Posts by Ben Armbruster

Benjamin J. Armbruster is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.

CIA Told Zubaydah They Mistook Him for a High-Level al Qaeda Operative
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on June 16, 2009 at 8:00 AM.

According to new transcripts from of a 2007 Combatant Status Review Tribunal held at Guantanamo Bay, detainee Abu Zubaydah said that his CIA captors told him after he was subjected to torture that “they had mistakenly thought he was the No. 3 man in the organization’s hierarchy and a partner of Osama bin Laden.” “They told me, ‘Sorry, we discover that you are not Number 3, not a partner, not even a fighter,’” Zubaydah said. Zubaydah, who was subjected to waterboarding 83 times in one month, also said that he nearly died in prison:

Abu Zubaida, a nom de guerre for Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein, told the 2007 panel of military officers at the detention facility in Cuba that “doctors told me that I nearly died four times” and that he endured “months of suffering and torture” on the false premise that he was an al-Qaeda leader.

Despite President Bush’s rhetoric, Zubaydah’s torture “foiled no plots,” a point that one of his interrogators confirmed during a congressional hearing last May. The portion of the 2007 Combatant Review Status hearing transcript in which Majid Khan — an alleged associate of Khalid Sheik Mohammad — discussed his treatment at CIA black sites was “blacked out for eight consecutive pages.”

Army Lt. Discharged Under DADT Writes to Obama: 'I Beg You Today: Do Not Fire Me'
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on May 12, 2009 at 10:34 AM.

Last week, the U.S. Army discharged National Guard Lt. Daniel Choi — who served in Iraq and is fluent in Arabic — because he came out of the closet as a gay man. “Why didn’t I just shut up and not say anything?” Choi asked. Because “the Army values teach us, have courage, take personal courage, stand up, don’t lie, be honest about who you are,” he said. Choi said he would fight his dismissal “tooth and nail” and now he has written Congress and President Obama “begging” them not to fire him:

As an infantry officer, I am not accustomed to begging. But I beg you today: Do not fire me. Do not fire me because my soldiers are more than a unit or a fighting force – we are a family and we support each other. We should not learn that honesty and courage leads to punishment and insult. Their professionalism should not be rewarded with losing their leader. I understand if you must fire me, but please do not discredit and insult my soldiers for their professionalism.

When I was commissioned I was told that I serve at the pleasure of the President. I hope I have not displeased anyone by my honesty. I love my job. I want to deploy and continue to serve with the unit I respect and admire. I want to continue to serve our country because of everything it stands for.

Please do not wait to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Please do not fire me.

Army officer Sandy Tsao also wrote to Obama after she told her superiors she was gay and asked him to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Obama personally responded, writing, “I committed to changing our current policy. Although it will take some time to complete. … I intend to fulfill my commitment!” (HT: AmericaBlog)

Nation's Major Newspapers Ignore Iraq War's Sixth Anniversary
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on March 19, 2009 at 12:31 PM.

Today marks six years since former President Bush launched the invasion of Iraq -- a preventive war of choice based on “intelligence fixed around the policy.” Since that time, hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent, over 4,000 U.S. servicemen and women and hundreds more from coalition countries have died (tens of thousands more physically and mentally wounded), nearly 100,000 (or more) Iraqi civilians have parished and nearly 5 million have been displaced. Yet the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, and many other major American newspapers are ignoring the anniversary today. Only USA Today printed a story noting the anniversary of the invasion. Today’s Progress Report has more on the good, the bad, and the ugly of developments surrounding the Iraq war over the last year.

Canadian Lawyers Seek to Prosecute Bush, Get Him Banned
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on March 12, 2009 at 1:23 PM.

Former President George W. Bush’s first post-presidency speech will take place on St. Patrick’s Day — March 17 — in Calgary, Alberta. Although organizers have declined to say if Bush will be paid, he once boasted that he hoped to make “ridiculous” money on the lecture circuit once he leaves office.

