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Yoo, Feith, Ashcroft Agree to Testify
Earlier this morning, the House Judiciary Committee authorized a subpoena for David Addington, Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff, to testify about the administration's torture policy.
And now the AP reports that John Yoo, probably the most infamous of the infamous characters that walked the halls of the Justice Department during the Bush administration, has agreed to testify as well without compulsion. That's a departure from his original position, when he said that he could not testify about his role in authorizing the use of torture because he had not received the green light from the DoJ.
The AP adds: "Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, and former Assistant Attorney General Dan Levin have also agreed to give testimony at a future hearing. Former CIA Director George Tenet is still in negotiations with the committee."
Josh
Zachary
The cynic in me smells something fishy?
May 6, 2008 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
More "strongly worded letters?" They will get about as much information as Gonzales and Doan gave them. It gets "pitifuler and pitifuler." It's like the Mickey Rooney movie when he exclaimed,"Hey kids! Lets put on a show!" Conyers is becoming a joke. Leahy on the other side of the building is the same way. They are like the guy who keeps losing money when he knows the crap game is crooked.
May 6, 2008 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Given the way Yoo parses, and he sure is skilled, I doubt this will be the blockbuster hearing we need. Does this mean, the DOJ gave him the go-ahead?
May 6, 2008 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
The only thing fishy was the idea that Yoo, who has spoken ad nauseum to the press about these memos, could think that he was justified in refusing to speak to Congress without "permission" of the DOJ. I am sure that one of the brighter lights at Berkeley told him that this position was completely untenable and an embarrassment to his professional stature.
May 6, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yoo testify, and Addington a maybe? Humph. They are plotting something. It won't be the truth, but it certainly will be interesting.
May 6, 2008 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
If I had confidence in the questioning skills and the courage and determination of the committee members, I might get excited about this. My fear is that Addington et al will put on a show of bravado and macho that will make the committee look feeble.
May 6, 2008 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
I guess they think this will end up in the Supreme Court and they will win.
May 6, 2008 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, Mr. Conyers. Seriously, what a great elected official.
Anyways, this is good news. Not sure what the results will be.... but at least we can get these guys up there. At least we can begin to search for the truth.
It's a start.....
May 6, 2008 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm hardly all atwitter at the news. Gonzo testified. Lurita Doan testified. Schlozman testified. They may as well announce that Tickle-Me-Elmo is in negotiations to testify. It will be an accident if anything other than dung is fed into the mic.
May 6, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, they have apparently gotten their collective stories together in the time that they have had knowing that Congress might find a set of balls between all its members.
I can't wait for Olbermann to do a special of the the of them, side by side, saying verbatim the same crap.
Justice, Amurikan style.
Spare me.
http://livefrankly.wordpress.com
May 6, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Addington won't appear under oath. That is why he bypassed Ashcroft and gave the memos to Yoo to "write." Conyers will get Ashcroft (I didn't know nuthin' because I voluntarily didn't ask what was going on in my Department) and Yoo (I was asked for advice and I gave it).
Tenet was at the Principals meetings with Ashcroft. He could tell us what Ashcroft knew, thus making it harder to Ashcroft to lie (ahem, conceal that he actually did know what was going on in his Department).
May 6, 2008 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
The best idea for dems is to drag it out until next year when we get a real president in the white house. My concern is pardons being handed out next January to all the faithful who in some way might play "Ollie North goes to Washington".
Immunity and pardons is their game now, they know the truth will come out, they just want to stay out of jail and blame others.
May 6, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
OT, but OMG!!!
Little Georgie is going to pardon all the telecoms! FISA SCHMISA, it don't matter... the shrub will not tolerate any investigation coming near him.
ITMFA
May 7, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
And after the hearing (supposing they take place), what then? If no heads will roll, if no one will go to prison for their governmental abuses, what is the good of the hearings?
Maybe more laws to stop such conduct?
But we've yet to hear from the Supreme Court on how far executive priviledge extends towards torture.
My faith in the Supreme Court is "not much".
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
May 6, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Simple, they step up, swear the oath, and then on each question they claim they cannot answer questions because of national security. Thinking these guys are going to confess to what they did is pure fantasy.
