Executive Director, 911 Commission
Professor of History at the University of Virginia and contributor to Foreign Policy magazine; Executive Director of the 911 Commission and former counselor with the State Department (2005-2007)
PROFILE
Philip Zelikow
Guest
FROM Philip Zelikow
Which Way, L.A.?
Torture Memos: Will the Truth Lead to Consequences? President Obama says Attorney General Eric Holder will have to decide if lawyers in the Bush Justice Department should be prosecuted for memos justifying harsh interrogation techniques. This week, the Senate Intelligence Committee revealed that dissenting legal views were brushed aside by the Bush White House. In testimony before a House subcommittee today, Holder stressed that he would not politicize policy differences but would pursue wrongdoing “to the full extent of the law…in an appropriate way.”
To the Point
The Torture Memos: Truth and Consequences President Obama says Attorney General Eric Holder will have to decide if lawyers in the Bush Justice Department should be prosecuted for memos justifying harsh interrogation techniques. This week, the Senate Intelligence Committee revealed that dissenting legal views were brushed aside by the Bush White House. The release of the memos has raised a host of troubling questions. Did the memos justify war crimes? Should the lawyers who wrote them be prosecuted? Were the interrogation methods being used before the memos were written? Did the methods, including waterboarding, produce information that made American safer? Would other methods have been more reliable? If Obama says some people should be prosecuted while others are spared , is he “politicizing” the issue? Is he violating the law?
Recommended
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
Left, Right & Center
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
To the Point
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.