LIARS & TORTURERS - Levin Re: Tomorrow's Judiciary Cmmtee Session - "It's False Testimony"

[kpete]

Liars and torturers

Tomorrow, the Senate will hold its first hearing on torture since the torture memos were declassified by the new administration. In the run-up to the hearings, researchers from the Center on Law and Security have been studying the memos closely and comparing what they reveal with the testimony given by John Yoo, Rumsfeld and General Myers, and Ricardo Sanchez.

***Researchers have compared the documents with testimony from previous hearings on torture. They have looked for contradictions between what government officials claimed when the program was classified and what we know now that the program is public. The project's leader, Karen Greenberg, has concluded that "we've been spun every which way."

In other words, if the Senate Judiciary Committee chooses to have a serious and probing session, there's plenty of lyin' and signifyin' to look into. Carl Levin, who's on the Armed Services Committee wants some serious action.

***'Not Surprised'

"It's false testimony as far as I'm concerned," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) in an interview.

"If people don't tell us the truth about their role in the activities, of course I'm offended by it," said Levin, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee. "But I'm not surprised because right from the beginning, top civilian leaders from the Bush administration have acted as though they have nothing to do with this."

Levin wants the attorney general to appoint someone apolitical to investigate accountability, including whether people made false statements to Congress.

http://prairieweather.typepad.com/big_blue_stem/2009/05/liars-and-torturers.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104065609

[BeFree]

1. Levin

He is a treasure, and I'd bet he is chomping at the bit to sink his teeth into the torture scheme.

[EFerrari]

2. Carl Levin was on the Armed Services Committee 2004 and also

the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2004 when the Abu Ghraib hearings were held and he was in a position to be briefed on the torture program.

It's really not enough for him to pretend that he knew nothing or suspected nothing and is only being lied to by other people.