Update: Congress Knew About Waterboarding in 2002
More proof that Democrats continue to exploit issues of national security for political gain. This from Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen of the Washington Post:
Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002
In Meetings, Spy Panels’ Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say
In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA’s overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.
Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.
CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said in an interview two months ago that he had informed congressional overseers of “all aspects of the detention and interrogation program.”
“The briefer was specifically asked if the methods were tough enough,” said a U.S. official who witnessed the exchange.
Read more: Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002.
How to turn a non-scandal, into a scandal in order to get legislation passed…
The mainstream media reports:
December 6th, the New York Times runs this story:
C.I.A. Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 — The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program, according to current and former government officials.
The videotapes showed agency operatives in 2002 subjecting terrorism suspects — including Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee in C.I.A. custody — to severe interrogation techniques. The tapes were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that video showing harsh interrogation methods could expose agency officials to legal risks, several officials said.
In a statement to employees on Thursday, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director, said that the decision to destroy the tapes was made “within the C.I.A.” and that they were destroyed to protect the safety of undercover officers and because they no longer had intelligence value.
With the media template established, CNN runs this story on the 7th:
CIA director: Tapes of interrogations destroyed
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The CIA destroyed videotapes of interrogations of al Qaeda suspects because they no longer had “intelligence value” and they posed a security risk, CIA director Michael Hayden said Thursday.
The tapes were made in 2002 and destroyed in 2005, Hayden said in a letter to CIA employees obtained by CNN.
They were made as “an internal check” on the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation techniques, believed to include waterboarding, a technique that involves restraining a suspect and pouring water on them to simulate drowning.
The agency made the decision to destroy the tapes “only after it was determined they were no longer of intelligence value and not relevant to any internal, legislative, or judicial inquiries,” Hayden said.
The two paragraphs at the end of this story are the most revealing about what this incident is REALLY about:
Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, said news the CIA destroyed the videotapes “is troubling, and it fits a pattern we have seen repeatedly during this administration.”
“When an administration abandons the moral high ground to take the low road, they are mortgaging the historic commitment to human rights that is part of the legacy of every American. The damage is compounded when such actions are hidden away from accountability,” Leahy said in a statement.
Senator Patrick Leahy. Why is this significant? Over the years, Senator Leahy has coordinated leaks within the CIA and other intelligence agencies to embarrass Presidents or worse. A good round-up of “Leaky” Leahy’s legacy can be found on Jim Kouri’s web site. So I’m not surprised to see his name turn up in the midst of this story.
On the 8th CNN runs the headline on it’s web site establishing a direct connection to the President:
Bush: ‘No recollection’ of tapes
WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. President George W. Bush “has no recollection” of videotapes of CIA interrogations of some al Qaeda suspects or of plans to destroy the tapes, a White House spokeswoman said.
Then publishes poll results designed to bolster the story:
Poll results: Waterboarding is torture
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A majority of Americans consider waterboarding a form of torture, but some of those say it’s OK for the U.S. government to use the technique, according to a poll released Tuesday.
Asked whether they think waterboarding is a form of torture, more than two-thirds of respondents, or 69 percent, said yes; 29 percent said no.
Asked whether they think the U.S. government should be allowed to use the procedure to try to get information from suspected terrorists, 58 percent said no; 40 percent said yes.
The NYT ran the following stories on the 8th. The first one designed to establish the premise that the C.I.A. disobeyed the better judgment of (Democrats) congress:
C.I.A. Was Urged to Keep Interrogation Videotapes
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 — White House and Justice Department officials, along with senior members of Congress, advised the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003 against a plan to destroy hundreds of hours of videotapes showing the interrogations of two operatives of Al Qaeda, government officials said Friday.
The chief of the agency’s clandestine service nevertheless ordered their destruction in November 2005, taking the step without notifying even the C.I.A.’s own top lawyer, John A. Rizzo, who was angry at the decision, the officials said.
And then the “money shot” piece from the NYT:
Lawmakers Back Limits on Interrogation Tactics
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 — In a sharp rebuke to White House counterterrorism policy, a Congressional conference committee has voted to outlaw the harsh interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency against suspected high-level terrorists.
The vote to require all American interrogators to abide by the Army Field Manual, which prohibits coercive methods, came during negotiations of the Senate and House intelligence committees over the annual intelligence authorization bill. It will not be the last word on the subject; the full House and Senate must still pass the bill, and it would likely face a veto by President Bush.
But passage of the interrogation restriction — by one vote in a tense, three-hour meeting on Wednesday behind closed doors — reflected Congress’s growing disenchantment with the harsh tactics authorized by the White House after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It was the latest setback for the administration’s insistence that what it calls “enhanced” interrogation techniques are a critical part of gathering intelligence to thwart future terrorist attacks.
The Left jumped all over this incident as more evidence that Bush – Cheney Incorporated are lying, evil neo cons who need to be impeached. That aside, what we have here is Democrats, in a well-coordinated PR campaign (vis-a-vis the mainstream press) manipulating the political “system” in Washington.
Democrats have been attempting to shut down efforts to fight al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups as early as 2001. Their attempts have largely failed. Many have taken particular aim at America’s use of interrogation techniques. So what you have here is a perfect example of Democrats coordinating with their Allies in the media, to achieve a political goal that they otherwise could not achieve at the ballot box.
The “plot” also includes several perks: they’ll probably be able to take down one or more Bush administration officials (or appointees); and they’ll embarrass the President in the process.
Of course, bloggers left and right are offering their own spin:
Blackfive blogger, good ol’ Uncle Jimbo, sums up the C.I.A.’s justification for destroying the tapes. I agree with the point about moving public opinion toward more restrictions. Restrictions legislated by our dear stuffed-shirt liberals in Washington:
There are two good reasons to destroy the tapes. Hayden put the first one front and center, our interrogators are shown on them. Keeping their identities secret is very important, and something Valerie Plame could have paid more heed to. Once the interrogations were completed and transcribed, there is no use to them other than the ghoulish watching of human suffering.
Which brings us to reason number two. They were almost certainly horrifying and awful and their viewing by many Americans would cause a reaction. It would likely move public opinion toward more restrictions on what methods may be employed. We have already put too many and the unpleasantness of the coercive techniques would be offensive to some who would otherwise approve of using all techniques short of torture.
Larisa Alexandrovna claims to know how the C.I.A. works:
Anyone who has studied anything about the agency and its operations, even the most illegal and violent ops undertaken, knows that the agency does not take a collective piss without permission from the White House. Someone gave the order for those tapes to be destroyed and it has nothing to do with covering up the torture, because, the CIA has done plenty worse that it continued to keep on file for ages.
Emptywheel provides a mind-boggling lefty-spin—except for the last sentence of the following paragraph:
It strikes me that there aren’t that many “former intelligence officials” who would have been present for both the initial Congressional briefing and within Porter Goss’ inner circle at CIA when the tapes were destroyed. Granted, Goss brought a bunch of his loyal flunkeys with him from Congress, but these former intelligence officials are really limited to Goss’ flunkeys and Goss himself. All of which makes me wonder whether Mazzetti’s sources for the larger story aren’t Goss’ flunkeys, which would really raise questions for me about their motivation. Almost as many questions as I’ve got about how Crazy Pete and Dick Durbin ended up on the same side of an issue. It’s enough to make you really be cautious about the politics involved in this story.
Macranger points out an important FACT (emphasis added):
Let the hand-ringing continue. Again, outside of the NY Times and their “anonymous” sources NO ONE knows what the tapes contained. Whether they contained waterboarding is non-statement of fact as NO ONE has seen the tapes except those within the agency and the - this is important - the CIA’s watchdog group who determined that the techniques - whatever they were - were legal.
