Newsline – Redactions, and ‘Profanity-Laced’ Tirades Edition
25 August 2009 9:22 am by Taylor Marsh
Lots of stirring on Holder hiring a prosecutor to look into alleged CIA interrogation abuses. Even with Holder’s breathless “I fully realize that my decision to commence this preliminary review will be controversial”, caution is in order; for starters because it’s only a preliminary review. For all the hoopla that Holder has appointed a prosecutor, a wait to see if it’s a serious effort should apply. It could be a political appeasement approach to quiet those of us who think Pres. Obama’s Let’s Look Forward strategy from the start has allowed things that happened during the last Administration to slip through history’s grasp.
In appointing a prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA interrogation abuses, including episodes that resulted in prisoner deaths, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday shook off warnings from President Obama to avoid becoming mired in past controversies.
Holder has named longtime prosecutor John H. Durham, who has parachuted into crisis situations for both political parties over three decades, to open an early review of nearly a dozen cases of alleged detainee mistreatment at the hands of CIA interrogators and contractors.
In a statement Monday afternoon, Holder cautioned that the inquiry is far from a full-blown criminal investigation. Rather, he said, it is unknown whether indictments or prosecutions of CIA contractors and employees will follow. Lawyers involved in similar reviews said that any possible cases could take years to build because of challenges with witnesses and evidence. …
More on Durham in the article.
Dick Cheney’s two cents on it, from Stephen Atta had a meeting in Prague Hayes:
The documents released Monday clearly demonstrate that the individuals subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda. This intelligence saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks. These detainees also, according to the documents, played a role in nearly every capture of al Qaeda members and associates since 2002. The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush Administration were directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks against the United States. The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions. President Obama’s decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security.
Spencer Ackerman @ The Washington Independent has documents Cheney says validates the use of torture. (They don’t.) Lots of redactions.
Speaking of redactions, also from Ackerman, the CIA Inspector General John Helgerson’s 2004 report into the CIA’s Bush-era interrogations operations. Some real classics if you can read it.
92. –redacted– The debriefer assessed Al-Nashiri as withholding information, at which point REDACTED reinstated –redacted– hooding, and handcuffing. Sometime between 28 December 2002 and 1 January 2003, the debriefer used an unloaded semi-automatic handgun as a prop to frighten Al-Nashiri into disclosing information. After discussing this plan with REDACTED the debriefer entered the cell where Al-Nashiri sat shackled and racked the handgun once or twice close to Al-Nashiri’s head. On what was probably the same day, the debriefer used a power drill to frighten Al-Nashiri. With –redacted– consent, the debriefer entered the detainee’s cell and revved the drill while the detainee stood naked and hooded. The debriefer did not touch Al-Nashiri with the power drill
Perfect segue to the dish of the day, compliments of ABC News. Complete with CIA screaming match, simultaneously denied, of course, along with lots of national security speculation, which has been making the rounds for weeks. It’s spy chatter, TMZ edition.
A “profanity-laced screaming match” at the White House involving CIA Director Leon Panetta, and the expected release today of another damning internal investigation, has administration officials worrying about the direction of its newly-appoint intelligence team, current and former senior intelligence officials tell ABC News.com.
… According to intelligence officials, Panetta erupted in a tirade last month during a meeting with a senior White House staff member. … “Leon will be leaving,” predicted a former top U.S. intelligence official, citing the conflict with Blair. The former official said Panetta is also “uncomfortable” with some of the operations being carried out by the CIA that he did not know about until he took the job. …
Rendition will continue, which doesn’t surprise me at all. However, it’s not exactly what candidate Obama wrote in Foreign Affairs in the summer of 2007, during the primaries. Though the report begins by stating rendition will “continue the Bush administration’s practice”, but should mention Clinton first, which happens much later, as rendition actually began under a Democratic administration, which Obama will continue, with modifications.
The administration officials, who discussed the changes on condition that they not be identified, said that unlike the Bush administration, they would operate more openly and give the State Department a larger role in assuring that transferred detainees would not be abused. “The emphasis will be on ensuring that individuals will not face torture if they are sent overseas,” said one administration official, adding that no detainees would be sent to countries known to conduct abusive interrogations.
Rendition began to be used regularly under President Bill Clinton and its use expanded rapidly under President Bush after the terrorist attacks in September 2001.
On another note entirely, Fouad Ajami unloads on Pres. Obama. A neocon, pro Iraq war apologist, Mr. Ajami, a scholar on the Middle East turned right wing propagandist, also treats us all to a white washed version of Mr. Reagan, making his Sean Hannity op-ed in the Wall Street Journal his own rhetorical town hall belch.
On a personal note, congrats to Laura Rozen, who is leaving Foreign Policy to join Politico, something that began circulating recently that has now been announced. I like Laura very much and have been reading her forever, since War and Peace. Politico’s lucky to have her. None better.
Anyway, quite an intel dump, as many of us take a step back while Pres. Obama enjoys his holiday on Martha’s Vineyard. Though that doesn’t mean we’re not paying attention.
