CIA briefed 68 lawmakers on interrogation program

[kpete]

Source: Reuters

CIA briefed 68 lawmakers on interrogation program
David Alexander
WASHINGTON
Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:48pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA officials briefed at least 68 U.S. lawmakers between 2001 and 2007 on enhanced interrogation methods like simulated drowning that were being considered or used against captured al Qaeda members, according to declassified documents released on Tuesday.

The once-secret CIA papers, obtained in a lawsuit by the conservative legal foundation Judicial Watch, shed new light on which lawmakers knew the details of the controversial interrogation program and when.

Human rights groups have argued the harsh interrogation methods were forms of torture and violated U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions on treatment of war prisoners. President Barack Obama banned the techniques shortly after taking office in January 2009.

The declassified memos show the program began after the capture of al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Palestinian who was the group's operations director, in the city of Faisalabad in central Pakistan in March 2002.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61N0WE20100224

[montanacowboy]

1. That answers why there will NEVER be an investigation

of Bushco war crimes - they are all covering their asses

[ixion]

2. exactly

:argh:

Any congress person that was briefed and failed to act is an accessory to war crimes.

[formercia]

5. Give them some skin in the game.

Make them complicit, then swear them to secrecy. The old Skull and Bones playbook. Even if they don't like the idea, the classified nature prevents them from speaking.

[JDPriestly]

6. They don't agree to keep this secret. They are required by law to keep this secret.

Our laws on secrecy need to be overhauled. Congressional oversight is a joke if the CIA can break the law, confess to Congress that it broke the law and then require Congress to be silent about it.

[hootinholler]

11. Isn't there also a law that you can't classify stuff to cover up a crime?

But then again there is the whole state secrets act thingy as used with Sibel Edmonds.

:grr:

-Hoot

[dipsydoodle]

3. Presumably that makes all them

jointly and severally liable for the crime of torture.

[UpInArms]

4. who are these "68"?

I won't use the term "lawmakers" because these people are UNLAWFUL and should be imprisoned - regardless of stripe.

[Wilms]

7. And it took JUDICIAL WATCH to expose this?

Sad.

[Supersedeas]

14. who will oversee the overseers

[Uncle Joe]

8. I wonder if the CIA actually decided or if Dick Cheney pressured them to decide

in the same manner he strong armed them to link Saddam Hussein to 9/11 and/or WMDs regardless of their evidence to the contrary.

Frontline had a program some time back, I believe it was titled "Cheney's War" citing how he spent unprecedented time at the CIA pressuring them to come up with or adopt his pre-selected conclusions based on his cherry picking of evidence.

<snip>

"In a statement to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence dated April 12, 2007, then-CIA director Michael Hayden said the agency decided new "techniques" were needed because "Abu Zubaydah was withholding information that could help us track down al Qaeda leaders and prevent attacks."

<snip>

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[SlingBlade]

9. Some of the very Dems feigning shock when it was exposed ..

will probably be on this list if it ever were to be released.
Kinda like their stance on the Public Option today.

Would you favor or oppose the national government offering everyone the choice of a government administered health insurance plan — something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get — that would compete with private health insurance plans?

Favor 82%
Oppose 14%
Not Sure 4%
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010010320/poll-shouts-message-massachusetts-voters-were-sending

"When given the choice between a Republican, and a Democrat who acts like a Republican, the voters will choose the Republican every time." ---Harry Truman

We've been sold out boy's, Run for the hill's

[Selena Harris]

10. John Walker Lindh was allegedly tortured ,

both in Afghanistan and aboard two torture ships. Chertoff offered him a plea deal so Lindh wouldn't testify about the harsh treatment he received at the hands of torturers after being captured in Afghanistan in late 2001.

Lindh was referred to as American Taliban.

[librechik]

12. that willl shut them all up. Unless we make a big stink and force them in the open

Even the Dems. I will support any agency or movement that does so.

[MisterP]

13. after Stalin, Khrushchev & friends had Beria SHOT

America needs Khrushchevs, not a gaggle of Menems who scream that they're our only hope "because the Other Side's so bad"

mark my words, this impunity will create a new cycle of thugs, psychopaths, and torturers in '12, '16, or '20, as it did in '49, '64, '68, '80, and '00--not including the obscene policies President Nobel (and I don't mean Carter) is perpetuating

and the DLC will abet them while blaming Nader out the other side of their mouths

[conservdem]

15. This is not surprising to me. It probably does play into why

the current admin did not push the issue.

[bananas]

16. "Reuters’ Unbelievably Bad Reporting on the Ghost Detainee FOIA"

From the comments on that story:

Feb 24, 2010 1:38pm EST

Where’s the fact checking for the article?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/02/24/reuters-unbelievably-bad-reporting-on-ghost-detainee-foia/

pincheborracho

Following that link:

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/02/24/reuters-unbelievably-bad-reporting-on-ghost-detainee-foia/

Reuters’ Unbelievably Bad Reporting on the Ghost Detainee FOIA
By: emptywheel Wednesday February 24, 2010 5:43 am

I wasn’t going to respond to this unbelievably bad reporting from Reuters on the Ghost Detainee FOIA release the other day. But just in case anyone wants my 2 cents, here it is.

As I’ve shown, the packet of information makes it crystal clear that when Michael Hayden testified before SSCI on April 12, 2007, he lied. Lied about information he had received, in preparation for the briefing, the day before. Lied about precisely whom in Congress had been briefed.

He also lied about important details of the torture program–both why they did it and when.

Yet instead of reporting that–instead of looking at Hayden’s briefing critically–Reuters reports some of the details in the briefing unquestioningly, without noting they have already been debunked.

<snip>

[defendandprotect]

17. Believe we found out that they didn't tell Pelosi what they supposedly told her . .. ???

Is this specific about what they told anyone?