NATIONAL SECURITY
America's Torture Disgrace

In a recent interview with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney confirmed that, in the period after the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration embraced a policy of torturing suspected al Qaeda detainees. Cheney did not refer to the Bush administration's practices as "torture." In fact, he insisted that "we don't do torture. We never have." He did admit, however, that he had supported the waterboarding of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad. Waterboarding -- a technique in which water is poured over a prisoner's face to simulate drowning -- is considered torture under international law and has been prosecuted as a war crime by the United States. According to Malcolm Nance, a counterterrorism expert and former instructor and chief of training at the U.S. Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape school, waterboarding "is torture, without doubt." 

TORTURE DOESN'T WORK: In a recent story in Vanity Fair, journalist David Rose reports that the conclusion of numerous counterterrorist officials he spoke to is "unanimous: not only have coercive methods failed to generate significant and actionable intelligence, they have also caused the squandering of resources on a massive scale through false leads, chimerical plots, and unnecessary safety alerts." The use of torture has made Americans less safe. Former Air Force interrogator and author of How to Break a Terrorist Matthew Alexander (a pseudonym) recently wrote that "the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked [to Iraq] to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo." Alexander, who used non-violent methods of interrogation to obtain information on the whereabouts of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, argued, "Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda. ... Torture and abuse cost American lives."

TORTURE IS A VIOLATION OF OUR LAWS AND VALUES: Arguments about the practical utility of torture distract from the more important point that torture is a violation of U.S. law, and its use represents a significant abdication of the U.S. commitment to human rights. The U.S. federal anti-torture statute, formally known as Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113C of the U.S. Code, "defines the crime of torture and prescribes harsh punishments for anyone who commits an act of torture outside of the United States." Alexander wrote "there's no doubt in my mind" that the tactics allowed by the Bush administration "are illegal." The U.N. Committee Against Torture has been very clear in demanding that the U.S. "should rescind any interrogation technique...that constitutes torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in all places of detention under its de facto effective control, in order to comply with its obligations" under the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

HOLDING PERPETRATORS ACCOUNTABLE: The Bush administration's embrace of torture marks a significant reversal of decades of U.S. policy. Back in 2006, then-senator Barack Obama said that torture "is not how a serious Administration would approach the problem of terrorism," and declared the use of torture to be "a betrayal of American values." While Vice President-elect Biden didn't rule out future prosecution of Bush administration officials involved in torture, he made clear yesterday that "President-elect Obama and I are not sitting thinking about the past. We're focusing on the future." Whatever legal course is chosen by the new administration to deal with recent abuses, the damage done to America's reputation by the use of torture -- making a mockery of U.S. claims to uphold human rights -- has been incalculable.

Under the Radar

ADMINISTRATION -- CHENEY ECHOES NIXON: IF THE PRESIDENT DOES IT DURING WARTIME, IT IS LEGAL: On Fox News Sunday yesterday, host Chris Wallace asked Vice President Cheney, "If the President, during war, decides to do something to protect the country, is it legal?" "General proposition, I'd say yes," adding, "I think what we've done has been totally consistent with what the Constitution provides for." Cheney's answer is eerily reminiscent of former President Richard Nixon's claim that "when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." Nixon made the comment in his famous interview with David Frost, responding to a question about whether "there are certain situations" in which "the president can decide that it's in the best interests of the nation or something, and do something illegal." In fact, numerous courts have ruled that the Bush administration has overstepped the bounds of the Constitution. In August 2006, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that "the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program is unconstitutional, delivering the first decision that the Bush administration's effort to monitor communications without court oversight runs afoul of the Bill of Rights and federal law." The fact that Cheney's Nixon-esque comment came during an interview with Wallace is ironic, considering that Cheney recently thanked Wallace for defending the Bush administration against comparisons to Nixon.

ECONOMY -- BANKS CANNOT ACCOUNT FOR THEIR BAILOUT BILLIONS: The AP recently contacted 21 banks that had received at least $1 billion in taxpayer-financed bailout funds and found that the banks were unable or unwilling to disclose how they have used the money. The AP asked the banks four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest? However, "[n]one of the banks provided specific answers." In fact, "[s]ome banks said they simply didn't know where the money was going," and "no bank provided even the most basic accounting for the federal money." Earlier this month, a congressionally-appointed bailout oversight board found that the Treasury Department has not sufficiently monitored how banks are using Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. "If the funds committed under TARP...are not merely no-strings-attached subsidies to financial institutions, then it seems essential for Treasury to monitor whether those funds are used for those intended purposes," the report stated. "Treasury cannot simply trust that the financial institutions will act in the desired ways; it must verify." The panel's chairman, Elizabeth Warren, "said her oversight panel will try to force the banks to say where they've spent the money. 'It would take a lot of nerve not to give answers,' she said."

