Who Is Daniel Levin Anyway

If you, like me, wondered who Daniel Levin was after watching Olbermann's Special Comment then you would be disappointed in the coverage his story got in the mainstream media. As far as I can tell it was only covered on the ABC News website and nowhere else. I am not even clear if it made the ABC broadcast news. It was covered on a few blogs but not much even there.
This is a travesty. Here is what can be found from the ABC News website.

A senior Justice Department official, charged with reworking the administration's legal position on torture in 2004 became so concerned about the controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding that he decided to experience it firsthand, sources told ABC News.

Daniel Levin, then acting assistant attorney general, went to a military base near Washington and underwent the procedure to inform his analysis of different interrogation techniques.

After the experience, Levin told White House officials that even though he knew he wouldn't die, he found the experience terrifying and thought that it clearly simulated drowning.

Levin, who refused to comment for this story, concluded waterboarding could be illegal torture unless performed in a highly limited way and with close supervision. And, sources told ABC News, he believed the Bush Administration had failed to offer clear guidelines for its use.

The administration at the time was reeling from an August 2002 memo by Jay Bybee, then the head of the Office of Legal Counsel, which laid out possible justifications for torture. In June 2004, Levin's predecessor at the office, Jack Goldsmith, officially withdrew the Bybee memo, finding it deeply flawed.

When Levin took over from Goldsmith, he went to work on a memo that would effectively replace the Bybee memo as the administration's legal position on torture. It was during this time that he underwent waterboarding.

In December 2004, Levin released the new memo. He said, "Torture is abhorrent" but he went on to say in a footnote that the memo was not declaring the administration's previous opinions illegal. The White House, with Alberto Gonzales as the White House counsel, insisted that this footnote be included in the memo.

But Levin never finished a second memo imposing tighter controls on the specific interrogation techniques. Sources said he was forced out of the Justice Department when Gonzales became attorney general.

As Keith says, it is all about protecting Junior. The Constitution, American values, the rule of law, all are secondary to making sure Bush and Cheney don't have to answer for their war crimes. Today, once again, the Dems are going to roll over and let Bush have his way when they approve Mukasey as AG. What the hell have we become?