Attorney General Mukasey Nixes Special Prosecutor in CIA Case

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: NYT/AP

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 25, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Friday he doesn't plan for a special prosecutor to investigate whether the CIA broke the law when it destroyed videotapes of terror interrogations, defying some in Congress who want an independent look at the politically charged case.

Mukasey, in a 41-minute briefing with reporters, also ducked repeated questions about whether he considers waterboarding a form of torture -- an issue expected to be at the top of the agenda when he appears next week in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Speaking tersely and in an even, low tone, Mukasey would not discuss whether he has seen any evidence that destroying the interrogation tapes violated court orders or otherwise interfered with any case. He said the ongoing criminal investigation, headed by career federal prosecutor John Durham of Connecticut, was opened on grounds of ''some indication -- which is a lot less than probable cause -- some indication that there was any violation of any federal statute.''

''And that's the only basis on which we proceeded,'' Mukasey said.

Asked if he has reconsidered his decision to not put a special prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Mukasey said, simply, ''No.''

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Mukasey-CIA-Tapes.html

[Webster Green]

1. ...

[truthisfreedom]

2. "We're going to do what we want... that's what the administration does, and they'll back us."

No accountability. That's bush's spectacular imperial legacy.

[rateyes]

3. Thank you Schumer, Feinstein and

Leahy (for not sticking to your guns on getting the subpoenaed material before allowing this jerk a confirmation hearing)...NOT.

OK, Conyers and Leahy, START THE INVESTIGATION YOURSELVES!

[Ian David]

19. They need to start by investigating what DiFi was briefed on first.

Investigate DiFi, too!

[FreepFryer]

4. FUCK YOU, SCHUMER (and FEINSTEIN). YOU'VE LOST MY VOTE. (n/t)

[Ian David]

20. This was a real surprise coming from Schumer. n/t

[FreepFryer]

21. And he'll pay with his seat for it, I'm sure. His constituency has been utterly betrayed. (n/t)

[quiet.american]

5. Well, I'll be swizzled! nt

[VP505]

6. Funny that most,

aw hell, why bother typing it, most of us were wary that he would be be just another Bu$h enabler, no surprise about that.

[TacticalPeek]

7. "NIXES"

Hits the right overtone, tapewise.

[global1]

8. No Surprises - Nothing Here - Move Along ......nt

[ixion]

9. thanks so much to the dems who supported this BFEE lackey

you've helped to make America the stinking hole that it is today.

[lurky]

10. Surprised? n/t

[Uncle Joe]

11. Well, dayum who could have seen that one coming!?

"He said the ongoing criminal investigation, headed by career federal prosecutor John Durham of Connecticut, was opened on grounds of ''some indication -- which is a lot less than probable cause -- some indication that there was any violation of any federal statute.''"

This is sort of like there was some indication, the levees in New Orleans could be breached.


Thanks for the thread, DeepModemMom.

[libodem]

12. The AG legacy continues

unabated. Is his middle name Gonzales?

[bdamomma]

13. sickening get these criminals out of DC!!!!

[formercia]

14. Michael 'Gravedigger' Mukasey

Another investigation gets buried.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/formercia/135

formercia's Journal
Was the false FBI terror alert an attempt to drive the vote?
Posted by formercia in General Discussion: Primaries
Fri Nov 09th 2007, 09:58 AM
Don't you think it's strange that on the eve of the Mukasey confirmation vote, the FBI issues a false terror alert to shift the vote in favor of Mukasey?
I can see the thought rattling through those gentrified senatorial brains: We must have an Attorney General who is strong on terrorism. Better vote on the safe side in case the alert is real. We can't be accused of voting against the nomination in case there is an attack.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/formercia/102

formercia's Journal
Susan Lindauer, Andrew Card's second cousin
Posted by formercia in Latest Breaking News
Mon Sep 17th 2007, 11:55 AM
committed by a panel of psychiatrists appointed by Judge Mukasey to a Texas mental facility. She supposedly delivered a letter to Card on behalf if the Iraqis imploring not to invade.
The Wiki entry presents Mukasey as a good guy, but he was responsible for taking her out of circulation in the run up to War. Public revelations of her letter were not what the Administration needed.

