WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008
CIA Got Legal Cover From Torture Charges
2002 Justice Department Memo Told Agency That "Good Faith" Protected Its Interrogators From Prosecution
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That heavily censored memo, released Thursday, approved the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques method by method, but warned that if the circumstances changed, interrogators could be running afoul of anti-torture laws.
The Aug. 1, 2002, legal opinion signed by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee was issued the same day he wrote a memo for then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales defining torture as only those "extreme acts" that cause pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure.
The Bybee legal opinion defining torture was withdrawn more than two years later. Justice spokesman Peter Carr said the conclusions of the opinion approving specific interrogation methods are still in force.
Waterboarding is a form of simulated drowning that critics call torture. CIA Director Michael Hayden banned waterboarding in 2006 but government officials have said it remains a possibility if approved by the attorney general, the CIA chief and the president.
Secret Bush administration memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques have been made public starting in 2004, when the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal revealed detainee mistreatment. Thursday's release adds to the growing record of the still secret program launched after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The new Bybee memo was obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union along with two other previously unreleased documents dealing with the CIA's interrogation program. The Bybee memo specifically approved proposed interrogation techniques that were devised for use against al Qaeda suspects who were resistant to traditional questioning methods.
The standards used to judge how physically rough an interrogation could be are blacked out. But interrogations that stress a detainee psychologically or emotionally were not allowed to cause "prolonged mental harm." That was defined as harm lasting months or even years after the interrogation.
The memo suggests psychiatrists or psychologists should be consulted prior to interrogations to assess the likely mental health effect on the prisoner.
"The healthier the individual, the less likely that the use of any one procedure or set of procedures will result in prolonged mental harm," the memo states.
The new documents indicate that senior Bush administration officials were aware of the controversial and potentially problematic use of certain interrogation methods, including waterboarding.
In a second memo, dated Jan. 28, 2003, then-CIA Director George Tenet authorized CIA officers to interrogate a terror suspect using an "enhanced technique" and ordered a record to be kept of it as the interrogation was happening. It was not clear whether such a record would be taken via notes, videotape or audiotape, but it was to include the "nature and duration of each such technique employed, the identities of those present" and other factors.
Tenet's memo also authorized the use of both "enhanced techniques" and "standard techniques," and said no other methods could be used "unless otherwise approved by headquarters."
Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's national security project, said the Tenet document suggests the CIA at least contemplated techniques that went beyond waterboarding.
He said the interrogation records, if released, could be used as evidence by defendants in military tribunals at Guantanamo to prove they were tortured or coerced.
A third document released Thursday is undated but likely was written in 2004, well after the last confirmed use of waterboarding against a CIA prisoner. It addresses a planned interrogation, saying that it should go forward only with the clear understanding of all policies pertaining to the treatment of prisoners.
That unsigned memo defends interrogations but warns those authorizing them to be fully aware of the then-emerging international and U.S. legal debate surrounding the issue. It appears to serve as groundwork to defend the legality of interrogations — including waterboarding — if necessary.
"Intelligence gained using the interrogation techniques has saved Americans lives and property," the unsigned memo states.
It pointed to the Aug. 2002 Justice Department opinion that concluded "interrogation techniques including the waterboard do not violate the torture statute."
For several years, the Bush administration relied on the findings in that 2002 opinion to maintain its interrogations did not amount to torture — and therefore had not violated any U.S. or international treaties on how detainees are treated.
However, the one-page undated memo highlights legislation by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., prohibiting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees. The amendment was approved by the Senate in June 2004 and was part of a 2005 military budget bill that became law in October 2004.
It also notes a 2004 Supreme Court decision — which found that terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay could challenge their detention in U.S. courts — that "raises possible concerns about judicial review of the program, and these issues."
The Bush administration maintains waterboarding was legal when it was used by CIA interrogators in 2002 and 2003 against top al Qaeda detainees Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. CIA Director Hayden said waterboarding was used, in part, because of widespread belief among U.S. intelligence officials that more catastrophic attacks were imminent.
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Isn''t an unsigned and undated document = scrap paper?
start......
