Obama spokesman announces interrogation unit

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has approved creation of a new, special terrorism-era interrogation unit to be supervised by the White House, a top aide said Monday, pushing further distancing his administration from Bush administration detainee policies.

The new unit does not mean the CIA is now out of the interrogation business, deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton told reporters covering the vacationing Obama at Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, Mass.

Burton said the unit will include "all these different elements under one group," and it said that it will be situated at the FBI headquarters in Washington. The unit would be led by an FBI official, with a deputy director from somewhere in the government's vast intelligence apparatus, and members from across agencies. It will be directly supervised by the White House.

Separately, Burton said that a recommendation now before Attorney General Eric Holder to reopen and pursue prisoner abuse cases is a decision solely for Holder to make without any intervention from the president.

Obama campaigned vigorously against President George W. Bush's interrogation policies in his successful run for the presidency. He has said more recently he didn't particularly favor prosecuting Bush administration officials in connection with instances of prisoner abuse. Obama still believes "we should be looking forward, not backward," Burton said Monday.

Nonetheless, the spokesman added, Obama believes the attorney general should be fully independent from the White House and he has full faith in Holder to make the decision on whether to reopen several such cases with an eye toward possible criminal prosecution. "He ultimately is going to make the decisions," Burton said of Holder.

news.yahoo.com...

Wow. A total reversal or what? First he was against Bush doing this and now he's gone and done what he was against.

Is this the SS or what?

The unit is lead by one FBI agent but answers directly to the White House.

To me this is clearly the SS.

Another nail in the coffin of the constitution.

I am intrigued by that this would include agents from multiple agencies. The separation of the agencies and their territorial disputes definitely benefits us all in this brave new world.

If the alphabet soup were to begin merging into one giant bureaucratic pile of feces I would imagine it would look something like the SS.

Obama puts them directly under the supervision of the White House.

Guess that means that when things go wrong obama will simply say that it falls under Presidential executive privilege and that the unit is untouchable.

This issue definitely needs more looking into. I wonder what Congress thinks of this plan.

oooooh, the Stazi!!!! So, so far we've got the Brownshirts, the Ministry of Truth and now the Stazi. We are now officially the 4th Reich!!! Way to go liberal demorats - you did it - you've ruined the country well beyond what that incompetent dolt, George W. Bush could do! Now this certainly is change, now isn't it?

Basically, we have a new Interrogation Czar that reports to Obama. Neato! I hope Obama's die hard supporters are finally beginning to see the light. The man is certainly not who they thought he was.

Originally posted by jibeho
Basically, we have a new Interrogation Czar that reports to Obama. Neato! I hope Obama's die hard supporters are finally beginning to see the light. The man is certainly not who they thought he was.

You beat me to it...but I was going to call him the Torture Czar.

Same old crap. I'd really be surprised if they all weren't under DHS already...

reply to post by warrenb
First, I appreciate that you posted the entire article here. It is helpful to read things in their context. However, you then pose your questions from only one point of view. For sake of honest debate, may I propose a differing view?

First, Obama campaigned against the multiple abuses of power that the Bush administration operated within their intelligence gathering community. Namely, the authorized use of torture techniques in interrogations, the use of warrantlessly obtained wiretaps on American Citizens in intel gathering, illegal uses of special rendition, and suspension of habeus corpus for those suspected.

Thus, in order to maintain a vigilant eye on terrorism, foreign and domestic, and yet halt the abuses of power from the last administration, the new administration outlined an improved interrogation program which will not continue the violations of the previous one. In order to ensure accountability for this new program the White House is going to be directly responsible. However, to ensure checks and balances of power, the unit will headed by a FBI official and have membership from across the intell community.

Now, when viewed from that perspective, it sounds much less outrageous. I am not saying my view is right and your view is wrong, only that you distort the facts when only presenting one possible motive and one possible outcome.

With multiple views you get a much broader spectrum by which to interpret the "Truth."

Wow. Hate to say it, but he is going right in step with Hitler. Why on earth would you create an interrogation unit that reports directly to the white house and soley the white house? We allready have people out there that are more than capable of doing this that report to their directors and then that gets passed on after it gets filtered thru for all the bs that comes in. I cant see another reason why this would be set up other than control. Can anybody else? I wonder what the obamanites would think about this. This goes way beyond the patriot act (aka #e on my privacy act). In fact it just makes the possibilities of "what if" way worse. Im with the op in agreeing that this is def the new SS. Kinda scary if you really think about it actually...

reply to post by dizzie56
Please read the thread. You pose the questions:

"I cant see another reason why this would be set up other than control. Can anybody else? I wonder what the obamanites would think about this."