Chuck Adkins tries not to blow a head gasket, but does anyway:
…One thing I will say, without putting a Political spin on it. There have been some Democrats who have said that they were aware of the tapes too. So, I believe much of this hyperventilating by the left is quite silly. Honestly, If there has been withholding of evidence and lying to investigators, people should go to jail, no matter if they are Democrat or Republican. If you lied,go to jail, just that simple. Justice should not be, with the emphases on should not be, based upon one’s political party.
Ed Morrissey adds much needed clarity to the discussion:
…Rodriguez decided for himself what his legal obligations required in terms of retention. Despite the expressed will of Congress, the White House, and the CIA’s own attorneys, Rodriguez destroyed the tapes — even though his own boss had gone on record as demanding their retention. Afterwards, the agency didn’t bother to inform anyone of the destruction for almost a year, and lied about the one-time existence of the tapes to federal prosecutors working on the Moussaoui case.
This clears the White House of responsibility for the decision and the cover-up. Mark Mazzetti reports that George Bush didn’t know about the destruction until Hayden announced it publicly on Thursday. Porter Goss found out about it at the same time as John Rizzo, and vented his anger at the destruction of the tapes, as did Rizzo. In this case, the destruction appears to have been a compartmentalized operation by Rodriguez. The CIA informed the intel committee leadership in 2006 that they had defied their wishes and destroyed the tapes.
Why? In November 2005, Congress began asking questions about aggressive interrogation techniques. The CIA hid the tapes abroad instead of securing them at Langley, hoping to avoid subpoenas. When that strategy looked weak, they simply destroyed the tapes.
James Oliphant opines about the political outcome for the Bush administration:
For the administration, the revelation comes at a particularly inopportune time, as Congress is considering whether to limit the authority of the CIA to employ aggressive interrogation techniques beyond those permitted for other government agents and the U.S. military. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), among others, called upon the Senate to pass the legislation in response to the CIA’s disclosures.
Of course, Bluto of Jawa Report, states what most of us think about the worst Congress in History (so far):
Unfortunately, operational security must take a back seat to congressional witch-hunts these days. That means the motivations for destroying the tapes are muddled. Was Rodriguez practicing some CYA, or were the operational security considerations foremost in his mind?
There’s also a good round-up on MemeOrandum.
Posted on:
December 8, 2007 , by
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National Intelligence Estimate Says Iran Stopped Pursuing Nuclear Weapons in 2003
The President’s critics and the Left are spinning this report as evidence the Bush administration is a neo-con war machine. Yes, the President will likely have to soften his position on Iran or at least use this as an opportunity to gain some “breathing room.” But IMHO, the NIE report reflects positively on the President.
Here’s why:
Instead of keeping the NIE under wraps the President released the report.
In 2003, the President commenced with the invasion of Iraq. It is no coincidence that Iran stopped pursuing WMD at that time. This bolsters the idea that striking in the heart of the middle east was the strategically correct move to make after liberating Afghanistan.
The NIE’s revelations kind of make Hillary Clinton look stupid after telling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in February 2007:
“U.S. policy must be clear and unequivocal: We cannot, we should not, we must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons,” the Democrat told a crowd of Israel supporters. “In dealing with this threat … no option can be taken off the table.”
And calling Iran…
“a danger to the United States and one of Israel's greatest threats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said "no option can be taken off the table" when dealing with that nation.”
The NIE shows just how incompetent our intelligence community can be. And therefore puts a damper on the Left’s accusation that the President lied in order to garner support for OIF. Instead he was forced to rely on faulty intelligence supplied by the very same agencies that author the NIE’s.
At the very least it shows the extent to which the intelligence community is willing to go to cover-their-own-butts (“CYA”).
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December 4, 2007 , by
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It's about time! White house officials are falsely accused of outing a so-called covert CIA agent and the media has a three-year feeding frenzy. Meanwhile, a Clinton-era cabinet official, the national security advisor no less, gets caught with stolen classified documents, from the National Archive, stuffed in his pants and there's barely a blip on the radar. Sure the media ran a few stories about it. But none of them were as vigorous as the Plame-gate story.
