Big Fat Story
Sources say detainee was convinced he was going to be killed.
No matter how many revelations have already come out about CIA torture, it seems there are always new reports to make readers cringe. The latest round, leaked to Newsweek from a report by the CIA's inspector general, describes the interrogation of suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who sources told the magazine was threatened with a gun and a power drill. In a particularly grisly scene, the report is said to contain details on at least one mock execution staged to try and scare the detainee into talking. According to Newsweek, agents fired a gun in the room next to al-Nashiri to convince him a fellow prisoner had been killed. If the allegations are true, the interrogators could have violated federal laws that outlaw threatening prisoners with "imminent death."
Photo: Lynne Sladky / AP Photo
Vice President Dick Cheney has argued for months since leaving office that torture techniques employed by the CIA under Bush were effective in gathering intelligence from detainees. Critics, including Senator and torture victim John McCain, have argued that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation practices are not only immoral but counterproductive in that they provide a recruiting tool for the enemy and produce unreliable intelligence. The latest release of official reports on torture are expected to include documents requested months ago by Cheney that he says prove the effectiveness of these techniques against al Qaeda detainees, which could bring the discussion back to the forefront. Adding more fuel to the fire, CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote in a letter on Monday that "the CIA obtained intelligence from high-value detainees when inside information on al Qaeda was in short supply" but left it open as to whether alternative techniques could have yielded similar gains. "Whether this was the only way to obtain that information will remain a legitimate area of dispute, with Americans holding a range of views on the methods used," Panetta wrote.
Photo: Susan Walsh / AP Photo
The prospect of a drawn out investigation into the CIA's interrogation practices could break up President Obama's newly minted intelligence team. According to ABC News, CIA Director Leon Panetta participated in a "profanity-laced screaming match" over an internal investigation into the agency, and reports indicate that Panetta may have even threatened to quit over the issue, though both Panetta and the White House deny the claim. On Monday, Panetta said in a letter that newly released reports on CIA interrogations, including possible abuse, were "an old story" and that "the outlines of prior practices, and many of the details, are public already."
Photo: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
Unraveling the CIA Scandal
The Justice Department will investigate alleged abuses by CIA officers under the Bush administration after newly released reports suggested interrogators threatened prisoners with power drills and mock executions. But will the independent prosecutor create a partisan mess and sever the administration's relationship with the intelligence community?
Justice Department may indict interrogators and contractors who broke rules.
President Obama has indicated that he would just as soon put the issue of past CIA interrogations behind him now that he has outlawed many of the torture practices decried under President George W. Bush. But Attorney General Eric Holder may have other ideas. According to The Washington Post, Holder has decided to appoint Connecticut prosecutor John Durham to investigate nearly a dozen cases of alleged violations of torture laws and related statutes by CIA interrogators and contractors. The move came after the Justice Department's ethics bureau, the Office of Professional Responsibility, reportedly recommended reopening Bush-era cases dealing with prisoner abuse. Associates of Holder told The New York Times that the severity of some of the alleged abuses, including the deaths of detainees in American custody, forced him to reconsider letting sleeping interrogation cases lie. The prospect of renewed investigations into the CIA's inner workings and darkest corners could threaten Obama's relationship with the intelligence community as well as distract from his political agenda.
Photo: Bob Child / AP Photo
Obama approves elite team to question detainees.
A litany of abuses allegedly committed by CIA officers against detainees under the Bush administration have provided months of problems for President Obama. Now he's counting on a new team of interrogators to get things right the next time around. According to The Washington Post, the president has approved the creation of a new unit, called the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, that would work out of the FBI and be overseen by the National Security Council. The group, called HIG for short, would take over interrogation duties from the CIA and give the White House a closer eye on how key detainees are questioned. While the new team will be restricted to techniques detailed in the Army Field Manual, the Post reports that a presidential task force has recommended that they also develop a "scientific research program for interrogation," to come up with new interrogation methods within confines of the law and to test the effectiveness of current practices.
Photo: Ron Edmonds / AP Photo
Will investigations into CIA abuse help or hurt President Obama's agenda?
President Obama has more than enough on his plate with health-care reform, an escalating conflict in Afghanistan, and looming legislative battles over energy, and immigration. Now news of an independent prosecutor looking into alleged cases of torture by the CIA threatens to distract from his agenda and put the focus back on the battles fought by previous administration. Already opposition to the probe is hardening along partisan lines. On Monday, a group of nine Republican senators wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder saying that "It is well past time for the Obama administration to lift the cloud that has been placed over those in the intelligence community and let them return to the job of saving American lives," and even warning that an investigation "could leave us more vulnerable to attack." But if the prospect of indictments against CIA officers could serve to unite Republicans against the administration, it might also fire up Obama's base as well. The Plum Line's Greg Sargent notes that an independent prosecutor "could actually repair relations with liberals" at a time when looming compromises over health-care reform are eroding left-wing support for the White House.
Photo: Charles Dharapak / AP Photo
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