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Leahy to White House: Ahem, Torture Docs Please
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy's (D-VT) correspondence with the White House tends to be something of a one-way affair. But he, at least, has been a faithful pen pal.
Today, again, he wrote White House counsel Fred Fielding to request documents relating to the administration's torture and interrogation policies (see below). He hasn't received a reply to the one he wrote two weeks ago, but he's since learned that the administration is hiding a third Justice Department memo outlining interrogation policies, and now he wants that, in addition to the other two he doesn't have. And Fielding, don't try that old trick of handing over already public documents as if they were actually something new. Fool me once....
Congratulations are in order: Leahy and the White House will soon celebrate the one year anniversary of Leahy's November 15, 2006, request for “any and all Department of Justice directives, memoranda, and/or guidance . . . regarding CIA detention and/or interrogation methods.” So a Happy Torture Policy Stonewalling Day to Pat and everyone in the Bush Administration!
Leahy's letter is below.
November 7, 2007Mr. Fred Fielding, Esq.
Counsel to the President
Office of the Counsel to the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Mr. Fielding:
I have not received a reply to the letter I sent to you almost two weeks ago seeking a fuller accounting of this Administration’s legal justifications and policies with regard to torture and interrogation. Another copy of my unanswered October 25, 2007, letter is enclosed.
Over the past few days I have read in the press that there may, in fact, be three legal memoranda from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel in 2005, not just two, that have been withheld from us. Apparently, the Administration has conceded the existence of three such memoranda in court filings this week. Without even an accounting from you and the Administration, it is impossible for me to know.
As I have previously noted, the Committee does not yet have a complete picture of the Administration’s historic position on the legal basis and standards for detention, transfer, and interrogation in connection with counter-terrorism efforts. It is important that you share with the Senate Judiciary Committee all legal opinions on these issues from the Office of Legal Counsel and elsewhere in the Department of Justice and the Administration. I noted in my previous letter that you have not, despite our repeated requests, provided us with the 2005 memoranda that apparently authorize the use of combinations of cruel and extreme practices. We are fast approaching the one-year anniversary of my November 15, 2006, request for “any and all Department of Justice directives, memoranda, and/or guidance . . . regarding CIA detention and/or interrogation methods.”
I regret that you did not take the opportunity created with the announced resignation of Alberto Gonzales to work with us to put these matters to rest. The first step would have been disclosure of the legal memoranda still being kept secret from the Senate Judiciary Committee. That has yet to occur. As you have recently witnessed, without these materials and a shared understanding of what the Administration has been doing, is doing, its justifications, its legal analysis, and its purported basis for overriding our laws and treaty obligations, many Members of the Committee remain very concerned.
Much of the controversy and discussion surrounding the Committee’s consideration of the President’s nomination of Michael Mukasey to serve as Attorney General arose from these matters. The Administration’s lack of cooperation greatly contributed to the controversy and ultimately to the opposition to that nomination.
Sincerely,
PATRICK LEAHY
Chairman
cc: Hon. Arlen Specter
Encl.
Comments (32)
Anonymous wrote on November 8, 2007 11:02 AM:Not the dreaded strongly worded letter!!
Arabiflora wrote on November 8, 2007 11:05 AM:Very sternly worded, indeed.
Seriously-- Why does he bother? As Franklin is said to have quipped: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." By that definition, Leahy and Dems, generally, are completely f'ing nuts.
ProDem wrote on November 8, 2007 11:46 AM:It's sad, really...and I guess it should come as no surprise. Democrats are just as responsible as Republicans for the disasterous mess of this country. America's best days are definitely behind it now....the crumbling has begun.
brian wrote on November 8, 2007 11:52 AM:Leahy has accomplished a lot since he started asking questions. How many of Rove's agents quit the Justice department this year ? Rove and Gonzo are gone too.
Waterboarding is much better understood by the public now - because Leahy and a few others will not let it drop.
The Office of Legal Counsel legalizes the administration's lawbreaking. Why is Bradbury still running the OLC ?
Doofus wrote on November 8, 2007 12:05 PM:Feckless. Totally.