Finally, someone in the republican party is calling for a more in-depth probe into the Berger scandal. Their timing is impeccable.
From Brietbart.Com:
A group of House Republicans called Wednesday for a congressional investigation into the improper handling of classified documents by President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger.
Berger admitted last year that he deliberately took classified documents out of the National Archives in 2003 and destroyed some of them at his office. He pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material and was fined $50,000.
Ten lawmakers led by House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R- Calif., and Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., released a letter calling for the House Government Reform Committee to investigate.
They asked the committee to determine whether any documents were missing from Clinton administration terrorism records, to review security measures for classified documents and to seek testimony from Berger.
Hunter's spokesman, Joe Kasper, said the Justice Department had asked Congress to hold off on any oversight until the legal case concluded.
"It's important that the House conduct its own review to ensure there is a clear understanding of the facts, and sensitive and highly classified security information is not potentially compromised in the future," Kasper said.
Full story: GOP Leaders Seek Probe of Berger Papers.
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October 11, 2006 , by
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Personal disclaimer: I'm not posting this information to cause panic. But rather to highlight various press and blogger accounts of al-Qaeda's desire to use WMD as a weapon of terror inside the United States. In my opinion, if such a plot were to be carried out, the retaliatory strikes by the U.S. would be devastating to any hostile nation states harboring Islamic terrorist organizations. The plan would ultimately backfire on those who carried it out.
The Jawa Report has two posts pertaining to al-Qaeda's possible execution of a plot to attack using a nuclear weapon inside the United States. The attack is supposedly going to occur during Ramadan, the muslim holiday which begins this year on September 24th.
A Pakistani journalist says that his sources in al Qaeda and the Taliban are claiming that nuclear material has already been smuggled across the Mexican border into the U.S. and that an operation bigger than 9/11 will be carried out during Ramadan–which begins later this month.
Hamid Mir, who is the only journalist ever to interview both Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, claims that he learned this information on a recent trip to Afghanistan last month.
Read more: Al Qaeda Will Nuke US in Late September.
Terrorist, Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, May be al-Qaeda's Trigger Man:
Many reports indicate that Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, the cell leader responsible for carrying out the plot, is already in the United States and has been for some time. Furthermore, there is speculation that Adnan smuggled a nuclear device into the U.S. across the Mexican border. He is wanted for questioning by the FBI: details here.
The other Jawa Report post details the account of a reader who may have come into contact with Adnan, in Austin, Texas, earlier this year.
A Jawa Report reader e-mailed us about a possible sighting of Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, a man wanted by the FBI in connection with a plot to detonate a dirty bomb in the United States. A few days ago we ran a story about reports of an imminent attack by Adnan G. El Shukrijumah (aka, Adnan Al-Shukri Jumaa).
The reader, who some of you have met in the comments section before, also commented about it over at Ace of Spades HQ. Ace has those comments reprinted here. She has spoken with the FBI.
Read more: Al Qaeda Dirty Bomber Spotted in Austin, Texas?
Adnan Shukrijumah Past and Present:
Muslims Called to Leave the United States:
During a press interview in Pakistan on September 17th, a top al-Qaeda commander, Abu Dawood, based in Pakistan issued a call to all muslims, living in the United States, to leave. Specifically in the New York and Washington, D.C. area.
The new al-Qaida field commander in Afghanistan is calling for Muslims to leave the U.S. – particularly Washington and New York – in anticipation of a major terror attack to rival Sept. 11, according to an interview by a Pakistani journalist.
Abu Dawood told Hamid Mir, a reporter who has covered al-Qaida and met with Osama bin Laden, the attack is being coordinated by Adnan el-Shukrijumah and suggests it may involve some form of weapon of mass destruction smuggled across the Mexican border.
