A Modest Proposal

Mr Cheney, I hereby challenge you to a test of torture.  Over the course of a few days, I will have trained professionals administer enhanced interrogation techniques to you.  You…

Done and Released

The Obama Administration certainly did the right thing today by releasing the Torture Memos today. (The link is to Salon, and you may have to sit through an ad.) They…

Bush Lawyers to Be Held Accountable?

This article from Michael Isikoff in Newsweek provides a glimmer of hope:

“An internal Justice Department report on the conduct of senior lawyers who approved waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics is causing anxiety among former Bush administration officials. H. Marshall Jarrett, chief of the department’s ethics watchdog unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility(OPR), confirmed last year he was investigating whether the legal advice in crucial interrogation memos “was consistent with the professional standards that apply to Department of Justice attorneys.” According to two knowledgeable sources who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters, a draft of the report was submitted in the final weeks of the Bush administration. It sharply criticized the legal work of two former top officials — Jay Bybee and John Yoo — as well as that of Steven Bradbury, who was chief of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the time the report was submitted, the sources said. (Bybee, Yoo and Bradbury did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)”

This report — started under AG Mukasey (and he has objections to this report, but keep in mind when this report got underway for the inevitable charges of partisanship) — will be submitted to AG Holder: