Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Graph o' the day: Monstrous Cuts


Here are the big cuts.


Pathetic.


Gina Cobb: Gee, how's that line-by-line review coming?

Exclusive Text: What Waterboarding Revealed


Not one of the liberal pundits decrying the use of enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) appears to have read the complete set of memos released by President Obama. I know this because I cannot find a single, plain-text version of the scanned memos anywhere on the web. And, the most critical section -- the results obtained from EITs -- is nowhere to be found.

Most of the anti-American leftists seem strangely incurious regarding the key question asked even at The Huffington Post: what did the enhanced interrogations reveal?

I herein present the actual results of the EITs as described in the partially redacted 5/30/2005 memo (U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, MEMORANDUM FOB JOHN A. RIZZO, SENIOR DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, "Re: Application of 'United States Obligation; Under Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture to Certain Techniques That May Be Used in the Interrogation of High Value al Qaeda Detainees'", originally classified TOP SECRET/NOFORN).

What follows is my transcription of the critical sections of the scans.

The CIA used the waterboard extensively in the interrogations of KSM and Zubaydah, but it did so only after it became clear that standard interrogation techniques were not working. Interrogators used enhanced techniques in the interrogation of il-Nashiri with notable results as early as the first day. See IG Report at 35-36. Twelve days into the interrogation, the CIA subjected al-Nashiri to one session of the waterboard during which water was applied two times...

Indeed, before the CIA used enhanced techniques in the interrogation of KSM, KSM resisted giving any answers to questions about future attacks, simply noting, "Soon, you will know"...

...Zubaydah himself explained with respect to enhanced techniques, "brothers who are captured and interrogated are permitted by Allah to provide information when they believe they have 'reached the limit of their ability to withhold It' in the face of psychological and physical hardships." ...indeed, we understand that since the use of enhanced techniques, "KSM and Abu Zubaydah have been pivotal sources because of their ability and willingness to provide their analysis and speculation about the capabilities, methodologies, and mindsets of terrorists..."

...You have informed us that the interrogation of KSM — once enhanced techniques were employed — led to the discovery- of a KSM plot, the "Second Wave," "to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airline into" a building in Los Angeles, Effectiveness Memo at 3...

...You have informed us that information obtained from KSM also led to the capture of Riduan bin Isomuddin, better known as Hambali, and the discovery of the Guraba Cell, a 17-member Jemaah Islamiyah cell tasked with executing the "Second Wave" See id. at 3-4: CIA Directorate of Intelligence, Al-Qa'ida's Ties to Other Key Terror Groups: Terrorists Links In a Chain 2 (Aug. 28, 2003). More specifically, we understand that KSM admitted that he had [REDACTED] large sum of money to an al Qaeda associate See Fax from [REDACTED]... DCI Counterterrorism Center, Briefing Notes on the [REDACTED] Reporting at 1 (Apr. 1 5, 2005) ('Briefing Notes")...

Khan subsequently identified the associate (Zubair), who was then captured. Zubair, in turn, provided Information that led to the arrest of Hambali Set id. The information acquired from these captures allowed CIA interrogators to pose more specific questions to KSM, which led the CIA to Hambali's brother, al-Hadi. Using information obtained from multiple sources, al-Hadi was captured, and he subsequently identified the Guraba cell. See id at 1-2 With the aid of this additional information, interrogations of Hambali confirmed much of what was learned from KSM...

Interrogations of Zubaydah — again, once enhanced techniques were employed — furnished detailed information regarding al Qaeda's "organizational structure, key operatives, and modus operandi" and identified KSM as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. See Brieflng Notes at 4. You have informed us that Zubaydah also "provided significant information on two operatives, [including] Jose Padilla[,] who planned to build and detonate a 'dirty bomb' in the Washington DC area." Effectiveness Memo at 4. Zubaydah and KSM have also supplied important information about al-Zarqawi and his network...

[Ed: important footnote, partially redacted, reads: We discuss only a small fraction of the important intelligence CIA interrogators have obtained from KSM.]