ETHICS -- BAILED-OUT WALL STREET EXECUTIVES STILL USING EXPENSIVE PRIVATE JETS: Last month, Big Three automaker CEOs were ridiculed by members of Congress for taking private jets to Washington to plea for a federal bailout. Subsequently, GM put two of its five corporate jets out of service, and the executives drove to Washington for a second round of bailout hearings. But Wall Street's similar excesses have largely avoided scrutiny. The AP reports today that "[s]ix financial firms that received billions in bailout dollars still own and operate fleets of jets to carry executives to company events and sometimes personal trips." Insurance company AIG, which received $150 billion in bailout funds, has seven planes, making it "one of the largest fleets among bailout recipients." Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley all still own aircraft for executive travel -- after receiving a combined $120 billion in bailouts. A separate AP analysis today found that "the 116 banks that so far have received taxpayer dollars to boost them through the economic crisis gave their top tier of executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses and other benefits in 2007."

Think Fast

Radio syndicator Westwood One is expected to announce this week that former senator Fred Thompson "will begin hosting a two-hour show in March" during Bill O'Reilly's soon-to-be-vacated time slot. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was rumored to be in negotiations for the slot, but "a deal was not struck."

During his interview on Fox News Sunday yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that 9/11 was his "highest moment in office." He explained, "The way in which that changed the nation, and set the agenda for what we had to deal with as an administration."

At the Muslim Public Affairs Council convention this weekend, Pastor Rick Warren said, "I love Muslims. And for the media's purpose, I happen to love gays and straights." The University of Michigan's Juan Cole, who spoke at the conference and came away impressed with Warren, writes, "If Warren is the future of the American evangelical movement, then many more evangelicals might end up Democrats."

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said yesterday that "it was wrong" for President-elect Obama to invite Rick Warren to give the invocation at Obama's inauguration, citing Warren's comparison of gay marriage to incest. "I found that deeply offensive and unfair," Frank said on CNN. "[B]eing singled out to give the prayer at the inauguration is a high honor. ... And, yes, I think it was wrong to single him out for this mark of respect."

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino issued a scathing response to Sunday's New York Times article. The article said that President Bush's "philosophy" of deregulation and home ownership helped stoke the mortgage crisis. The White House accused the Times of "gross negligence" and relying on "hindsight with blinders on and one eye closed."

The Obama team's "review of contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will show that Rahm Emanuel had only one phone conversation with Blagojevich," including only a "passing reference" to the Senate vacancy. The review "did not include records of conversations taped by federal prosecutors."

Though the Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq calls for all American combat troops to be out of the cities by the end of June, "military planners are now quietly acknowledging that many will stay behind as renamed 'trainers' and 'advisers' in what are effectively combat roles." The troops would still be armed and able to "go on combat patrols with their Iraqi counterparts."

And finally: The infamous "Obama Girl" has inspired an imitator…in Israel. Dvir Bar, a backer of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, has become "Livni Boy." In the clip, Bar "showers next to a Livni poster and raps his way through Tel Aviv in praise of the leader of the centrist Kadima party." "She's a woman who looks a lot better in person. TV doesn't flatter her. She's cool," said Bar in an interview. Watch it here.

Good News

President-elect Obama will form a White House Task Force on Working Families, to be chaired by Vice President-elect Joe Biden, a "major initiative targeted at raising the living standards of middle-class, working families in America."

State Watch

ALASKA: State Sen. John Cowdery (R) pleads guilty to a federal conspiracy charges for ties to oil giant Veco Corp.

CALIFORNIA:  State Attorney General Jerry Brown asked state Supreme Court on Friday to overturn Prop. 8.

MISSOURI: Thirteen black members of the Missouri Guard have complained to the NAACP that a top general "fostered a climate of institutional discrimination."

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee: "It's ridiculous for people to be upset at Rick Warren."

WONK ROOM: The scandal surrounding Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) is "a loud wake up call" about "the undue influence of money on our political system."

YGLESIAS: Vice President Cheney's unlimited power doctrine.

POLITICAL ANIMAL: There should be no more double standards for proposed government intervention in different industries.

Daily Grill

Q: You disagree with the president [on the auto bailout], I take it.
CANTOR: Wolf, I don't disagree.
-- Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), 12/21/08

VERSUS

Q: So let me just be precise. Do you support that $13 billion bailout that he announced on Friday?
CANTOR: No, Wolf, I don't.
-- Cantor, 12/21/08