But instead of greeting Bush with open arms and (potentially) wads of cash, activists and human rights lawyers in Canada are hoping their government will greet him with handcuffs — or at the very least — bar him entry in to the country. In fact, Vancouver Lawyer Gail Davidson said the government has an obligation under the law to ban Bush from entering Canada because of his role in supporting torture:

Davidson says that because Bush has been “credibly accused” of supporting torture in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Canada has a legal obligation to deny him entry under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The law says foreign nationals who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity, including torture, are “inadmissible” to Canada. “The test isn’t whether the person’s been convicted, but whether there’s reasonable grounds to think that they have been involved,” says Davidson.

Davidson is correct; Bush has been “credibly accused” of supporting torture. Earlier this year, Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, urged the U.S. to pursue Bush and Donald Rumsfeld on charges that they authorized torture and other harsh interrogation techniques. Indeed, Bush himself said last year that he was aware of his advisers’ discussions on torture and recently admitted that he personally authorized waterboarding Khalid Sheik Muhammad.

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Poor Bush: Websites Mocking W. Rank Higher Than His Own Presidential Library Site
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on February 22, 2009 at 9:51 AM.

Last December, the Bush Library foundation paid a cybersquatter $35,000 for the rights to the web domain name www.GeorgeWBushLibrary.com. A web development company originally paid less than $10 for the rights to the site. However, since the purchase, the library's website is having trouble getting noticed on internet search engines:

The Web site for George W. Bush's presidential library foundation -- GeorgeWBushLibrary .com -- is falling behind in online search results for "Bush library."

The guy who's beating him: his own dad. Even pages mocking the former president rank higher.

Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land, an industry blog said the site is "below average" for building web traffic and "probably failing" in efforts to raise money because of its low ranking.

TARP Recipients Spent $114 Million in 2008 on Congress and Political Campaigns
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on February 5, 2009 at 4:34 AM.

The Center for Responsive Politics reports today that beneficiaries of the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program "have spent a total of $114.2 million on lobbying in the past year and contributions toward the 2008 election." The companies' political activities in 2008 "have, in part, yielded them $295.2 billion from the federal government," which the Center notes is "an extraordinary return of 258,449 percent." The Wall Street Journal reported last week that "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced rules aimed at curbing the influence of lobbyists, politicians and others in determining which firms get bailout cash."

McCain Opposes Recovery Package Because It Has ‘Corporate Giveaways’ He Once Campaigned For
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on February 3, 2009 at 3:12 PM.

Over recent weeks, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has emerged as a vocal critic of President Obama’s recovery package, claiming it is too big and filled with “pork.” McCain now says he will not vote for the bill in its current form in part because the legislation, in his view, does not sufficiently reduce business taxes:

McCAIN: We should have cuts for business and business taxes and small business taxes should be cut. [CBS, 2/2]

McCAIN: We need to make tax cuts permanent, and we need to make a commitment that there’ll be no new taxes. We need to cut payroll taxes. We need to cut business taxes. [FNS, 1/25]

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Matthews Gets Alarmist Over Family Planning Measure in Stimulus Bill
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on January 27, 2009 at 6:38 AM.

In their latest attempt to rally against the new economic stimulus package, many conservatives are ridiculing a measure that would aid states by making it easier to provide comprehensive family planning services to low-income women. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) defended the measure on MSNBC’s Hardball this afternoon, noting that “family planning saves, if done correctly, an enormous sum of money down the road in the health care system.” However, host Chris Matthews thought the measure sounded more like something straight out of communist China:

MATTHEWS: I don’t know. It sounds a little like China. […] I think everybody should have family planning and everybody believes in birth control as a right. I’m for — abortion is a right and all that. It’s all right. But why should the federal government have a policy of reducing the number of births?

