February 28, 2010 – 10:38 pm
Marc Thiessen is a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, who has made himself famous by defending practices like waterboarding. While this kind of discussion may be somewhat interesting on an academic level, I just have to call shenanigans when I read stuff like this:
“There’s a standard of torture in civil law,” [Thiessen] said, “which is severe mental pain and suffering. I also have a common-sense definition, which is, ‘If you’re willing to try it, it’s not torture.’ ”
Thousands of American soldiers have been willing to undergo waterboarding as part of their resistance training, Mr. Thiessen notes; therefore, it stands to reason that it is not torture.
February 18, 2010 – 2:49 pm
My latest for the New Ledger has to do with Dick Cheney and his effect on the Obama Administration.
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
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Posted in Blogs, Chequer-Board
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Also tagged Barack Obama, Democrats, Dick Cheney, foreign policy, Interrogation Policy, Joe Biden, National Security, Obama Administration, Republicans, Terrorism, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Joe Biden, War, War on Terror, Waterboarding
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February 18, 2010 – 10:19 am
We all know that President Obama and his Administration are experts and playing things cool when lesser humans would be wracked with panic. After all, everyone in the press, along with his/her pet canary, tells us as much. But there is one person who is consistently able to take the Administration out of its comfort zone whenever he speaks up.
That person, of course, is former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Every time Cheney decides to speak out about current events–especially when it comes to the issue of foreign and national security policy–he is able to discombobulate the Obama Administration, which sends out an all-hands-on-deck message to its personnel to combat the former Vice President’s commentary. And yet, for whatever reason, it’s Cheney who usually comes out with the upper hand in any debate. Last year, when the Obama Administration was postponing the implementation of a troop surge policy on Afghanistan, Cheney very publicly accused the Administration of “dithering.” Team Obama was infuriated, but the message stuck. I suppose it should come as no surprise that the White House is obsessed with trying to push back against Cheney’s comments every time he makes a public statement. The former Vice…
February 8, 2010 – 9:45 pm
The Cossacks work for the Czar.
February 1, 2010 – 10:46 pm
And none for Jay Bybee, either.
September 8, 2009 – 10:06 am
The American people are entitled to facts, and truth, and to gauge how we balance acts and results against the alternatives. If that embarrasses the Republican or Democratic Parties, so be it. The alternative is a politicized war over every last foreign policy action, and the last time we tried that gambit, it ended with smoking craters in the Northeastern United States.
By Christopher Badeaux
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Posted in Features, Politics
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Also tagged Barack Obama, Christopher Badeaux, CIA, Conor Friedersdorf, Dick Cheney, Enhanced Interrogation, Eric Holder, FBI, Leon Panetta, National Security
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August 25, 2009 – 2:11 pm
We have some evidence, as reported by Ed Morrissey, that EITs were useful in getting information from detainees, a point reinforced by a statement from former Vice President Cheney.
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
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Posted in Blogs, Chequer-Board
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Also tagged Ali Soufan, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Dick Cheney, Ed Morrissey, foreign policy, George W. Bush, Interrogation Policy, National Security, Obama Administration, Terrorism, War, Waterboarding
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I write as someone who agrees in large part with the stance taken on interrogation policy by John McCain. I think that he generally has things quite accurate on the issue.
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
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Posted in Blogs, Chequer-Board
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Also tagged Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Cover-Up, George W. Bush, Interrogation Policy, John McCain, Law, National Security, Obama Administration, transparency
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April 25, 2009 – 12:43 pm
Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman and Director of Central Intelligence, Porter Goss, calls out his erstwhile colleagues in the House of Representatives:
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
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Posted in Blogs, Chequer-Board
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Also tagged Bush Administration, Congress, Democrats, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Interrogation Policy, Law, Nancy Pelosi, National Security, Politics, Porter Goss, Waterboarding
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April 23, 2009 – 10:56 pm
Despite the Speaker’s claims that she knew nothing about the practice of waterboarding, it is clear that she was briefed and that apparently, she “didn’t raise substantial objections.”
Stephen Hayes has the goods on the Obama Administration.
What lawyer in his right mind would volunteer for Executive Branch service in the wake of President Obama’s decision? The next Administration may just be a Republican one. The natural cycles of electoral politics will now feed into leaked memos and pending indictments for offering basic legal counsel.
