Obama to Bush: I've got your back, friend

[SquidInk]

Obama wins the right to invoke "State Secrets" to protect Bush crimes
By Glenn Greenwald


In a 6-5 ruling issued this afternoon, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handed the Obama administration a major victory in its efforts to shield Bush crimes from judicial review, when the court upheld the Obama DOJ's argument that Bush's rendition program, used to send victims to be tortured, are "state secrets" and its legality thus cannot be adjudicated by courts. The Obama DOJ had appealed to the full 9th Circuit from last year's ruling by a 3-judge panel which rejected the "state secrets" argument and held that it cannot be used as a weapon to shield the Executive Branch from allegations in this case that it broke the law. I've written multiple times about this case, brought by torture/rendition victim Binyam Mohamed and several others against the Boeing subsidiary which, at the behest of the Bush administration, rendered them to be tortured.
[...]

The distorted, radical use of the state secret privilege -- as a broad-based immunity weapon for compelling the dismissal of entire cases alleging Executive lawbreaking, rather than a narrow discovery tool for suppressing the use of specific classified documents -- is exactly what the Bush administration did to such extreme controversy. To see how true that is, just look at this article from Talking Points Memo, from April of last year, in which Zachary Roth consulted with numerous legal experts about my argument that Obama was abusing this weapon in exactly the same way Bush did. [... more from source]

... and of course while we're protecting the secret frameworks that buttress the walls of the global money machine, lets consider this:

Pentagon aims to buy up book
By Peter Finn and Greg Miller
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 10, 2010

The Defense Department is attempting to buy the entire first printing - 10,000 copies - of a memoir by a controversial former Defense Intelligence Agency officer so that the book can be destroyed, according to military and other sources.

"Operation Dark Heart," which was scheduled to be published this month by St. Martin's Press, recounts the adventures and frustrations of an Army reservist, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, who served in Afghanistan in 2003, a moment when the attention of Washington and the military had shifted to Iraq. [...more at source ]

[Psychicwolf]

... and of course while we're protecting the secret frameworks that buttress the walls of money machine, lets consider this:

St Martin's couldn't ask for better pub. EVERYONE will want to read that book now!

[SquidInk]

Good point. I'd say ± 800!

[Kaztronic]

The problem is, the public will be reading an altered book by the looks of things.

Critical passage in the article about the book:

~snip~

The official said the Defense Department "sent up a team to talk with the publisher some time ago," and has been negotiating an agreement that might allow the Pentagon to purchase already printed copies of the book and permit a subsequent version to go forward as long as it complies with U.S. government requests.

Both sides now appear to have agreed on the contents of the second printing, but negotiations are focused on what to with the 10,000 copies already published.

The Pentagon is now negotiating with Shaffer's publisher to buy the entire first print run, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The Pentagon's plan to destroy all 10,000 copies of the initial printing was first reported Thursday night by the New York Times.

A new print run, without the disputed passages, is being prepared by the publisher.

[SETIsLady]

Looks like President Obama has to cover up President Bushes crimes, perhaps it would have better for this President to let Bush face his crimes, because he is taking alot of crap for covering up for them.

[Kaztronic]

If you're interested in reading an unedited copy of the book, look for a specialty bookstore in your area that buys used books.

Booksellers love to sell their ARC's, and some stores (like Strand in NYC) will subsequently sell them to the public.

[SquidInk]

The problem is, the public will be reading an altered book by the looks of things.

Critical passage in the article about the book:

~snip~

The official said the Defense Department "sent up a team to talk with the publisher some time ago," and has been negotiating an agreement that might allow the Pentagon to purchase already printed copies of the book and permit a subsequent version to go forward as long as it complies with U.S. government requests.

Both sides now appear to have agreed on the contents of the second printing, but negotiations are focused on what to with the 10,000 copies already published.

The Pentagon is now negotiating with Shaffer's publisher to buy the entire first print run, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The Pentagon's plan to destroy all 10,000 copies of the initial printing was first reported Thursday night by the New York Times.

A new print run, without the disputed passages, is being prepared by the publisher.

Kaz, in your opinion, is this a normal course of action in publishing world? From my point of view this is an outrage.

The Defense Department "sent up a team" to talk with the publisher? Sounds more like something out of downtown Bulgaria than out of the US.

Although, there is at least one other time when something like this has happened:

The Secret Team, L. Fletcher Prouty's CIA exposé, was first published in the 1970s, but virtually all copies of the book disappeared upon distribution, purchased en masse by shady "private buyers." Certainly Prouty's amazing allegations—that the U-2 Crisis of 1960 was fixed to sabotage Eisenhower-Khrushchev talks, and that President Kennedy was assassinated to keep the U.S., and its defense budget, in Vietnam—cannot have pleased the CIA. Though suppressed (until now), The Secret Team was an important influence for Oliver Stone's Academy Award-winning film JFK and countless other works on U.S. government conspiracies, and it raises the same crucial question today that it did on its first appearance: who, in fact, is in control of the United States and the world? - source

If you're interested in reading an unedited copy of the book, look for a specialty bookstore in your area that buys used books.

