Obama Administration to Cheney: Request Denied

**Jason** · 05-17-2009, 08:14 AM

The Obama administration has turned down former Vice President Dick Cheney’s request for the declassification of two CIA reports on the effectiveness of the Agency’s detainee program, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned. A letter dated May 7, 2009, from the CIA’s Information and Privacy Coordinator, Delores M. Nelson, rejected Cheney’s request because the documents he has requested are involved in a Freedom of Information Act court battle.

“In researching the information in question, we have discovered that it is currently the subject of pending FOIA litigation (Bloche v. Department of Defense, Amnesty International v. Central Intelligence Agency). Therefore, the document is excluded from Mandatory Declassification Review,” Nelson wrote in the letter to the National Archives, the agency responsible for handling Cheney’s request.

The rejection of Cheney’s request will almost certainly intensify the public back-and-forth between the former vice president and the current administration. The contentious debate over enhanced interrogation exploded on April 16, when Obama authorized the release of four memos on interrogation prepared by the Bush Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. In a statement accompanying the release, Obama pointed to “exceptional circumstances” surrounding the memos that required their declassification and release. Four days later, in an interview on Fox News, Cheney revealed that he had requested the declassification of two memos that demonstrate that the techniques were effective.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblog...est_denied.asp

yustr · 05-17-2009, 08:28 AM

Cheney seems to think that showing they were effective (something that most experts dispute) a couple of times somehow justifies their use. He's missing the point.

One point that no one seems to bring up is the fact that the bags of stuff collected when these men were picked up remained in the plastic bags into which they were tossed for years. All the letters, computers, notebooks, address books, references, and ??? were not pursued for actionable intelligence until well after the fact. It appears that the CIA and its contractors went straight to torture and by passed all the normal police work in between.

**Drew1369** · 05-17-2009, 09:30 AM

Where did you read that?

yustr · 05-17-2009, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drew1369

Where did you read that?

It was from a radio interview with the former commanding general of Guatanamo about 3 years ago. I'll try to find it.

**Drew1369** · 05-17-2009, 07:41 PM

yeah... if that were true I would be abit upset at the revelation

RedScott · 05-17-2009, 10:37 PM

Well this should piss off any American who actually believes in things like the Rule of Law or The United States actually being the good guys or whatever.

05-17-2009, 08:14 AM	#1 (permalink)
Jason Faugh a ballagh Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Pasco, FL Posts: 8,401 OS: Windows Vista My System Blog Entries: 2	Obama Administration to Cheney: Request Denied The Obama administration has turned down former Vice President Dick Cheney’s request for the declassification of two CIA reports on the effectiveness of the Agency’s detainee program, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned. A letter dated May 7, 2009, from the CIA’s Information and Privacy Coordinator, Delores M. Nelson, rejected Cheney’s request because the documents he has requested are involved in a Freedom of Information Act court battle. “In researching the information in question, we have discovered that it is currently the subject of pending FOIA litigation (Bloche v. Department of Defense, Amnesty International v. Central Intelligence Agency). Therefore, the document is excluded from Mandatory Declassification Review,” Nelson wrote in the letter to the National Archives, the agency responsible for handling Cheney’s request. The rejection of Cheney’s request will almost certainly intensify the public back-and-forth between the former vice president and the current administration. The contentious debate over enhanced interrogation exploded on April 16, when Obama authorized the release of four memos on interrogation prepared by the Bush Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. In a statement accompanying the release, Obama pointed to “exceptional circumstances” surrounding the memos that required their declassification and release. Four days later, in an interview on Fox News, Cheney revealed that he had requested the declassification of two memos that demonstrate that the techniques were effective. http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblog...est_denied.asp __________________ Posting Tips \| Advice for New People \| Common Fixes \| Agus na damnaithe fágtha gan focal Glaoigh ormsa i measc na naomh

05-17-2009, 08:28 AM	#2 (permalink)
yustr Asst. Manager, The Conversation Pit Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Connecticut shore Posts: 5,974 OS: XP Pro My System	Re: Obama Administration to Cheney: Request Denied Cheney seems to think that showing they were effective (something that most experts dispute) a couple of times somehow justifies their use. He's missing the point. One point that no one seems to bring up is the fact that the bags of stuff collected when these men were picked up remained in the plastic bags into which they were tossed for years. All the letters, computers, notebooks, address books, references, and ??? were not pursued for actionable intelligence until well after the fact. It appears that the CIA and its contractors went straight to torture and by passed all the normal police work in between. __________________ If there are lawyers or politicians involved, logic may be a very poor tool for reaching a conclusion.

05-17-2009, 09:30 AM	#3 (permalink)
Drew1369 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Seattle, WA, USA Posts: 3,361 OS: Win7 Ultimate	Re: Obama Administration to Cheney: Request Denied Where did you read that? __________________ We humans have a primal urge to kill because, thanks to natural selection, all the homo sapiens who didn't have a primal urge to kill, were themselves killed. http://obamaclock.org/

05-17-2009, 07:41 PM	#5 (permalink)
Drew1369 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Seattle, WA, USA Posts: 3,361 OS: Win7 Ultimate	Re: Obama Administration to Cheney: Request Denied yeah... if that were true I would be abit upset at the revelation __________________ We humans have a primal urge to kill because, thanks to natural selection, all the homo sapiens who didn't have a primal urge to kill, were themselves killed. http://obamaclock.org/

05-17-2009, 10:37 PM	#6 (permalink)
RedScott Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 496 OS: Windows XP	Re: Obama Administration to Cheney: Request Denied Well this should piss off any American who actually believes in things like the Rule of Law or The United States actually being the good guys or whatever.