More generally, the CIA has informed us that, since March 2002, the intelligence derived from CIA detainees has resulted in more 6,000 intelligence reports and in 2004 accounted for approximately half of CTC's reporting on al Qaeda. See Briefing Notes at 1; see also... report at 86 (noting that from September 11, 2001 through April 2003, the CIA "produced over 3,000 intelligence reports from" a few high value detainees). You have informed us that the substantial majority of this intelligence has come from detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques...

...In addition, the CIA advises us that program has been virtually indispensable [unreadable] actionable intelligence than other forms of collection [REDACTED].

The terrorists who KSM ratted out include: Majid Khan, Hambali, Rusman “Gun Gun” Gunawan, Yazid Suffat, Jose Padilla, and Lyman Faris.

Hambali, to choose only one of these animals, coordinated the first Bali nightclub bombing on October 12, 2002. It killed 202 and injured 209, including 89 Australians and seven Americans.

Hambali also led the bombings of 30 churches across Indonesia in 2000 during Christmas Eve services -- which killed 17 -- and helped fund the August 5, 2003, Jakarta Marriott Hotel attack that killed 11 and wounded 150.

And now even columnists at the Huffington Post are asking "What would you not do to stop a nuke"?

To put things in simple terms for any "progressives" reading along, here's what the EITs revealed after 3,000 American civilians were slaughtered in cold blood by Al Qaeda:

FACT: EITs produced 3,000 of the 6,000 critical counter-terror intelligence reports only after normal techniques had proven fruitless;

FACT: EITs used on Zubaydah revealed KSM's identity as a mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks;

FACT: KSM ratted out a number of mass-murderers including Hambali;

FACT: Hambali's brother ratted out a cell bent on "9/11 Wave 2" on the West Coast;

FACT: Zubaydah also revealed Padilla and his plan to detonate a simplistic dirty bomb in Washington, DC;

So, drones, you can either believe the CIA forged 3,000 documents and magically captured mass-murderers without EITs... or you can believe the truth. And here's a warning:

Any attempts to investigate or prosecute attorneys or officials in the Bush administration will be exposed for what they are: political witch-hunts, motivated by Obama's endless campaign against George W. Bush that masks his complete, utter inability to govern the United States of America.

And what goes around, comes around.


Related: Obama's director of national intelligence affirms the value of EITs (Hugh Hewitt) and Rogue's Gallery (NRO). Linked by: Gateway Pundit and Jawa Report. Thanks!


Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: That 70's Show

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email!

Politics


Democratic ship stuck with Urkel, Tombstone: Kass
Sophisticated Hatred: Democrats & America: PJM (Hawkins)
It was about hope, and change...: Crittenden
The Obama Administration: That 70’s Show: PJM
What Part of "Democracy" Don't Democrats Understand?: AT (Gladstein)

Protecting America


The Hostage Rescue: a Devastating Implication: Holzer
The Memos Prove We Didn't Torture: WSJ
The Obama Effect: AT (Lifson)
Harmon Tape Leak A Shot Across Israel's Bow: LegalIns
Note to the Apologizer-in-Chief: ¡No PasarÃn!
China only works if we do: AT (Feldman)
2nd Anniversary of Reid's Surrender to Al Qaeda: Gateway

Climate


Chu's assertions 'proven wrong by latest climate data': ClimDep
Cow Farts and Climate Change: Gateway

Extremism


Al Qaeda trained kids for human bomb attacks: Prairie
Which City Would You Sacrifice?: LegalIns
Clown Attack on Ahmadinejad: LGF
Sharia creep in Harvard Yard: GoV
Interview with a Nazi SS Officer: Atlas

Media


Questions for a Communist Terrorist: Kincaid
Dissent Now Unpatriotic: Big Hollywood
Lost in Translation: Susan Roesgen's Messages Spelled Out: ¡No PasarÃn!
Atlas Shrugged: a Review (with Spoilers): ASP

Crime


What an ATM card-skimmer looks like: Consumerist
The Public Pension Shakedown: WSJ

A simple analogy that answers the question, "What's so bad about socialism?"

