CIA Probe Angers Those on Right and Left

(AP)  Conservatives and liberals alike reacted critically, though for different reasons, to Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to appoint a federal prosecutor to investigate possible abuses by CIA interrogators in using harsh tactics on terror detainees.

Conservatives, led by former Vice President Dick Cheney, said the probe wrongly targeted those who helped keep the nation safe after the Sept. 11 attacks and would diminish the ability of the government to safeguard Americans. Civil liberties groups were unhappy that officials from the administration of President George W. Bush were not targeted in the probe.

Holder on Monday appointed federal prosecutor John Dunham to look into after the release of an internal CIA inspector general's report that revealed agency interrogators once threatened to kill a Sept. 11 suspect's children and suggested another would be forced to watch his mother be sexually assaulted.

President Barack Obama has said interrogators would not face charges if they followed legal guidelines. However, the report said that some CIA interrogators went beyond Bush administration restrictions that gave them wide latitude to use severe tactics such as waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique. Three high-level suspects underwent waterboarding scores of times.

Mr. Obama's caveat has not satisfied Cheney, who claimed earlier this year that the Obama administration is making the nation less secure by dismantling Bush-era initiatives aimed at disrupting terrorist plans. He repeated the assertion Monday, saying the Justice Department probe and a new FBI unit to handle interrogations were "a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security."

"The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush administration were directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks against the United States," Cheney said. "The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions."

Cheney contended that the inspector general's report showed that the severe techniques resulted in "the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda" and "saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks."

Inside the CIA's Haphazard Interrogations
CIA Threatened to Kill Suspect's Children
Did CIA Violate Torture Law?
10 Things About the CIA's Bad Day
Holder Taps Prosecutor to Probe CIA Abuses
Unplugged: Uncovering CIA Interrogations
W.H.: CIA Not Out of Interrogation Biz
New Unit Will Question Key Terror Suspects
Panetta Defends CIA in E-Mail to Agency
Dems Laud, Republicans Slam CIA Interrogation News
Expert: CIA Techniques Were Torture

Although the report somewhat buttressed Cheney's contention by saying the interrogations obtained some information that identified terrorists and plots, the inspector general also raised broad concerns about the legality and effectiveness of the tactics, saying that measuring their success is "a more subjective process and not without some concern."

Cheney and others have warned that opening investigations into incidents outlined by the CIA report will destroy morale at the agency and discourage its staff from aggressive intelligence work on terror cases.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called the announcement of a special prosecutor a "poor and misguided decision," noting that the cases of abuse have already been reviewed and passed on by federal prosecutors.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said the investigation will be a distraction to the spy agency. Rep. Peter King of New York, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, called Holder's decision "disgraceful."

The CIA interrogators "should be given medals for saving American lives," King said Tuesday.

Several key Democrats and officials with Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday that the potential prosecutions are a start, but they said the probe does nothing to investigate the actions of officials who sanctioned the brutal interrogation program.

"Any investigation at this point is welcome," Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's national security project, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But any investigation that begins and ends with the so-called rogue interrogators would be completely inadequate given the evidence that's already in the public domain. We know that senior officials authorized torture and we know that DOJ lawyers facilitated torture."

Amnesty International-USA was similarly unimpressed. Tom Parker, its director of terrorism, counterterrorism and human rights, likened limiting the prosecutions to interrogators to "going after the drug mule and leaving the drug king pin alone."

Parker met with the White House's outreach office Tuesday and told the AP that officials made Mr. Obama's stand on the matter clear: An investigation into the previous administration's policies is not the cards.

"He doesn't think it will be political useful to indulge in an investigation," Parker said.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said the Justice Department inquiry doesn't go far enough.

"The abuses that were officially sanctioned amounted to torture and those at the very top who authorized, ordered or sought to provide legal cover for them should be held accountable," Feingold said in a statement issued late Monday.

