How the Bush Administration Uses Intel and Justice Resources

Martin Bright has a good post on his blog on the New Statesman (UK) on a bit of history in the runup to the Iraq War -- The woman who nearly stopped the war. Some interesting history on the use of intelligence to pursue a policy decided upon.

And ... guess who sent the FBI a letter about Spitzer and alleged escapades in Miami? The same Roger Stone responsible for shutting down the 2000 presidential election recount effort in Miami-Dade County. Amy Driscoll has the story on the Miami Herald (Mar 21, 2008, Beach man told FBI of alleged Spitzer sexscapades).

Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime, How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers by Eliot Spitzer (February 14, 2008, Washington Post).

Interesting use of Justice Department resources to avenge themselves on Spitzer.

CIA Torture Tapes

Roland Lloyd Parry reports on Agence France-Presse:

US government lawyers flatly denied Friday that videotapes destroyed by the CIA contained any scenes of the torture of Guantanamo Bay terror suspects, in a keenly watched court hearing here.

"It is inconceivable that the destroyed tapes could have been about abuse, mistreatment or torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay," lawyer Jody Hunt, representing the White House, told the court....

...Hunt said the tapes were made in 2002 and that neither of the two men shown in them "was at Guantanamo Bay during the taping of these videos."

But a lawyer for "war on terror" suspect Moahmaod Abdah, who was not shown in the destroyed tapes, has called for the court to order an investigation into the destruction of the videos.

"Where there is smoke there is fire," lawyer David Remes said....

...The tapes reportedly show the suspects undergoing waterboarding, in which prisoners are subjected to a process of simulated drowning that is widely considered torture.

Since the CIA destroyed the tapes, they can claim any ol' thing they want ... who's gonna tell the devil he's lying? How about telling the devil he's playing word games?

Matt Apuzzo from the Associated Press has this story:

... U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy is considering whether to delve into the matter and, if so, how deeply. The Bush administration is urging him to back off while it investigates.

"Why should the court not permit the Department of Justice to do just that?" Kennedy asked at a court hearing....

...Government lawyer Joseph Hunt said the joint Justice Department-CIA investigation into the destruction of the videos will also seek evidence of whether the government violated any court orders. Hunt promised the judge that, when the investigation is complete, lawyers will tell the court if its rules were violated.

"It would be unwise and imprudent" for the judge to investigate further, Hunt said.The judge had ordered the government not to destroy any evidence of mistreatment or abuse at the Navy base in Cuba. Because the two suspects — Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri — were being held overseas in secret CIA prisons, however, they are likely not covered by the order....

..."The Justice Department may have sanctioned the destruction of these videotapes," attorney David Remes said. "Now they are asking the court to stay out, on the ground it is investigating the destruction of these videotapes."...

AG Mukasey Limits White House Access

Marisa Taylor on McClatchy Newspapers reports on Attorney General Mukasey's reversal of Bush Administration policy:

...The original policy authorized more than 40 Justice Department officials and 400 White House officials to know about ongoing investigations, according to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a leading Democratic proponent of changing the policy.

During the Clinton administration, seven White House and Justice officials were permitted to receive such information.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said Mukasey's new policy mirrors the Clinton administration's, but allows more officials to receive details about national security matters.

Mukasey's predecessor, Alberto Gonzales, resigned after a nine-month long firestorm over the ouster of nine U.S. attorneys and allegations of improper political meddling in Justice Department business.

One of the fired U.S. attorneys, David Iglesias of New Mexico, accused Republican Senator Pete Domenici of trying to pressure him to indict Democrats before the 2006 congressional elections. Domenici admitted calling Iglesias but denied making any inappropriate demands.

White House officials also acknowledged contacting the Justice Department after they received Republican complaints about the department's handling of election fraud investigations.

DOJ - Obstructing justice again

Greg Gordon on McClatchy Newspapers has the latest obstruction of justice being committed by DOJ personnel:

The Justice Department delayed prosecuting a key Republican official for jamming the phones of New Hampshire Democrats until after the 2004 election, protecting top GOP officials from the scandal until the voting was over.

An official with detailed knowledge of the investigation into the 2002 Election-Day scheme said the inquiry sputtered for months after a prosecutor sought approval to indict James Tobin, the northeast regional coordinator for the Republican National Committee.

The phone-jamming operation was aimed at preventing New Hampshire Democrats from rounding up voters in the close U.S. Senate race between Republican Rep. John Sununu and Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. Sununu's 19,000-vote victory helped the GOP regain control of the Senate.

While there were guilty pleas in the New Hampshire investigation prior to the 2004 presidential election, involvement of the national GOP wasn't confirmed. A Manchester, N.H., policeman quickly traced the jamming to Republican political operatives in 2003 and forwarded the evidence to the Justice Department for what ordinarily would be a straightforward case.

