Today’s Qs for O’s WH – 4/24/2009
EmailTAPPER: You keep suggesting that the release of these documents and now photographs is because your hand is being forced. You could appeal this to the Supreme Court if you wanted to, so I guess –
GIBBS: Yes — I don’t — I’d — I — I’d — let me make sure that I — I’m careful. I — I’d — this is part of a legal process. The Justice Department, as I said to Ben, decided that — much as they did, and I think, as you heard, I was asked about Secretary Gates’s comments yesterday, and I think it’s important to understand what Secretary Gates — part of what Secretary Gates said, which was, most of this stuff’s going to come out eventually. I don’t mean to imply that the only avenue is this, but I do think it is important for people to understand that there is ongoing litigation that in many ways is the property lines for this issue.
TAPPER: I understand that, but you’re acting as if you guys aren’t actors in this.
GIBBS: No, no, no –
TAPPER: You are releasing information when you could be fighting it.
GIBBS: No, no. I’d — I’m not minimizing our role in this. I’m, Jake, trying to give you and others a — just the appropriate amount of background for all that is entailed in the litigation and these decisions to –
TAPPER: Okay. Well, would the president support releasing this information even if his hands weren’t forced?
GIBBS: Yeah, I — and I told Ben (Feller of AP) I’d check on that.
TAPPER: All right. Well, let me ask you a question about — did the president tell Democratic leaders this week when they — when he met with them, when he talked to them, that he didn’t want there to be any sort of hearing or commission, that he thought that that would be a distraction?
GIBBS: I was not in the meeting with Democratic leaders. I will reiterate what the president has said throughout the week, and that is — and, as I said a second ago, that this should be a moment of reflection but not retribution. And I said this yesterday, that the — you know, the president, through a series of meetings, discussed the idea of setting up a commission and decided that much of what we’ve seen play out over the past few days would dominate any type of commission and decided that wasn’t something that he would propose or call for.
TAPPER: So is he worried with the release of the OLC documents, the release of the photographs and all the attention this is getting not just among us but on Capitol Hill? Is he worried that he has, perhaps, inadvertently — or perhaps forced by courts — created a path where there will be a look back and retribution, and his political agenda could be jeopardized?
GIBBS: I don’t think the president’s worried about that. I think the president took swift action to change our image in the world. The most important thing that the president’s done in — relating to this topic in the last 95 days is to ensure that the techniques that were described in those OLC memos are no longer the policy of this government. I think that tends to get glossed over a bit in all of this back and forth. But no, the president’s not concerned that this is going to distract from a larger agenda. I think the American people are focused on moving forward. And, you know, the president has answered this question on commissions for months now, and his notion of looking forward and not backward has not changed.
– jpt
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Thank you, Jake.
Releasing the photographs without a fight seems to me the ultimate in looking back rather than forward, but maybe I’m missing something.
I’m interested in more about this, as long as we’re looking forward:
Gibbs:”Relating to this topic in the last 95 days is to ensure that the techniques that were described in those OLC memos are no longer the policy of this government. ”
What would Obama allow, given similar circumstances to the KSM interrogations.
We have heard (against President Obama’s wishes) his own people stating we got important intelligence from KSM.
What would President Obama truly allow? What specific things in the Bybee memo are to him so out of line that he’d risk seeing LA burn?
Will someone ask him?
Posted by: MayBee | April 24, 2009, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm
Jake: If the Obama administration had appealed it to the Supreme Court you’d be accusing them of a coverup about now.
Posted by: anderson n carolina | April 24, 2009, 3:59 pm 3:59 pm
I think that it is clear that freedom of information act would have won out in the courts in the long run. It is hard to classfy information that has already been released in one way or the other.
That torture has been committed is and was a well known fact, we have already seen such pictures from Irag, does not support hiding the information.
Posted by: Thinking | April 24, 2009, 4:07 pm 4:07 pm
Just wet your finger and stick it up in the air.. it’s a great way to see which way the wind is blowing today.. every time I do it.. the wind seems to have changed.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | April 24, 2009, 4:07 pm 4:07 pm
Gibbs: “I think the president took swift action to change our image in the world.”
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Frightening, isn’t it?
Posted by: mad | April 24, 2009, 4:13 pm 4:13 pm
“What specific things in the Bybee memo are to him so out of line that he’d risk seeing LA burn?”
The plot to hit the LA Library Tower was disrupted in early 2002.
Earliest report of waterboarding in Aug of 2002 and we did not even capture KSM until 2003.