"Our brothers are ready to attack inside America. We will breach their security again," he is quoted as saying. "There is no timeframe for our attack inside America; we can do it any time."
More at WorldNetDaily.
al-Qaeda Authorized to Use Nuclear Weapons Against the United States:
In August CNN's, Christiane Amanpour, wrote about the grave threat Osama bin Laden still posed to the United States:
LONDON, England (CNN) — Nearly five years have passed since the September 11 terrorist attacks, yet Osama bin Laden — the world's most-wanted terrorist — remains a dangerous fugitive, his words and actions inspiring jihadists across the globe.
It's hard to fathom that bin Laden would remain so relevant today, when in the days after the attacks, the Bush administration and much of the world was determined to get him.
In the report, Amanpour quotes Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's bin Laden unit. He had this to say:
Michael Scheuer, who once headed the CIA's bin Laden unit, says bin Laden has been given permission by a young cleric in Saudi Arabia authorizing al Qaeda to "use nuclear weapons against the United States … capping the casualties at 10 million."
"He's had an approval, a religious approval for 10 million deaths?" I asked him.
"Yes," Scheuer responded.
Full text: Amanpour: Bin Laden still deadly relevant.
From Drudge Report via Jihad Watch (November 12th, 2004):
Osama bin Laden now has religious approval to use a nuclear device against Americans, says the former head of the CIA unit charged with tracking down the Saudi terrorist. The former agent, Michael Scheuer, speaks to Steve Kroft in his first television interview without disguise to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Nov. 14 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network….
Even if bin Laden had a nuclear weapon, he probably wouldn't have used it for a lack of proper religious authority - authority he has now. "[Bin Laden] secured from a Saudi sheik…a rather long treatise on the possibility of using nuclear weapons against the Americans," says Scheuer. "[The treatise] found that he was perfectly within his rights to use them. Muslims argue that the United States is responsible for millions of dead Muslims around the world, so reciprocity would mean you could kill millions of Americans," Scheuer tells Kroft.
Scheuer says bin Laden was criticized by some Muslims for the 9/11 attack because he killed so many people without enough warning and before offering to help convert them to Islam. But now bin Laden has addressed the American people and given fair warning. "They're intention is to end the war as soon as they can and to ratchet up the pain for the Americans until we get out of their region….If they acquire the weapon, they will use it, whether it's chemical, biological or some sort of nuclear weapon," says Scheuer.
More: Saudi cleric blesses Bin Laden's use of nuke against U.S.A.
Posted on:
September 18, 2006 , by
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Just under the headline from the article, "End of an Affair", in today's Washington Post (H/T: Powerline):
It turns out that the person who exposed CIA agent Valerie Plame was not out to punish her husband.
It turns out that the person most responsible for ending Valerie Plame's career at the CIA was her own husband, Joe Wilson. Moreover, it wasn't Bush, Cheney or Karl Rove who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame. It was Richard Armitage.
I won't hold my breath waiting for an apology from the Bush-Deranged appeasement junkies at the Daily Kos. But I'll take this article from the Washington post as an apology (of sorts) from left-leaning mainstream media.
Here's what it all boils down to:
Mr. Armitage was one of the Bush administration officials who supported the invasion of Iraq only reluctantly. He was a political rival of the White House and Pentagon officials who championed the war and whom Mr. Wilson accused of twisting intelligence about Iraq and then plotting to destroy him. Unaware that Ms. Plame's identity was classified information, Mr. Armitage reportedly passed it along to columnist Robert D. Novak "in an offhand manner, virtually as gossip," according to a story this week by the Post's R. Jeffrey Smith, who quoted a former colleague of Mr. Armitage.
Perhaps my favorite passage:
It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House — that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson — is untrue. The partisan clamor that followed the raising of that allegation by Mr. Wilson in the summer of 2003 led to the appointment of a special prosecutor, a costly and prolonged investigation, and the indictment of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on charges of perjury. All of that might have been avoided had Mr. Armitage's identity been known three years ago.