What Matthews appears to be referring to is China’s “one-child policy,” a law that prohibits most couples from bearing more than one child. But of course, the House’s stimulus provision does no such thing. Instead, like Wexler noted, it provides funds to help states and low-income working women reduce their health care costs.

Conservative Kristol Pens Last NYT Column, Reportedly Heading to the Washington Post
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on January 26, 2009 at 7:37 AM.

Last November, Weekly Standard editor and prominent neoconservative William Kristol was asked if he wanted to renew his contract as a weekly columnist with The New York Times. "I'm ambivalent," Kristol said. "I dunno. You gotta talk to them about that. It's been a lot of work and I'm kinda stretched a little thin. I'll see."

It appears Kristol has resolved his ambivalence. At the conclusion of his Times column today, an editor's note reads, "This is William Kristol's last column." However, Kristol's last Times scribe is unlikely to be a memorable one, as he meandered back and forth (as he usually does) about the superiority of conservatism, without really explaining why. For example:

Conservatives have been right more often than not -- and more often than liberals -- about most of the important issues of the day: about Communism and jihadism, crime and welfare, education and the family. Conservative policies have on the whole worked -- insofar as any set of policies can be said to "work" in the real world.

But it appears that Kristol's tirades against all things progressive have found a new home. Politico's "Playbook" reports this morning that "he's now beginning a monthly column in The Washington Post." Aside from the monotony of Kristol's opinion pieces, it might be worth reminding the Post's editors and readers what they're in for: factual errors. Some examples:

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Limbaugh Claims on Fox He's Being Told 'to Bend Over, Grab the Ankles'
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on January 23, 2009 at 3:00 AM.

A couple of nights ago, on Fox News, host Sean Hannity sat down with right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh to discuss Limbaugh's "general thoughts" of President Obama and his new administration. Limbaugh seemed agitated at the fact that "a lot of people right now just -- they're absorbed in the historical nature of this, first black president and so forth."

"That is wonderful. That's great," Limbaugh said. "But I got over that months ago after he won the election."

Limbaugh kept going with the racial theme throughout much of the interview. "He's not black ... he's a human being," he said. And while he claimed that the "drive-by media" only "care that he's black," Limbaugh added, "The fact that he's African American, his father was black, to me it's irrelevant." But Limbaugh later revealed what seems to be the true nature of his feelings on Obama's race:

"We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward, whichever, because his father was black, because this is the first black president."

Watch it:

This isn't the first time Limbaugh has thought of bending over and/or grabbing ankles to express his opposition to what he seems to perceive as progressive threats to his conservative ideology:

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Discredited Neocon John Bolton Calls on Obama to Push for 'Regime Change' in Iran
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on January 2, 2009 at 9:38 AM.

Earlier this week famed war hawk John Bolton said that the recent crisis in Gaza presents the perfect opportunity for the U.S. and Israel to bomb Iran. Today, Bolton took to the Wall Street Journal op-ed pages to re-emphasize his desire for war with Iran.

Bolton said he fears the new Obama administration's Iran and North Korea policies would center on diplomacy, which he says will not end "proliferation threats from Pyongyang and Tehran." While part of his solution oddly calls for more diplomacy with North Korea (in this case it would be the Chinese conducting it), Bolton then urges Obama to start the process of "regime change" in Iran:

Iran and North Korea achieved their objectives through diplomacy. Mr. Bush failed to achieve his. How can Mr. Obama do better? For starters, he could increase the pressure on China, which has real leverage over North Korea, to press Kim Jong Il's regime in ways that the six-party talks never approached. Options on Iran are more limited, but meaningful efforts at regime change and assisting Israel should it decide to strike Iran's nuclear facilities would be good first steps.

MSNBC Host: It Wouldn't Be 'Funny' If Someone Called Me 'Tamron Hall the Magic Negro Anchor Lady'
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on December 29, 2008 at 4:36 PM.