[imright100]

Please Mr Al Qaeda man sir... would you mind telling us where the sleeper cells that plan to attack the Sears Towers and LAX are? No? Well pardon me for bothering you. Can I get you a latte and a blanket?

[catlmi1]

okay, liberals. when your family is flying in on Thanksgiving, who are you going to count on to make sure their flight was not targeted ? Those clowns in the White House ? Jeez, what a bumch of self-rightous idiots.

[endurorob]

ahrats August 26, 2009 6:22 AM EDT
Remember what goes around comes around. Americans can now be tortured the same as we did to others.



If the data would have been kept classified as it should have been then this would not be an issue. But certain politicians decided to open the info to appease the far left radicals who supported them.

[ffoulkes-2009]

A lot of that 'leakage' going on these days. All these quotes from people not authorized to speak, etc. Classified needs to be classified. There should be criminal punishment for leakers and those who report the leaks to the public.

[ahrats]

Remember what goes around comes around. Americans can now be tortured the same as we did to others. there will be other terriorst plots hatched against the U.S. but at least the terriorst is not a FRIEND of the former U.S. president. Did the war in Iraq save american lives? Some things the former administation did should be left behind but this is something that needs to be addressed and should go against the hirer ups not the men in the field who did the work.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Are you kidding me? American troops have been tortured...not water boarded and threatened...but tortured. flayed, beheaded, etc., and all before any of our interrogations.

[ramos1129]

throughout the Bush eight years, Bush, Cheney, etc insisted that the US did not torture while torture was being used even while evidence after evidence that we did use torture was being made public.

At first, I was againist any probe because of not wanting to hang more dirty laundry internationally. But now that these details have come out, we have no choice. But this time, I do want want only the "troops" to be held accountable but also go as high up as the trail leads and hold those people accountable also.

[r9119111]

"The abuses that were officially sanctioned amounted to torture and those at the very top who authorized, ordered or sought to provide legal cover for them should be held accountable," Feingold said in a statement issued late Monday.

We should never again be subjected to any effort by the GOP to control America using another Imperial Presidency. Beware our own Axis of Evil. Our Constitution must be defended and Law and Order must prevail for the good of "all" of our people.

[spudder8]

Torture is wrong we should have done it the Islam way just cut off their heads thus no problems, we should also introduce the take no prisoner theory, again no future problems.

[searingtruth]

"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness."
George Washington, Circular to the States, May 9, 1753

A Future of the Brave

[bajajohn1]

Rest in Peace, Sen. Kennedy, you served our nation well in times of peace and war. You fought the good fight to bring health care to all Americans. The fight still rages but the dream you shared with millions of Americans will soon become reality.

[searingtruth]

So let us hope.

The Lion of the Senate has passed, and with him one more generation of nobility and knowledge.

Let us fight to assure that a justice for one and all once again prevails in America to shine as a beacon of freedom upon our world, a beacon which he and his family, and untold millions of unheralded Americans, have paid so dearly for.

He would have wanted it that way.
ST

A Future of the Brave

[babooph]

The CIA & the rest of the US military should not be looked at until AFTER the whole rotten Bush bunch are brought before the world court-then only very light consequences are right for those lower down.

[stn_sage]

To babooph:

You are absolutely correct! Prosecution and trial should begin with Bush, Cheney, and company; then move onto the CIA and FBI!

I suspect they're launching this 'red herring' investigation of the CIA to divert attention and heat away from the Bush administration! The thinking being, if the public THINKS we're going after some element of the government that was outlandishly breaking the law, we won't have to go after the WORST offenders---BUSH AND CHENEY! And, the stupid public
will believe we're upholding law and order!

I give Mr. Obama, his administration, and the Democrat-controlled Congress a big fat ZERO on their NON-ATTEMPTS to prosecute the BUSH administration for their multitude of domestic and foreign criminal acts!

In doing so, you have become the nation's second leading bunch of criminals right behind them!