An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little.. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great; but when government takes all the reward away; no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.

Via: R.B.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Let Them Eat Dirt


It all started out as a simple, money-making scam. In the late nineties, members of the UN's International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were tasked with assessing the scientific validity of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Protocol was an international emissions reduction treaty which required signatories to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The IPCC subsequently produced the Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry.

The report found that "carbon offsets" and "carbon trading" were viable ways to barter the right to pollute, because they would fund new forestry initiatives. But one critical detail was never disclosed in the report.

That is: members of the IPCC, such as Pedro Moura-Costa (above) and Gareth Philips, had major conflicts-of-interest. They owned, created and/or worked for businesses -- such as Ecosecurities and SGS Forestry -- that would directly benefit from the report's conclusions.

In fact, the IPCC panel members' companies were positioned to earn millions of dollars from the report. But the mainstream media did not report these conflicts and instead piled on the "global warming" and "carbon offset" bandwagons.

The carbon offset market quickly exploded. In fact, $92 billion worth of offsets were estimated to change hands in 2008.

But wanton profiteering appears to be the sole rationale for "carbon trading".

Put simply, a wide range of respected scientists, environmentalists, researchers, agriculturalists, and activists believe that carbon offsets are a "scam", "fantasy", "fiction", "nonsense", "fraudulent" and worse. And they've been saying so since 2000, though to read the newspaper you wouldn't know it.

The World Rainforest Movement, for example, investigated these bizarre financial ties and concluded that the IPCC report must "...be shelved due to their clear conflict of interest and a new report instigated which will be free of the taint of intellectual corruption."

To demonstrate the fraudulence of the carbon offset market, one need only request quotes from various carbon offset sellers. The price for offseting a flight from London to Toronto and back?
  • $85: from Climate Care (UK), which says 6 tons of CO2 must be offset.
  • $60: Carbon Neutral (UK), which says 4.3 tons of CO2 must be offset.
  • $195: Climate Friendly (Australia) asserts that 11.63 tons of CO2 must be offset.
  • $180: Green Seat (Netherlands) says 8.68 tons of CO2 must be offset.

Put simply: they're all basically making it up as they go along.

Whether you believe the world is warming or cooling, there is no arguing Democrats want more expensive energy for American citizens.

All that said, the real problem — and the reason Pelosi really does deserve blame — is that Democrats’ political goal of reducing carbon emissions continues to trump their populist rhetoric on gasoline prices. The two stances are impossible to reconcile. Try as they might to blame oil companies for the pain Americans feel at the pump, the Democrats want higher prices for gasoline — and for all forms of energy that emit carbon. Economic barriers against CO2 emissions are a requirement for environmental progress in the Democrats’ view, and this is the entire purpose of the carbon cap-and-trade system they will put before the House this summer — to create economic disincentives for emitting CO2.

There's that phrase again: carbon trading.

It all comes back to carbon offsets, the "global warming" scam promoted by the UN's IPCC. And now, a group of scientists has formally petitioned the IPCC, asking that they cease and desist marketing the message that CO2 emissions relate to warming temperatures. The scientists go on to renounce the unintended consequences of the UN's position: that the policy of burning food (to produce biofuel) has driven food prices sharply higher and is causing hunger and deforestation in countries around the world (especially the poorer countries).

The net result? In Haiti, for example, citizens have been forced to eat mud patties consisting of dirt, oil and sugar.

Furthermore, scientists are now coming to the conclusion that "green" fuels can't replace oil anytime soon.

* * *

The hunger and wild fluctuations in oil prices are certain to continue until we come to grips with reality. That is, fossil fuels are required for the world to survive the next several decades. The transition to green technologies will take significant time and will only occur because of the free market, not government mandate.

Unless we wish to see mass starvation and economic ruin, we must demand that American companies be permitted to take advantage of our immense storehouse of energy. Anything else is economic suicide. Contact your representative today and tell them to stop driving us to ruin.




Update: Chosen as the post o' the week by The Watchers Council, which consists of the all-star blogs: Thanks!

