Senator Bob Graham: The CIA Made Up Two Briefing Sessions

[kpete]

Source: Emptywheel

Senator Bob Graham: The CIA Made Up Two Briefing Sessions
By: emptywheel Thursday May 14, 2009 7:43 am

Bob Graham just appeared on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show. In addition to repeating earlier reports that he was never briefed on waterboarding, Graham revealed that the first time he asked the CIA when he was briefed on torture, it claimed it had briefed him on two dates when no briefing took place.

I didn't get Graham's exact quotes (and the quotes below are rough approximations), but when asked to respond to Philip Zelikow's assertion that members of Congress from both parties had been briefed on this program, Graham said that when he asked the CIA when he had been briefed on the program, the CIA gave him the dates of four briefings, two in April 2002 and two in September 2002, when they claimed they had briefed him about the program. But after Graham consulted his own records, he pointed out that on two of those dates, he had not attended any briefing. After Graham pointed this out to the CIA, they conceded their own dates were incorrect.

Graham then went on to repeat his claim that he had no recollection of being told about waterboarding Zubaydah or anything else about extreme interrogation.

In addition to repeating his earlier assertion that he would have remembered something that dramatic, Graham contextualized the briefing the CIA gave him--which occurred right in the middle of Graham's complaints about the inaccuracy of the Iraq NIE (the briefing on September 27, 2002 would have shown up just a few days after the British released a White Paper on September 24, 2002 that publicized for the first time the yellocake claim).




Read more: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/05/14/senator-bob-graham-the-cia-made-up-two-briefing-sessions/

[Tansy_Gold]

1. And Bob Graham is the one who wrote every detail of his day

in his little notebooks? Am I remembering that correctly? And he was ridiculed for it?


TG

[Dr.Phool]

6. Yep, that's him.

His records were so detailed, that he even wrote down what he had for each meal every day.

You'll find my name in there a few times.

[bertman]

76. You were on Bob Graham's menu, Dr. Phool? Very interesting. Was that raw or rare?

[Enrique]

77. not so crazy after all, eh?

Bob Graham is one of the best. :toast:

[JPZenger]

84. Gore-Graham Could Have Won in 2000

Graham was extremely popular in Florida in 2000. Some say that if Gore had picked Graham as his VP instead of Lie-berman, he would have won Florida without question.

[bvar22]

87. Agreed.

I will NEVER believe that Gore "picked" Lieberman.
I've always felt that Lieberman was forced on Gore in order to get the backing of the DLC.

[JPZenger]

90. Conventional wisdom: Lieberman picked to show independence

The conventional wisdom at the time was that Gore picked Lieberman to show his independence from Clinton. Lieberman was vocal in criticizing Clinton at the time.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Bob's famous journals to the rescue! nt

[karynnj]

91. True - I was just thinking that the media's dirision of the meticulousness of his journals -

to the point of almost calling him obsessive give him endless credibility when he says those meetings are not in his journals.

[Ian David]

3. Maybe the CIA confused him with Lindsey Graham? n/t

[beac]

5. Or they were eating graham crackers while they were laughing about how the whole country

so scared sh!tless that they could get away with anything???? :shrug:

[Adelante]

4. Everyone knows if Bob Graham didn't write it down

It didn't happen.

[Hepburn]

7. Seems like the wheels are coming off that BS about informing...

...Congress.

Wow!

[elleng]

8. Yes indeed!!!!

THE WORMS ARE TURNING!!!!!

:evilgrin:

[tblue37]

57. So are the aspens. watch out! nt

[Jim Sagle]

9. Can't wait for all the apoligies to Nancy Pelosi to roll in.

:popcorn:

[Hekate]

15. Pass the butter for the popcorn; that'll be awhile

:popcorn:

[defendandprotect]

65. I'm rooting for Pelosi -- I certainly think she's telling the truth . . . but . ..

a big message/warning for anyone dealing with the CIA -- keep precise records!!!

And expect them to lie, cheat and disinform!

As usual . . .

