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Talkin Loud But Ain’t Saying Nothing

Did Marcy’s great livebloggery from today’s House Judiciary subcommittee hearing with Addington and Yoo leave you wanting more? Like maybe something narrativey and 1000 words long? Here’s my summation, fresh out from the Washington Independent:

Asked about his widely reported involvement with the August 2002 memo, Addington insisted on drawing sharp distinctions. "Didn’t have nothing to do with it, but you asked if I had a hand in drafting it," he told Nadler, adding that his only role in the memo was expressing approval that a memo on torture and the law ought to be written. Addington implied — but did not say outright — that he was agnostic on what advice the memo ought to offer the president. At one point, he and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) had a heated exchange.

Addington further testified that he did not have much in the way of direct involvement with Pentagon-run interrogations. Last week, the Senate disclosed that Addington was among a handful of senior administration lawyers who visited the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in the summer of 2002, when the administration began expanding the list of permissible interrogation methods beyond those authorized by the Geneva Conventions-compliant Army Field Manual on Interrogations, then known as FM 34-52. Yet Addington said he did not recall meeting with then-chief Guantanamo attorney Col. Diane Beaver — who last week recalled meeting with Addington — and said he had more extensive involvement with the CIA’s interrogation program than with the Pentagon’s.

Plus: video!

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Spencer Ackerman

Spencer Ackerman

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