FBI knew of CIA torture, considered prosecution [View All]

[Hannah Bell]

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents witnessed the torture of inmates at secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) overseas prisons in 2002, according to documents partially declassified in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the advocacy group Judicial Watch.


In September 2002, the FBI agents saw prisoners chained naked to chairs, “manacled to the ceiling and subjected to blaring music around the clock,” and knew of written orders to CIA agents asking them to compare “How close is each technique to the ‘rack and screw’ “ (an extreme method of torture).


The Obama administration resisted release of the documents, and continues to withhold critical information, including a transcript of an interview between FBI Director Robert Mueller and investigators on the question of “terror suspect” interrogations. The newly released documents, including a Justice Department inspector general’s report, remain highly redacted in critical sections.


Nonetheless, the new revelations fill out a few more details, adding to an overwhelming body of evidence that proves that the torture and murder of prisoners was not some aberration carried out by a handful of “rogue agents.” It was systematic, and was ordered and overseen from the Bush White House on down.


The documents “paint a very clear picture of extreme micro-managing of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program,” Alex Abdo, a legal fellow with the ACLU told Free Speech Radio News. “Discussions about what types of techniques to use, what specific interrogation protocols to implement on particular detainees were occurring at a very, very high level in the Bush administration.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/tort-n04.shtml