention as quaint.

[grytpype]

6. Jeebus H. Christ!!!! Bush's PERSONAL FINGERPRINTS are on

Jeebus H. Christ!!!! Bush's PERSONAL FINGERPRINTS are on the torture policy!

They didn't give him deniability for Plame, either.

Shiva H. Vishnu... they keep demolishing my low expecations... every time I think it can't get any weirder or any worse or any stupider, they surprise me.

[grytpype]

7. Unbelievable!

From the article:


A former senior administration official involved in discussions about CIA interrogation techniques said Bush's aides knew them he wanted them to take an aggressive approach.

"He felt very keenly that his primary responsibility was to do everything within his power to keep the country safe, and he was not concerned with appearances or politics or hiding behind lower-level officials," he said. "That is not to say he was ready to authorize stuff that would be contrary to law. The whole reason for having the careful legal reviews that went on was to ensure he was not doing that."

[GoBlue]

8. "I felt my job ...

"I felt my job was to make sure that the president had all the tools available". Gonzales said.

To which I might add: then Gonzales et al went on to claim that, as the War President of The United States of America, Bush has absolute power.

If Bush is not held accountable - I fear he won't be even if he is defeated in November - then Gonzales et al will be correct. And the US will be disgraced in the eyes of the world again.

Is it a mystery that so many in the world see the US for what it is, and not for what so many of US wish it was? How many chances will the world give US before they've had enough of US?


'I have seen the enemy, and the enemy is US'. Who said that?

[Disturbed]

9. Pogo

Now what is needed are the documents that W signed authorizing torture and he is done. Maybe the CIA will leak those?

[mallard]

12. Re: searching for "ashcroft torture memo"...

.... turns up very little in the way the day's specific news - and the C-Spam video link isn't working (from here anyways).

Does a senator suggesting the BOJ Secretary may "be in contempt of Congress" not seem news-worthy enough?

If I serach these three words again in six months time, there should be alot more interesting reading available in the first 200-or-so listings, I would image.

Here's SOMETHING for the record:

Re: Yahoo! News (Singapore) - 6/9/04 - World
Ashcroft refuses to give Congress torture memo
(AFP):

<http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040608/1/3kwmd.html>

"The US Attorney General refused to give lawmakers copies of a Justice Department memo that allegedly advised the White House that torture during "war on terror" interrogations could be justified."

"'You may be in contempt of Congress,' warned Democratic Senator Joseph Biden."

"Senator Ted Kennedy frew a direct link between the memo and ths abuse committed by US troops against inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq."

This is the news, but the papers are quoting denials BEYOND contempt - in willing blind collusion. Is this national face-saving PR, or what ??

Washington 'DC' (Damage Control)

[Judi Lynn]

10. Here's the guy..............

[Jackpine Radical]

16. I absolutely loved Pogo,

the best cartoon strip ever. Walt Kelly was a genius and a hero who took them all on, from Joe McCarthy to Agnew & John Mitchell.

[dusty64]

11. The morning spin

in my local rag is that the pResident had nothing to do with this, asscrack was cooperative and truthful. The UN approves our illegal war in Iraq and all is going beautifully.

[Justice]

13. It Doesn't Add Up

If you were so confident you were acting within the bounds of the law, would you not be comfortable handing over the support for your position?

They make sweeping statements about acting within the bounds of the law -- but are hiding, defiantly the documentation that they claim supports their position. (I'm innocent, but no, you can't have my alibi....)

It doesn't add up.

[robbedvoter]

14. Wow! Torture and Bush in the same headline - it changed:

Memo on Torture Draws Focus to Bush
Aide Says President Set Guidelines for Interrogations, Not Specific Techniques
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26401-2004Jun8.html

Torture? I thout it was "abuse". Wow! Double wow!

[dbt]

15. "Torture" would sell more papers than "Abuse," wouldn't it?

This Corporatism is rather a nasty double-edged sword, innit?

:evilgrin:
dbt

[The Stranger]

17. If they can bury even this, then things are even worse than I thought.

Maybe they can introduce articles of impeachment in Singapore. No one in the U.S. even knows what is going on.

[Beetwasher]

18. Weasely Fuckers!! This is the Key to Their Defense:

"Bush set broad guidelines, rather than dealing with specific techniques."

IOW, Bush didn't say, "parade them around naked, electrocute them and sick dogs on them and shove broom handles up their asses" just like he wasn't warned that "4 planes are going to be hijacked on 9/11 and flown into the WTC and Pentagon"

Now back to our regularly scheduled Reagan Beatification Whorefest Extravaganza!

[Spazito]

19. It won't work...

unless the guidelines were within the framework of the Geneva Conventions and adhered to US Code, Title 18 War Crimes Act and we already know from the leaked memos that that is not the case. The key is still the Presidential Finding that bush signed in August of 2002, that is the piece of paper they are desperate to hide, imo.

[Snellius]

20. Come on. Bu**sh** didn't say this:

Can anyone imagine Bush saying anything like 'Make sure it is lawful. Make sure it meets all of our obligations under the Constitution, U.S. federal statutes and applicable treaties.'

He said something like "Beat those motherf*er god-haters into cow manure until they tell you what I want them to say."

Besides, the way to make sure you follow the law is to get the right lawyers who will tell you whatever meaning of the law you want to hear.