Obtained: Cheney’s Request Form Detailing The Two CIA Torture Docs He Wants
I’ve just obtained from the National Archives the actual request form that Dick Cheney submitted for CIA documents he claims will prove that torture worked.
Cheney requested all of two CIA documents, a total of 21 pages.
You can look at Cheney’s request form right here. They open the window a bit on the scope and direction of his request, which he has claimed will prove that Bush’s torture program yielded worthwhile intelligence.
Cheney requested two CIA reports, both of them from the “detainees” folder, which suggests that the docs detail the interrogation of suspects.
One is dated July 13th, 2004, and numbers eight pages.
The other is dated June 1st, 2005, and numbers 13 pages.
The CIA has redacted the detailed description of the documents because they’re classified. In total, Cheney requested all of 21 pages to support his claim that torture worked.
We still don’t know if we’ll ever get to see these docs, but this is a start. More soon.
Update: David Kurtz notes a key detail about this form: It’s a request for forms from Cheney’s office, which are marked “detainees.” As Kurtz says, that appears to mean that Cheney kept a file marked “detainees.”
Update: ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer offers his take on the documents.
Update II: Looks like Cheney may be after a doc that supposedly details what top Al Qaeda official Khalid Muhammad revealed under torture.
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Dang Greg! Good work
“his claim that terrorism worked.”
You mean “torture.” Terrorism worked ON Cheney.
“Cheney requested all of 21 pages to support his claim that terrorism worked.”
- I don’t know whether you used the word ‘terrorism’ instead of ‘torture’ by accident or on purpose, but I love it. It is very appropriate.
Great work once again Greg
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The scoop factory lives on
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Now here is the thing, wasn’t there a report that was put out awhile back that tried to lump a bunch of thwarted terrorist attacks together with harsh interrogation that was eventually all but totally debunked? I am wondering if thats what he is going to try to do here. Try to claim credit for stopping an attack based on info not actually attained from torture. You see they have been spinning that Library Tower story furiously almost from the moment he made the comments on FoxNews. I have to believe that it was a coordinated effort because every single pro torturist for the first few days used it as reference until it was blown to smithereens.
yes, and let’s see the entire contents of that folder. should be very interesting reading – especially in the margins
Greg
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One more thing, the CIA is not supposed to work inside the country. Thats the FBI’s job. So maybe it would make sense to ask for information on terror plots thwarted by the FBI since March of 2003. I would think it would be easier than going through the CIA and if the FBI reports don’t match up with the CIA reports then it will expose the lie before it even gets out. We already have Mueller on record refuting Cheney, now maybe the data can also do so preemptively.
guys, keep me posted on what you find out…I think the dates are suggestive. they seem on the late side….
“Maybe it would make sense to ask for information on terror plots thwarted by the FBI since March of 2003. . . . if the FBI reports don’t match up with the CIA reports then it will expose the lie before it even gets out.”
If we captured the members of an overseas cell before they could launch an attack on the US then I don’t see the FBI involvement.
Seems as if you already ‘know’ that we haven’t stopped an attack – where’s your objectivity? Why isn’t it possible that we stopped an attack using info obtained during harsh interrogation? Why do your efforts/passion seem geared towards ‘exposing the lies’ rather than discovering the truth?
Greg
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I was trying to see if maybe there was news broken around that time about the OLC memos. I will let you know what I find.
sbj
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When dealing with the Bush administration and in particular Dick Cheney, exposing the lies and discovering the truth are one and the same thing.
I’ve done quite a bit of research at the National Archives (great place), but I’m not familiar with presidential libraries request. Does anyone know why there’s a discrepancy in the number of pages between the two forms? They seem to refer to the same documents, though one identifies them as CIA reports and the other redacts the subject/title. The one doc with higher page counts looks like it was filled out entirely by Archives staff. The other, asking for fewer pages of the existing documents, is partially filled out by staff and apparently by the person requesting. Is that Cheney’s printing? If so, is there a reason why he’s asking for partial disclosures of those reports?–if in fact that’s what he’s doing. Is the rest irrelevant? Or could it be too relevant for his purposes?
This is from March 26
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hAuRnefeehLy7i8HyzT98iON4QOQD975U2TG0
Greg
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I think I got it
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/28/AR2009032802066.html
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Cheney wanted to rebut the Washington Post’s assertion that Zubaydah didn’t give up anything. The timing is just right. This comes out on the 28th, Cheney orders the reports on the 31st.