Posted by: Ryan C | April 24, 2009, 4:16 pm 4:16 pm
TAPPER: Okay. Well, would the president support releasing this information even if his hands weren’t forced?
GIBBS: Yeah, I — and I told Ben (Feller of AP) I’d check on that.
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I think Jake get’s an “I’ll check on that” every day.
How often do you get an answer back, Jake?
Posted by: MayBee | April 24, 2009, 4:17 pm 4:17 pm
Hi…This is one of his ‘evolving’ policiea (flip-flop) but what about the latest breaking news…he’s CUTTING the middle-class tax break! That was a short lived promised. Don’t like to be disrespectful but he’s a COMPLETE lier! He’s like Carter w/ out any honesty and integrity. As an independent, I know who I won’t be voting for next yr and 2012! Pelosi needs to knit somewhere and stay there! What a miserable pack of leaders we have! Including the republicans!
TERM-LIMITS!!!
Posted by: Hope | April 24, 2009, 4:19 pm 4:19 pm
Ryan- Obama’s own Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, said that important information was gleaned from KSM during harsh interrogation.
You’ll forgive me if I grant more credit in this argument to him and the past CIA directors than I do to you.
Posted by: MayBee | April 24, 2009, 4:21 pm 4:21 pm
Why does it surprise anyone that the decision to appeal a ruling might actually depend on the merits of the case.
Posted by: Paul Dirks | April 24, 2009, 4:31 pm 4:31 pm
Where are the pictures of the carnage created by the drones Obama ordered to kill terrorist?
Civilians were killed.
Will he be prosecuted for this?
Posted by: tommy | April 24, 2009, 4:40 pm 4:40 pm
Why does it surprise anyone that the decision to appeal a ruling might actually depend on the merits of the case.
============
What people want to know is whether the decision not to appeal might actually depend on the administration’s agreement with the current status of the case.
The administration has certainly shown willingness to fight hard in court for what it wants.
They recently brought the Hillary movie case all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing that even a book could be kept from being published during an election according to election laws.
They are willing to go out on a limb to keep information from the public. Just not this.
Posted by: MayBee | April 24, 2009, 4:43 pm 4:43 pm
This witch hunt is a good distraction from the TARP fraud that is brewing.
Humiliating Bush/Cheney is the left’s top priority.
Obama’s top priority is to stay popular.
Posted by: nick | April 24, 2009, 4:44 pm 4:44 pm
The President’s single most critical task is to ensure the safety and security of the country. If something will detrimentally affect the national security of this country, it’s his job to stop it.
This is a pivotal, critical time, in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Arab media is very good at stoking emotions, even those that have been lying dormant since the AG photos.(America arrested and jailed those people,btw.)
The Taliban has made so many inroads into Pakistan all they need is these memos and photos to turn enough of the population against the U.S.-associated government. Yesterday, it was reported that they fought through to as far as 60 miles of the capital. Taliban-controlled regions far outweigh Pakistan government-controlled ones.
The Taliban will soon control those routes used to replenish and resupply our troops in Afghanistan.
We’re trying to drawdown forces from Iraq. We cannot do that until Iraqi security forces can handle their own security and maintain stability. The past 48 hrs. have brought an increase in bombings, with lethal results. The memo’s release, and the future release of detainee photos, will make that much worse, increasing attacks on Americans and those that have cooperated. More Americans could be killed and injured as the ripple effect from the release of these two things plays itself out.
The memos will be used by detainees’ attorneys to nullify and have dismissed charges against them, especially if they were developed from confessions, even if the confessions did not result from harsh interrogations. It will greatly complicate the law enforcement path Obama is taking to fight terrorism. it makes it more likely that detainees will be freed.
Strong line of questioning, but Gibb’s answers are insufficient. They keep trying to posture themselves as neutral players, just standing around with their hands in their pockets, while all this stuff happens around them that they can’t control.
I’d like to get a read from WH lawyers as to how they will now tailor or circumscribe their legal advice to the WH in light of the release of these memos. Notice the charges being talked about are against those simply providing advice, not those who actually formulated the policy, and decided on it. (The Decider).
Bottom line, the release of the memo/photos is a rank political move targeting the military and intelligence communities, at a fragile time in key parts of the world that are critical to U.S. national security. It was a mistake, done out of inexperience.
The only way Obama can right this ship is to release whatever the results were of those interrogations — NOT selectively — ALL of them.
Posted by: jo | April 24, 2009, 4:58 pm 4:58 pm
Put Pelosi on the stand.
Let her explain why she knew about waterboarding and did nothing.
Or why she sat in a high level CIA briefing but had no clue what was said.