Bluegy wrote on November 8, 2007 12:13 PM:Leahy is no profile in courage. A timid vacillating man that promotes a persona of integrity and diligence. It's all a sham. After the elections of 2006 people were saying "Just wait till Leahy is a committee chair!" A man that has risen to the times. Pathetic.
Dr Zaius wrote on November 8, 2007 12:18 PM:Leahy is like the leader of Monty Python's "Spanish Inquisition". He keeps putting Fred Fielding in a comfy chair and striking him with a soft pillow - and calling that an investigation.
JMOHR wrote on November 8, 2007 12:23 PM:The Republicans will win back the congress and retain control of the White House. The American people will vote for the Republicans simply because they will be disgusted with the wimps in the DEMOCRAT party.
Have we ever seen such a poor excuse for a political party in our life time?
This president has made a mockery of the constitution and the rule of law. This is the most unpopular president in our history,. Yet, the DEMOCRAT party can not muster the slightest bit of courage(?) (as if it would even require any courage at this point) to stand up to the president.
The DEMOCRAT party has been ridiculed for years by the Republicans for being weak. The DEMOCRAT party has been ridiculed for not being able to protect this country. The pundits laugh at this girlie boy collection of pants wetting senators and congressmen with their inability to raise a little finger against Bush.
Thank you Leahy and the other sissies of the DEMOCRAT party. You indeed have proven yourselves to deserve every bit of ridicule and contempt that the Republicans heap upon you.
JMOHR wrote on November 8, 2007 12:23 PM:The Republicans will win back the congress and retain control of the White House. The American people will vote for the Republicans simply because they will be disgusted with the wimps in the DEMOCRAT party.
Have we ever seen such a poor excuse for a political party in our life time?
This president has made a mockery of the constitution and the rule of law. This is the most unpopular president in our history,. Yet, the DEMOCRAT party can not muster the slightest bit of courage(?) (as if it would even require any courage at this point) to stand up to the president.
The DEMOCRAT party has been ridiculed for years by the Republicans for being weak. The DEMOCRAT party has been ridiculed for not being able to protect this country. The pundits laugh at this girlie boy collection of pants wetting senators and congressmen with their inability to raise a little finger against Bush.
Thank you Leahy and the other sissies of the DEMOCRAT party. You indeed have proven yourselves to deserve every bit of ridicule and contempt that the Republicans heap upon you.
peter claussen wrote on November 8, 2007 12:25 PM:Sadly, legal processes take time. The law is a very unsatisfying vehicle for passionate emotional gratification. This process requires methodical work, step by step. Senator Leahy is acting as our attorney in this legal investigative process.
Senator Leahy is patiently leading the administration down a figurative hallway. As he leads them he makes certain that all the doorways they move past are closed. There will be no way out except the one way at the end of the hallway to which Sen. Leahy is leading.
Foolishly, the administration keeps coming. They could take one of the side exits and admit culpability for some minor infraction. They are too stubborn and they mistake their own intransigence for cleverness. That is their weakness.
Real legal work lacks the quick satisfying punch of a television drama. The letters serve a purpose and the Hague may yet be waiting at the end of the hallway. We, the people, the client, must be patient and must not undermine our advocate's work through our zeal for quick results.
Leahy is faced by brilliant weasels. Only diligent and meticulous constancy will cage them.
Steev wrote on November 8, 2007 1:09 PM:Well, doesn't really matter anyway, because once Biden and the other dems pushing to explicitly ban waterboarding get their way, it will no longer have been illegal torture at the time. The push to "ban waterboarding" when existing law already bans all forms of torture and every legal precedent in the world already regards waterboarding as torture will only have the effect of letting the administration off the hook, under the constitutional protections against ex post facto criminal prosecution. Clearly, the argument will go, if congress had to pass a measure specifically banning waterboarding then the law really wasn't clear about its legal status at the time (although that's a patently absurd proposition). This is crap. This is not what I voted for at all, dammit.
thomas wrote on November 8, 2007 1:23 PM:these kinds of actions were among Nixon's articles of impeachment.
Dear Congress: Get off your ass! Get it done!
ARG in Chicago wrote on November 8, 2007 1:26 PM:No, no! Not the comfy chair *and* the cushy pillow!!