Cheney calls Obama's Torture Memo Bluff


Drudge has the scoop of the day: Dick Cheney called the administration's bluff after President Obama's unprecedented disclosure of Top Secret national security memos.

Cheney Calls For More CIA Reports To Be Declassified -
Mon Apr 20 2009 16:20:53 ET

In a two part interview airing tonight and tomorrow night on FOX News Channel’s Hannity (9-10PM ET), former Vice President Dick Cheney shared his thoughts on the CIA memos that were recently declassified and also revealed his request to the CIA to declassify additional memos that confirm the success of the Bush administration’s interrogation tactics:

CHENEY:

"One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort. And there are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. They have not been declassified."

"I formally asked that they be declassified now. I haven't announced this up until now, I haven't talked about it, but I know specifically of reports that I read, that I saw that lay out what we learned through the interrogation process and what the consequences were for the country."

"And I've now formally asked the CIA to take steps to declassify those memos so we can lay them out there and the American people have a chance to see what we obtained and what we learned and how good the intelligence was, as well as to see this debate over the legal opinions."

If the Party of Weakness wants to insist that the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs) didn't work, let them release those memos.

As I said yesterday, Obama's actions just smashed open Pandora's Box and, in doing so, have endangered countless American lives.


"They can't understand autonomous beings gathering to promote liberty!"


Dr. John Lewis fires up the crowd at the Charlotte, North Carolina Tea Party.

"[Politicians and the mainstream media can't understand these rallies] because they can't understand autonomous beings gathering to promote liberty, by their own choice."

Watch the whole thing.


Hat tip: Tom K.

Evan Sayet: Live in Concert


Evan Sayet's Right to Laugh Concert continues tomorrow at the world famous Laugh Factory in Hollywood.


If you're in the neighborhood, drop by. And tell some friends. To get a taste of Sayet's comedy, this video should help you get acclimated. Sayet's reviews include:

'Evan has crossed that line from 'funny' to important.' -- Michael Barone, US News and World Report

'Simply the best political comedian working in America today,' -- David Horowitz, best selling author of 'The Party of Defeat.'

'Evan transcends the word 'comic.' He's brilliant!' -- David Zucker, Writer/Director, 'An American Carol,' 'Naked Gun' and 'Airplane.'

"If Ann Coulter, Jackie Mason and Evan Sayet were in town and I could only see two shows, I'd see Evan twice." -- Jaz McKay, Infinity Broadcasting.

"Evan is the best!!" -- Ann Coulter, best selling author of "If Democrats Had Any Brains They'd Be Republicans."

"Evan Sayet is one of my favorite cultural commentators," Tammy Bruce, nationally syndicated radio talk show host and best selling author.

"At last I can delight in a show that is genuinely funny. My thanks to Evan Sayet -- Larry Elder, nationally syndicated radio talk show host.

And even the enemy can't help but offer praise:

"(Evan Sayet's) a funny guy...he had the crowd howling." -- Marc Cooper, LA Weekly (Los Angeles' Ultra-Liberal "alternative weekly").

"Evan Sayet is always sharp, articulate, and obnoxiously successful at putting forward his conservative talking points!" -- Thom Hartmann, Air America Radio talk show host.



Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: Desolation Row

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email!

National Security


Israel stands ready to bomb Iran's nuclear sites: Times of London
Hard Leftists fill critical roles at Defense, State: Papa Mike
Politics, security disclosures and Valerie Plame: TAB
Five illegal aliens murdered in AL drug case: JWF
Torture Documents: Who Cares? Part II: STACLU
The tortured logic of interrogation opponents: Prairie

Diplomacy


Obama Must Stop Hiding From The Presidency: LegalIns
United Nations hypocrisy writ large: LGF
Ignoring Ortega makes sense: Surber
Obama defends himself, but not his country: Gateway

Economy


Congress ignored warnings on Fannie, Freddie: SF Examiner
MA residents openly protesting Barney Frank: Sun-Chron

Tyranny


America's 'November Revolution': AT (Griffing)
Transnational Irony: AusTo
Ahmadinejad arrives at UN Human Rights Conference: Gateway
CAIR caught red-handed: STACLU

