Holder close to naming prosectuor to investigate alleged CIA torture that went beyond Bush Orders

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

(This was posted earlier with only a snippit of the article and it seems that some posters were very happy when they just read what was posted and didn't click onto the link. I reposted for clarification)



Criminal investigation into CIA treatment of detainees expected

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cia-interrogate9-2009aug09,0,34626.story

Insiders say Atty. Gen. Eric Holder is close to naming a prosecutor to look into reports of excessive waterboarding and other unauthorized methods. Convictions could be hard to get. (this basically says that waterboarding is only illegal if it's excessive....)

By Greg Miller and Josh Meyer
August 9, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. is poised to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA abuses committed during the interrogation of terrorism suspects, current and former U.S. government officials said.

A senior Justice Department official said that Holder envisioned an inquiry that would be narrow in scope, focusing on "whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized" in Bush administration memos that liberally interpreted anti-torture laws.

Current and former CIA and Justice Department officials who have firsthand knowledge of the interrogation files contend that criminal convictions will be difficult to obtain because the quality of evidence is poor and the legal underpinnings have never been tested.

Some cases have not previously been disclosed, including an instance in which a CIA operative brought a gun into an interrogation booth to force a detainee to talk, officials said.

continued at link above

In other words kiddies, the Bush crimes will not be looked into but an investigation to see if anyone went above and beyond Bush's illegal torture directives... you figure out what that means.

[Heidi]

1. Kick.

Recommended.

:kick:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. Thanks!

[Heidi]

5. More than welcome, sweets.

Some think nothing'll ever come of it. I think otherwise. :)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

8. I'm glad you're optimistic!

:hi:

[Frustratedlady]

3. Well, yeah...that does shed a different light on the subject.

They can satisfy those looking for blood, but not jeopardize those who ordered the torture.

I hope I read that wrong.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. You didn't read it wrong.

[hfojvt]

6. I am seeing two possibilities here

1. it seems like little people are gonna get blamed for things that people at the top of the Bush administration demanded. Thus only the people following the orders will get punished, not the people who actually gave the orders.

or

2. By investigating these people, it will come out that they were, in fact, following orders - so it's kind of a sneak attack/pincer move against the top.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. I don't see any reason for a "sneak" attack or are we playing 3 dimensional chess again?

[JDPriestly]

9. Finally. Unfortunately, this is not a repudiation of the conduct condoned

in the memos. The most irresponsible aspect of this story is that the legal merit of those memos will not be challenged in a court. Until a court rules these memos and the torture that they permit to be illegal, to be violations of U.S. and international law, these torture techniques will be acceptable. That means that we will not be able to obtain justice should our soldiers or agents be tortured in the future.

The law is blind. The U.S. will not be able to claim that some other country committed a crime by torturing its citizens if the U.S. tortures the citizens of other countries.

Do we really want a law or a memo to stand unchallenged and without repudiation if that law or memo states in effect that any country has the right to waterboard our citizens or use any of the other techniques on them that we used on these detainees?

Attorney General Holder, this is a step in the right direction. But you need to do much more.