[ControlledDemolition]

72. I would trust the word of Nancy Pelosi over that of the CIA any day. n/t

[Jim Sagle]

10. Can't wait for all the apologies to Nancy Pelosi to roll in.

:popcorn:

[stillcool]

14. I think it's great that the Republicans..

are making an issue of the fact that Nancy and other Democrats knew about these crimes. Just validates the fact that crimes were committed..not that it means anything..but still.

[MindMatter]

25. It is like my electrician tell me ...

"I think I'm going to lick the power bus of this main breaker box. Trust me, this is the best way to make sure the circuit breakers are going to have a good connection. And if you don't like that, I'm going to kill you."

I'd say, "Have at it, Hoss."

[Butch350]

49. Lay off the crack pipe.

[WheelWalker]

64. Waiting for the Electrician, or Someone Like Him

[pfitz59]

78. Don't Crush That Dwarf

Hand Me the Pliers

[WheelWalker]

89. All Hail Marx & Lennon...

I knew I'd smoke out at least one of us out there.

- Nick Danger

[sce56]

88. Well now days you have to wear a bomb suit working on anything above 50V to Ground

Lets see that tongue flash suit!

[falcon97]

43. That would, unfortunately, come after

the MSM realizes that the CIA is attempting to do some CYA. But why report the truth when conflict sells better.....

[Joanne98]

11. Hot damn. Bob Graham and his journal.. HAHAHA!

[truedelphi]

32. This is pretty exciting, isn't it?

Yesterday he was just another obsessive compulsive, writing down the lunch menu and today he is helping to save democracy.

[pacalo]

58. Don't you love the fact that he kept a daily, meticulous journal!

[defendandprotect]

66. Repugs won't find this believable because they shred all their records . . .!!!

[Wednesdays]

12. K&R

:kick:

[Gregorian]

13. From the same site, here's a link to the criminal intent context.

And why the hell didn't Congress impeach!


http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/05/13/philip-zelikow-how-bushco-gamed-the-briefing-process/

"The Republicans are working so hard to argue that Democrats were properly briefed because--per Lindsey Graham--if it becomes clear they weren't, then it is evidence of criminal intent. "

[Jackpine Radical]

16. Any likelihood of this stuff getting into M$M?

[Joe Chi Minh]

17. MGM is more likely.... i.e. zilch.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. That's pretty much what I figgered.

Therefore the best alternative approach is to flog it all over the Internets. The You-all Tubes or whatever.

[Joe Chi Minh]

20. What a godsend the Internet has been.

[defendandprotect]

34. I imagine they're going to be getting rid of it ASAP--!!!

In our daily lives we have to begin making discussing politics and religion

in American society something normal to do!!!

[Joe Chi Minh]

42. I think they've been doing their darnedest to curb its availability, while doing zilch,

it seems to eradicate spam. I wonder if a smart software designer could make a software to over-ride all emails not emanating from people and companies named by the user. I expect it would sell very well. But would the big outfits be able to design software to circumvent it?

[defendandprotect]

46. Yahoo's filtering of span sucks . . . Google is better ---

Currently, I use Yahoo still as my home page and the stuff I get is unbelievable!

But now I'm using it mainly for political mail -- and moving on to Google for

my personal stuff -- and everyone can have the yahoo address.

Actually, Comcast is our provider and when we first got connected to them we were

shocked to see tons of pornographic material coming into our mail boxes!!

We haven't been back to check those mail boxes in years!!!

But, technically, it's our official e-mail address!!

Meanwhile, Comcast makes 500 million+ every year on porn!!!!

Think Congress is asleep or getting paid to be asleep?

[Joe Chi Minh]

48. I use Outlook Express, and get a lot of totally unsolicited stuff.

You can delete it, but it goes straight into a trash folder. Also, they cunningly modify headings to avoid deletion.

[peacetalksforall]

19. They're meeting now to figure out how to keep it out.

Most likely.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

23. Yeah, yesterday MSNBC anchors were

monitoring the Torture hearings and would let us know.