If she helped save lives in California she should own it and be proud.
Pelosi knows the left will let anyone take the fall except Obama. Look at what happened to Dodd and the AIG bonuses.
Posted by: ross | April 24, 2009, 5:12 pm 5:12 pm
The Obama administration needs this witch hunt.
When Obama doesn’t have Bush to blame all eyes will be on him and he can’t afford to let that happen.
His continuous excuse “I inherited this” was wearing thin.
So now he has a fresh longterm reason to keep blaming Bush.
Obama is pathetic.
Posted by: lonny | April 24, 2009, 5:44 pm 5:44 pm
Obama needed something to pacify the left and keep them preoccupied.
Something to keep their minds off of the 21,000 troops headed to Obama’s unwinnable war.
He tossed them a bone–humiliate Bush.
Forget about the civilians and the troops that will die.
Concentrate on how horrible waterboarding is…suckers.
Posted by: marly | April 24, 2009, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
Mr. Tapper (I love to pretend he actually reads the blog on occasion), I love the transcripts you provide of your interactions with Gibby, complete with splutters and repeats. So, has he ever provided you with any of the information he has offered to provide, when he has promised to “get back to you with that information” or “follow up on that”? You should provide us with the follow-ups, or lack thereof.
Posted by: moderate | April 24, 2009, 6:51 pm 6:51 pm
8 years of Bush has apparently given Jake the idea that it might in fact be true that covering up embarrassing information can be justified under national security grounds.
For decades now, information that belongs to the public has been hidden from us, under a legal theory known most accurately as ‘the divine right of kings’.
It must be annoying to be a villager and have your assumptions upset by an administration that seems bent on openness.
This rocks the village, because they have to reassess their entire worldview – people who they have tried to get cocktail party invites from and whose names they loved to drop are in reality nothing but common criminals.
History will judge our media harshly.
Posted by: Flash Override | April 24, 2009, 8:21 pm 8:21 pm
…. and I said Mr. President your looking backwards and there isn’t anyone following you.
Posted by: Brad | April 24, 2009, 9:34 pm 9:34 pm
Me thinks Nancy Pelosi is going to prison for lying under oath. That smile will only get her so far.
Posted by: Gjones | April 24, 2009, 9:36 pm 9:36 pm
Jake, at some point someone is going to have to get an answer from Obama and his supporters:
Just how many American lives are acceptable to Obama before their protection takes precedent over his “preening” on the moral “highground” to the salons of Brussels, Cambridge and Berkeley?
We know that our adversaries care nothing about these things and the repellant thugocracies which Obama is so keen on appeasing do harsher things to girls who are dressed improperly, homosexuals or women who don’t show the proper deference.
So are the lives of Americans so cheap that it is more important to impress the leftist nitwits in the coffee shops of Europe and Seattle than protecting them? He did swear an oath?
Posted by: LogicalUS | April 24, 2009, 9:51 pm 9:51 pm
One can only hope that photographs are being taken of the aftermath of Mr. Obama’s targeted assassination strikes by Predator drones in Pakistan. Then some day we can look forward to the photos being published, and various Obama people being criminally prosecuted for murder.
Meanhwile, Obama continues to drive employment down, and political prisoners the world around get to gaze at pictures of him yukking it up with Hugo Chavez.
No wonder a majority now expect the next president to be a Republican.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | April 24, 2009, 9:54 pm 9:54 pm
Once again the president-in-training shows how abysmally unprepared and unserious he is about the job he was mistakenly given. If he were CEO of an auto company, he would have fired himself by now.
Posted by: Michael | April 24, 2009, 10:14 pm 10:14 pm
Flash, there are legitimate national security concerns here. We have troops in harms way, fighting an enemy whose brutality knows no bounds. The last thing they need, as they stabilize Iraq and try to leave behind a secure country, is the masses riled up and foaming at Americans and anyone who worked with them.
This is just the latest in a string of actions by the Ob. admin. to lower security measures, like closing Gitmo, giving detainees Constitutional rights, trying detainees in the U.S. , releasing the memos, etc…
The larger security situation with potential to reach over here is this. AQ/Taliban are closing in on Islamabad. They have quickly assessed that the U.S. is limited in how much it can assist Pakistan. With these safe havens, the Taliban could soon control the routes that supply and reinforce U.S. troops in Afghanistan. They can already plot and plan attacks against the West in the safe havens of Pakistan that the central government gave up and agreed to implement Sharia in. Moreover, you don’t want the bad guys to get a hold of Pak’s nukes. The U.S. is weak here.