And last, but not least:
Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming — falsely, as it turned out — that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.
I guess this means the recent lawsuit filed by Wilson and Plame against high-level administration officials isn't going to gain any more momentum. In fact, I said before, that lawsuit won't amount to anything.
So how are left-wing democrats reacting to the news? Below are some highlights from Democratic Underground forum:
Mugsy: Armitage source of Plame leak??? Deafeningly silent bombshell? (excerpt)
So what is the story here? I know there's more too it, and the fact regarding the way the Bush Administration *used* this information to discredit Wilson and justify their war can not be disputed, but the deafening silence around here on the subject bothers me.
The deafening silence is a result of the fact that these people were wrong to accuse the administration of a conspiracy in the first-place.
A comment from a DU member with some sense:
AValdoux: Outing Armitage…
…vindicates Rove. The Libby trial will (sic) a "legal technicality driven by partisan politics".
Case closed.
Yet another Bush-Deranged comment:
librechik: wake me up when the fat lady sings
I'm sick of their jury poisoning crapola.
And I don't believe Armitage is the end of the story–but I do believe he is a "nice enough guy" to fall on his sword for the cause–especially if there are no punishments involved in a "silly booboo."
Read the entire article: End of an Affair
Posted on:
September 1, 2006 , by
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(United Press International):
WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) — U.S. Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Senate, on a 78-15 vote Friday, approved Hayden’s nomination to lead the U.S. spy agency. Earlier in the week, Hayden won approval from the Senate Intelligence Committee on a 12-3 vote. Those opposed questioned Hayden’s role in a National Security Agency warrantless surveillance program.
Hayden was named May 8 by U.S. President George Bush to replace Porter Goss, who abruptly resigned May 5. Friday marked Goss’s last day at the CIA.
Hayden currently is deputy director of National Intelligence, a position he has held since April 2005. He previously was director of the NSA, which, in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks began a Bush administration-approved program to monitor, without warrants, communications of suspected terrorists — even if one end of the conversation was in the United States.
The vote in the Senate was as follows:
- 78 Senators voted in favor of Hayden’s nomination
- 15 Voted against it
- 7 Senators did not vote
Not surprisingly, out of the 15 Senators who voted against General Hayden’s nomination all, but one, were Democrats. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) was the only republican to vote against the nomination.
- Evan Bayh (D-IN)
- Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
- Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
- Mark Dayton (D-MN)
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Russ Feingold (D-WI)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
- John Kerry (D-MA)
- Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
- Barack Obama (D-IL)
- Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Posted on:
May 26, 2006 , by
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The nephew of Saddam Hussein, one of Iraq’s most wanted, and a supporter of the insurgency was arrested in Lebanon by security forces cooperating with Interpol.
(The Daily Star):
BEIRUT: Police in Lebanon have arrested the son of Saddam Hussein’s half-brother on an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol. According to sources close to the security forces, Bashar Sabawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti, identified by the international policing organization as a “dangerous wanted terrorist,” was nabbed at the Malibu Bay Hotel in the Jounieh neighborhood of Maameltein.
Tikriti had been planning to board a flight from the Lebanese capital to Brazil later in the day.
Police were tipped off when members of the hotel’s staff suspected that Takriti’s passport had been tampered with to alter his name.
More about the arrest:
The Daily Star:
Lebanese police arrest Saddam Hussein’s nephew
WTOP Homepage (via AP):
Iraq Announces Arrest of Saddam’s Nephew
The Jawa Report:
Saddam Nephew Arrested in Beirut
Al Jazeera:
Saddam’s nephew arrested
Kuwait News Agency:
Interpol, Iraqi security arrest Saddam’’s relative in Beirut
Previous News and Other Information:
July 2005, U.S. State Department
Treasury Department Blocks Assets of Saddam Hussein’s Nephews
Posted on:
May 24, 2006 , by
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