So we got one sound-bite from the FBI agent. But we got hours of the Hearings on the Wall Street mess.

[defendandprotect]

47. I wish more Du'ers would tune into the hearings via C-span . . . .

mainly cause I would like to know what's going on and while I do tune in

frequently, often something happens and I lose the connection -- or sometimes

it's boring for a while and I leave and forget to go back.

I love it when DU'ers report on the hearings.

[florida08]

21. Karl Rove

just came out and said that Nancy Pelosi is an accomplice to torture. Some of the torture photos have been leaked.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/here-are-few-of-torture-photos-obama.html

[defendandprotect]

31. Thank you -- looks like some kind of a gaping wound in fourth pic . . .???

You can hear about these things -- but as they are carried out on a daily basis --

some of it 183X . . . there is a compounding of the pain and suffering!!!

[Justitia]

22. Yet, some folks, even here, would believe the CIA, despite their long history. -eom

[defendandprotect]

28. Despite CIA long's history of its fascistic foundings .... and terrorism around the world--!!!

For those who may not know, Allen Dulles brought tens of thousands of Nazis in

to America post-WWII -- and used them to found the CIA and also put many into the

FBI. Some also into NASA . . . notably Werner Von Braun.

This was Project Paperclip.


Also the CIA worked beginning at the end of the war to keep right wing governments

in place -- to keep liberals/progressives from gaining power. In fact, in Italy

under Operation Gladio they resurrected the Mafia in order to accomplish this.

This was a military/15,000 troops and Mafia effort.

They did this in many countries -- including Japan - Greece.


In America, it seems clear the CIA was to some degree involved in the JFK assassination --

The CIA also funded right wing Senators/Reps in America -- Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond

and Gerald Ford! Pat Buchanan, among others.

They not only used right wing funds -- those funds included KKK money and money from

ex-Nazis in exile.

[myrna minx]

24. Bob Graham is known for his meticulous record keeping, so this

all seems like a big smear campaign against Pelosi and others to deflect attention away from the truth of the matter: The Bush administration committed war crimes.

[emulatorloo]

26. Who do you believe - Bob Graham or Boehner?????

Thanks for posting. Bob Graham is a true patriot

[ControlledDemolition]

73. Anyone with a spray on tan is suspect. n/t

[defendandprotect]

27. Notice what Cheney has accomplished with the help of corporate-press . . .

rather than our talking about the reality of Bush/Cheney torture -- we're talking about

degree of torture --

Rather than talking about prosecuting Bush/Cheney we're talking about about what DEMS

knew and when -- !!!


Thank you Sen. Bob Graham for coming out to defend --

but it's amazing how the GOP continues to move its agenda -- and drag Dems along!!!

[JDPriestly]

62. Actually, I first heard the theory that Pelosi was complicit from Randi Rhodes.

Is it possible that the Republicans picked up the idea to blame Pelosi and top Democrats from Democrats?

[defendandprotect]

63. Well, aren't they "blaming" Pelosi while still saying nothing wrong with torture . . .?????

THAT's the kind of game-playing and control I'm talking about --

Meanwhile, yes . . . there has been speculation among DU'ers also that Pelosi

got entangled in "approving" of torture . . . some other Dems as well . . . .

mainly because there has been no push to prosecute Bush/Cheney/Yoo/Gonzalez, etal.

What I've heard here has been linked in that specific way.

But where is the discussion of Bush/Cheney who approved of torture . . .

and admitting it now, though suggesting they should get a Gold Medal for thinking

of it because it produced such sterling results!!

Still we hear that torture became legal because Bush-yes-men-lawyers distorted and

ignored our laws against torture. And -- even if it was illegal -- the results prove

it should be legal.

Who is controlling this conversation . . . ??? That's the question.

[Richard Steele]

71. Yes, I agree completely. nm

[sofa king]

86. Yes. There are a lot of lawyers involved.

In the legal world, it's perfectly okay to advance a series of arguments that, if considered as a whole, might say "my client certainly didn't do it and even if he did it was an accident." Lawyers are free to spray doubt like a hippopotamus twirls its tail while pooping to mark its territory. Hoping that something sticks. That appears to be the approach being taken here.

