1. The worst is yet to come. Yesterday the CIA released a fresh copy of the report with roughly half of the “case study” discussion now unmasked. But context and placement suggest that the material that remains concealed contains some of the worst discussion of abuse in the report. The heavy redactions start around page 25, and the redactions cover discussion of the origins of the program and the approval process, as well as the discussion of specific prisoners, notably Abu Zubaydah, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, and Khalid Shaikh Mohammad. Although cases in which the guidelines provided by the Justice Department were exceeded have been discussed, it’s likely the case that the still blacked-out passages cover instances where Justice gave a green light but the conduct was so gruesome that CIA wants to keep it under wraps. That means we haven’t heard the last of the Helgerson report, and further disclosures are likely.2. Opposition from within…3. George Tenet and Michael Hayden misled the public…4. All trails lead to the Vice President’s office…5. Functioning of black sites…6. The CIA’s waltz with Justice…7. The “prior investigation” canard…
Ex-CIA official John Helgerson says agents lost control after torture go-ahead
TimesOnline
by Tim Reid
August 26, 2009The author of a scathing report on CIA interrogations during the Bush era has claimed that certain operatives lost control once they had been authorized to use “enhanced” interrogation techniques such as waterboarding.
John Helgerson, the former inspector-general of the CIA, also told The Times that the Obama Administration had cut key passages of his report out of the released version, a decision he found “puzzling”…
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.