Ex-CIA Official: Agency Brass Lied to Congress About Interrogations

[babsbunny]

http://www.truthout.org/051509A

Friday 15 May 2009

by: Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | Repor

"A CIA employee of two decades, McCarthy became convinced that 'CIA people had lied' in that briefing, as one of her friends said later, not only because the agency had conducted abusive interrogations but also because its policies authorized treatment that she considered cruel, inhumane or degrading."

Last month, former CIA Director Michael Hayden and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey sharply criticized President Obama's decision to release four "torture" memos, writing in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal that the "disclosure of the techniques is likely to be met by faux outrage, and is perfectly packaged for media consumption."

[bleever]

1. Cheney stifled CIA's investigation of itself on torture:

In 2004, McCarthy was tapped by the CIA's Inspector General John Helgerson to assist him with internal investigations about the agency's interrogation methods. The report Helgerson prepared remains classified, but the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to have it released publicly.

...

Mayer wrote that Vice President Dick Cheney stopped Helgerson from fully completing his investigation. That proves, Mayer contends, that as early as 2004 "the Vice President's office was fully aware that there were allegations of serious wrongdoing in The {interrogation} Program."

"Helgerson was summoned repeatedly to meet privately with Vice President Cheney" before his investigation was "stopped in its tracks." Mayer said that Cheney's interaction with Helgerson was "highly unusual."

As a result, McCarthy "worried that neither Helgerson nor the Congressional overseers would fully examine what happened or why," according to the Post report.

[DCKit]

4. "...Cheney's interaction with Helgerson was "highly unusual.""

Hardly "unusual", "totally inappropriate" and/or "bordering on criminal" is more like it. But never "unusual" while Dick was running the show. Everything went past the Dick and little got by him.

The DOJ would be booked solid into the middle of this century if they just reopened all the investigations BushCo, with Dick leading the charge, quashed between 2001 and 2009.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. 'CIA people had lied' - WOW - I'm SO(not) surprised

.
.
.

USA is an aggressive selfish nation - invading and occupying nations because it CAN with it's military might.

If the USA didn't have all it's firepower

It would have nothing the World wants

certainly not it's ethics.

[Supersedeas]

3. Apparently Leon Panetta can't confirm or deny this happened and doesn't much care either way.

[vaberella]

5. Crazy shit. Now they're trying to pin it all on Pelosi. n/t

[emulatorloo]

6. Kick n/t

[G_j]

7. K&R