Think Progress

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, and Ryan Powers

ADMINISTRATION

Bush's Tortured Legacy

All last week on President-elect Obama's transition website, Change.gov, the top-rated publicly-submitted question asked the incoming president whether he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate "the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping." When ABC News's George Stephanopoulos pressed Obama about it on "This Week," Obama said he was "still evaluating" the situation but added, "My orientation is going to be moving forward." Obama's caution notwithstanding, there are serious questions about the Bush administration's torture policies that only a bipartisan, in-depth investigation can answer. Late last week, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill that would establish a blue-ribbon commission to investigate Bush's abuse of executive war powers and civil liberties. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said yesterday that if Obama refuses to investigate Bush's possible crimes, he'll do it himself. "I appreciate that President Obama doesn't want to make it his purpose as a new president, with America in real distress in many directions, to go back and look at all this, but I think we in Congress have an independent responsibility, and I fully intend to discharge that responsibility," Whitehouse said.

BUSH, CHENEY CONTINUE TO DEFEND TORTURE: In a series of exit interviews, both President Bush and Vice President Cheney have stridently defended the use of torture. "I feel very good about what we did. I think it was the right thing to do," Cheney said last month, referring to the administration's interrogation and detention policies. He added that he would "do exactly the same thing again." Most audaciously, Cheney claimed "it would have been unethical or immoral for us not to" torture detainees. Last Sunday, Bush admitted that he personally authorized the waterboarding of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. "I'm in the Oval Office and I am told that we have captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the professionals believe he has information necessary to secure the country. So I ask what tools are available for us to find information from him and they gave me a list of tools," Bush told Fox News' Brit Hume. He added that they "got legal opinions before any decision was made." Bush insisted that torturing Mohammed produced "good information" that "helped save lives on American soil." But a Pentagon intelligence analyst said Mohammed "produced no actionable intelligence." Last night, when CNN's Larry King asked Bush whether anything he had done "in the area of treatment of prisoners" had given him "any kind of pause," Bush replied, "No. No."

RIGHT WING'S LOVE AFFAIR WITH TORTURE: As Bush and Cheney dig in their heels, the right wing has helped cement Bush's legacy of torture by joining in stridently defending it. Last month, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) insisted that torture "saved American lives." MSNBC host Joe Scarborough waged a six-minute screed in defense of torture this week, mocking a critic who said torture doesn't yield reliable information as "the silliest thing [he has] ever heard." With this week's debut of a new season of the Fox TV drama "24," conservatives have new fodder with which to fan the flames of their love of torture. As The Progress Report documented, conservatives cited the show as proof that torture is effective and hailed the main character, torture extraordinaire Jack Bauer, as a national hero. "They're trying to put Jack Bauer in jail! I'm not going to stand for it!" shouted Bill O'Reilly. "You ask the average person, is it okay to do something, rough somebody up, to save lives. You ask the person on the street, they say, 'yeah, why not?'" insisted Fox's Steve Doocy. "Here's the guy who has done everything possible to keep his country safe...and these people want to throw him in jail forever for torture and so forth," moaned Rush Limbaugh.

REAL CRIMES TO INVESTIGATE: A major part of Bush's legacy will be his authorization of crimes (remember, the U.S. has prosecuted waterboarding as a war crime in the past) that have both damaged the United States' moral standing in the world as well as endangered Americans. Today, Susan Crawford, "the top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial," confirmed that the U.S. military tortured 9/11 planner Mohammed al-Qahtani. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture," Crawford said. "And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution. "And unfortunately what this has done, I think, has tainted everything going forward," Crawford said. Torture has therefore prevented the successful prosecution of terrorists. It has endangered American lives directly as well: A former FBI agent told the Senate last year that "a new generation of jihadist martyrs, motivated in part by the images from Abu Ghraib, is, as we speak, planning to kill Americans," while former Navy general counsel Alberto Mora said last year that "the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq -- as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat -- are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo." A former CIA interrogator agreed: "The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001." Not all Obama officials are willing to sweep Bush's torture legacy under the rug. Dawn Johnsen, Obama's pick to head the Office of Legal Counsel, has repeatedly expressed her "outrage" at Bush's use of torture. "We must avoid any temptation simply to move on," Johnsen wrote. "We must instead be honest with ourselves and the world as we condemn our nation's past transgressions and reject Bush's corruption of our American ideals. Our constitutional democracy cannot survive with a government shrouded in secrecy, nor can our nation's honor be restored without full disclosure."