-- ARG
Dennis wrote on November 8, 2007 1:27 PM:Stretch it out another year and why bother? Presidential immunity is just around the cornor.
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
parrot wrote on November 8, 2007 1:28 PM:What the leadership in the House has to do is support impeachment of government officials to get to the bottom of this stonewalling. That's what the impeachment power is for. Too bad that the Dems would rather have governmental stability over the rule of law...kind of like Busholini is groping them and they like it.
Now, to be fair, Dodd and Leahy and a few other Senators are standing up to the thugs running the U.S. government. But where is the House of Representatives? They've taken impeachment "off the table" and left the Constitution at the front door as a doormat.
thomas wrote on November 8, 2007 1:29 PM:JMOHR
Anonymous wrote on November 8, 2007 2:22 PM:does the J stand for Jake?
Fielding is going to send him a cake with a candle on it...but not much else.
quasar wrote on November 8, 2007 2:33 PM:I agree with brian and peter claussen. I've said before, the complete process of restoration will take some time. I akin this time to after the revolution war and the founding fathers were arguably in turmoil over the design of freedom. If you read of the things that occured over that six year time span, this is no less as dramatic.
Roberta wrote on November 8, 2007 3:43 PM:I believe that Leahy's letter--as with so many other letters--is a necessary part of the process of documenting the Admin's abuses against the Congress's responsibility for oversight.
It can't be possible that the committee doesn't now have the three letters. If they don't, it's irresponsible on too many levels. They have those letters, just like they have all the emails that Greg Palast got his hands on.
But it's got to be there for everyone in the whole world to see--those who can't believe that Buscheney is corrupt and those who know it and want to see legal action against them, up to and including war crimes prosecution--that the Admin won't turn them over, as evidence of their pattern of lies and obstruction of justice.
I want it all to happen now, too, but this isn't the way laws work in this country. Do you really want a country where a prosecution, especially against the highest offices in the land, DOESN'T have to jump through hoops? As many abuses of justice as this Admin has committed, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg hasn't been put in jail, like in Pakistan.
Roberta wrote on November 8, 2007 3:49 PM:Thomas,
JMOHR is certainly being obnoxious, but Jake's MO was deflection from the topic at hand.
For this to be the same writer, he's got to have taken on a completely different prose style and method of attack. It's not that it can't happen, but I think Jake's backers have just brought in another gadfly.
Maybe we can start referring to the REPUBLIC party. That would be just as stupid as the DEMOCRAT party epithet.
thomas wrote on November 8, 2007 4:35 PM:Roberta
The Jake question was rhetorical, but I'm beginning to think that we should refer to all repbulics as Jakes.
Someone with a rural background can help us here. Aren't all male mules called jakes and aren't they all impotent?
v. popvli wrote on November 8, 2007 4:46 PM:donkeys ('asses') AND mules are called jack or jenny depending on gender. donkeys are fertile. a mule is the hybrid offspring of a horse and donkey. mules are infertile.
JMOHR wrote on November 8, 2007 5:19 PM:thomas wrote on November 8, 2007 1:29 PM:
JMOHR
does the J stand for Jake?
Sorry Thomas, read my past postings. I still believe that the Repugs an conservatives are traitorous pigs. BUT I AM FED UP WITH THE DEMOCRATS. THEY HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO STAND UP AND FIGHT. THEY HAVE FAILED TO DO SO DESPITED HAVING NUMEROUS OPPORTUNITIES TO DO SO.
peter claussen wrote on November 8, 2007 12:25 PM:
Sadly, legal processes take time.
JMOHR wrote on November 8, 2007 5:25 PM:I am sorry but I spent a quarter of a century as a litigator in both criminal and civil cases. Leahy's tactic is the same in every single case, send numerous letters and fail to take action. It is not legal positioning. It is because the Democrats lack the stomach for a fight. Bush knows this and exploits this.
Roberta, Thomas and Popvli:
YOU DON'T GET IT. I AM A PROGRESSIVE. I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK. BUT THE DEMOCRATS ARE SHOWING EXACTLY THE KIND OF WEAK CONDUCT THAT HAS PERMITTED THE REPUBLICANS TO SUCCESSFULLY CAST THEM AS BEING TOO WEAK TO BE TRUSTED. IT IS VERY LIKELY TO LEAD TO THEIR SUCCESS.