Booksellers love to sell their ARC's, and some stores (like Strand in NYC) will subsequently sell them to the public.

Somehow, I don't think any stray copies of the first printing will be available - unless a wily bindery-man grabbed a couple off of the cutter. Not that I would know anything about that kind of thing!:D

Oh... The Strand? I was there once! I loved it - a bibliophile's "promised land". Until I got to the top floor (I think), and entered a room whereupon a dozen stodgy old grumps dropped their mylar rolls and proceeded to bludgeon me with ostentatious and inappropriate displays of learning.

[Kaztronic]

Looks like President Obama has to cover up President Bushes crimes, perhaps it would have better for this President to let Bush face his crimes, because he is taking alot of crap for covering up for them.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but President Obama has to cover for Bush as he is committing the exact same crimes - honestly, nothing has changed in this area, in fact, some issues have gotten worse.

Gitmo may not be taking on any new prisoners, but Bagram (the far more secretive, and far worse prison) has been expanded. Extraordinary renditions continue (and have been VOCIFEROUSLY defended by the Obama Administration in the court system). The President has authorized the assassination of American citizens abroad without due process, Habeus Corpus has been denied by the Administration for the detainees held indefinitely and tortured at Bagram's secret "black prison" facility. The war effort is expanding in Afghanistan. Drone attacks are killing thousands of civlians in soveriegn nations, etc.......

Domestically, the Administration has pushed to go even farther than the Bush Administration ever did when it comes to the use of illegal wire-tapping.

Truthfully, nothing has improved at all in this area, nothing at all.

This President is better than Bush on many issues - but on this one, he is at least equally bad, perhaps worse.

[SETIsLady]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but President Obama has to cover for Bush as he is committing the exact same crimes - honestly, nothing has changed in this area, in fact, some issues have gotten worse.

Nahhhh Kaz, President Bush committed the crimes President Obama has been covering up for him since day one. There would none of the things you are talking about unless put Bush put us there Gitmo, etc....

[SETIsLady]

For every action is a reaction, this President never wanted us in Iraq and to this day I regret he didn't prosecute Bush he would actually be able to get something done, if he did.

[SETIsLady]

I personally believe he should not be covering for Bush because thats what this thread is really about. Let the truth out I am all for it are you Kaz ?

[SETIsLady]

This President is better than Bush on many issues - but on this one, he is at least equally bad, perhaps worse.

Perhaps he is covering war crimes thats what I think. He should have let Bush flap in the breeze but being a good President like Ford he didn't. He didn't want America to get trashed more than they already had, and his loyality is with America.

[Kaztronic]

Kaz, in your opinion, is this a normal course of action in publishing world? From my point of view this is an outrage.

The Defense Department "sent up a team" to talk with the publisher? Sounds more like something out of downtown Bulgaria than out of the US.

It's not completely unusual I'd guess as this type of work often has to be approved by the government prior to going to the books being published.

The unusual thing here is that the book had been approved, and later on the government changed their mind (even though the book had already been printed). St. Martins understandably wants to recoup the cost of the print run, which is why these negotiations are taking place.

Is it an outrage? That largely depends upon the information being edited out of the book. If it is information that is critical of our government, then yes - it certainly is an outrage. If it is a difference of removing names to protect people, then perhaps it is understandable.

The problem as I see it is that our government has very little credibility on this type of thing and it is difficult to take them at their word that they are only editing out names.

Somehow, I don't think any stray copies of the first printing will be available - unless a wily bindery-man grabbed a couple off of the cutter. Not that I would know anything about that knid of thing!:D

ARC's (Advance Reader Copy) are definitely out there (probably a few hundred), so the book can be found. It would be interesting to determine what type of price they will fetch - and whether or not the government will attept to locate and purchase those as well.

Oh... The Strand? I was there once! I loved it - a bibliophile's "promised land". Until I got to the top floor (I think), and entered a room where upon a dozen stodgy old grumps dropped their mylar rolls and proceeded to bludgeon me with ostentatious and inappropriate displays of learning.

It is an awesome store

I try to stop in every couple of weeks at least, sometimes more frequently. It's funny, a good friend of mine works there in the basement (where the ARC's are - can you guess which book is now on my shopping list?) and when I visit and we chat, if a customer asks a question I can't help myself but going right back in to bookseller mode. I think it's in my blood! LoL.

Last time I was there a customer asked Al for a book that details "things that aren't supposed to be written about". I jumped in and recommended "Behold A Pale Horse"

[SETIsLady]

Nevermind Kaz, what I did today when I read this thread is sent an email to the Whitehouse and told them to quit covering for Bush and Cheney because the Obama haters don't really get what he is doing. So I don't agree at all that he should cover for Bush. I would like to see war crimes

[SETIsLady]

Your right Obama should stop covering for everyone, let the truth out ! Don't you think ? And if President Bush gets hauled off in front of the world who cares.