John Conyers is now taking the position that NO ONE at
Friday''s (July 25) impeachment hearing can accuse Bush or Cheney of any crime or any impeachable offense, dishonorable conduct or even lying. Conyers is now saying that he will shut the hearing down if anyone
accuse the boys of crimes or impeachable offense.
whatreallyhappened.com
Everyone needs to email Conyers and tell him the
majority of the country wants these to idiots impeached. Sounds to me like maybe Bush & Cheney
must have something good on Conyers for protecting
Bush & Cheney. I also read Conyers wife is going to
be indicted for some land deal........
They opinions asserted by that DOJ are all subject to being false at best, criminal at worst.
The CIA heard what they wanted to hear from DOJ and they should have gotten a second opinion from somewhere else. It might have put the assertion by DOJ in to question.
Which obviously the Bu$h mis-Administration would not want.
BushCo and the Neocons are lowly animals. But if we would like to pretend that they are human beings, then they should be tried as war criminals and when they are found guilty, they should be sentenced to a punishment that fits their crimes.
Posted by aldon61 at 04:29 PM : Jul 24, 2008
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This probably will happen.
Friday''''s (July 25) impeachment hearing can accuse Bush or Cheney of any crime or any impeachable offense, dishonorable conduct or even lying. Conyers is now saying that he will shut the hearing down if anyone
accuse the boys of crimes or impeachable offense.
whatreallyhappened.com
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Conyers is trying to cover his own rear end it sounds like. One man can not be allowed to infer that he can impede impeachment hearings when the evidence is
overwhelming. This is a republican tactic to detract from the truth.
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In a second memo, dated Jan. 28, 2003, then-CIA Director George Tenet authorized CIA officers to interrogate a terror suspect using an "enhanced technique" and ordered a record to be kept of it as the interrogation was happening........
I''ll bet the tapes vanished......just a guess
Posted by mcv57
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Perhaps the World needs to bring them to justice.
They have caused grief throught the world and healing can only take place when satisfaction is garnered by all concerned.
Not near as many as had their heads sawed off on the internet.
We demand equal time!
I thought we were better than the terrorists...?
Perhaps not.
Unfortunate, because now this means our soldiers will be likewise tortured. Still sound like a good idea?
Here again lies the illusion of using two different stories to substantiate policy. Can we not say that it was necessary to subvert any al Qaeda efforts to continue their terror compaign? But also, that these same polices had no place in Iraq, where al Qaeda was not even present when the U.S. pursued Sadamn Hussain for WMDs. There is no perspective in this journalism, it confuses purposes and policies.
WorldNews Net
(photo: AP / Osvaldo Ruiz)
Argentina Human Rights Law Military PhotosTOOLS BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - A court sentenced one of Argentina''s most feared former military leaders to life in prison on Thursday for the 1977 kidnapping, torture and killing of four activists. Luciano Benjamin Menendez, 81, was commander of the regional Third Army Corps in Cordoba for five years during Argentina''s 1976-83 military dictatorship. Menendez, who was already under house arrest for previous convictions related to the dictatorship''s "dirty war"
Two decades to tyrants. Wonder how long its going to take Bush and Cheney to dodge justice. U.S. Supreme Court should be hanged for supporting this criminal activity.
Your ignorance is the problem.
Ron Paul Addressing Congress last week:
Madam Speaker, I have, for the past 35 years, expressed my grave concern for the future of America . The course we have taken over the past century has threatened our liberties, security and prosperity. In spite of these long-held concerns, I have days--growing more frequent all the time--when I''m convinced the time is now upon us that some Big Events are about to occur. These fast-approaching events will not go unnoticed. They will affect all of us. They will not be limited to just some areas of our country. The world economy and political system will share in the chaos about to be unleashed.
I''m fearful that my concerns have been legitimate and may even be worse than I first thought. They are now at our doorstep. Time is short for making a course correction before this grand experiment in liberty goes into deep hibernation.
In one of Paul''s most memorable speeches to date, the Congressman spoke of rampant authoritarianism having replaced the principles of liberty that the United States was founded upon and warned that current empire building financed through inflation and debt signals a most frightening period in history.
Get ready for the really, really, REALLY, bad days...
