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'These are, simply, crimes,' paper says of CIA interrogation program former vice president championed On the heels of the Senate Intelligence Committee's blistering report on the CIA's brutal handling of prisoners after 9/11, the New York Times is calling for a criminal investigation of former Vice President Dick Cheney and other members of the Bush administration for conspiring to commit torture and other crimes prohibited by federal and international laws. "Americans have known about many of these acts for years," the Times editorial board stated on Monday. "But the 524-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report erases any...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday called the latest Senate report on torture “full of crap.” “The report’s full of crap, excuse me,” Cheney said in an interview with Fox News after calling the report a “terrible piece of work” and “deeply flawed.” Cheney cited the report’s lack of first-hand accounts from CIA officials as one reason he was dismissing its findings.

GENEVA (AP) — All senior U.S. officials and CIA agents who authorized and carried out torture like waterboarding as part of former President George W. Bush's national security policy must be prosecuted, top U.N. human rights officials said Wednesday. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, said it is "crystal clear" under international law that the United States, which ratified the U.N. Convention Against Torture in 1994, now has an obligation to ensure accountability.....

Big, busy Morning Jolt to close out the week — an appalling failure of immigration law enforcement, an indictment in that long-forgotten GSA conference scandal, another trip down memory lane for a beloved prematurely-canceled television show, and then this glaring change in our national politics: Funeral Services for the Anti-War Movement Will Be Held Next Week Howard Kurtz writes the obituary of the anti-war movement. Born in 2003, the movement experienced sudden difficulties in January 2009, struggled and limped along for the past few years, and finally collapsed in the street in front of the White House least week: Medea...

The CIA’s ongoing defiance of congressional authority continued during a closed-door meeting last week after Director John Brennan refused to tell lawmakers who authorized the illegal surveillance of Senate Intelligence Committee computers, which were used to compile a report on the agency’s interrogation practices.

Not only did Democrats try to impeach George W. Bush during his presidency, they did so aggressively. While many have laughingly claimed that efforts to impeach President Obama are racist, or have blatantly lied by saying that there was no effort to impeach George W. Bush; history tells quite a different story. One of the most egregious statements was made by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who said in part, We did not seek an impeachment of President Bush, because as an executive, he had his authority. President Obama has the authority. Lee, who co-sponsored legislation to impeach George W....

While speaking out on the House floor yesterday against the House GOP lawsuit against President Obama, Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said the move is a “veil for impeachment.” Jackson Lee also took the opportunity to point out that “We [Democrats] did not seek an impeachment of President Bush” when he was in office. Really? Not only did some Democrats seek an impeachment of President Bush, but Rep. Jackson Lee co-sponsored the bill? Classic!

Former CBS Evening News Anchor Dan Rather, despite being fired as a result of the bogus story, continues to maintain that he got it right in September 2004 when he aired forged documents concerning George W. Bush’s record with the Air National Guard. On CNN’s Piers Morgan Live Monday, Rather said, “No question the story was true” (video follows with transcript and commentary): [video] PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Let's turn quickly to what’s been going on at CBS, your old network. Your former colleague, Lara Logan, on leave of absence over this report from Benghazi. Many people believe there’s a slight...

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made headlines and raised eyebrows Monday when he said that while Hurricane Katrina was deadlier than Hurricane Sandy, the latter storm was “more impactful” over all and “affected many, many more people and places than Katrina.” Mr. Cuomo added that Hurricane Sandy had a greater economic impact, destroyed or damaged more units of housing, affected more businesses and caused more customers to lose power. For our part, City Room decided to undertake a little truth-squadding. While apples-to-apples numbers for the two storms are very difficult to come by, especially given that Hurricane Sandy’s costs are still...

