You don't Postol the Vice President.

[MKSheppard]

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April 24, 2009
Categories: Bush Administration

Hot doc: Cheney's request to declassify intel from 'torture'

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is asking the Obama administration to declassify two documents on intelligence obtained from the so-called enhanced interrogation program that critics have decried as torture, according to a copy of his request obtained by POLITICO.

The form filed with the National Archives' Presidential Libraries section on March 31 of this year shows that Cheney asked for declassification review of the two items from a folder called "detainees" within "OVP Cheney immediate office files." The titles of the memoranda or reports were blacked out for classification reasons, however, one memo sought was dated July 13, 2004, and totaled eight pages, and another dated June 1, 2005, totals 13 pages.

Cheney filled out the request himself--it's in his handwriting. The Archives later amended Cheney's request to describe the two records simply as CIA reports (probably more vaguely than the ex-veep did). The archvists also upped the page counts to a total of 31.

I'm looking further at those dates to see whether we can identify the documents indpendently. However, June 1, 2005 seems to coincide with a time frame involving a lot of action surrounding the legal justifications for the interrogation program. One Justice Department memo released last week, finding the techniques did not constitute torture under international law, was issued on May 30, 2005, just a day before the document Cheney asked for.

National Archives officials said earlier this week that the request has been routed to the CIA for action.

POLITICO obtained Cheney's request under the Freedom of Information Act.

UPDATE: The July 13, 2004, memo seems to coincide roughly with a meeting the CIA held with the so-called principals of the National Security Council to discuss the status of the interrogation efforts and perhaps to discuss a May 2004 report from the CIA's inspector general on the program. The meeting was revealed in a chronology issued this week by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

UPDATE 2: Blogger Marcy Wheeler points out that the July 13 date is also the same as a CIA report called "Preeminent Source" about Khaled Sheikh Mohammed. The report is referenced in the same May 30, 2005 legal memo. So likely that's one item Cheney was after. (h/t the Plum Line)

[Medic]

Hehe. Cheney's cardiac problems obviously haven't dulled his mind. He's promptly and potentially sharply reminded those already writing the history of the Bush administration that you have to let history run it's course.

[Thanas]

Meh. This is quite a smart move, but Cheney knows that if there is sensitive intel in there, the government won't declassify it.

So why even request it? Because it keeps people guessing and it is letting that war criminal evade charges for longer, because now that Rice has already been found out as authorizing torture, guess who is next?