The debate also has been fueled by a Washington Post
report that the CIA has kept top al-Qaeda captives hidden
away in a network of secret prisons around the world under
conditions that might be considered cruel and inhuman.
The CIA has requested that the Justice Department
investigate the leak of classified information contained
in the Post report, a US official said.
Ignore the crime and pursue the whistle blowers. And some
call it democracy and the rule of law?
rkm
--------------------------------------------------------
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051109/pl_afp/usattacksprisoners_051109191424
Rumsfeld can authorize exceptions to new "humane"
interrogation directive
Wed Nov 9, 2:14 PM ET
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld can authorize
exceptions to a new Defense Department policy on military
interrogations that bars torture and calls for "humane"
treatment of detainees, a spokesman said.
The new directive lays out broad policy governing
interrogations of detainees in Defense Department custody,
but leaves the definition of "humane" to a separate, yet
to be released directive that is still being debated
within the administration.
A little noticed loophole in the directive, which was made
public Tuesday, gives the secretary of defense or his
deputy authority to override the policy.
"Intelligence interrogations will be conducted in
accordance with applicable law, this directive and
implementing plans, policies, orders, directives, and
doctrine developed by DoD components and approved by USD
(I), unless otherwise authorized, in writing, by the
secretary of defense or deputy secretary of defense," the
directive states. "USD (I)" refers to the undersecretary
of defense for intelligence.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said there was
nothing unusual about the caveat because a defense
secretary always has the authority to change or modify
policy he has made.
"Any deviation from the policy would have to be approved,"
he told reporters. "The secretary can make an exception to
any policy."
The language in the directive echoes a struggle between
the White House and members of Congress over a proposed
amendment to the defense spending bill that would ban
outright "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of
prisoners in the detention of the US government."
Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly has pressed Senator
John McCain, the amendment's sponsor, to exempt the CIA
from the ban.
The White House denied Tuesday it is seeking an "exemption
for torture" for the CIA, despite President George W.
Bush's threat to veto the legislation.
The New York Times, meanwhile, reported Tuesday that a
classified report last year warned that some interrogation
procedures approved by the CIA after the September 11
attacks might violate some provisions of the United
Nations Convention Against Torture.
The report by CIA inspector general John Helgerson listed
10 procedures approved in early 2002 for use against
terror suspects, including one known as "waterboarding" in
which a detainee is made to feel as if he is drowning, the
Times said.
Helgerson did not conclude that those procedures
constituted torture, but found they did appear to
constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under the
convention, the Times said.
The debate also has been fueled by a Washington Post
report that the CIA has kept top al-Qaeda captives hidden
away in a network of secret prisons around the world under
conditions that might be considered cruel and inhuman.
The CIA has requested that the Justice Department
investigate the leak of classified information contained
in the Post report, a US official said.
Republican leaders in Congress on Tuesday also called for
an investigation by the House and Senate intelligence
committees into who leaked the information.
But other members of Congress, including some Republicans,
said any investigation should probe the prisons
themselves.
Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse . All rights
reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed without the prior written authority of
Agence France Presse.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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