The producers behind HBO's "Game of Thrones" would've been better off had they simple said what is likely the truth, that they hate George W. Bush and impaled his prosthetic head on a pole for the kind of childish shits and giggles the Secret Service might want to look into. Instead, they offer absurd explanations that, in my opinion, only prove what sniveling weasals (sic) they really are:

Barack Obama keeps desperately pounding the entertainment industry's ATMs in Hollywood and Manhattan, while our manufacturers of make-believe have absolutely refused to expel their vicious hatred of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. You wonder if, on any level, Obama is upset or chagrined or even embarrassed. Two examples have shown their ugly heads -- one of them severed. HBO -- with Bill Maher as the face of their political analysis is a global leader in burning Bush-Cheney hatred -- expressed surprise and embarrassment when it was discovered their violence-drenched series "Game of Thrones" included a scene with a model...

I went to jail in the summer of 2005 to protect the identity of a confidential source who spoke to me about Valerie Plame, the former CIA spy whose identity was disclosed after her husband publicly challenged part of the evidence that President Bush cited to justify his invasion of Iraq. I'm the only person to have gone to jail in what became known as Plamegate. But you wouldn't know it from the recently released movie "Fair Game." There is no character based on me in the film—and that turns out to be a good thing. Although the movie is...

During Thanksgiving weekend I went to see the movie REDS with Bruce Willis. Awesome movie and I highly recommend it. But during the trailers they showed the movie FAIR GAME with Sean Penn, supposedly based on the Plame/Wilson affair. I groaned when I saw it. It appears my groan was warranted. Here is the WaPo: (h/t Dan Riehl) In fact, "Fair Game," based on books by Mr. Wilson and his wife, is full of distortions - not to mention outright inventions. To start with the most sensational: The movie portrays Ms. Plame as having cultivated a group of Iraqi...

The special relationship is being turned on its head, with US peace activists following the lead of their British counterparts to launch a campaign to reshelve George Bush's new memoir, Decision Points, "where it belongs": in the crime section of their local bookshops. Inspired by a British campaign which saw Tony Blair's autobiography, A Journey, appearing under crime, horror and even fantasy in UK bookshops, the protest blog Waging Nonviolence is urging its supporters to "Move Bush's Book Where It Belongs", and post pictures of the autobiography in its new location on a campaign Facebook page.

Human rights experts have long pressed the administration of former president George W. Bush for details of who bore ultimate responsibility for approving the simulated drownings of CIA detainees, a practice that many international legal experts say was illicit torture. In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him. In his book, titled "Decision Points," Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with...

White House reporters are keeping quiet about an off-the-record lunch today with President Obama — even those at news organizations who've advocated in the past for the White House to release the names of visitors. But the identities of the lunch's attendees won't remain secret forever: Their names will eventually appear on the White House's periodically updated public database of visitor logs. The White House posts them with a three-month lag, so records of August visits won't be available until late November. (Although, since many of those invited already work in the White House every day, their lunch visit may...

WASHINGTON -- More than a year after the CIA's inspector general stepped down, frustrated members of Congress are urging the White House to fill the internal watchdog position that was central in uncovering abuses inside the spy agency. Several possible candidates have fallen by the wayside despite assurances from the Obama administration that a nominee will be chosen soon. The pressure from Congress comes as the administration is contending with concerns about its intelligence structure. A spate of failed terrorist attacks since December exposed flaws in the intelligence community's oversight. The administration also faces congressional unease over its new nominee...

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Why Does Interpol Need Immunity from American Law?   [Andy McCarthy] You just can't make up how brazen this crowd is. One week ago, President Obama quietly signed an executive order that makes an international police force immune from the restraints of American law.Interpol is the shorthand for the International Criminal Police Organization. It was established in 1923 and operates in about 188 countries. By executive order 12425, issued in 1983, President Reagan recognized Interpol as an international organization and gave it some of the privileges and immunities customarily extended to foreign diplomats. Interpol, however, is also...

Justice Department (through Solicitor General Elena Kagan) urges Supreme Court not to hear appeal from former CIA officer Valerie Plame, after lower courts threw out her lawsuit claiming damages from alleged scheme to invade her privacy by exposing her as a CIA employee. Plame’s exposure led to conviction of Cheney aide Lewis Libby on obstruction of justice charges. -- Josh Gerstein (3:31 p.m.)