Criminal investigation into torture deaths begins
“Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday he has ordered a full criminal investigation into the deaths of two prisoners who were interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks.
The move is likely to restart the partisan fight over Bush-era detainee treatment that Democrats have called torture.
Mr. Holder said he accepted the recommendations of John Durham, a prosecutor from Connecticut, who has been examining the treatment of CIA detainees and studying whether CIA interrogations exceeded methods allowed under legal guidance provided at the time by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.
Justice Department prosecutors led by Mr. Durham have been using a grand jury in Alexandria, Va., to investigate the death of Gul Rahman at a CIA prison called the Salt Pit in Afghanistan in 2002, as well as the death of Manadel al Jamadi at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Holder had previously made it clear that the Justice Department would not prosecute any intelligence officer “who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees.” In other words, if they abided by the standards and legal guidance set by their superiors — however flawed, immoral and illegal those standards and legal guidance might be — they would not be prosecuted.
I think that’s appropriate and necessary. If we’re not going to prosecute the people at the top who created the torture policy — and clearly we’re not — then we sure as hell shouldn’t prosecute the lowly employees who carried that policy out.
However, if U.S. officials tortured individuals to the point of death, well, that is not the country to which I pledge allegiance, and was not within the bounds of any standards that have so far been made public. We are Americans and Americans aren’t supposed to do that kind of thing. The people we fight may do those things; that’s one reason we fight them.
But we don’t. Or at least we’re not supposed to.
– Jay Bookman
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421 comments Add your comment
oldguy
July 1st, 2011
12:38 am
Recon,
Just a grunt E-3 805 MP Company attached to the 607 MP Company, Ton Su Nuit (sorry about the spelling) Rd Siagon. I was a Reservist activated to fill for the MP casualities due to TET 1965. 179 days in-country (so the wouldn’t have to give me Veterans benifits!). Was just happy to get back!!
Recon (2nd.and 3rd.)
July 1st, 2011
12:41 am
I wasn’t a scout sniper but back here in the world I have a Remington 700 with a Tasco 3×9 scope and it’s an accurate rifle at 150 yds. where I’ve sighted in.
oldguy
July 1st, 2011
12:42 am
Boy, its getting late: 1968!!!! (and I am getting old! all the years seem to run togather!!)
oldguy
July 1st, 2011
12:43 am
Taps time (retreat to me)
Night all!!
Recon (2nd.and 3rd.)
July 1st, 2011
12:46 am
oldguy, 1811 0311, Taps, rest well.
Gandalf the Wise
July 1st, 2011
1:58 am
What Honest Abe would say:
“If by torturing all the muslims terrorists,I could save the union, I would do it, I by torturing none of the muslim terrorists, I could save the union, I would do it, if by torturing some of the muslim terrorists and not torturing others I could save the union, I would do that too. “
The Thin Guy
July 1st, 2011
2:12 am
Don’t believe in water boarding. Too slow. My Enhanced Interrogation Technique is the old Blow Torch to the Balls. Just my nature. When I kill a cockroach with insecticide I just use a small squirt so that it will take hours to die in intense agony while waving it legs in the air. Wish they still sold Roach Motels. Those were very educational and entertaining.
captguitarman
July 1st, 2011
2:21 am
Just a bone to the Libs who aren’t too happy with the Prez for lots of reasons. We may see more of this. The campaign is not off to the best start, despite constant campaigning since the last election. Obama does not lead, he campaigns. His class warfare diatribe re: how corporate jet owners are evil was both comical and whacko at the same time. This election campaign won’t be like the last one. He has a record now and the laughability of empty and meaningless slogans like “yes we can” will become more than apparent to all, with many Indies asking themselves, how did I fall for that BS? –Even more laughable will be any attempt to revitalize the “change you can believe in” nonsense and the openess and transparency platform, which died quickly with the secret meetings and back room deals and business as usual that gave Obamacare life. Nope. This time it is going to be much different. And throwing CIA agents to the dogs, who have unpleasant but necessary tasks that save the lives of our allies and soldiers fighting on the ground will certainly be no problem for this Prez or his ethically challenged attorney general political puppet.
zeke
July 1st, 2011
2:52 am
10 damn 4, CHUCK!
zeke
July 1st, 2011
2:53 am
And would you dumb founded leftist remember this on all important fact?
