"Thoroughly vetted"

[mmonk]

“No, your honor,” he said once more. The position he was taking in court on behalf of the government had been “thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration,” and “these are the authorized positions,” he said.

-snip-

"Thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration": that's about as explicit as it gets. It will be extremely difficult for even the most loyal Obama followers to deny that this was an active and conscious decision on the part of the Obama DOJ to embrace one of the most extreme abuses of the Bush presidency.

-snip-

It isn't merely that the Obama DOJ is invoking the privilege for this particular case, which contains allegations of torture that are as brutal and severe as any. That's bad enough. But worse is that they're invoking the most abusive parts of the Bush theory: namely, that the privilege can be used to block the adjudication of entire cases (rather than, say, justify the concealment of specific classified documents or other pieces of evidence), and, worse still, can be used to prevent judicial scrutiny even when the alleged government conduct is blatantly illegal and, as here, a war crime of the greatest seriousness.

What say you DU?

Is Greenwald a liar? Or do the facts stand as is?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/09/state_secrets/index.html

[catnhatnh]

1. Douglas N Letter....The "Obama" official...

http://www.leadershipprofiles.com/preview.asp?docid=447297&t=0

Of course as I stated elsewhere the new AG is undertaking a review of the use of the state secrets act. Greewald doesn't have to lie, but the story certainly spins. Your disappointment that a review has not occured within a week of the AG's confirmation seems a bit over the top.

[mmonk]

2. He cannot act contrary to the AG's position.

[mmonk]

3. Also, the case is well documented and well known

and adjudicated elsewhere.

"His has been an extremely well-documented case; it's been in books by Seymour Hersh and others. The UN has investigated this; the Swedish government has investigated this case."

"In fact, just a couple of months ago, the Swedish government agreed to pay Ahmed Agiza $450,000 for its secondary role in the CIA's rendition of Agiza to Egypt. So there's no real secret involved here. Nothing would be revealed by allowing Agiza to go forward in a case against the CIA, because Jeppesen's role is public, because Sweden's role is public, and because Egypt's role is public--he's in an Egyptian prison right now."

[mmonk]

4. And since his employer is in the executive branch, he is an "Obama"

official until otherwise relieved of his duty as a representative of the Justice Department which argues the Justice Department's position before the judicial branch.