American lives are endangered, and the perceptions ginned up by these memos and photos are sure to be repeatedly broadcast in Arab media. This won’t help with the populations in Iraq that the U.S. still needs cooperation from to execute the force drawdown. Bombings there have spiked.
Some articles note that a major George Soros donation to the ACLU fueled this FOIA effort to release these photos, but I don’t know if that’s true. If so, it would fit in with his utopian “Open Society” vision. His hedge fund did well last year.
There is an effort to discredit and delegitimize the intelligence and military communities. It’s not limited to the DHS memo on vets possibly being extremist militia recruits. These photos will help that effort.
Posted by: jo | April 24, 2009, 11:12 pm 11:12 pm
I know why the Democrats/left were so desperate to get Obama elected instead of Hillary.
Obama is a pushover and a doormat.
Hillary is not.
She needs to get away from the impending trainwreck.
Posted by: bailey | April 25, 2009, 8:02 am 8:02 am
There is a rumor that BO is going to require our military to use paintballs instead of bullets.
Bullets are too harmful to the terrorist.
Posted by: nick | April 25, 2009, 8:04 am 8:04 am
Obama has sent a strong message to those who protect us (CIA/military).
You can no longer depend on your Commander-in-Chief.
Who could trust Obama’s word?
Posted by: max | April 25, 2009, 8:07 am 8:07 am
jo,
you have a ‘we problem. “We” didnt put those troops in harms way, Bush did. The solution to your problem is to get them out of harms way.
” fighting an enemy whose brutality knows no bounds”
Project much, jo?
1) BUSH lied so he could invade Iraq
2) BUSH tortured to get ‘evidence’ to back up the lies
Its simple.
Posted by: Flash Override | April 25, 2009, 8:07 am 8:07 am
“the DHS memo on vets possibly being extremist militia recruits”
You mean the DHS memo on right wing terrorist groups trying to recruit out the the military?
Posted by: Flash Override | April 25, 2009, 8:16 am 8:16 am
Keep an eye on Obama’a left hand as he prosecutes Bush.
With his right hand he is releasing Gitmo detainees into the US.
Whatever you do don’t forget that smile, his charm, and how popular he is.
Posted by: riley | April 25, 2009, 8:16 am 8:16 am
You can bet the Chinese Muslim detainees will not be on the DHS list of extremist.
But our military vets are.
Posted by: max | April 25, 2009, 8:19 am 8:19 am
Flash, I’m surprised. You wrote, “This rocks the village, because they have to reassess their entire worldview – people who they have tried to get cocktail party invites from and whose names they loved to drop are in reality nothing but common criminals.” You really consider Obama and friends common criminals? Sorry, couldn’t resist deliberately misunderstanding your overwrought condemnation of poor Mr. Tapper and anyone here who dares not bow down to the Chosen One.
You castigate Tapper for no good reason, as he is a reporter who has done a wonderful job of attempting to get solid information from this administration, which is not as beautifully transparent as you want to believe it is. Oh, sure, let’s be “transparent” about previous administrations, so we can use them as foils and continue to place blame on them to divert people from our own follies. But this administration, like all others, is selective in its transparency (and in the spirit of full disclosure, I should say that I am less bothered by secrecy than some, since sometimes I think the public truly does not need to know every little thing and that revelations, such as the existence of these memos, does more harm than good). Mr. Tapper is still waiting for that list of lobbyist waivers signed, I fear. And the administration has gone to court arguing for the same state secret policy that candidate Obama used to castigate Bush for following. And just think of the lack of transparency surrounding TARP.
Do be careful mounting those high horses, Flash. The fall can prove quite painful to the bottom.
Posted by: moderate | April 25, 2009, 8:27 am 8:27 am
Go get ‘em, Jake.
Gibbs is a moron, covering for a dishonest man.
Posted by: drjohn | April 25, 2009, 9:46 am 9:46 am
“2) BUSH tortured to get ‘evidence’ to back up the lies”
Flash, you seem to have missed the part where Democrats were apprised of what was happening and they did not object.
You missed the part where Congress twice refused to call waterboarding torture.
Posted by: drjohn | April 25, 2009, 9:48 am 9:48 am
Posted by: max | Apr 25, 2009 8:07:25 AM
Oh, I don’t know about that, Max. I think Obama will stand behind the CIA.
Except when he doesn’t.
He’ll protect them.
Until it gets too hot and then he won’t.
See? it’s simple!
Posted by: drjohn | April 25, 2009, 9:50 am 9:50 am
Gibbs – eloquent as ever!
