Role of Torture in Finding Bin Laden: What We Actually Know
Pakistani security personnel measure a wall outside the hideout house of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following his death by U.S. Special Forces in a ground operation in Abbottabad on May 3, 2011. (Aamir QureshiI/AFP/Getty Images)
If you’ve been following the latest accounts on the U.S. operation against Osama bin Laden, you’ve probably read a lot of conflicting accounts. There have been questions about the circumstances in which bin Laden was shot, whether he used his wife as a human shield, and even minor details such as the height of the walls around bin Laden's compound have varied widely in the news coverage.
“I apologize. Even I’m getting confused,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said during yesterday’s press briefing when asked by reporters to clarify discrepancies in the story of the raid.
The Guardian has helpfully laid out a number of areas in which the narrative of bin Laden’s death has been corrected or has evolved. One of the areas it doesn’t mention is whether enhanced interrogation techniques helped produce the intelligence that led to bin Laden—a subject that many politicians and officials seemed to have already seized on to support their own policy positions. Here'sa closer look at what we know and who’s saying what.
Bin Laden Reading Guide: How to Cut Through the Coverage
The death of Osama bin Laden has sent news organizations scrambling for details on how it happened, where it happened, and what it all means.
We’ve rounded up some of the best coverage, being careful to note what’s been said, what’s already being disputed, and what’s still unknown.
Bin Laden Mission Underscores Murky History of U.S. Raids in Pakistan
The nighttime attack on Osama Bin Laden’s compound by the elite Joint Special Operations Command isn’t the first time U.S. troops have entered Pakistan for covert raids. In the past, such incidents have drawn protests from the Pakistani government, though it has a history of condemning in public actions that it has endorsed in private.
Details on the latest mission are of course very sketchy, and we thought it’d be helpful to run through what’s known about previous raids--and just how much remains unknown even years later. Details have been particularly difficult to pin down given frequent denials by U.S. and Pakistani officials.
Debate Over Debit Card Regs Misses Some Potentially Pro-Consumer Rules
Controversy over the Fed’s proposed debit card regulations has largely focused on the proposed cap on interchange fees—the fees banks receive from merchants for processing debit transactions. That provision has sparked an all-out lobbying war between merchants who think interchange fees are too high and banks who accuse the government of attempting to fix prices. Even the small banks and credit unions that are exempt from the proposed cap seem convinced that their exemption won’t work.
But the interchange cap is only half of the story. The other part—which has gotten far less attention—is that some of the proposed debit card rules could increase competition in a market dominated by Visa and, to a lesser extent, Mastercard. According to the Federal Reserve, this is likely to “promote competition among networks and place downward pressure on interchange fees.” Banks have said that adding networks will be costly and time-consuming. In a comment letter to the Fed, the American Bankers Association asked for such a requirement to be postponed until at least October 2013.
Authorities Give Conflicting Accounts of Latest Toxic Releases From Texas City Refineries
BP's troubled Texas City refinery as well as another refinery operated by Valero Energy Corporation have reportedly released more than 150,000 pounds of pollutants into the air after power troubles forced emergency shutdowns at several refineries in the area. That figure is also expected to grow as the companies restart their equipment and file more emissions reports with regulators.
Latest Afghan Attacks Highlight Challenges of Training, Vetting Afghan Security Forces
The news out of Afghanistan seems to be almost all doom and gloom: 8 NATO soldiers and one civilian were killed today by a veteran Afghan army pilot who reportedly turned on his trainers.
The Taliban has claimed credit for the shooting, playing into fears of Taliban sleeper agents infiltrating Afghan security forces. Those fears have been stirred by a series of recent attacks as well as the escape of nearly 500 Taliban fights from the largest prison in Afghanistan earlier this week. Reuters has a rundown of recent attacks by rogue Afghan soldiers, police and insurgents dressed in army uniforms.
Banking Groups Stir Consumer Fears on Debit Card Regulations via Twitter
It’s April 21, and another Dodd-Frank deadline has come and gone. Today was the day the Fed’s regulations on debit card transaction fees, also known as interchange fees, were supposed to be finalized. Hasn’t happened.
Controversy over the regulations caused the Fed to postpone finalizing the rules. But that win alone wasn’t enough for the banks, which have rallied behind legislation to delay the rules by at least another year.
Today, they took to Twitter to continue the push, launching a “Save My Debit Card” campaign and asking people to “tell us why you love your debit card today – and why you don’t want that to change!”
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