Today on MSNBC, anchor Tamron Hall hosted a segment discussing RNC chair candidate Chip Saltsman's Christmas greeting this year that contained a CD with the song "Barack the Magic Negro" on it. During the discussion, Kate Obenshain, vice president of Young America's Foundation, defended the song, calling it "a parody." But Hall, an African-American, quickly interjected, saying there is nothing "funny or amusing" it:

HALL: Well let me tell you this -- if someone referred to me as "Tamron Hall the Magic Negro Anchor Lady," I would never see it as anything funny or amusing.

Hall later told Obenshain, "you're not going to win a lot of people over calling them 'Magic Negros.'"]Transcript:

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Iraqi Journalist Throws His Shoes at Bush During Baghdad Press Conference
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on December 15, 2008 at 6:15 AM.

President Bush was in Baghdad yesterday on a surprise farewell visit highlighting the security deal recently reached between the U.S. and Iraq. CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware reports this afternoon that during a press conference with Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, an Iraqi man threw a shoe at Bush — “a grave insult in the Arab world” — but “it just sailed past his head”:

WARE: Well, Wolf, the most extraordinary thing. You may or may not believe this. We’re getting reports from the press pool that flew in with President Bush and apparently just a short, short time ago in a press conference with Prime Minister Maliki, an Iraqi man stood up in the press conference and threw a shoe at President Bush. But the reports we’re getting, it just sailed past his head and while the man was dragged out of the room, President Bush is said to have remarked that, “This was a size 10 shoe he threw at me you may want to know,” even as the man was heard screaming in the hallway.

McClatchy identified the man as Iraqi television journalist Muthathar al Zaidi and reports he threw both of his shoes at Bush just after he finished prepared remarks.

The New York Times notes that the first shoe “narrowly missed” and the second shoe also missed. “This is a farewell kiss, you dog,” Zaidi shouted.

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Rachel Maddow Talks Tough About Lieberman With Sen. Bayh
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on November 13, 2008 at 1:33 PM.

Riding the wave of electoral victories on Nov. 4, some Senate Democrats began hinting that they might remove Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) from his post as Homeland Security Committee chairman in part because of ad hominem attacks he levied at Barack Obama during the presidential campaign in support of John McCain.

Last week, however, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) sang a more forgiving tune. "[W]e should have a spirit of forgiveness with regard to Joe Lieberman and reconcile and move forward," Bayh said, suggesting that Lieberman apologize and "let bygones be bygones." Last night on MSNBC, Bayh said Lieberman should be stripped of his chairmanship unless he offers a "sincere apology" for his "unacceptable" rhetoric during the campaign:

BAYH:[Y]ou got to, you know, expect an apology -- a sincere apology -- and you got to keep tell him, "Look, we're going to give you a chance here. But if you don`t do the right thing as chairman, if, you know, we see any continuation with this kind of behavior," well then at that point, you know, the game is up at that point.

MADDOW: And -- but the game would be up in the sense that he would get stripped of his leadership positions?

BAYH: The chairmanship. Yes.

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Busted: AIG Caught Living High on the Hog with Taxpayers' Money (Again)
Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress on November 12, 2008 at 3:16 PM.

Last month, a House committee discovered that just one week after the federal government bailed out insurance giant AIG, company executives went on $500,000 retreat to a luxury resort. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) asked in astonishment, "Have you heard of anything more outrageous?"

But yesterday, just as the federal government agreed to increase its bailout package to AIG, ABC News's Brian Ross reported that the company's executives gathered last week at a posh resort in Phoenix for a business conference, complete with "cocktail parties, limousines, and dinner out at a top restaurant." AIG "instructed the hotel to keep its involvement secret, no signs with its name allowed." Watch the report:

AIG CEO Edward Liddy defended the extravagant conference on CNN last night, claiming that the lack of signage was a result of cost cutting measures. "[W]e are really cutting corners. We're doing the same thing the American taxpayer is doing," Liddy said. "We are tightening our belts. We didn't use any signage."

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