And yet I have answered directly above you! Granted, having been a registered Republican for nearly 2 decades, I am not an "Obamanite" whatever that may be.

Originally posted by kozmo

oooooh, the Stazi!!!!

So, so far we've got the Brownshirts, the Ministry of Truth and now the Stazi. We are now officially the 4th Reich!!! Way to go liberal demorats - you did it - you've ruined the country well beyond what that incompetent dolt, George W. Bush could do! Now this certainly is change, now isn't it?

[sarcasm]Yep, once again, it is a Democrat issue. The republicans are the honest good guys.[/sarcasm]

Jeez, can't you folks tell this is not a republican v. democrat / conservative v. liberal thing anymore? This is a blatent and outright attack on the common man by a small and powerful group of aristocrats. Noone on Capital Hill cares what party you are in anymore. That's just for show. It's all a matter of doing as much as you can for financial and power gain with one party until people start screaming. Then you switch parties and do it all over again.

Originally posted by Artephius Abraxas Helios
reply to post by dizzie56

 

Please read the thread. You pose the questions:

"I cant see another reason why this would be set up other than control. Can anybody else? I wonder what the obamanites would think about this."

And yet I have answered directly above you!

Granted, having been a registered Republican for nearly 2 decades, I am not an "Obamanite" whatever that may be.

i read the thread. u just happened to post ur response before mine while i was still typing it is all. being at work, i usually have to stop posting on threads sometimes and help out with some customers from time to time which delays my posting of my responses.

I do see what your saying tho, but I still dont see the need for the direct involvement from the white house. Honestly, he is the president. All he has to do is issue an executive order and have it say that from now on all interogations will be conducted by the army field manual to the t and its done. no more needed. Anything that is done to the alternative would be a direct violation of his order as the commander in chief and would come with serious punishment. Making up his own seperate unit that is under his direct control just gives me the chills. I dont see the need. The making of the department of homeland security was suppossed to bring all the department heads from the nsa, cia, fbi, etc., etc., together to share info that would be directly relayed to the prez. He still has that, but he wants his own seperate task force to oversee certain things?

I realize that you were bringing up the other point of view from the op, but do you honestly feel that it is ok for the prez to keep appointing czars and making his own police units that answer directly to him? They could be as benign as possible but it still doesnt make it right. Even if they would have no real authority to interogate or arrest people, you still have the prez taking our money and spending it on something that is allready in place imo, he just needs to learn how to manage it better.

reply to post by dizzie56
No, to be clear, I am not a fan of the Czars, or programs that need a csar in general. But I simply don't think that immediately responding to every measure, every statment, and every step this White House takes with distrust, disdain and outright bombast will ever be the reasoned response. I'm of the "I want to know more" school.
Then we can delve into "why" it is not a good idea. But in this case this program was announced this morning and within the hour here was a post calling it the SS.

Now, I'll ask you a question, do you honestly believe calling any government program the SS only hours after it is announced is an appropriate response.

reply to post by warrenb


There is nothing more desirable than a biased slant on a story, there is nothing more grotesque than a blatant lie - and that is all you are doing.

Obama has merely placed the interrogation unit under White House - executive - observation, alongside a range of other observers to ensure that the the breaches which occurred under Bush do not happen again - in other words he has gone for transparency and honesty - something a democracy relies on - moving it away from the nefarious activities of the Bush regime.

This doesn't take more than a five year old to see how manipulative and down right disingenuous you are - you are a total and utter fraud - try and show some honesty and integrity or you will simply be ignored for the liar you are.

Originally posted by rogerstigers

Originally posted by kozmo

oooooh, the Stazi!!!!

So, so far we've got the Brownshirts, the Ministry of Truth and now the Stazi. We are now officially the 4th Reich!!! Way to go liberal demorats - you did it - you've ruined the country well beyond what that incompetent dolt, George W. Bush could do! Now this certainly is change, now isn't it?

[sarcasm]Yep, once again, it is a Democrat issue. The republicans are the honest good guys.[/sarcasm]

Jeez, can't you folks tell this is not a republican v. democrat / conservative v. liberal thing anymore? This is a blatent and outright attack on the common man by a small and powerful group of aristocrats. Noone on Capital Hill cares what party you are in anymore. That's just for show. It's all a matter of doing as much as you can for financial and power gain with one party until people start screaming. Then you switch parties and do it all over again.

Isn't that basically what I stated? The party of "Change" has taken things even further than "That incompentent dolt, George W. Bush". Yeah, I know it is NOT a Republican versus Democrat issue. That was my point. Partisanship has taken us from terrible to approaching worse than terrible! Next, the sheeple will put the Republicans back in power to implement more of the same.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has approved creation of a new, special terrorism-era interrogation unit to be supervised by the White House,

Geeeze .... that's a bit spooky don't ya' think?
Obama himself in charge of interrogation of 'terrorists'.
They'll have a hot line all set up so you can tattle on your 'fishy' neighbors.

WAKE UP AMERICA!

Originally posted by audas
"... in other words he has gone for transparency and honesty - something a democracy relies on - moving it away from the nefarious activities of the Bush regime."

This statement right here is precious, just PRE-CIOUS!!!

Sure he has been sooooooo forthright, honest and transparent!

That one single line of your post deserves it's own thread - filled with 50 pages of lies, campaign promises broken, continued policy of the Bush regime and hidden agendas! I mean honestly, has partisanship made people this blind???

reply to post by kozmo


Hey you can use emoticons - you must be right.

How about you address the post you garrulous slanderer.

Originally posted by kozmo
Isn't that basically what I stated? The party of "Change" has taken things even further than "That incompentent dolt, George W. Bush". Yeah, I know it is NOT a Republican versus Democrat issue. That was my point. Partisanship has taken us from terrible to approaching worse than terrible! Next, the sheeple will put the Republicans back in power to implement more of the same.

*nod* I apologize. I failed to process your post correctly. I was early in my coffee dosage.

Originally posted by audas
reply to post by kozmo

 

Hey you can use emoticons - you must be right.

How about you address the post you garrulous slanderer.

Wow! And you're observant! Yes, I can use emoticons! And Yes, I am correct! And I did address the post! Reading comprehension problem

I see... you're so sad Your boy is proving to be just another lying politican and it pains you. It pains you because you bought the bridge he was selling. Sadly, there were many of us calling it like we saw it from the get go, and we were right. There's no need to get mad at us, we didn't make Obama a liar - he did! And as far as partisanship goes, as long as you cling to it like Linus to his blanket, there is no hope of you ever seeing the truth. Hang in there though, it's bound to hit you sooner or later.

reply to post by Artephius Abraxas Helios


I am of the "I want to more school" as well. But the only difference is that i read the story and i look at the possibilities of both positive and negative. With this, i cant see the positive at all. Like i previously stated, it is not needed. At most, its to show that obama can "handle" the interogations and not delve into the past transgressions that were made. But the dangerous part is that it sets precident. Even if he doesnt do anything with the interogation unit other than use it as show for now, it has an ability to become more negative. Also like i said, he allready has the dhs. Other than using this special unit as show, what could he possibly need it for?

In response to audus, where do you actually think that the transperancy is going to take place? Do you think is going to give you status updates on myspace or facebook or something? Get real, its an interogation of "terrorists". He can say he is doing one thing and be actually doing something completely different. Its not like we are going to be watching the process.

I do believe that this unit will be benign for a while. But like i said above it has more possibilities to become negative down the line by setting precedents that the prez himself can have his own police unit that is directly under his control. If you would just read history from the any period in the past, this does not turn out well at all. It may take a little bit of time, but eventually it turns out horribly for the citizens as well as the presidents. I would actually like to have somebody come up with one instance where an emperor/king/ceasar/prez/dictator has set up his own police unit in some fasion and tell me that it turned out well for both the citizens and the leader. To often in history these special units eventually turn for the worse and are used against us and end up being corrupt and be used against the leader.

I understand the point of view of "give it a chance" or even "learn some more" before throwing the first stone. I am usually all for it. But when history has dictated to me that something has never turned out well for either party then i will try and damn it from the get go before it is able to take hold. You have to cut it down before it's roots take hold imo.