May 6, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um, they already admitted they used waterboard three times.
Their defense is national security.
Methinks the Supreme Court will give them a free pass.
May 6, 2008 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lemme guess- they'll testify but only off the record and not under oath
May 6, 2008 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Darn you, cynics! I was all happy about the fact that they were going to testify (which is further than we got with, say, Rove & Meyers), and now my happy bubble has been burst by a dose of reality.
Okay, fine. Thank you, cynics.
Still--it's PROGRESS, isn't it? A first step? We only have 7 months before we (hopefully) get a Democrat in the White House, and perhaps a stronger Congress. Isn't this better than nothing?
May 6, 2008 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I must've missed the latest technological breakthrough in civilization. I didn't know we have a device or method of extracting information from people against their will.
Last I checked the memo didn't authorize the government to randomly pick innocent people off the street.
May 6, 2008 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
So the guys who are most clearly on the criminal culpability line are all willing to show up and muddy the waters with lies about which Congress HAS done nothing and will do nothing - all leading up to eventual pardons of those "poor boys" Congress is being mean to - so they will all owe Bush.
Someone, somewhere, needs to pull out a dictionary and look up the differences between testify and test a lie.
May 6, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Conspiracy theory of the day:
If there is a lot of hard-to-eradicate evidence of Administration wrongdoing still latent within government records, then the Adminstration would be particularly desperate to prevent a Democrat from winning the presidency.
One solution would be to start up a war with Iran -- already they seem to be leaking BS to Michael Gordon. When the bombs drop, they could goose up the politics of fear to win the presidency for McCain. And according to Scott Ritter, war preparations are already on greased rails.
A logical step to help disguise such a plot would be to take some preliminary action suggesting they have nothing to hide. Ergo, send some of the cleverest wrongdoers to make a display of openness to the House Judiciary committee.
May 6, 2008 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I do not recall."
May 6, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
As for the conspiracy theory... Iran is EXACTLY why Speaker Pelosi is being criminally negligent by not trying to impeach. Remember this when we bomb Iran: Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table.
May 6, 2008 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
"One solution would be to start up a war with Iran -- already they seem to be leaking BS to Michael Gordon. When the bombs drop, they could goose up the politics of fear to win the presidency for McCain".
Why make it complicated when you can simply bomb Iran and invoke National Security Presidential Directive 51? Bushco don't need no stinkin' elections.
May 6, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
My take on this brings to mind the old adage about getting there "the fastest with the mostest". That is, let me tell my story and point my finger at the other guy. Puts the other guy busy scraping the shit off the wall that I've flung accussing him. Kinda keeps the pressure off me.
Imagine a presidential pardon for these criminals. That would leave only Bush without a pardon. Do you think the pardoned would ever shut up talking about the president's complicity in the crimes of this administration? I wouldn't look for a lot of pardons from Bush.
May 6, 2008 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Douglas Feith on the stand.
Ask him about giving away nuclear secrets to Turkey and Israel.
Let Sibel Edmonds testify!!!!
Yours respectfully,
Ernst
May 6, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
So who are they planning on throwing under the bus?
Nothing happens with this gang without thorough pre-planning (the debacle in Iraq being the exception). For all these folks to agree to testify, some one is going to be the scapegoat.
So, who's the goat?
ITMFA.
May 7, 2008 9:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Detainees Deteriorate During DC-Dem Dithering
No Chairman Shilly-Shally, torture does not demand "scrutiny and oversight."
It demands action. (Read the treaties.) Impeach or get off the pot.
Give Wexler the gavel and watch how a real leader acts.
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Make no mistake. This failure to impeach is losing the election to McCain. It wreaks weakness. And Friedman has already exposed the plan to trumpet "strong and wrong" as better than "weak and right" out of the Mighty Euphemedia Wurlitzer.
If Hillabama were going to cut it, we'd see that in polls by now. It's not there and not coming. It's impeachment or uninterupted bushcheneyism (yes, really -- or are you under the delusion that cheney needs his stinking "I'm the veep" badge to pull McCain's puppet strings?)
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May 7, 2008 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink