Not To Tell Cheney How To Do His Job, But...

Cheney's request to the National Archives for CIA files related to the effectiveness of the enhanced interrogation program has been released.  Per Greg Sargent, he is only asking for two files totaling twenty one pages:

One is dated July 13th, 2004, and numbers eight pages.  [Probably the assessment of the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed interrogation - see below]

The other is dated June 1st, 2005, and numbers 13 pages.

The CIA has redacted the detailed description of the documents because they’re classified. In total, Cheney requested all of 21 pages to support his claim that torture worked.

Presumably he has some idea what he is doing, but I would have been interested to see the CIA memo cited in the May 30 OLC memo, namely "Re: Effectiveness of the CIA Counterintelligence Interrogation Techniques", March 2, 2005".  I am pretty sure it would be on point, although for all I know the CIA prepared a quarterly report on that topic and Cheney asked for the June version.

Or, since guesses are free, maybe the CIA prepared a June 1 memo in response to the May 30 OLC opinion.

Or maybe I have no clue at all and will have to wait and see. But in that search for clues, I encourage folks to page through the two OLC opinions from 2005 to see what other CIA documents they cite.  That advice is especially extended to those not enjoying the first summer-like day here in the Northeast.

BINGO:  Per the May 30 2005 OLC opinion (p. 91 of 124) there is a CIA paper dated July 13, 2004 and titled "Khalid Shaykh Muhammed: Preeminent Source on Al Qaeda", aka "Preeminent Source".  It's quitting time, since I am betting that a May 30 2005 memo will not reference a June 1 2005 document.

MORE:  OK, Marcy Wheeler has too much free time also.

Comments

[bad]

Don't criticize Cheney, TM. You could find yourself in trouble with a capital T.

[centralcal]

Yep, bad. I could feel my blood pressure on the rise when I read his headline.

Luckily, TM's "BINGO" helped me to calm down.

[MayBee]

I love the way Sergeant, who earlier this week led the crew with the "Cheney hasn't even requested documents!" misdirection, now says Cheney has requested "all of 21 pages to support his claim". As if Sergeant can just tell by the number of pages that Cheney has done something underhanded and ridiculous. "All of 21 pages" he scoffs. Because Greg knows.

More from Sergeant:

Update: David Kurtz notes a key detail about this form: It’s a request for forms from Cheney’s office, which are marked “detainees.” As Kurtz says, that appears to mean that Cheney kept a file marked “detainees.”

How Dastardly! A file marked "detainees". Oh, Cheney is an evil man.
And he is only willing to ask for 21 pages, because the rest of that file was surely filled with torture and lies.

[hit and run]

I hear that the label on the file marked "detainees" was  . . . hand-written!

Oh the humanity!

[clarice]

And I bet Libby never saw it so I'm surprised it wasn't used against himat his trial to prove motive.

[Captain Hate]

As if Sergeant can just tell by the number of pages that Cheney has done something underhanded and ridiculous.

That's 21 more pages than we've seen of Barry Dumbass's college transcripts. Until this douchetool can come up with a paltry page or two on that he should stfu.

Also 21 pages of a summary should be more than enough for somebody in an executive position; unlike, for example, a certain pantsuited individual scrutinizing the minutia of FBI files of members of the opposition party.

[Ignatz]

How many pages does this tool think it takes to say "The hairy freak rolled over on his buds when we doused him"?

[verner]

As Cheney said, he's not going to ask for anything that would reveal sources and methods and hurt people in the field--unlike BHO.

That's likely all he needs. Definitive statements of what info, when, how, who they caught and what they stopped shouldn't take a phone book.

[Try Hang Gliding]

Seems to me one of the resident trolls made a fairly substantial bet that Cheney was lying.

[hit and run]

Ignatz:
How many pages does this tool think it takes to say "The hairy freak rolled over on his buds when we doused him"?

Heh, of course. Had Cheney requested 2,100 pages, Sargent would have said, "why does it take so many pages to say 'the hairy fool misunderstood freedom fighter rolled over on his buds was broken by vile, inhumane methods when we doused tortured him?"

[Tyrconnell]

Yeppers, a request that went in before the "torture" memos were released, for Cheney to write his memoirs...hmmm, come to think of it, the timing of the release is interesting at the least, no?

[verner]

Hey, you know all those people who say that the Library Building story is not true, maybe they didn't take this into account:

DECEMBER 2003

The alert: Threat level raised from yellow to orange, based on "credible intelligence" about plans to crash more aircraft into US cities.

Goodness, could this be evidence of a second plot? Remember,there is a lot they have never told us.

Maybe they shouldn't have jumped the gun.

Remember, Cheney saw it all. And, unlike Pelosi, he knows the difference between 2003 and 2002.

[verner]

Here's a CNN link to the threat level raised from yellow to orange on Dec 22 2003.

Hmmm. Just asking.

LUN

[clarice]

Just a scare tactic by Bushitler, verner. Don't you remember?

[bad]

And a chance for Halliburton to line Cheney's pockets...

[verner]

Hee Hee Clarice. Well, I guess we'll find out when Cheney gets his memos.

By the way, LUN on Wiki Homeland security Threat Level history.

I can't seem to find anything specific about the Dec 22 2003 level hike. Hmm. Curious.

[verner]

You know, maybe he only needs 21 pges, because he knows what they'll say, and that the average American's jaw will drop when they read it.

But hey, now Obama has time to leak it to the Journo list, and let his cheerleaders spend twenty five days trying to pick apart every is and thus, in order to prove that the doc doesn't say what it plainly does.

[Ignatz]

-Well, I guess we'll find out when Cheney gets his memos.-

Unless Sandy Berger's socks have been out and about again.

[bad]

Well, swine flu in Mexico in epidemic proportions that now appears to be transmitted by humans means Janet Napaolitano needs to shut down the Mexican border completly.

[narciso]

It's interesting about those Christmas 2003 Air France flights. At some point, it was declared it was do to some faulty stegonography. However in 2005, John Weidner, the co-author with Felix Rodriguez and Richard Marcinko, came out with an interesting roman a clef, Direct Action, which suggested an alternate scenario which
interesting reference the late Imad Mugniyeh
and the Iranians working with a mysterious
AQ operative.

[boris]

DEC?

[boris]

nevermind (wrong thread)

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Well, swine flu in Mexico in epidemic proportions that now appears to be transmitted by humans means Janet Napaolitano needs to shut down the Mexican border completly.

Including shooting down all the birds crossing the border.

Sorry, bad, but 'flu virus is sneakier than that. The 10 or so cases north of the border don't have any history of even second-hand contact with Mexico.

[bad]

Chaco, I was being facetious....