CIA "thought they turned" the double agent who killed the CIA agents in Afghanistan

When you are playing the game of cat and mouse, you never know when you are going to be the mouse. The words "who do you trust" is never more true, when the CIA thought they turned him.

From morning joe:



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Obama Media Blitz: CNN's State of the Nation with John King (Video)

RACE



CIA Investigation of Bush Era Tactics



Health Care and Mitch McConnell



OOPSY....



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Attorney General Eric Holder appointing a special prosecutor to investigate CIA/torture

Now this is Change I Can Believe In...

Attorney General Eric Holder has directed a federal prosecutor to look into possible violations of U.S. law in the CIA's treatment of terrorism detainees overseas, NBC News reported Monday.

Administration officials say he'll give the assignment to a career federal prosecutor in Connecticut, John Durham.

For more than a year, since January 2008, Durham has been investigating whether any laws were broken when CIA officials destroyed audio and video tapes of the interrogations of several terrorism detainees. His work on the tapes issue is not yet completed, though there are indictions that Durham is nearly done with that part of his work.

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Washington Post

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Ed Schultz on Liz Cheney attempting to defend her daddy on morning joe (Video)

Here is is Liz Cheney on morning joe

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Alberto Gonzales is NO COMMENT on Dick Cheney's secret CIA counterterrorism program (Video)

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales deflected questions Tuesday regarding whether he knew anything about former Vice President Dick Cheney's alleged orders to the CIA to keep its counterterrorism program secret from Congress.

"It's very difficult to talk about classified activities in an unclassified setting," Gonzales told CBS' "The Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith.

"We tried to work as hard as we could with Congress in making sure they understood what was going on," in the executive branch Gonzales said.

On Monday, some members of Congress called for an investigation into the mysterious program, which government officials told AP allegedly sought to kill or capture suspected al Qaeda militants at close range, as opposed to using airstrikes.

Last Month, CIA Director Leon Panetta ended the program upon learning of its existence and its lack of results, and the fact that Congress had been unaware of it since its inception soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to one official with direct knowledge of the plan told AP.

Gonzales' hesitancy to talk may stem from a 2008 Justice Department report that charged he mishandled highly classified and sensitive documents relating to the Bush administration's counterterrorism plans. read more here....

There you have it, the dumbest Attorney General to ever grace the office!!

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morning joe continues to enable Liz Cheney and her talking points (Video)

The tough questions did not come from morning joke or joe, definitely not from Mika Brzezinski who tip-toed around Liz Cheney without the continuing interruption from loud mouth Joe Scarborough.

The fact is that over time, Liz Cheney has done a damn good job promoting her daddy, helping him secure a huge book deal, kept to her talking points and it was hard for any journalist to pin her down. But the obvious is this, her daddy, former Vice President Dick Cheney deliberately kept a secret counterterrorist program from congress, period. He told the CIA to not say anything and to keep it quiet. Now that is what happened, period. And that was illegal, period.

morning joe performed DISSERVICE to the show and the public by the soft ball questions to Liz Cheney. If Liz Cheney is out there speaking on BEHALF of her daddy, then ask her the questions directly, since she continues to sit up on television like she is an authority on it all. Don't keep letting her slip-slide away with her talking points and not challenge her. To sit and watch journalists, with exception of Eugene Robinson, ask her or point out to her that what her daddy did was illegal, wrong but no one challenge her was a joke.

Mika Brzezinski showed us today what a good journalist, she is not. Again, Rachel Maddow is the most intelligent woman journalist on television, who asks all the questions with no sugar coat. Will Liz Cheney go on that show? I doubt it, because she would not be able to get away with her talking points BULLSHIT.

Leon Panetta the current Director of the CIA, who is a conservative Democrat and straight shooter shut this program down, abruptly, informed congress about this program and said the program was kept secret specifically by former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Mr. Panetta scuttled the program, which would have relied on paramilitary teams, shortly after the C.I.A.’s counterterrorism center recently informed him of its existence. The next day, June 24, he told the two Congressional Intelligence Committees that the plan had been hidden from lawmakers, initially at the instruction of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

There is nothing there for the right to go after Panetta for or about. It is hard to go after someone for simply, telling the truth. Yes, we all hear crickets at this point.