Media


Did the media steal the election?: PJTV
CNN: latest corporate thug using "copyright violations": Patterico
Garofalo on dissent: then and now: Instapundit
Roesgen Spread “Jena 6″ Myths: Patterico
A bailout for the media?: TAB

Climate Change


Stop the EPA before it destroys America: Caruba
Antarctic ice growing, not shrinking: Fox
The Earth is Mankind's Garden: CapMag

Activism


Who We Are: RWSparkle
Tea Party Photos From Fresno: Instapundit
Photos from Portsmouth, NH Tea Party: Atlantic Ave.

Crime


Real Gunfighter Lance Thomas Defends His Store: Justice Files

Entertainment


Susan Boyle's Fairy-Tale Ending: should we suspicious of Simon Cowell's latest creation?: Post
The Illustrated Desolation Row: AmerDig

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Obama and Pandora's Box


The definition of Top Secret, when it is applied to military or intelligence information, is straightforward.

It is information classified at the highest level of sensitivity, "based on an assessment that it would cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if disclosed."

President Obama's recent decision to release Top Secret documents related to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs) was unique in the annals of American history.

The documents describe precisely how ten EITs could be used on several high-value Al Qaeda terrorists involved directly with the murder of 3,000 American civilians.

The EITs are similar to classified techniques that are utilized at SERE School, where Naval Aviators and other personnel are taught "Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape."

While most details are classified, some aspects of SERE school are publicly known. For example, SERE school includes the use of a very realistic POW camp.

Captured students are taken to the camp to begin the most stressful part of the training.

The EITs used in the camp include sleep and food deprivation, waterboarding and other techniques identical to the ones used on Al Qaeda leadership.

The stress at SERE school is so difficult that a student drops, on average, 15 pounds of bodyweight.

Most of the school's training program is classified.

But Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant is on record as crediting SERE with helping him survive ten days in captivity in Mogadishu, Somalia during the incident described in Black Hawk Down.

Former CIA Director General Michael Hayden made the talk show circuit today to express his strong opposition to the disclosure of these documents. In fact, the current DCI and four prior directors all staunchly object to the release of these memos.

"You will have agency officers stepping back from the kinds of things that the nation expects them to do," Hayden told Fox News.

Hayden stated that fully half of the information the U.S. government has regarding Al Qaeda came from these interrogations.

Not one man or woman in the military or intelligence communities came forward to explain or rationalize the Obama administration's decision. Not one.

Only a couple of political operatives have attempted to defend the disclosure: Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod.

For those Americans concerned with national security, the fact that only those two have been mustered to explain the decision speaks volumes.

What other country would author such a careful, precise and explicit set of instructions on interrogations? Interrogations, mind you, practiced on its own armed forces.

And the current DCI, Leon Panetta, is reported to have issued a memo to CIA employees that says the witch-hunt "is not over."

What are the benefits of such a disclosure? Transparency for Al Qaeda?


There are no benefits for American national security, which is the primary Constitutional charge assigned to the President. Military and intelligence personnel will be frozen, knowing that any decision -- at headquarters or in the field -- could be politicized by left-wing radicals bent on destroying America.

The inevitable results: lawsuits; politicization of defense and intelligence activities; and -- I am sorry to say -- additional catastrophic attacks on America.

President Obama's disclosure of critical national security documents benefits no one except those who seek to hurt Americans.

He has opened Pandora's Box.

Update: Linked by Andrew Sullivan who contends that I do "not know the presidential oath which is about defending the constitution of the United States, a task made impossible when the commander-in-chief is secretly authorizing illegal war crimes and covering them up."

Perhaps Sullivan can explain how the President has the right to fire Tomahawks into encampments to blow terrorists to bloody smithereens (which Obama has done)...

...but can't use SERE techniques to humanely interrogate terrorists.

EPIC FAIL, but not unexpected for an evangelist for the Party of Weakness and Defeat.


Hat tips: Survival Training. Related: Politics, security disclosures and Valerie Plame. Linked by: Gateway Pundit. Thanks!