Remember the uproar the torture memos were causing? You know, before the swine flu took over with it’s evil oinking virus of doom?
From Raw Story:
Democrats were routinely briefed on Bush ‘torture’ techniques, document shows
“The CIA has released a devastating document detailing the dates and explicit details of secret Congressional briefings in which members of Congress were told of the Bush administration’s torture techniques and when they had been used.
The document is explicit (PDF here). Most damning, perhaps, is its description of a meeting held between CIA staff and then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss and now-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which shows that Pelosi was briefed on the Bush Administration’s torture techniques in 2002 — even though she’s publicly said she was never told about the use of waterboarding.
Equally striking, however, is the volume of the briefings that have been conducted on the CIA’s interrogation practices since 2002. The document runs ten pages, with up to four briefings a page.”
—
From World Socialist:
US Justice Department report urges no prosecution over torture memos
“A draft report by the US Justice Department on the conduct of department lawyers who wrote memos justifying torture has reportedly been embraced by the Obama administration as a means of precluding any attempt to hold them or other Bush administration officials accountable for their crimes.
The report by the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which is charged with investigating misconduct by government attorneys, was completed last December before the Bush administration left office and handed over to the incoming Obama administration for final review and implementation.
(snip)
In an article citing law professors and lawyers involved in disciplinary cases, the Washington Post reported Wednesday that state bar associations would confront “nearly insurmountable challenges” in trying to hold Yoo and Bybee accountable for their actions at the Justice Department.
According to press reports, the Obama administration is prepared to adopt these recommendations and thereby move to quash any attempt to place the authors of the torture memos on trial.
(snip)
A decision by the Obama administration to accept the report’s recommendations would represent another attempt to bury the issue, thereby protecting those who adopted and implemented a state policy of torture.”
From the Star Tribune:
Was alarm on swine flu overblown? Some Americans say health officials ‘cried swine’
“Did government health officials “cry swine” when they sounded the alarm on what looked like a threatening new flu?
The so-far mild swine flu outbreak has many people saying all the talk about a devastating global epidemic was just fear-mongering hype. But that’s not how public health officials see it, calling complacency the thing that keeps them up at night.”
Posted by Vixen as News at 9:49 PM CDT