Mother’s Day Sunday
14 May 2006 1:18 am by Taylor Marsh
Mother's Day Sunday
UPDATE: John over at Crooks and Liars has Al Gore's appearance on S&L last night. As always, it's a must see.
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| Happy Mother's Day, soldier. |
It's understandable why Fox “News” Sunday has both Mrs. Bush and
Mary Cheney on today. Chris Wallace certainly doesn't want to talk about reality
outside of Bush-Cheney central. It would be highly embarrassing for the White
House considering Cheney's notes, Bush's lies on illegal snooping, not to mention
Karl Rove's rumored indictment. So on this Mother's day Fox will give us propaganda
to help the presidential team, which needs it desperately. Hey, but at least
there are two women on Fox. As for the rest of the
Sunday shows, “This Week” invited Reese Witherspoon to be their
token female. Jane Harman is “Face the Nation's” token chick, with
Judy Woodruff in for the girls on “Meet the Press,” with CNN's Wolf
Blitzer deciding that it was a good day to just let the girls stay home. We
can't catch a break, not even on Mother's Day.
But the interesting tidbits this morning come in dueling stories, one surrounding Mary McCarthy, the other about Deadeye Dick. Lady's first on Mother's Day.
Of course, McCarthy has denied being Dana Priest's source, but that doesn't
matter because the White House needed to punish someone. McCarthy became the
scapegoat, especially when she was found to have connections with the Kerry
campaign and Rand Beers. To Republicans that automatically means you can't be
telling the truth because everything is political to the Bush White House, especially
truth, which is why they tried to purge the CIA in the first place. Now things have gotten even worse. The spooks may be lying to Congress.
A senior CIA official, meeting with Senate staff in a secure room of the
Capitol last June, promised repeatedly that the agency did not violate or
seek to violate an international treaty that bars cruel, inhumane or degrading
treatment of detainees, during interrogations it conducted in the Middle East
and elsewhere.But another CIA officer — the agency's deputy inspector general, who for
the previous year had been probing allegations of criminal mistreatment by
the CIA and its contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan — was startled to hear
what she considered an outright falsehood, according to people familiar with
her account. It came during the discussion of legislation that would constrain
the CIA's interrogations.That CIA officer was Mary O. McCarthy, 61, who was fired on April 20 for
allegedly sharing classified information with journalists, including Washington
Post journalist Dana Priest. A CIA employee of two decades, McCarthy became
convinced that “CIA people had lied” in that briefing,
as one of her friends said later, not only because the agency had conducted
abusive interrogations but also because its policies authorized treatment
that she considered cruel, inhumane or degrading.(snip)
Another report, completed in 2004, examined the CIA's interrogation policies
and techniques, concluded that they might violate international law and made
10 recommendations, which the agency has at least partially adopted. That
report jarred some officials, because the Justice Department has contended
that the international convention against torture — barring “cruel,
inhumane, and degrading” treatment — does not apply to U.S. interrogations
of foreigners outside the United States.Little else is known publicly. The CIA inspector general's reports have narrow
circulation. When IG inquiries involve covert actions such as foreign interrogations,
for example, the agency briefs only the chairmen and ranking members of the
House and Senate intelligence committees, instead of the full panels. So only
a handful of people in Washington knew what McCarthy knew. …Fired
Officer Believed CIA Lied to Congress
Friends Say McCarthy Learned of Denials About Detainees' Treatment
The other story of note is that Dick Cheney wanted to push
the envelope on illegal domestic spying from the start. Bush made a plea
today for Michael Hayden to get a quick confirmation in his radio address, something
Hayden does not deserve. But he's got a friend in Cheney, according to the Times,
which means nothing good for the rest of us.
But today is really reserved for mom. Enjoy Mother's Day, which goes for you
step moms, too. Don't forget to call her, or put your differences aside for
one day. As for some of us, we'll send a silent prayer that goes something like
this… You are missed.