Greg
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Per the update, I was thinking the same thing but then why would the CIA need to declassify them if they were from Cheney’s office? Unless he was hiding their stuff at his place.
but SG, how’s this square with the dates on the reports? they seem late …
I thought it was a.) illegal for a federal official to disclose the existence of a classified document; and b.) illegal for a federal official to characterize the contents of a classified document.
No?
July 12, 2004: 9/11 Commission Concludes There’s No Evidence Iraq Had 9/11 Role
July 12, 2004: 9/11 Commission Concludes There’s No Evidence Iraq Had 9/11 Role
The 9/11 Commission publicly concludes that there was “no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States” and that repeated contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda “do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship.” It also again confirms that it does not believe the alleged April 2001 Prague meeting between Mohamed Atta and Iraqi diplomat Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani (see 1999) ever took place, a conclusion it had made in a public staff statement the month before (see June 16, 2004) http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=complete_timeline_of_the_2003_invasion_of_iraq_1190&scale=0#complete_timeline_of_the_2003_invasion_of_iraq_1190
You are brave Greg. I don’t think I’d ever do investigative work on someone like Cheney. Watch your back buddy! If you hear something that sounds like Darth Vader in some alleyway behind you just run and don’t look back.
Greg
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Because they were reports not memos. So whats probably in the reports are a recap of all information gleaned from the interrogation of the detainees that in some way shape or form contributed to breaking up a supposed terror plot. It is also probably why the earlier report has fewer pages than the later report. I would bet the both reports are cumulative.
Jeez, at what point does Cheney’s asking to be prosecuted result in him actually being prosecuted?
June 1, 2005…
Published on Wednesday, June 1, 2005 by the Inter Press Service
Bush, Cheney Attack Amnesty International
by Jim Lobe
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0601-01.htm
Greg
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This is probably unrelated but also remember that the former CIA contractor was killed I believe in MD while walking with his wife in the week before Cheney made this request.
“It’s a request for forms from Cheney’s office, which are marked “detainees.” As Kurtz says, that appears to mean that Cheney kept a file marked “detainees.”
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That was kept on his desk right next to his 2008 Torture Techniques Calendar on one side and a photo with Nixon, high fiving, right before Watergate broke.
But, but the question as to whether torture is effective in obtaining “actionable intelligence” or useful information is irrelevant. That Cheney has so many media outlets discussing the effectiveness of torture, including this one, is really pathetic.
The only relevant consideration is that torture by agents of the USA government is illegal. And the only relevant question now is which Cheney administration officials, which members of congress, and which USA government employees and/or contractors should be held to account for their criminal acts.
Great start . . . . now, will Cheney request the release of all minutes and names of the folks who participated in his secret energy conferences . . . you know, the people that Cheney previously refused to identify. You would think that he would be so proud of these conferences since it only resulted in over $4 a gallon gas.
Keep up the good work Greg. Go for all you can get. This is important information that needs to be out there.
Remember, also, that the argument for the use of these harsh techniques is to stop an attack of the “ticking timebomb”variety. If these memos are detailed in nature, the foiled plots had better be pretty imminent to justify the torture. This is the standard that the pro torture faction themselves have set. So far, the details of the supposedly foiled “Second Wave” attack are extremely lacking.
I have a strong feeling that these documents are kept right next to the Roswell wreckage and below the Arc of the Covenant in that warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Arc. A.K.A., there aren’t any.
So Cheney is asking for the release of files he kept in his own office on prisoner interrogations; he knows exactly which ones he wants.
I know this is an obvious point, but by making the declassification request, Cheney is basically admitting he ran the torture program. We all knew he did, but now he confirms his contemporaneous, detailed knowledge of the methods used and results obtained. He thinks it shows the effectiveness of the methods; if those methods are judged to constitute torture, there could hardly be a more direct link to the VP’s office than Cheney’s request for these documents.
Indeed, it appears that Cheney is conceding that he ran the torture program. He must know that it will come out anyway. Wow.
Classic Cheney – he still doesn’t get it! Torture is illegal. Period. This guy needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, along with Karl Rove. Even if they are the only ones prosecuted in the entire Bush administration. Oh, with the addition of Bybee and Jonathan Yoo the enablers of this American atrocity. This is not about blame, but about cleaning house and finding our moral compass in the world.
I know this is really boring and you are skipping to the next comment, but I just wanted to throw you a big thanks – you cleared up some things for me!