That way the human race would become purer, after all if we can breed a faster race horse a hardier crop why cant we breed "better" people?
Yeah I know its been tried before and got a very bad name...
Thats why we will always have strife because those greed genes have not been eliminated.
I thought we were better than the terrorists...?
Perhaps not.
Unfortunate, because now this means our soldiers will be likewise tortured. Still sound like a good idea?
Posted by smurfcrusher
Exactly. Some Americans seem to think the US can do whatever it wants, wherever, without consequences. It can''t.
Mostly because I believe known terrorists are not going to be detered from torturing our soldiers simply because we claim to be on the moral side of this war, and they should also therefore act accordingly.
The facts have spoken for themselves. 10 year old conscripts have been used to hack the heads off of innocents. Soldiers that disappear DON''T get repatriated, they get their heads cut off and their bodies mutilated.
If like smurfcrusher you are stupid enough to think Al Qaeda & their insurgents will act mercifully, then you have a very bad short term memory.
It has ALWAYS been the policy of terrorists to torture their captives.
Terrorists should always reap what they sow, in triplicate.
Mostly because I believe known terrorists are not going to be detered from torturing our soldiers simply because we claim to be on the moral side of this war, and they should also therefore act accordingly.
The facts have spoken for themselves. 10 year old conscripts have been used to hack the heads off of innocents. Soldiers that disappear DON''''T get repatriated, they get their heads cut off and their bodies mutilated.
If like smurfcrusher you are stupid enough to think Al Qaeda & their insurgents will act mercifully, then you have a very bad short term memory.
It has ALWAYS been the policy of terrorists to torture their captives.
Terrorists should always reap what they sow, in triplicate.
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Posted by RosieOD4Prez at 12:20 AM : Jul 25, 2008
+ report abuse
Hitler would have LOVED you.....
You''d have been Promoted to Senior Field Marshall in the SS, or perhaps Gestapo, at the very least.....
End the NeoCon Nightmare!! Vote out Bush/Cheney/McCain this fall!
Who is the bigger terrorist? Whose actions have resulted in more women and children shot or blown to bits?
Number 1 killer is Bush
Number 2 is Saddam
Number 3 is Osama
FACT
These are people who have absolutely no regard for the rule of law whether Constitutional or International unless of course, it benefits them or their cronies.
All involved in War Crimes & Crimes Against Humanity, from those in this corrupt Administration who directed the torture & abuse of prisoners, down to the CIA or military personnel who actually initiated such abuse, must be made to be held accountable for their actions in accordance with US anti-torture laws & then, they should be made to answer for their crimes yet again before a War Crimes Tribunal at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.
If these people are not held accountable for their crimes, then such laws (both domestic & International,) are meaningless, for they apply only to those nations which are unable to protect their war criminals from prosecution.
All she can say is dumb lib and I saw a
head sawed off. They quit sawing heads off long ago as bad P.R. She should be in one of these prisons with the torturers she supports.
I am a Republican who never ever supported this evil regime. dumb lib is way off RosieOD!
Look up some torture case on ACLU website. They seem to be keeping somewhat accurate records of these cases. The deaths I saw only covered through 2005
We now have our own crop of home grown scum and what''s good for the goose is good for the gander. They have betrayed our ideals and opened a door we fought and died to close 63 years ago. Punish them and drive them from our Nation and from civilized society.
Posted by tootall1014
That is the kind of thinking that the Nazis used to justify their treatment of anyone who disagreed with them. The techniques are the same ones used by Stalin to get false confessions from innocent people. Our government''s use of torture destroyed our worldwide standing as an ethical nation guided by respect for the rule of law. When we emulate the actions of despots and terrorists, we become what we despise. A "victory" which sacrifices ethics and honor is a sham.
Under this way of thinking one could kill any of these pols or torturers as long as they were only killing them to stop a felonious act Ie. severe bodily injury of another person.
Let them declare ececutive privilage or national security at at a patriots trial- IT WON''T happen- they have too much to hide.
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by babooph
July 26, 2008 8:55 AM PDT
- Surely Dr. Mengela had legal ok to do his "camp" experiments.
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