Eric Umansky

Lakers

An overtime win, on a last second shot after a jump ball?!?! And that was after the Lakers came back from five down with 11 seconds left in regulation. I was seriously geeked; as was my mom: 

Mini-Media Me

I just did another Bloggingheads video-chat, this time with Julia Sweig, who's just written a book on the rise of anti-Americanism. Her take: It's not all Bush.  I particularly like her notion of the U.S.'s tendency toward a "Green Zone" mentality.

Plus, I reveal my history as a (sorta) Sandalista (Somehow I misspoke and said I was there in the early 1980s. Whoops! That wouldn't have been a good time to be hanging around there. My real travels took place 10 years later.) Most importantly, the lighting is better! I no longer look pastier than Mickey.

Meanwhile, Bloggingheads was just reviewed on Time's web site. They had nice things to say.

In other news, for those who want to hear me hang with (friendly) wingers, I just did another "Week in Review"  podcast with the Pajamas Media folks. My favorite part came when we were talking about oil and another guest, radio host Tammy Bruce,  suggests that conservation is un-American. At least, I think that's what she was saying. You can be the judge...

Finally, a few days ago I was North Carolina's NPR station talking about...the Duke rape case and the media's 24/7 cycle. Not sure why. Number of words I've written about the case: Zero. 

It's Like NY's Medal of Freedom

I had forgotten about one of Mayor Gulliani's final, fine acts....

From the NYT:

Roger Toussaint, the president of the transit workers' union, sounded as defiant as ever after walking out of jail at 9 a.m. yesterday, having served nearly 4 days of his 10-day sentence for leading an illegal strike....

After leaving the Bernard B. Kerik Complex in Lower Manhattan, he walked across the street and greeted 50 supporters...

Gitmo's AARP "Terrorist"

I've written before of the  evidence that most of the Gitmo detainees are outright innocent.  So, who then is there? A translator working with lawyers for detainees  has given us a bit of a picture in an essay in the Wash Post:

At 80, Haji Nusrat -- detainee No. 1009 -- is Guantanamo Bay's oldest prisoner. A stroke 15 years ago left him partly paralyzed. He cannot stand up without assistance and hobbles to the bathroom behind a walker. Despite his paralysis, his swollen legs and feet are tightly cuffed and shackled to the floor. He says that his shoes are too tight and that he needs new ones. He has asked for medical attention for the inflammation in his legs, but has not been taken to a hospital.

"They wait until you are almost dead," he says....

He comes from a small mountain village in Afghanistan and cannot read or write. He has 10 children and does not know if his wife is still alive -- he hasn't received any letters.

U.S. troops arrested Nusrat in 2003, a few days after he went to complain about the arrest of his son Izat, who is also detained at Guantanamo Bay. Nusrat is charged with being a commander of a terrorist organization in Afghanistan with ties to Osama bin Laden, and with possession of a cache of weapons. Izat, who appeared as a witness at his father's military hearing, maintained that the weapons in question were in a storehouse set up by the Afghan defense ministry, which he was paid to guard and maintain.

Is it possible this elderly man is guilty? Yes, theoretically it is. But before you dismiss his story and move on, just consider the level of "evidence" that's kept these guys at Gitmo. 

CIA and Dissent

"Dissent on Intelligence Is Critical." That's how the Washington Post once summarized a Senate probe's key conclusion. So how is the CIA doing at creating a bit of space for dissent?

We know they canned Mary McCarthy, but we really don't know the details of that case yet. So let's skip that for the moment.  Instead, let's look at policy. Here's  a report from yesterday in the National Journal:

The CIA has imposed new and tighter restrictions on the books, articles, and opinion pieces published by former employees who are still contractors with the intelligence agency.

The move is a significant departure from the CIA's longtime practice of allowing ex-employees to take critical or contrary positions in public, particularly when they are contractors paid to advise the CIA on important topics and to publish their assessments.

A CIA spokesman explained the new restriction as prohibting anything that can "impair the individual's ability to do his or her job or the CIA's ability to conduct its mission as a nonpartisan, nonpolicy agency of the executive branch." Previously, the regs stated that materially will be looked at "solely to determine whether it contains any classified information. Permission to publish will not be denied solely because the material may be embarrassing to or critical of the agency."

OK, so previously only classified info was an issue. But with the fancy new regs, any politically tinged opinions and analyses--say, "the Iraq war was a dumb idea"--are now verboten. As one official told the Journal

At a time when the agency is being criticized at least as much as it ever has for 'groupthink,' unchallenged assumptions, and not practicing alternative analysis rigorously. This is one of the last changes it ought to be making."

This kind of reflexive secrecy is not only self-defeating, I think it comes from a sense of insecurity. As anti-secrecy crusader Steve Aftergood told the Journal, "One can envision an agency that is so self-confident and so willing to rethink its own positions that it actually welcomes criticism. But that's not the agency we have today."

Come to think of it, that's a solid description of more for more than just the CIA.*

*I've long believed that many of our president's traits--including his penchant for insularity--is a a manifestation of his insecurities.  But, you know, just a guess.

(Hat tip:  Secrecy News)

The never-ending "investigation"

The Senate's intel committee chair, Pat Roberts, has long been "investigating" the administration use of pre-war intel on Iraq.  And surprise surprise,  he's delaying the report again until, as it happens, after the midterm elections.

Any particular reason this isn't hitting the papers?

Word of the Day

Kakistocracy. It doesn't mean a government run by The Gap.

Gardening at Gitmo

Literally.

Read the piece, it's uplifting in its own way while also getting you downright depressed about how the U.S. has made such mistakes at Gitmo, large and even larger.

How wide-spread was detainee abuse?

Here's what a new report from HRW says:

[Our researched] has documented  more than 330 cases in which U.S. military and civilian personnel are credibly alleged to have abused, tortured or killed detainees. These cases implicate more than 600 U.S. personnel and involve more than 460 detainees.

Of course it's hard to be sure about the numbers, since the administration and Republican-controlled Congress refuse to empanel any independent or overarching investigation. 

Just another day in the age of  the Frozen Scandal...

 

The CIA's Priorities

I don't have a problem with the CIA sacking somebody who actually leaked secrets.  If only the Agency was so dilligent about wrong-doers in other areas. As the WP's editorial page notes:

[Director Goss] has taken no disciplinary action against CIA personnel identified by his inspector general as having played a part in the failure to prevent the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He has taken no action against CIA interrogators known to have participated in the torture and killing of foreign detainees, or against those who knowingly violated the Geneva Conventions in Iraq.

Sometimes what's most telling isn't what you do, it's what you don't do.