To Mika, I too, like nice intelligent conversation but not what was on television this morning. Eventually, when all the dust is settled, Dick Cheney will have been found to have broken the law. Cheney, who was president to many without the title, took and abused powers far beyond any other president in that position. There is a reason that the law indicates that the CIA is supposed to informed congress of any programs in the open and otherwise, but to run a program for eight years and no one knew a peep about it is just the beginning of the can being opened.

Mika, your responsibility as a journalist is not to make nice with guests, but to be forthcoming with the real questions, nice and otherwise. That did not happen this morning. You had no command over your guest, you could not shut her down, you allowed your guest, Eugene Robinson to be badgered and you call it good, honest intelligent debate? This was another opportunity lost to you, but won for Cheney where she was given a platform with no opposition to, "...make outrageously partisan and inaccurate claims, often without being challenged by her hosts." Yep, that is just the climate that Liz Cheney was given, to clean up her daddy's illegal position on a show that did not have the guts to ask the hard questions without upsetting Lady Liz. Yep, the way Liz Cheney is enabled on morning joe, you would think she was royalty or walked on water.

Lastly, as long as media like morning joe and others, continue to let Lady Liz's talking point of the "Democrats can not be trusted with National Security" go unchecked, how will the truth ever be totally dissected and told to the public? Surely not by allowing enablers of the likes of morning joe to continue. That is a fact.

Just keepin' it real.

Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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Calls mounting for investigation of secret CIA program (Video)

Led by former Vice President Dick Cheney, the cat is now out of the bag about how Cheney told the CIA not to let congress know about this particular secret CIA program.

I think no one should be in shock or in awe. We are talking about Dick Cheney one of the biggest liars walking around here, coupled with the CIA, a recipe for disaster.

Congressional demands for an investigation grew on Monday over new disclosures that a secret CIA program to capture or kill al-Qaida leaders was concealed from Congress for eight years, perhaps at the behest of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The program, which never got off the ground and remains shrouded in mystery, was designed to target leaders of the terrorism network at close range, rather than with air strikes that risked civilian casualties, government officials with knowledge of the operation said Monday.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. The program was canceled last month by CIA Director Leon Panetta shortly after he himself first learned of it. ,read more here....

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Dick Cheney ordered CIA to hide counterterrorism program from congress

Remember when REPUBLICANS went after Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her comments that the CIA has not been forthcoming and honest with congress? Well, the Republicans have nothing to say now. Not when former Vice-President Dick Cheney ordered the CIA to hide a counterterrorism program from congress. Sigh. Are you shocked? You should not be. Remember, the CIA are professional LIARS, that is what they do. Now what? Justice Department?

Former Vice President Dick Cheney directed the CIA eight years ago not to inform Congress about a nascent counterterrorism program that CIA Director Leon Panetta terminated in June, officials with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

Subsequent CIA directors did not inform Congress because the intelligence-gathering effort had not developed to the point that they believed merited a congressional briefing, said a former intelligence official and another government official familiar with Panetta's June 24 briefing to the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

Panetta did not agree.

Upon learning of the program June 23 from within the CIA, Panetta terminated it and the next day called an emergency meeting with the House and Senate Intelligence committees to inform them of the program and that it was canceled.

Cheney played a central role in overseeing the Bush administration's surveillance program that was the subject of an inspectors general report this past week. That report noted that Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington, personally decided who in Bush's inner circle could even know about the secret program.

But revelations about Cheney's role in making decisions for the CIA on whether to notify Congress came as a surprise to some on the committees, said another government official. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the program publicly. read more here....

Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project"
Read Jesselyn Radack here

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CIA Director Leon Panetta confirms that CIA misled congress (Video)

Are we shocked here? Shocked that the CIA lies??? Oh, yeah, only the Republicans are shocked, since they said that the CIA would NEVER mislead congress!! From Keith Olbermann and h/t to jazmen8 over @ Daily Kos

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Minority Leader, John Boehner admits that the CIA lies to congress (Video)

frackin' h/t to Jed over at Daily Kos

Transcript

BLITZER: Last year, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, he said this in response to a case that he was watching very closely — an American citizen who was killed in a plane crash — a coverup, he alleged, involving the CIA.

