memeorandum: CIA Interrogator Tells ABC He Supervised 'Necessary' Torture of Abu Zubaydah (Spencer Ackerman/TPMmuckraker)

9:40 PM ET, December 10, 2007

Top Items:

Coming in From the Cold: CIA Spy Calls Waterboarding Necessary But Torture — Former Agent Says the Enhanced Technique Was Used on Al Qaeda Chief Abu Zubaydah — A leader of the CIA team that captured and interrogated the first major al Qaeda figure, Abu Zubaydah, says subjecting him to waterboarding was torture but necessary.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Majikthise, The Atlantic Online, TalkLeft, Booman Tribune, AMERICAN FUTURE, Hot Air, Daily Kos, The Heretik and TVNewser

Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:

CIA Interrogator Tells ABC He Supervised 'Necessary' Torture of Abu Zubaydah — Paging Michael Mukasey. The leader of the CIA interrogation team that handled Abu Zubaydah, head of al-Qaeda's military committee, says he had Abu Zubaydah waterboarded — which was torture, and, he says, necessary to prevent "maybe dozens of attacks."

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
TWO STORIES....After the United States captured al-Qaeda operative …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Thomas Hendrick / TheDenverChannel.com:

Security Guard: 'God Guided Me And Protected Me' — Jeanne Assam Stopped Gunman At New Life Church — COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Jeanne Assam appeared before the news media for the first time Monday and said she "did not think for a minute to run away" when a gunman entered the New Life Church …

Discussion: KUSA-TV, BLACKFIVE, Vox Popoli, The Moderate Voice, Associated Press, Patterico's Pontifications and DBKP

CNN:
Source: One gunman responsible for Colorado shootings

Discussion: Lone Star Times, KnoxViews and Joe's Crabby Shack

Tom McGhee / Denver Post:
Church gunman "hated Christians"

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air and JammieWearingFool

Kieran Nicholson / Denver Post:
Vet lauds female guard who felled gunman

Discussion: Of Arms and the Law, Patterico's Pontifications and michellemalkin.com

Alan Gathright / Rocky Mountain News:
Gunman sent 'hate mail' to Arvada missionary center

Discussion: New York Times and TalkLeft

ABCNEWS:

Victim: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR — KBR Told Victim She Could Lose Her Job If She Sought Help After Being Raped, She Says — A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Carpetbagger Report, The Atlantic Online, All Spin Zone, Comments from Left Field, Crooks and Liars, Liberty Street and Don Surber

Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report:

The Perfect Victim Meets the Perfect Villains — I know I'm going to take a lot of heat for this, but this story just sound so.... well.... er ... far-fetched. — Not the rape part—rape happens all the time (gang rapes, not so much, but occasionally). Not the cover up part—cover ups happen all the time.

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Think Progress, Shakespeare's Sister, The Newshoggers, Greatscat! and Balloon Juice

CNN Political Ticker:

Gore: I'd only consider White House bid — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former Vice President Al Gore denied again that there were any campaign plans in his immediate future, but told CNN Monday that he hadn't "ruled out getting back into the political process at some point" — and that if he did return …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Think Progress, Sister Toldjah, NewsBusters.org, The Democratic Daily, The Reaction, The Carpetbagger Report and Liberal Values

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

Report Describes Systematic White House Effort to Manipulate Climate Change Science — For the past 16 months, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating allegations of political interference with government climate change science under the Bush Administration.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Comments from Left Field, The New Republic and Daily Kos

Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press:
Libby drops appeal in CIA leak case

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, TPMmuckraker, The Corner, Liberal Values, The Opinionator, Associated Press, JustOneMinute, The Newshoggers, Captain's Quarters, The Carpetbagger Report, The Impolitic and The Anonymous Liberal

Fabiola Antezana / ABCNEWS:
Did Iceland Teen Call Secret White House Phone?

Discussion: Think Progress, News Hounds, Political Machine and The American Street

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

New poll shows big shake-up in GOP race — DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) — Mike Huckabee's dramatic jump in the polls is going nationwide. The former Arkansas governor is in a virtual tie with Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll out Monday.

Discussion: MyDD and TPM Election Central

Dalia Sussman / The Caucus:

New NYTimes/CBS Poll: Explain, Don't Attack — The latest New York Times/CBS News poll finds voters give the presidential candidates positive marks on at least one score at this stage in their campaigns: They credit them with spending more time explaining what they would do as president rather than attacking their opponents.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, rubber hose, Taylor Marsh, CNN Political Ticker and TPM Election Central

MotherJones.com:

Huckabee Hides His Full Gospel? — WASHINGTON DISPATCH: Is Mike Huckabee the presidential candidate shunning Mike Huckabee the preacher? Before entering politics, he was a pastor at two Baptist churches. Now his campaign tells Mother Jones it won't make his sermons available to the media and the public.

Discussion: Think Progress, Hot Air, TalkLeft, David Corn, Riehl World View and Shakespeare's Sister

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
Huckabee's Other Pardons — Last week I predicted at the end …

Discussion: The Corner and Reason Magazine

Michael Fechter / Articles by the Investigative …:

EXCLUSIVE IPT INVESTIGATION UNCOVERS HLF JURY ROOM BULLYING — DALLAS - She felt the men were guilty and tried to explain why to the 11 other jurors. When she finished, one juror spoke up in an angry tone. — "If you're going by the evidence in this room," she recalls him snapping, "then you need to go home."

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, Jihad Watch and Counterterrorism Blog

Ben Craw / Talking Points Memo:

RUDY GIGGLIANI! — Ask and ye shall receive... Late Update: The Rudy Giggle: the next Hillary Cackle?

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister

M.J. Rosenberg / The Coffee House:
Rudy Self-Destructs on Russert

Discussion: Cogitamus, democracyarsenal.org, Eschaton, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Carpetbagger Report and MSNBC

David Wooding / The Sun:

Happy Xmas, your war is over! — GORDON Brown yesterday delivered a stirring festive message to Our Boys in Iraq: "Happy Christmas - war is over." — The PM was cheered as he praised UK troops and revealed combat operations in Basra will end "within two weeks".

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Think Progress, Don Surber, BBC, Cliff Schecter, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Brave New Films blog and Say Anything

Albert R. Hunt / Bloomberg:

Tension in Hillaryland Grows as Plan Goes Awry: Albert R. Hunt — Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) — To appreciate Hillary Clinton's fundamental political problem, consider the 11 Democrats from Philadelphia who gathered last week to discuss the U.S. presidential race, almost all of whom would vote for her in a general election.

Discussion: MSNBC, Los Angeles Times, Outside The Beltway, Donklephant, AMERICAblog, Open Left, PoliGazette, National Review, The Atlantic Online, Taylor Marsh, PrairiePundit, The Strata-Sphere, Booman Tribune, The Opinionator, Hot Air, Middle Earth Journal, TPM Election Central and The New Republic

Chris Bowers / Open Left:

What Really Bothers Me About Obama (Updated) — Barack Obama is simultaneously the best and worst Democratic candidate for new progressive media and new progressive institutions. Where his campaign is good, it is very good in this area, especially around media policy and earning support from users of new media.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, Liberal Values, Hullabaloo, MSNBC, Eschaton, Democratic Strategist and Blue Mass. Group

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Chavez Tried Rigging Referendum Vote — Hugo Chavez suffered a narrow but humiliating loss at the polls last week for his referendum on changing the Venezuelan constitution into a roadmap for dictatorship. His acknowledgment of the defeat gained him praise from world leaders for his commitment to democracy.