WASHINGTON, May 20, 2008
Report: CIA Pushed Torture Envelope
Justice Department Says FBI Warned Spy Agency, Military, That Their Tactics Were "Borderline Torture"
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A Justice Department report released Tuesday, May 20, 2008, found that the CIA and military ignored repeated warnings from the FBI that their interrogation techniques were tantamount to torture. (CBS/AP)
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Prosecutors stopped far short of pursuing charges against interrogators, however, after concluding that the Pentagon was ultimately responsible for policing the treatment of al Qaeda detainees who were being held in military prisons.
More than three years in the making, the audit issued by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine generally praises how the FBI handled terror interrogations following the Sept. 11 terror attacks through 2004.
When al Qaeda terrorist Abu Zubaydah was captured - six months after 9/11 - the FBI took first crack at his interrogation. But, when the CIA concluded agents were merely getting "throwaway information" - the spies took over - using what one FBI official later called, "borderline torture," reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr.
Agents pulled out as FBI headquarters ordered them not to take part. But, Tuesday's report from the Justice Department's Inspector General makes it clear, FBI agents for several years witnessed wide-ranging abuses at three military lockups in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
Agents repeatedly asked FBI headquarters for guidance, but didn't get it, as prisoners at Gitmo were threatened with growling dogs, had their thumbs twisted back and heads wrapped in duct tape.
While the Inspector General's report "...found no instances in which an FBI agent participated in clear detainee abuse..." it blamed the FBI for failing to give clear instructions to its agents in the field.
The split, pitting the FBI against the CIA and Pentagon, came to a head over the treatment of the so-called 20th hijacker Muhammad al-Qahtani. Qahtani is accused by the government of attempting to enter the United States in August 2001 to be a muscle hijacker on one of the planes used in the 9/11 attacks. He was turned away at the Orlando airport and not allowed entry into the country.
Fine's report raises troubling questions about CIA and Pentagon interrogators whose use of snarling dogs, short shackles, mocking of the Quran and other abuses of detainees overseas appear to have overstepped what U.S. courts would allow in collecting evidence.
At the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, FBI agents in 2002 openly clashed with military interrogators bent on "aggressively" interrogating al-Qahtani by confronting him with agitated dogs and keeping him awake for continuous 20-hour interviews daily.
"The plan was to keep him up until he broke," the FBI agent told superiors, the Justice Department report said.
FBI officials complained to the White House after learning that military interrogators forced al Qahtani to "perform dog tricks," "be nude in front of a female," and wear "women's underwear on his head".
Al-Qahtani's attorney, Gitanjali Gutierrez with the Center for Constitutional Rights, says that Qahtani recently attempted suicide in his cell at Guantanamo Bay because of his conditions.
"The tactics that were used against and the impact, the pain and suffering it caused him and the damage that it caused him does rise to a level of torture," Gutierrez told CBS News.
The treatment of al-Qahtani recently forced the government to drop the charges against him, because had the Pentagon proceeded with his military tribunal, all of the evidence of his treatment would be made public.
For at least part of the time covered by Fine's investigation, the CIA and Pentagon were working under Justice Department guidance that their interrogation methods were legal. However, FBI agents recognized as early as 2002 that they would not be allowed to use those methods to interview prisoners in the United States.
FBI agents are explicitly banned from using brutality, physical violence, intimidation or other means of causing duress when interviewing suspects. Instead, the FBI generally tries to build a rapport with suspects to get information.
"Beyond any doubt, what they are doing (and I don't know the extent of it) would be unlawful were these enemy prisoners of war," one agent wrote back to FBI headquarters in a document cited in the Justice report.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 73 CommentsThe liberation of Iraq became the reason for the war only as revisionist history after the whole WMD thing didn''t pan out.
I agree that terrorist suspects, like other suspects would lie, but they remain suspects until they are tried and convicted. The prosecution has gotten it all wrong before, even after trials. That this "truth deprived" administration says someone is a terrorist simply isn''t good enough.
If they are tried and convicted, they deserve their sentences, but the rule of law is what makes us better than the terrorists.
Posted by speakinup
"Only when necessary" - a phrase used to justify the worst atrocities in history.
If the subject lies - you start again with the water boarding - and tell him before you start that even if he indicates he will tell the truth the torture will continue until it has been proven it is true.