He said these words: “We cannot have an intelligence community that covers up what it does and then lies to Congress.”

That’s what Pete Hoekstra said in 2008.

BOEHNER: Pete Hoekstra did say that, and the inspector general at the CIA did an investigation, and it became clear that some CIA operatives did in fact cover this up.

…

BLITZER: You agree that the CIA then lied to Congress?

BOEHNER: I know as much about this case as Pete Hoekstra does, and the inspector general did in fact do an investigation, produced a report, and frankly supported, I think, Pete’s claims.

Again, anyone believing the CIA does not lie, stop drinking and smoking!!! They are professional LIARS, that is their job.

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CIA and their lack of the truth or "truthiness"?

All the made up, fake outrage by the Republicans against Speaker Nancy Pelosi is just trumped up bullshit.

Really, it is.

I wrote that the GOP needs someone, something to make noise and it is Pelosi since she called the CIA out.

And all this utter bullshit about the honor of the CIA is just a "rolleye" moment. The CIA or "the company" is a product of secrecy. If anyone thinks that the CIA will look you in the eye and tell you the honest truth, stop smoking and drinking. This is an agency that LIES, period. And they have LIED to congress, many times.

Sure, I don't like stating this, but hell, wake up folks. How in the hell did we get into Iraq? It was based on lies trumped up by that Bush crew with George Tenet manufacturing trumped up evidence to substantiate going to war. Don't believe me, watch PBS' Frontline documentary "Bush's War". It is all there. So, please let's just stop it with the GOP talking points of "The CIA don't lie", YES THEY MOST CERTAINLY, DO.

And now others are coming forward challenging the CIA and their so-called NOTES.

New questions surfaced Wednesday about the accuracy of a CIA document meant to settle who in Congress knew about severe interrogation methods approved by the Bush administration.

Three new errors appeared to emerge in the CIA's matrix of 40 congressional briefings on so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. Those techniques include waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, which President Barack Obama has called torture.

The CIA acknowledged one of the errors but continued to stand by its version of events in the other two cases. read more here....

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CIA Director Panetta denounces Speaker Pelosi's claims

The "he say, she say", drama continues....

CIA Director Leon Panetta today rejected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's charge that the agency misled her in 2002 about its use of waterboarding and other coercive interrogation methods on suspected terrorists.

Panetta, who took office as President Obama's CIA chief in February, reasserted the agency's claim that it told congressional leaders about the use of such methods during a closed-door briefing in September 2002. Pelosi (D-Calif.) has acknowledged attending the briefing but says she was told only that the CIA was considering the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning.

"It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress," Panetta said in a message released today to agency employees. A copy was obtained by The Washington Post.

"Our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of [suspected terrorist] Abu Zubaida, describing the 'enhanced techniques that had been employed,' " Panetta said.

A two-year dispute over what Congress was told about the CIA's interrogations reignited yesterday when Pelosi accused the agency and Bush administration of deceiving lawmakers about the interrogation practices. read more here....

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Making Nancy Pelosi the "boogey woman"

Let's be clear here, this is about who said what, who was where when it was said, and who is lying here in regards to who knew what about "torture".

The White House may not like what Pelosi said yesterday, but one thing for sure, she put many on notice in D.C. She pointedly stated, "...release the briefings....", while former Senator Graham of Florida backed up her claims in regards to the CIA and their truthiness.

As Lawrence O'Donnell stated this morning, "...Let's not pretend we are dealing with the first accusation from the Congress about the CIA lying in these kinds of briefings...."



It is the CIAs job to be professional liars, sorry but it is. Does anyone think this agency will be honest and straight forward with the public? We are the last to know anything of what happens at "the company". Why do you think many at "the company" were worried when Obama was elected? Because of what is happening right now, because they were right smack dab in the middle of it, period.