It's pretty telling in one sense, which is that one side of this story knows exactly where it's headed: into the courts. Part of the reason for such early poo-spraying may be the hope that as the story gathers mass, potential jurors are guaranteed to be tainted--and as an added bonus, tainted in their favor. Ollie North's ass was saved on appeal in part because his lawyers made a convincing argument that due to media saturation, the man couldn't get a fair trial anywhere.

Another lawyerly adage comes to mind: "When the facts are against, you argue the law. When the law is against you, argue the facts. When the law and the facts are both against you, pound the table." Of course, these clowns were pounding the table from the weeks they stole the job, and never really stopped.

[JDPriestly]

92. Good point!

[RedCloud]

29. That Bob Graham (BG): Ooh you are a holiday.

Consult the Bee Gees for further info.

[TheCoxwain]

30. Here is the podcast of that interview

http://audio.wnyc.org/bl/bl051409apod.mp3

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Atman]

35. So do you think that Cheney's so-called "proof" that torture worked will be made up, too?

Dumb question. Of course it will be fake.

.

[harun]

38. LOL, yah I think we all see that as a rhetorical question :-).

[AlbertCat]

67. it doesn't matter whether it worked or not. it's illegal. another moot point

[Enthusiast]

36. A CIA fabrication? We are surprised?

This is what the CIA does. And they are using these methods to cover their ass and the ass of Bush Administration torturers.

[bemildred]

54. Yeah, the CIA lies, that's one half of its business. nt

[harun]

37. Want to get them honest Congress? Cut their funding, they will get very honest

very fast.

[ControlledDemolition]

75. If these jokers were paid on performance they would have been out of business after the Bay of Pigs!

[livefreest]

39. wow. this could be the start of a storm. we need an inquiry commission just to know

what we can believe coming out of the CIA. scary stuff:wtf:

[Justitia]

45. Yup, time for another Church Committee. -eom

[Piewhacket]

40. "The CIA" is not a person. What liar(s) claimed Graham was briefed?

[Captain Hilts]

60. Exactly. There are actually a lot of good folks working for CIA. nt

[ChiciB1]

41. Bob Graham Is ONE Man I Would Believe!! There Has ALWAYS Been

something about him that has drawn me to him as a person AND a politician. How it would break my heart to find out ANYTHING wrong about what he is saying. To me he's been "stand up" for so very long. Voted AGAINST the War and seems to have ALWAYS stood his ground.

Given what I've seen for far too many years from so many many politicians, Democrats included for sure, I just can't see Bob Graham doing us wrong. I HAVE been fooled many times, and now it seems with Obama too, I just want so very hard to believe a person still has integrity. And Bob Graham is a person I have felt has more than almost any politician. He was GOOD for Florida and I STILL miss him!!

I'm glad to see him speaking out!

[pjt7]

44. That clears Pelosi, now

let's put Dick on trial.

Is the justice Dep't moving on this, or what?

I'm tired of the media drivel.

[pjt7]

50. Should Finegold be the Chair

of a truth commision?

Would he go wherever the facts lead us?

[soryang]

51. The CIA is violating its charter by interfering in domestic

...affairs, as usual.

By the way, Bob Graham is not particularly trustworthy, but he apparently has a spine unlike some of his colleagues.

[defendandprotect]

69. This is true . . . but did the Patriot Act change even that in some way . .???

Of course, obviously, the CIA has always been doing domestic stuff -- !!!

[Riverman]

52. No it was the Rev Billy Graham, and he told the CIA that God said

it was the moral thing to do - to torture people, just in case they might reveal their evil doings!

[tomm2thumbs]

53. With the people/press as 4th, is the CIA the 5th branch of government now?

shall we keep adding branches?

[nradisic]

55. The CIA lied?

This does not surprise me, but it poses a most serious problem for the country.