This may be his reward for helping keep the upcoming War on track.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Lindaue...

Arrest

Lindauer was arrested on Thursday, 11 March 2004 in Takoma Park, Maryland and charged with "acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government". The indictment alleged that she accepted US$ 10,000 from Iraqi intelligence services in 2002. Lindauer denies receiving the $10,000, but admits to taking a trip to Baghdad.

She allegedly delivered a letter to Andrew Card, who is her second cousin and former Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush. The letter urged the White House not to invade Iraq, and outlined several likely consequences of a War in Iraq, including the resurgence of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda forces inside Iraq, and the emergence of Iran as a major regional power broker.<1>

Lindauer contends that her U.S. file was turned over to a Grand Jury just days after she approached Senator Trent Lott's office about how to contact the Presidential Commission on Iraqi Pre-War Intelligence regarding the work that she had done for the previous 7 years for the United States.

In late 2005, Lindauer was found incompetent to stand trial, a political solution to the indictment, and was sent to Carswell Federal Prison on a Texas military base for a psychiatric evaluation. The prosecution asked to forcibly drug Lindauer with needle injections of Haldol. She was released from prison in September 2006 after a federal judge, Michael B. Mukasey of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, ruled that she could not be forced to take anti-psychotic medication in an effort to make her competent to stand trial.

Judge Mukasey stated that Prosecution testimony supporting forcible drugging had been vicious and excessive. He also criticized the strength of the government's case against Lindauer in total, saying that the legal standard for forcibly administering medication requires a strong government interest in prosecution, and that the government has not established that standard in this case.

According to Judge Mukasey, "there is no indication that Lindauer ever came close to influencing anyone or could have." The indictment, he said, describes an attempt to influence an unnamed government official as unsuccessful. He stated that at least a half-dozen mental health professionals, including a psychiatrist retained by the government, have found Lindauer incompetent to stand trial-- though the Court denied Lindauer's repeated requests for a Competency Hearing, and failed to issue subpoenas for witnesses who nonetheless contacted the Court to validate her story. He also expressed humanitarian concerns about forcing Lindauer to take medication, which, he said, "necessarily involves physically restraining defendant so that she can be injected with mind-altering drugs."

Lindauer is currently free on bail. She is still officially considered incompetent to stand trial, and her case is still pending.

[Supersedeas]

Muck Muck Mukasey, still can't make up his mind on Waterboarding

[Supersedeas]

17. Muck Muck Mukasey, still can't make up his mind on Waterboarding

[orleans]

15. motherfu*ker! (now...why did schumer & frankenstein want him in?) n/t

[rhett o rick]

16. Why doesn't Schumer's boy Mukasey just get it over already? Declare that the CIA is protected from

investigations and prosecutions. We slip deeper into tyranny.

[MilesColtrane]

18. A Bush AG nominee turns out to be a toadying, torture lover put into place...

...to put out fires and protect the asses of his bosses?

Who would have guessed?

Apparently not Clinton or Obama.

They declined to go out of their way to stand up and vote against his confirmation.

Bold leadership indeed.

Truly though, the blame for this guy's ability to shoot down a prosecutor to just INVESTIGATE whether crimes were committed lies squarely on the shoulders of Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, and these collaborators:

Evan Bayh
Thomas Carper
Mary Landrieu
Ben Nelson

Let them hear about it.

[Solly Mack]

22. snicker

[laylah]

23. Well that surprises me!...

NOT. What a bunch of assholes! No $$$ signs to dilute my condemnation! ASSHOLES, haters of the Constitution and America! Every one of them! Have I said lately how much I hate these ASSHOLES that have taken over MY country! :mad:

[EFerrari]

24. F You, America! -- your Justice Department. n/t