NON U.S. CITIZENS HAVE NOT EVEN ONE, ONE, ONE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT!!!!
Dave R.
July 1st, 2011
4:23 am
Off topic, but food for thought for all you libs who think that government is capable of running the most benign services:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0701inspectors_okd_pool_overlooked_dead_body/srvc=home&position=0
Joel Edge
July 1st, 2011
6:35 am
” the Justice Department would not prosecute any intelligence officer “who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees.””
Let’s get closer to November 2012 and see how that holds up, Jay. Gonna need a distraction next year.
Obama panders to liberals
July 1st, 2011
7:09 am
Maybe a trial here, or an investigation there, Obama and Holder are just trying to appease liberals who were shocked at the torture and abuses that were so pervasive during the Bush years. Yes, it’s cynical and political of Obama but hey it’s election season.
If Obama were serious about defending human rights and the rule of law, he would have taken action long ago.
Dan
July 1st, 2011
7:17 am
I don’t recall Jay’s reaction to Osamas’s assasination, (one of the few good albeit easy, decisions O has made) but one cannot agree with Jays comments on “torture” of prisoners involved in 9/11 and celebrate the assasination of Bin Laden. Well you can I suppose, it simply proves your perspective is about politics and partisanship rather than logic or reason
stands for decibels
July 1st, 2011
7:20 am
if U.S. officials tortured individuals to the point of death, well, that is not the country to which I pledge allegiance
and that’s what matters about this. And I skimmed approximately three thousand f–ktarded comments that don’t seem to fathom as much.
heading upstairs.
rightwingextreme
July 1st, 2011
7:50 am
let’s see….this is the same attorney general’s office that authorized fast and furious which has resulted in the deaths of Americans, who refuses to investigate theblack panthers…..yeah. good stuff bookman.
oh, i guess bin laden’s family will now have recourse against bammy and the SEALs seeing how they shot him!
the logic of this administration is beyond understanding.
Jay
July 1st, 2011
8:10 am
This ludicrous claim among conservatives that liberals have to be outraged by the death of bin Laden is absurd and testifies to the cartoon world in which many of them live.
Bin Laden’s dead, he deserved to die and if I had been on that team I would have been quite happy to have put the bullet through his head.
seabeau
July 1st, 2011
8:27 am
Jay! You’re gonna lose your liberal card!! Killing an unarmed man in front of his wife and children is morally wrong!!
1811/1801 - 0311/0317
July 1st, 2011
8:40 am
Jay:
Liberals out there are STEAMING that Obama still has troops in Afghanistan and you don’t think many are upset that Osama died the way he did?
You and I agree on the manner of Osama’s death (one of the few things we ever agreed on) but to say many liberals out there are not upset is pretty naive.
P.S. I’ll put the real world I lived/worked in up against your editorial/cartoon world anytime you want.
MrLiberty
July 1st, 2011
11:34 am
So none of the military types have the courage to answer my question.
What a revealing statement that makes.
And “md”, as for our country being dependent on foreign oil for energy, you need to read up on the history of oil, the conspiracy to make hemp illegal, the involvement of the US government in the energy markets (hint, just another place they destroyed our freedoms) and the like before you blindly take our dependence on foreign oil as a natural “given” and a blanket justification for our murderous policies in the middle east. History began WAY before you started paying attention to world events and our government’s evil role in it did as well.
Dan
July 1st, 2011
12:22 pm
Jay I didn’t say liberals had to be outraged at Osama’s death, indeed acknowledgement that it is a good thing is a positive for anyone. However eagerness to pull the trigger in that situation, yet not wanting to live in a country that tortured another criminal in order to get Osama, is contradictory, and far more representative of living in a “cartoon world”. While I would disagree with an individual who broadly condemmed both acts, I would at least respect their consistency to one set of values, straddling the fence on the two is either intellectually dishonest, or simply devoid of intellect.