Posted by: NPage | April 25, 2009, 9:53 am 9:53 am
Why was no liberal similarly exercised by Clinton’s “extraordinary rendition” program in which torture was merely outsourced?
Posted by: drjohn | April 25, 2009, 11:48 am 11:48 am
Why was no liberal similarly exercised by Clinton’s “extraordinary rendition” program in which torture was merely outsourced?
Posted by: drjohn
==========================================
These were not “extraordinary” programs like we witnessed during the Bush-years: these were more linke enhanced rendition programs from the 80s. Clinton brought terrorists and international criminals into the light so they could be brougth to justice. There certainly should be asked questions whether the CIA under Clinton did enough to make sure the suspects were rendered to countries that did enough to guarantee these suspects got a fair trial. But essentially, these were programs to bring people to justice.
The Bush extraordinare rendition programs were programs intended to “torture-by-proxy”. These suspects were not brought into the light of justice, on the contrary: they disappeared from the face of the earth
Posted by: Willem van Oranje | April 25, 2009, 12:45 pm 12:45 pm
You missed the part where Congress twice refused to call waterboarding torture.
Posted by: drjohn
============================================
Your point is what?
You think this is a partisan issue for us? If Dems do it, it’s okay; if Reps do it, it’s not. And vice versa?
Here is something that will blow your mind: I call for investigations because I want all there is to know about this out on the table and in public, and let the chips fall where they belong. Including indictments.
Posted by: Willem van Oranje | April 25, 2009, 12:51 pm 12:51 pm
Obama’s own Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, said that important information was gleaned from KSM during harsh interrogation.
You’ll forgive me if I grant more credit in this argument to him and the past CIA directors than I do to you.
Posted by: MayBee
=========================================
Then I’m sure you also agree with the rest of his statement: “The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security.”
Thank you for playing and go cry in your lonely corner
Posted by: Willem van Oranje | April 25, 2009, 1:11 pm 1:11 pm
Thanks to J. Tapper for his efforts on behalf of the American public.. the press is ever important in shedding light on all political meanderings… we are totally powerless without agressive reporters..
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | April 25, 2009, 3:31 pm 3:31 pm
aggressive?
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | April 25, 2009, 4:13 pm 4:13 pm
Willem, haven’t seen any posts from you in a while, but then I’ve been too busy at work to spend much time on the boards of late. So I see you are back and twisting logic and facts as unrepentant as ever. In one post, you decry the mere suggestion that there is a partisan cast to your enthusiasm for “investigating” the enhanced interrogation program of the Bush administration, and in another you have the nerve to defend, with a straight face, the renditions of the Clinton era as not really renditions but some sort of “bringing international criminals into the light.” Renditions under Bush, you claim, were evil torture by proxy but renditions by Clinton were not. Nope, no partisanship there.
You say you want to know everything that was going on, and let the chips fall where they may. Right. Like Nancy Pelosi wanting to have a truth commission but insisting, despite the evidence of others involved in the process, that she didn’t hear what she heard about the enhanced interrogation techniques and that she didn’t know what she knew about them. Sorry, but this is a sorry attempt to prolong an argument we can now put behind us, because the programs are no longer in use and have been repudiated by the current administration. Why go further and have show hearings and show trials? Why, to keep the REpublicans out of power and re-elect Democrats, of course.
Posted by: moderate | April 25, 2009, 4:47 pm 4:47 pm
Mr. Tapper, I hope you are getting hazardous duty pay to sit in those Conferences with the “wizard of Uh’s…” Poor Robert Gibbs is excruciating to watch but the occasional questions you are able to slip in make it worth while.
Keep up the good work.
A fan
Posted by: Peggy | April 25, 2009, 5:40 pm 5:40 pm
Gibbs: “I think the president took swift action to change our image in the world.”
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Frightening, isn’t it?
Posted by: mad | Apr 24, 2009 4:13:29 PM
————————————-
Especially coming from that clueless MORON!
Posted by: Peggy | April 25, 2009, 5:48 pm 5:48 pm
It’s unseemly for the Obama administration to posture themselves as beacons of truth, justice and morality when American drones are killing people (many women and children) and displacing thousands in Pakistan.
The ego of Obama’s knows no bounds.
Posted by: sheryl | April 26, 2009, 5:40 am 5:40 am
actors pretending not to be actors… exactly.. well, more like bad actors trying to run the show.. using their faulty interpretative technique..
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | April 26, 2009, 8:19 am 8:19 am
If Obama were charged with war crimes for his Predator assassinations in Pakistan, what would be his defense?
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | April 26, 2009, 11:04 am 11:04 am