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发帖数: 29846 | 1 December 10, 2014 - 8:35 PM
By BRADLEY KLAPPER, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top spies past and present campaigned Wednesday to
discredit the Senate's investigation into the CIA's harrowing torture
practices after 9/11, battling to define the historical record and deter
potential legal action around the world.
The Senate intelligence committee's report doesn't urge prosecution for
wrongdoing, and the Justice Department has no interest in reopening a
criminal probe. But the threat to former interrogators and their superiors
was underlined as a U.N. special investigator demanded those responsible for
"systematic crimes" be brought to justice, and human rights groups pushed
for the arrest of key CIA and Bush administration figures if they travel
overseas.
Current and former CIA officials pushed back, determined to paint the Senate
report as a political stunt by Senate Democrats tarnishing a program that
saved American lives. It is a "one-sided study marred by errors of fact and
interpretation — essentially a poorly done and partisan attack on the
agency that has done the most to protect America," former CIA directors
George Tenet, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden wrote in a Wall Street Journal
opinion piece.
Hayden was singled out by Senate investigators for what they said was a
string of misleading or outright false statements he gave in 2007 about the
importance of the CIA's brutal treatment of detainees in thwarting terrorist
attacks. He described the focus on him as "ironic on so many levels" as any
wrongdoing predated his arrival at the CIA. "They were far too interested
in yelling at me," Hayden said in an email to The Associated Press.
The intelligence committee's 500-page release concluded that the CIA
inflicted suffering on al-Qaida prisoners beyond its legal authority and
that none of the agency's "enhanced interrogations" provided critical, life-
saving intelligence. It cited the CIA's own records, documenting in detail
how waterboarding and lesser-known techniques such as "rectal feeding" were
actually employed.
The CIA is now in the uncomfortable position of defending itself publicly,
given its basic mission to protect the country secretly. Its 136-page
rebuttal suggests Senate Democrats searched through millions of documents to
pull out only the evidence backing up pre-determined conclusions. "That's
like doing a crossword puzzle on Tuesday with Wednesday's answer's key," the
CIA said in an emailed statement.
Challenging one of the report's most explosive arguments — that harsh
interrogation techniques didn't lead to Osama bin Laden — the CIA pointed
to questioning of Ammar al-Baluchi, who revealed how an al-Qaida operative
relayed messages to and from bin Laden after he departed Afghanistan. Before
then, the CIA said, it only knew that courier Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti
interacted with bin Laden in 2001 when the al-Qaida leader was accessible to
many of his followers. Al-Kuwaiti eventually led the U.S. to bin Laden's
compound in Pakistan.
Poring over the same body of evidence as the investigators, the CIA insisted
most of the 20 case studies cited in the Senate report actually illustrated
how enhanced interrogations helped disrupt plots, capture terrorists and
prevent another 9/11-type attack. The agency said it obtained legal
authority for its actions from the Justice Department and White House, and
made "good faith" efforts to keep congressional leaders informed.
Former CIA officials responsible for the program echoed these points in
interviews.
John McLaughlin, then deputy CIA director, said waterboarding and other
tactics transformed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed into a U.S. "
consultant" on al-Qaida.
Tenet, the director on Sept. 11, 2001, said the interrogation program "saved
thousands of Americans lives" while the country faced a "ticking time bomb
every day."
Former Vice President Dick Cheney also pushed back, saying in a Fox News
interview that the Senate report "is full of crap."
In no uncertain terms, Cheney said the CIA's approach to interrogating
terror suspects was necessary after the 9/11 attacks, and the people who
carried them out were doing their duty.
"We asked the agency to go take steps and put in place programs that were
designed to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure
it didn't happen again, and that's exactly what they did, and they deserve a
lot of credit," he said, "not the condemnation they are receiving from the
Senate Democrats. "
Cheney said after the capture of Mohammed, it was essential to find out what
he knew.
"He is in our possession we know he is the architect — what are we supposed
to do?" Cheney said. "Kiss him on both cheeks and say please, please tell
us what you know?"
Former top CIA officials published a website — http://ciasavedlives.com — pointing out decade-old statements from Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Jay Rockefeller in apparent support of agency efforts. The two Democrats spearheaded the Senate investigation.
The intelligence committee's Republicans issued their own 167-page "minority
" report and said the Democratic analysis was flawed, dishonest and, at $40
million, a waste of taxpayer money. Feinstein's office said Wednesday most
of the cost was incurred by the CIA in trying to hide its record.
If the sides agreed on one thing, it was the CIA suffered from significant
mismanagement problems early on. The agency and its Republican supporters
said those failings were corrected.
"We have learned from these mistakes," current CIA Director John Brennan
said.
President George W. Bush approved the program through a covert finding in
2002 but wasn't briefed by the CIA on the details until 2006.
Obama banned harsh interrogation tactics upon taking office, calling the
treatment "torture." But he has shown little interest in holding accountable
anyone involved, a sore point among human rights groups and his supporters
on the left.
Lawyers representing former CIA detainees have introduced cases in Europe
and Canada, though to little success thus far. Undeclared prisons existed in
Poland, Romania and Lithuania, among countries.
Twenty-six Americans, mostly CIA agents, were convicted in absentia in Italy
of kidnapping a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003, limiting their ability to
travel for fear of extradition. The former CIA base chief in Italy was
briefly detained in Panama last year before being returned to the U.S.
The potential prosecution of CIA officials explains somewhat the agency's
aggressive response. For months, it reviewed the Senate report to black out
names or information that might allow foreign governments, investigating
magistrates and human rights lawyers to identify individuals. It demanded
the elimination of pseudonyms in part so foreign courts wouldn't be able to
connect evidence to a single individual.
"I'm concerned," said John Rizzo, former CIA general counsel who is
frequently mentioned in the report. He said he may think twice about
traveling to Europe, noting, "For better or worse now, I'm a high-profile,
notorious public figure."
____
AP Intelligence Writer Ken Dilanian contributed to this report. |
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