Cross posted from Pruning Shears. No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post.

The L.A. Times published a story on Sunday claiming that Barack Obama's recent executive orders (EO's) largely retained the Bush administration's rendition policy in spirit, if not in letter. Hilzoy weighed in with several criticisms, noting that the EO's explicitly required adherence to a list of laws and conventions. She also explained the distinction between rendition and extraordinary rendition, and of the author wrote "It's not clear whether he knows that rendition includes perfectly normal things like extradition."

Conservative commentators happily noted the article as well, some with the favored stance of studious ignorance. The next day Scott Horton suggested that intelligence officials and their allies fooled an easily led reporter into furthering "efforts designed to show that Obama is continuing the counterterrorism programs that he previously labeled as abusive and promised to shut down." The theory goes that the CIA is very concerned about its liability for its actions during the last president, and if it can maneuver the current one into supporting the same policies it will provide a measure of protection. Digby, whose judgment I trust, backed off her initial criticism of the administration and questioned the veracity of any reporting that relies on unnamed intelligence officials (while also noting the administration needs to spell out its plans more clearly). In short, there was a lot of back an forth.

I respectfully disagree with digby, Horton et. al. on this one, though. While I am perfectly willing to discount the sotto voice whispers of intelligence agency sympathizers and am skeptical of the motives of the unnamed administration official (we should be suspicious of any anonymous source not acting as a whistleblower), there is plenty not to like in his/her statement that rendition "is controversial in some circles and kicked up a big storm in Europe. But if done within certain parameters, it is an acceptable practice." The phrases "some circles" and "kicked up a big storm" are especially grating because they imply it is an issue that a mere handful of monomaniacal civil liberties advocates are fixated on. It has the ring of someone who, having achieved power, has become newly appreciative of the expansive executive claims of the Bush years. I can easily envision the president looking at things in a new light thanks to his new position.

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YABL used to be one of our favorite acronyms here. "Yet Another Bush Lie!" our headlines would proclaim again and again until, really, it became redundant. "Bush Opens Mouth" we might as well have said. But this particular topic seemed to call for a YABL revival as it is particularly blatant.

For graphic starters, take a look at this lovely Map of Routes of CIA Torture Transports. A larger version can be found here at Le Monde, and even non-Francophiles will have no trouble understanding the breakdown of which flights were by the big C-130 and which by the little Gulfstream. It's nice to have various vehicles handy for different uses, don't you think?

But the particular lie in question comes from this story which only a couple of papers appear to have picked up. Those who watched the recent PBS/Bill Moyers story about Pressure on the Press will understand why.

The announcement that Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi was transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility from CIA custody raises worrying questions about how long he has been detained by the CIA, where he was held, what kind of treatment he endured, and whether other prisoners still remain in CIA detention. The CIA has previously detained numerous detainees for months and even years. [snip]

Now here comes the lie:

On September 6, 2006, President George W. Bush publicly revealed the existence of the CIA's secret detention and interrogation program. Although he stated that, as of that moment, there were no prisoners in CIA custody, he did not promise that the program was closing permanently.

Horseshit. He knew it wasn't closed even as he was speaking. But to continue...