Now the credibility of Pelosi is in question and this story moves forward on releasing all information and putting it on the table. The Republicans wanted and needed, anything or anyone, to create a boogey man or woman, with Pelosi they have it. And yes, this makes the White House mad, the same White House that was going to release torture pictures only to do a turn around on the matter. So, no one should be surprised at the Republicans backing the CIA, 100%. They must because they have lost the national security argument thanks to the Bush Administration. But backing what the CIA did from the command of the Bush Administration, in the end, does not make it right. Why? Because when, not if, when all this information is put on the table, no one will walk away with clean hands, especially the Republicans, since they were in charge when all this was going on.

And President Obama? He has a fine web to weave, indeed. Next popcorn moment? What the White House will say in regards to Nancy Pelosi's statement on the CIA, yesterday. Oh, while typing this, former Senator Bob Graham was just on MSNBC, again, backing up Pelosi's argument about the CIA and reiterating the meticulous notes he took while in the senate and the truthiness of the CIA.

Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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Former Florida Senator Bob Graham backs Nancy Pelosi up in CIA LYING to congress

Bob Graham just appeared on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show. In addition to repeating earlier reports that he was never briefed on waterboarding, Graham revealed that the first time he asked the CIA when he was briefed on torture, it claimed it had briefed him on two dates when no briefing took place.

I didn't get Graham's exact quotes (and the quotes below are rough approximations), but when asked to respond to Philip Zelikow's assertion that members of Congress from both parties had been briefed on this program, Graham said that when he asked the CIA when he had been briefed on the program, the CIA gave him the dates of four briefings, two in April 2002 and two in September 2002, when they claimed they had briefed him about the program. But after Graham consulted his own records, he pointed out that on two of those dates, he had not attended any briefing. After Graham pointed this out to the CIA, they conceded their own dates were incorrect.

Graham then went on to repeat his claim that he had no recollection of being told about waterboarding Zubaydah or anything else about extreme interrogation.

In addition to repeating his earlier assertion that he would have remembered something that dramatic, Graham contextualized the briefing the CIA gave him--which occurred right in the middle of Graham's complaints about the inaccuracy of the Iraq NIE (the briefing on September 27, 2002 would have shown up just a few days after the British released a White Paper on September 24, 2002 that publicized for the first time the yellocake claim).

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I know Obama don't like this, just as I heard Joe Lieberman state, "Who cares about this, it is the past." Well, many Americans do care about this and it has been this reckless behavior of the Bush Administration that put this country in the predicament it is in.

In the end, whether Obama likes it or not, all memos, cia briefings, tapes, etc., need to be put on the table and an independent counsel put together to flesh through it all. Because there is a whole lot of LYING going on here.

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi, The CIA basically LIED to congress on torture (Video and Transcript)

This torture debate needs an independent counsel, it is getting that nasty. Don't forget, the torture debate is a black eye on the Bush Administration and Republicans, the Republicans argument is so what we tortured!!!! Democrats were in on the torture game, too!!!! This is what it is all about and why an independent counsel is being looked upon moreso, day by day.

Transcript

Republican Statement

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Obama speaks at the CIA (Video)

MSNBC Video

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Leon Panetta confirmed as CIA Director

Finally.

The Senate confirmed Leon Panetta as director of the CIA on Thursday, placing the nation's top spy agency in the hands of a government veteran valued for his skills as a lawmaker and policy manager rather than an expert at intelligence-gathering and analysis.

The Senate approved President Barack Obama's choice on a voice vote. On Wednesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee sent Panetta's nomination to the full chamber without opposition.

During two days of confirmation hearings last week, Panetta told senators that the Obama administration would not prosecute CIA officers who participated in harsh interrogations even if they constituted torture as long as they did not go beyond their instructions. However, he would not say whether charges would be sought against those who authorized the treatment.

Panetta also said that the Obama administration would continue to transfer foreign detainees to other countries for questioning but only if U.S. officials are confident that the prisoners will not be tortured. Some former prisoners have claimed that they were tortured after the Bush administration handed them over to other countries, a transfer process known as "extraordinary rendition."