However, the official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, told McClatchy that senior Justice Department officials slowed the inquiry. The official didn't know whether top department officials ordered the delays or what motivated those decisions.

The official said that Terry O'Donnell, a former Pentagon general counsel who was representing Tobin, was in contact with senior department officials before Tobin was indicted.

In October, the House Judiciary Committee opened an investigation to determine whether partisan politics undermined the federal probe.

The official said that department officials rejected prosecutor Todd Hinnen's push to bring criminal charges against the New Hampshire Republican Party.

Weeks before the 2004 election, Hinnen's supervisors directed him to ask a judge to halt action temporarily in a Democratic Party civil suit against the GOP so that it wouldn't hurt the investigation, although Hinnen had expressed no concerns that it would, the official said.

Paul Twomey, a lawyer for the state Democratic Party, said the delay spared Republicans embarrassment at the peak of the campaign because a pending deposition would have revealed that several state GOP officials knew about the scheme, which was hatched by their executive director, Charles McGee. The delay also stalled the case beyond its statute of limitations, depriving Democrats of full discovery, he said.....

DOJ's voting rights chief stepped down Friday

Greg Gordon reports on McClatchy Newspapers:

...In recent months, McClatchy has reported on a pattern of decision-making within the department's Civil Rights Division, of which the Voting Rights Section is a part, that tended to narrow the voting rights of Democratic-leaning minorities.

{John} Tanner has been enmeshed for months in congressional investigations over his stewardship of the unit that was established to protect minority-voting rights. He drew increased focus this fall after he told a Latino group: "African-Americans don't become elderly the way white people do. They die."....

...Department spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement that Tanner, of his own accord, ``made the decision to pursue (an) opportunity" to work in the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices. But his transfer to a lower-profile job appeared to continue a quiet housecleaning that began after retired judge Michael Mukasey took over as attorney general early last month with a vow to rid the agency of partisanship.

Chris Coates, a veteran lawyer in the Voting Rights Section, was named the acting chief....

...Shortly after he became section chief in 2005, Tanner reversed the recommendation of the career staff that the department object to a Georgia law requiring voters in that state to produce photo identification cards. The staff had argued that the law would disenfranchise minority voters.

A federal judge later blocked implementation of the law, likening it to a Jim Crow-era poll tax because poor minority voters, who are most likely to lack driver's licenses, would be required to buy photo IDs.

This October, after making his comments about the shorter life span of blacks while defending the Georgia law, Tanner apologized for his "clumsiness" before a House Judiciary subcommittee.

Tanner also drew harsh criticism for directing a crackdown to force states to purge hundreds of thousands of names from voter registration rolls, an initiative that critics charge was aimed at disenfranchising minority voters, who move frequently.

He's facing an investigation by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility into multiple allegations that he mistreated staff and abused his travel privileges. At least two of the
inquiries stem from formal complaints from members of his staff.

In late November, the Web site TPM Muckraker reported that Tanner had made taxpayer-funded trips to Hawaii for three straight years, twice staying a full week although his work was completed within a couple of business days. The Web site said he'd made 36 trips covering 97 days since taking the helm in May 2005.

Harsh Interrogation Ban Stalled in Senate; DOJ advises CIA to NOT cooperate

LARA JAKES JORDAN at the Associated Press (December 14) has the story on these political machinations:

...Meantime, Senate Republicans blocked a bill Friday that would restrict the CIA's interrogation methods. Already passed by the House, the bill would require the CIA to adhere to the Army's field manual on interrogation, which bans waterboarding, mock executions and other harsh methods.

Senate opponents discovered a parliamentary flaw: The ban on harsh tactics had not been in the original intelligence bills passed by the House and Senate. Instead, it was added during negotiations between the two chambers to write a compromise bill. That move could violate a Senate rule intended to protect legislation from last-minute amendments that neither house of Congress has had time to fully consider.

Although it's not unheard of for new language to be added in House-Senate negotiations, the rules allow such a move to be challenged and the language stripped from the bill. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., placed a hold on the bill while the GOP procedural challenge goes forward....

...Additionally, lawmakers from both parties accused the Justice Department of obstructing a House Intelligence Committee inquiry by advising the CIA against cooperating.

"Earlier today, our staff was notified that the Department of Justice has advised CIA not cooperate with our investigation," House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, and the panel's top Republican, Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, said in a joint statement Friday....

...In a letter Thursday to CIA Director Michael Hayden, the House panel asked the CIA to hand over by Friday all documents and cables regarding the interrogation tapes and their destruction. But the Justice Department since has advised the CIA to refuse the request, a committee official said Friday on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the committee.

The committee official said the Justice Department asked the panel "to stand back while they do their investigation" — suggesting it will block the testimony of acting CIA General Counsel John Rizzo and Jose Rodriguez, the former head of the National Clandestine Service. Both have been summoned to testify to the committee on Dec. 18. Rodriguez ordered the tapes destroyed.