CIVIL LIBERTIES -- CHENEY: IT 'ALWAYS AGGRAVATED ME' THAT THE N.Y. TIMES WON A PULITZER FOR EXPOSING WARRANTLESS WIRETAPPING: On Dec. 16, 2005, the New York Times published an article by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau,revealing that President Bush had secretly authorized the National Security Agency to "eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States...without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying." The blockbuster article, which exposed one of the Bush administration's biggest secrets, won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2006. Discussing the wiretapping program on Bill Bennett’s radio show yesterday, Vice President Cheney defended the program as "important" and said that it "always aggravated" him that the Times was rewarded for its reporting: "The New York Times broke the story I think in December of '05, won the Pulitzer for it, which always aggravated me." Cheney joins the list of conservatives who have attacked the decision to reward those who revealed the secret program. "They win Pulitzer Prizes -- I don't think what they did was worthy of an award - I think what they did was worthy of jail," said Bennett in 2006. In December, former Justice Department official Thomas Tamm explained to Newsweek why he blew the whistle on the program, saying that it "was something the other branches of the government --and the public -- ought to know about." JUSTICE -- HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE RIPS BUSH'S 'IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY': Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee released a scathing report recapping the lawlessness of the Bush administration. The 487-page report, titled "Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the presidency of George W. Bush," extensively discusses the "allegations of torture and inhumane treatment, extraordinary rendition, warrantless domestic surveillance, the Valerie Plame Wilson-leak, and the U.S. attorney scandal" and offers lessons for future administrations to prevent such abuses. Touching on a controversial subject, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) recommended that "the incoming Administration finally begin an independent criminal review of activities of the outgoing Administration." Also yesterday, the Justice Department released a report that found that former DOJ official Brad Schlozman lied under oath before a Senate panel. Schlozman also notably refused to hire lawyers whom he labeled as "commies" and transferred another attorney for allegedly writing in "ebonics" and benefiting from "an affirmative action thing." "The report confirms some of our worst fears about the Bush administration's politicization of the Justice Department," Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) remarked Tuesday. CIVIL RIGHTS -- MAINE LAWMAKER INTRODUCES BILL TO LEGALIZE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE:  Maine state Sen. Dennis Damonck (D) introduced a bill yesterday that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. The legislation seeks to define marriage as the legal union of two people, rather than between a man and a woman.  If the bill passes, Maine would become the third state in the union to allow same-sex marriages, after Massachusetts and Connecticut.  At a news conference, Damnock said the bill would "end discrimination in civil marriage and affirm religious freedom."  Predictably, the bill will be fiercely opposed by conservatives. Republican state Rep. John Tardy is already at work on legislation that would confine the definition of marriage in the state constitution to one man and one woman.  The impending fight in Maine "underlines a concerted push for same-sex marriage recognition in New England's six states by gay and lesbian advocates -- a bid that would effectively create a regional niche for gay marriage." State Rep. Jim Splaine (D) recently introduced similar legislation in his home state of New Hampshire, while a group of lawyers called Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which led the successful efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and Connecticut, said they are gearing up for fights in Rhode Island and Vermont.

Sixty-two percent of voters "say their confidence in Washington has decreased over the past 12 months," according to a new Public Strategies/Politico poll. A plurality of voters, however, want the government to take action on the economy with 45 percent naming an economic stimulus package as an issue the government should make a top priority. President Bush will leave office with a 34 percent job approval rating, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll. The improved rating, which is "a shade better than what Bush has received for most of the past year,"  is mainly due to Republicans, whose "approval of him rose from 67% in mid-December to 75% in the current poll." Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner "didn’t pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for several years while he worked for the International Monetary Fund, and he employed an immigrant housekeeper who briefly lacked proper work papers." The revelations could delay consideration of Geithner's nomination as Sens. Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) "blocked a request to proceed with his confirmation hearing Friday." A new Marine Corps report has found that "[m]ore active-duty Marines committed suicide last year than any year since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003." The suicide rate, however, "remained virtually unchanged because the Marine Corps is increasing in size." Nearly all of the 41 suicides were under 24 and two-thirds had deployed overseas. "Glitches" at Veterans Affairs (VA) health centers have resulted in patients who were given "incorrect doses of drugs, had needed treatments delayed and may have been exposed to other medical errors due to software glitches that showed faulty displays of their electronic health records." The problems began in August and lasted until last month, but the VA didn't immediately disclose the problem to patients. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) told the Washington Times that the Pentagon is "looking at several military bases in the U.S. as possible sites to hold terrorist suspects now at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including Camp Pendleton in San Diego and Fort Leavenworth in Kansas." A new report from the Center for Democracy in the Americas argues that President-elect Obama should engage Cuba. "The policy experts also said small U.S. steps now toward lifting restrictions could ease open Cuban society and polish America’s tarnished image in Latin America." Read the full report here. President-elect Obama's nominee to lead the Dept. of Transportation, Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) "sponsored $60 million in earmarks last year, steering at least $9 million in federal money to campaign donors." LaHood, who opposes earmark reform, ranks roughly among the top 10 percent in the House for earmark sponsorship in 2008. And finally: Get a behind-the-scenes look at the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)...with a twist. The Hill also has a piece explaining the video here.

"The House is expected on Wednesday to pass a reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program that would enroll 4 million more children and adults at a cost of $35 billion over four-and-a-half years."

THINK PROGRESS: Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) disputes President Bush's comment that not landing Air Force One was his biggest mistake during Katrina.

WONK ROOM: As President Bush leaves office, freedom is on the wane.

YGLESIAS: In Washington D.C., rich lawyers are boosting traffic jams and calling it charity.

DEMOCRACY ARSENAL: Starting points for a progressive conversation on future U.S. policy towards Afghanistan.

NEW YORK: "UnitedHealth Group has agreed to end a practice that allegedly caused patients to overpay for care outside the insurer's network."

CALIFORNIA: "Hospitals across California and the country are reeling from the effects of the economic downturn and the troubled financial markets."

ECONOMY: "Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed executive orders directing their state agencies and cabinets to explore ways for the two states to share services."

"[W]e don't torture."
-- President Bush, 1/13/09

VERSUS

"The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."
-- Washington Post, 1/14/09