emptywheel

I highly recommend checking out this Media Matters database, which lists all 4500 appearances the Rent-A-Generals named in NYT's article on the program (I hope Media Matters expands it to include other Rent-A-Hacks listed in the full document dump). Here, for example, are the appearances made by David Grange, the most prolific Rent-A-General, just as the Iraq War began. Kind of hard to see, I know, but it basically reads CNN CNN

The charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani were dropped not because he was tortured. So was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, after all, and he's still being charged. The charges against al-Qahtani were dropped because trying him would have amounted to trying Rummy, Jim Haynes, and Diane Beaver, too. And trying al-Qahtani would have also proved that torture doesn't work.

From MI, at least, it looks like the primary is over and MI's delegation has been largely resolved, save for the details.

Patrick Fitzgerald answers about five questions about being fired as a USA--one of which is somewhat revealing wrt the Libby and Rezko investigations.

Bush's new classification, CUI, is worrisome. But just as worrisome is increasing evidence that Bush is just endorsing a system whereby his Administration does whatever it wants, regardless of classification.

The entire opinion disqualifying General Thomas Hartmann in Salim Hamdan's show trial is worth reading. But I'm particularly struck by the coincidence of timing. The Bush Administration started focusing on show trials at precisely the same time as it was firing a bunch of US Attorneys for political reasons.

Sheldon Whitehouse reveals that the Administration used word games to get around the exclusivity provision in FISA.

One of my early posts on Pixie Dust is nominated for one of the most important under-reported stories from last year. I guess that's just emblematic of the kind of attention Pixie Dust attracts.

After reading the longer document on OSC's investigations, it appears there is SOME logic to Scott Bloch's investigations. But that doesn't mean he's a good manager.

I am still catching up on events of the last week and so I don't have a really good sense of WTF is going on with the FBI raid of Scott Bloch's house and--according to NPR, via Sara--body cavities. But I wanted to point you to this analysis of a document drafted by a bunch of Office of Special Counsel investigators, listing their complaints about Bloch's intervention into their investigations.