Our guy good, your guy bad, nothing to see here. Move along:
The Obama administration has turned down former Vice President Dick Cheney’s request for the declassification of two CIA reports on the effectiveness of the Agency’s detainee program, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned. A letter dated May 7, 2009, from the CIA’s Information and Privacy Coordinator, Delores M. Nelson, rejected Cheney’s request because the documents he has requested are involved in a Freedom of Information Act court battle…
The contentious debate over enhanced interrogation exploded on April 16, when Obama authorized the release of four memos on interrogation prepared by the Bush Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. In a statement accompanying the release, Obama pointed to “exceptional circumstances” surrounding the memos that required their declassification and release. Four days later, in an interview on Fox News, Cheney revealed that he had requested the declassification of two memos that demonstrate that the techniques were effective…
Representative Frank Wolf asked Attorney General Eric Holder about the Cheney memos during at House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on April 23. Holder said he had not seen the documents. But added: “It is certainly the intention of this administration not to play hide and seek or not to release certain things in a way that is not consistent with other things. It is not our intention to try to advance a political agenda or to hide things from the American people.”
No, perish the thought.
In legal terms, the administration opened the door on this when they released the so-called “torture” memos last month. It’s hard to understand what their calculus for doing so was other than victor’s justice. The silly thing is, what with Cheney refusing to back down (or go away), they’ll have to release his reports in time or suffer the consequences for doing so: The Bush presidency may well go down in history as one of the least immediately popular, but the vast middle of the American polity places an enduring value on fair play.
With all of this foot-dragging over the matter, the public is right to wonder whether their political class shares that value.
It’s hard to understand what their calculus for doing so was…..”
Narcissistic, gigantic hubris–the belief that one is above normal constraints because of “special” talent–channeled via training in the “Chicago Way”–the use of the power of government to vilify and squash your enemies without feeling the need to heed the law, rules or regulations while believing you yourself need answer to no one, while using the power of government to sustain that belief.
My mental image of Cheney talking to the CIA-
CIA-these are not the memos you are looking for (waves hand)
Cheney-the liberal kooks call me Darth Cheney for a reason you fools (draws lightsaber)
Still, the comment that the memos are part of a FOIA court battle implies that somebody else wants to make the memos public.
The Dems thought they could roll this ball all the way to a “truth commission.” Then came Chaney and Porter Goss (who, BTW, I can’t wait to hear his rebuttal of Ms. Pelosi’s latest…)
At this point I say let’s bring on a truth squad. Let’s get Ms. Pelosi and any other Dem that attended these meeting to testify under oath.
Why Obama started this is beyond me in hindsight. I only hope the pubs have the (you know whats) to fight back.
This entire discussion is destructive to our country, contrary to the many moralists that call into C-Span every day.
…any other Dem that attended these meeting to testify under oath.
You assume that these politicians actually attend these security briefings. Since it’s clear Pelosi attended one of out some 40…there is no reason to expect that they are doing their jobs on a fulltime basis.
Waterboard Pelosi and her pals until they tell the truth!