If you don''t believe sacrificing the comfort of a known terrorist who is known to be witholding information is worth it to save an innocent''s life - I don''t CARE why you think of me. Tough Shiit - don''t get caught - die for your allah. I''ll be glad to condone an immediate audience with him.
Your hatrid of Americans comes thru loud and clear. Check out the kid sawing off the head of the handbound prisoner. Your ilk should hate us - we are at opposite ends of the spectrum - you being Godless freaks killing poeple only when they are tied up - and us preferring to kill ONLY when necessary.
I understand your your point of view gc, but I''m not certain that we should rule out torture when confronted with an enemy that brazenly uses it - such as when the televise beheadings.
I don''t like torture, but have to wonder why we wouldn''t employ it upon those that definitly use it, when we KNOW them to be witholding information.
I''ve heard arguements it''s not the American way - but if it saves even 1 life, and doesn''t cost the life of the prisoner (water-boarding for instance) - I would say go for it.
I''m not sure it is a good ''fishing'' tool, as if the person has nothing of value - what''s the purpose - I''m not into punishing until I know what the crime is and they are found guilty.
But if I''m interrogating a prisoner that has no qualms about killing innocents, or those tied up; and he makes the mistake of telling me he''s not going to divulge some life saving information he has - well let''s just prove him wrong with the water-board and save the innocent''s life.
- I''m struck by your desperation to make an anti-Republican remark - no matter how ludicrous.
I had to laugh from the gut when I read the above. Thanks for the comic relief.
1 - there aren''t any brainless Republicans - that''s why they aren''t called Democrats.
2 - Colin Powell wouldn''t run for VP or Pres in the Republican party - he''s too smart to want the grief that comes with the job - so why would he be so stupid as to go to the Democrats and ask for it.
You are almost as big a fool as blackalot.
The enemy will respect John McCain.
They will laugh at Obama''''s girlish features.
BullSheeeeet!
First off, torture DOES NOT WORK. The only "information" you can get by torturing someone is whatever he thinks will get you to stop torturing him. He tells you what he thinks you want to hear, but he does NOT tell you what you need to know (if he even has such information)!
Second, what evil arrogance, you sc.um-su.cking-b@s.****! The US DOES NOT have the right to go around the world torturing and murdering countless people just to save 1 (ONE) stinking american!!! One American life is worth no more than one life from any other part of the world. You think you are "better" and somehow "worth more", but you are NOT. Your evil sickens me.
So, what''s going to be done; write another editorial, incite a riot, jam Congress, nothing?
Posted by pghlady3
Then feel free to find some children to strap bombs onto since you feel the need to match the terrorists atrocity for atrocity. But those of us with honor and self-respect don''t have the need to act as barbaric as our enemy. Only cowards think that the most powerful nation in the world has to be so fearful of a bunch of cavemen that we have to lose our humanity.
We condem the Nazis and the Japanese and now we can condem those amongst us who did the rotten deeds and shamed our nation by going into the gutter. Shameful.
But anybody with a brain knows it just may be needed in SOME instances. If it saved just one american life it was WORTH IT. Posted by tiddsanbeer "
Budy you could not be any more wrong. Is is ok too to use gas in the trenches? Maybe you went to one of those high schools teaching "intelligent design" and were smoking in the john every day during history class.
My God, you may save one life and end up subjecting our own troops to the same rules of engagement for the next 20 years!! Torture is wrong did we set up death camps for captured Germans & Japanese during WWII? No way, it wrong and America used to stand for something higher. Torture is evil, and we never need to stop to that level to win the war. When we do we make ourselves equals to the enemy and then we have lost.
Bush and his pals are total failures in very sense of the word and should stand trial for what they has done to our nation.
OBAMA/POWELL 08!
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If you ask me, America has been going down the hill ever since world war 2 when it comes to foreign policy. The only thing that America has done is aggressively defend it''s own interests, using freedom and democracy as an excuse to manipulate other countries or even start wars. America has come to a moral low point and needs to take a hard look at itself, instead of lecturing the world about democracy and patting itself on the back. America has become a nation that loses its wars, needs foreign cash to keep its economy going and got itself a bad reputation abroad.
With practices like torture and prisoner abuse, America is hurting it''s own reputation even more, and it creates an aversion towards democracy rather then advance it. Whoever the next president will be, he or she will have a lot of work to do.
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