"We can protect this country, we can get the information we need, we can provide for the security of the American people and we can abide by the law," he told senators. "I'm absolutely convinced that we can do that."

Besides pledging not to interfere in the CIA's day-to-day intelligence operations, Panetta said he would keep on Deputy Director Steven Kappes and three other top officials at the spy agency. He also said he would encourage differing opinions within the agency and would brief the full House and Senate intelligence committees as much as possible, not just their top members. read more here

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Leon Panetta's Opening Statement, Confirmation for CIA Director (Video)

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Obama press conference, taps Blair, Panetta to head Intelligence (CIA) - Video, Transcript

First, Obama talks about the 7.2 unemployment rise in this country.

Transcript

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The Fight with Dianne Feinstein

There is much conventional wisdom being tossed around today about the comments or anger of Senator Dianne Feinstein not being consulted about the choice of Leon Panetta to head the CIA by Obama.

There are those who state not informing her was political poison, but maybe Obama did not want to inform her because it would have been leaked out and shot down before Obama could compose a press release. Maybe not forming her was intentional.

Feinstein, along with Senator Jay Rockefeller are now out in the open criticizing this choice, which gives the Republicans ammunition to criticize Obama for choosing Panetta instead of someone inside the agency.

My take, Barack Obama want a complete cut from the Bush Administration by this choice. Remember Dianne Feinstein and Jay Rockefeller was lock step with the Bush Administration with regards to intelligence. They definitely were not in the front rows at protesting against the use of torture.

Obama is sending an unequivocal message that controversial administration policies approving harsh interrogations, waterboarding and extraordinary renditions _ the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments with a history of torture _ and warrantless wiretapping are over, said several officials.

On the record, Feinstein has stated she would prefer Steve Kappes, this is fine and good but the decision is for Barack Obama. This from Glen Greenwald:

Few things could reflect better on Panetta's selection than the fact that Feinstein and Rockefeller -- two of the most Bush-enabling Senators -- are unhappy with it.

Bush enabling senators. Yes, that sums it up about Feinstein and Rockefeller. They have been in LOCK STEP with Bush; there is no denial about that. That is their record on intelligence.

But John Aravosis has another take on this matter:

First, a word about Difi, Rockefeller and Panetta.

1. Difi drives us nuts, and anyone who reads the blog knows it. She's the Dem we're always having to beat up in order to get her to do the right thing (though Max Baucus comes a close second). So, I readily acknowledge your, my, first impulse to be "who cares what Difi says?" The problem is that America cares. To us, Diane Feinstein is a pain in the butt. To my mother - aka Middle America - she's a smart person, who is an expert on the issue, who has a D after her name, and who thinks the guy may not be qualified. She also has power and can screw with Obama mightily, now and in the future. Our dislike for Difi is irrelevant to this equation.

2. Then there's Rockefeller. Totally worthless human being and an absolute joke as the outgoing Intelligence chair. But to America at large, he's the outgoing chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a Democrat. What he says matters to ma and pa in the sticks, even if the rest of us think he's a joke. And when he questions Obama's nominee in such a critical area, it matters to the public at large.

3. Panetta. Interesting choice. Opposed torture, not wedded to the national security special interests. I acknowledge all of that, and applaud it. But because he's an unusual choice, even an unconventional one, I'd argue that you need to handle this nomination very carefully, so as to avoid any possible hiccups (Democrats per se need to tread carefully in the area of national security because we've spent so many years letting Republicans pummel us with it).

This is another reality. Folks from the left are angered to high heaven and have been for some time with Feinstein and Rockefeller, but most of America knows these two as competent, able, centrist, okay, Democrats. In this matter, I disagree.

The bottom line, we must stand with Barack Obama on this appointment. Obama campaigned on the atrocities of Gitmo and the illegal use of the intelligence community, especially with Iraq. This needs to be cleaned up. There would not be an Iraq War today had the intelligence not been tampered with to back the reason for invading Iraq. That is what happened, that is the truth, which is why it is time for sweepers at the CIA.

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