Bad apples have been named

A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as “torture” and a June 2004 “Urgent Report” to the Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered up.

[...]

The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and “sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc.” The ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists. The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from “On Scene Commander—Baghdad” to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the techniques that the President is said to have authorized.

Another e-mail, dated December 2003, describes an incident in which Defense Department interrogators at Guantánamo Bay impersonated FBI agents while using “torture techniques” against a detainee. The e-mail concludes “If this detainee is ever released or his story made public in any way, DOD interrogators will not be held accountable because these torture techniques were done [sic] the ‘FBI’ interrogators. The FBI will [sic] left holding the bag before the public.”

Guerrilla News article

I have to wonder how the ACLU got these documents. FOIA does not permit the release of all documents. Somebody still has to approve the release of each piece of paper. In this case, it appears that the information was not forthcoming, and the ACLU filed a lawsuit to force the government to provide the documents, and won. Either somebody wanted these president-incriminating emails to get out, or the White House isn't concerned with the information any more. There was no great outcry against the information that Gonzales and the Justice Department have cleared His Highness the Bonehead to do anything he wants. There has been no great outcry against the still ongoing tortures. Maybe the White House simply considers this part of the Asshat's "mandate" from the people.

The CIA, on the other hand, is another matter.

The ACLU and its allies are scheduled to go to court again this afternoon, where they will seek an order compelling the CIA to turn over records related to an internal investigation into detainee abuse. Although the ACLU has received more than 9,000 documents from other agencies, the CIA refuses to confirm or deny even the existence of many of the records that the ACLU and other plaintiffs have requested. The CIA is reported to have been involved in abusing detainees in Iraq and at secret CIA detention facilities around the globe.

Update 9:30 am:

Flashback:

[June 10] Bush's strongest condemnation on the issue of prisoner treatment has come in regard to the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The president has said he shared "a deep disgust" over the conduct by U.S. soldiers involved in the abuse, declaring that is "not the way we do things in America."

Bush's comments follow disclosure of Justice Department memos to the White House advising the president that he could suspend international treaties prohibiting torture. The Justice Department also told the White House that U.S. laws against torture do not apply to the war on terror.

Bush said he doesn't recall seeing any of the Justice Department advice.

source

I am not having any luck finding what I thought were rumors of an executive order back when the Abu Ghraib tortures became public knowledge. I did find this comment from Louise over at Kos on June 13...

There's an executive order or a secret finding with Bush's signature on it that authorizes this behavior - otherwise, it wouldn't have happened. Because, according to their legal briefs, the behavior would not have been legal if the President hadn't signed the authorization.

And as Bush kept telling us, everything they did was legal, right?

I am waiting to see the Fox News/Limbaugh/right-wing spin that, yes, it was torture, and yes, it was more than a "few bad apples", and yes, the President authorized it, and yes, the President then lied about it, but it's all good because ...they were all bad.

And from Stevelu on the same day...

Bush deniable? Why the press conference evasions?

while we might not ever have direct evidence that Bush gave an explicit order to use torture, as I'm sure they're clever enough to ensure plausible deniability

I would have thought so too, but Bush was so cagey under direct questioning at his last press conference, it makes me think that some trail really may lead to him. Are there people he no longer trusts who can put him in a meeting where all this crap was approved?

He repeatedly fell back on the 'my orders were legal' defense, refusing to respond in any meaningful way to questions about the Justice Dept memo, which redefines 'legal' into meaninglessness.

Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain't so. --Mark Twain