ROBERTA: I have been a litigator for my entire life. Leahy has gone far beyond what is necessary by any stretch of the imagination to lay the foundation for a legal case. It is all talk and no action. Congress take a number of actions to force Bush to back down. Bush senses the weakness and he exploits it.
KnotIookin wrote on November 8, 2007 5:25 PM:So Leanhy has sent Feilding a STRONGLY WORDED LETTER demanding a response to the STRONGLY WORDED LETTER he sent Feilding 2 weeks ago.
yeah That'll have the loyal bushie brigade quaking in their gucci's fer sure ........... NOT!!
How about, next time, you try a strongly worded contempt citation instead!
quasar wrote on November 8, 2007 5:43 PM:I would like to ask JMOHR and KnotIooking how do you go about discovery in litigation say for example in a class action suit that involves many infractions? These types of suits don't involve years of discovery? Or are they won on using exclamation points and bold type as an investigative tool?
RandyR wrote on November 8, 2007 6:02 PM:Has anyone noted if the Speaker has taken war crimes prosecution "off the table".
REP wrote on November 8, 2007 6:54 PM:Leahy is laying the foundation for a legal case that will end up being decided by the entire senate presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
Curtis wrote on November 8, 2007 7:04 PM:He will supoena the documents, and the White House will claim Executive Privilege and refuse the supoena.
The House will impeach Bush and Cheney for contempt of Congress, and the Senate will convict them.
Nancy Pelosi will become our next President. This will happen before Christmas.
Way to go Bush, ignore the uber-liberal from Vermont, the 49th least important state in the country.
Leahy couldn't get elected anywhere in the country except in loonyville. Ignore him, we all do (except for the left wing uneducated base.)
TheraP wrote on November 8, 2007 7:53 PM:We are building a historical record here. Piece by piece. Leahy is doing his part. And we need to do ours. There are many tacks to take in this huge effort to retake the Constitution. The Senate must work in a deliberative fashion. It may frustrate us, but yes, for sure, we wan them to abide by the rule of law.
The Rule of Law. That's what we want back, right? Well, we have to do it by the "rule of law."
I agree, that the House should focus on impeachment. And maybe, by hook and by crook, it's going to happen. At least with cheney. And with Shooter hobbled, we can go for "Balls."
Troll Patrol wrote on November 8, 2007 7:55 PM:Your grammar, JMOHR, makes one wonder. But we'll keep our eye on you.
Al in Austex wrote on November 8, 2007 9:14 PM:I agree with Brian , and Roberta. The Commitees Leadership , each & every one from lEAHEY , to Conyers , et al have many many documents , depositions & other hard evidence that BUSHCO is a criminal enterprise.
And now I also find myself agreeing at least partially with REP.Impeachment is very much on the table never mind what dear Speaker Leader says or does. Why because we are now entering the full bore election season. Ane the dynamics of the election so far do not look good for BushCo,
Consider this carefully Ron Paul just raised nearly five million dollars on the "INTERNETS" this last thirty six hours. Next consider that Congressman Paul & his supporters favor Impeaching Cheney - We progressives will make common cause with the Paulistas because we all understand that without restoring the checks & balances within our government we are doomed to some sort of Imperial President , a fascist wet dream concocted by the NEOCONS. No true American will allow this to happen.
JMHOR , do not get your 'entire life as a litigator 's panties in a bunch "because where Leahey & the rest of the Democratic /Liberatian posse will try this case- will be just fine . This court venue will be in the Senate, and you know REP might just be right-heck REP might even know which hole cards the Dems will be playing in this next of round betting at the Impeachment Hold'em table.
But everybody take a deep breathe & BUCKLE UP -its going to be little bumpy for a good little while.
(And just in case there are any BUSHCO hired hands hanging out here taking notes - please remember Me & the Paulistas also find complete agreement on exercising our 2nd Amendment rights ,, as does Alex Jones- we are in fact "waking up..")
We are going to WIN -IGNORE THE TROLLS ..