[MasonJar]

56. My question is: "What will it take for President Obama to take notice?"

He will NOT release the photos because they are so horrendous, and yet even that circumstance does not seem enough to create a desire to do what is lawful and honorable. It is not honorable to hide the US crimes under some basket, when we as a power have imposed prosecutions and penalties on other countries for similar and even less egregious offenses. It certainly is not lawful. Obama is putting himself in as judge of what and whom he will investigate and thereby becoming an accesory after the fact, or so several renowned lawyers have said.

[MasonJar]

59. And as an aside on Bob Graham and his famous daily records, what kind of

CIA are we, the taxpayers, funding if they cannot find out a simple fact that we all know: do not invent meetings with Bob Graham? Thank you, Bob, for your assiduity in record keeping and for speaking out and voting against the war and for coming forward as one more piece of the conundrum which had better not be ignored if certain individuals expect support for re-election.

[lib2DaBone]

61. Bob Graham..."My Dog Ate The Homework".. I didn't know...

although I was in charge of the CIA and I spent every day in their office.... I didn't know what was going on. Therefore, I will pay back the millions in salary I took from the Tax Payers.... ya.. sure.....

[AlbertCat]

68. But his dog didn't eat his homework. He had it. It cleared him of CIA misinformation.

[JPZenger]

85. Graham actually read the Iraq intelligence and voted against war

Bob Graham said a few years ago that he read as much of the raw Iraq intelligence as he was allowed to see. He said he was able to read much more than the average member of congress because he was the top Dem on the intelligence committee. As a result, he was able to see the weakness of the links between Saddam, Al Quaida and WMDs, and voted against the war.

[annabanana]

70. The media continued to POUND Pelosi all day, despite this information..

I wonder which view will be considered conventional wisdom by sun-up Friday?

[Doctor_J]

74. I am disappointed at how many DUers were ready to convict Pelosi

instead of confronting the obvious - that Rove, Big Media, and the rest of the right wing are liars who are trying to destroy the country and protect Cheney

[mia]

79. K & R for Senator Bob Graham

I hope that his detaled records serve their purpose.

[shellgame26]

80. Robert Ludlum could not

write a novel describing the intrigue going on now. This stuff is both scary and fascinating!

[InfiniteThoughts]

81. interesting ...

did Sen. Graham say which of the dates provided by the CIA was incorrect. I found an article (link below) from 2003 that showed Graham attended a meeting with CIA director on 17th Sep 2002.

Link: http://www.sptimes.com/2003/02/23/Floridian/Dear_Diary___.shtml

And in the link, Graham clearly records that Pelosi was present in that meeting. This has the twists and turns of a mid-day soap opera


Update: There is something fishy going on, here. According to the link above, Sen. Graham noted that he attended a briefing on 17th Sep 2002 where the SSCI was updated by CIA Director George Tenet. Graham also noted that the 17th CIA briefing was attended by Goss & Pelosi; Senator Shelby; Stan Moskowitz (at least from 5 PM to 5:30 PM). However the recent CIA briefing summary release document doesn't document this event. Instead there is a 27th Sep 2002 briefing where Graham & Shelby were briefed, as per the CIA documentation. There is a disconnect between CIA claims and Graham notes.

My $0.02 - I was not for prosecuting CIA officials involved in Waterboarding because they were coerced into this situation. However, the group responsible for putting together this document needs to be checked. If they released a document intending to damage the reputations of the Dem leaders, the CIA officials should receive maximum punishment. There is no excuse for trying to mislead the nation.

[ChiciB1]

82. Here's A Podcast Feed From "The Coxswain" From Yesterday...

May be posted here, but I listened to it yesterday and to me Bob Graham, a Governor AND Senator from my state, when it was once something else is one man I feel is reputable. Wish there were many more like him, and I MISS him. Hope I copied this right too. I goof up with this stuff!

http://audio.wnyc.org/bl/bl051409apod.mp3

[ChiciB1]

83. OOPS, The Feed Is Here... Sorry! n/t