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TechnoratiCIA Used Mock Execution to Get Al-Qaeda Info: Report
WASHINGTON - US Central Intelligence Agency interrogators used a handgun and an electric drill to try to frighten a captured Al-Qaeda commander into giving up information, The Washington Post reported.
Citing a report by the agency's inspector general and unnamed former and current US officials, the newspaper said the tactics were used on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
Nashiri, who was captured in November 2002 and held for four years in one of the CIA's secret prisons, ultimately became one of three Al-Qaeda leaders subjected to waterboarding, the report said.
A federal judge in New York has ordered a redacted version of the classified IG report to be publicly released Monday, in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the paper said.
The report, written in 2004, offers new details about Nashiri's interrogation, including episodes in which the detainee reportedly was threatened with death or grave injury if he refused to cooperate, The Post said.
In one instance, a CIA interrogator showed Nashiri a gun and sought to frighten the detainee into thinking he would be shot, said the paper, citing unnamed sources.
In a separate encounter, a power drill was held near Nashiri's body and repeatedly turned on and off, according to the report.
The federal torture statute prohibits US nationals from threatening anyone in his or her custody with imminent death, The Post noted.
15 Comments so far
Show AllMock executions are war crimes. I hope they get a call from The Hague.
I wonder if Tom Clancy sleeps well at night knowing that Bush and Cheney used certain parts of his books as "interrogation guides".
My thoughts exactly. In "the Sum of All Fears", he put out a story of nukes everywhere, where the only way the hero could catch the bad guys was to torture people...... it legitimized war crimes, and every NeoCon read that book.
Not only that, Tom Clancy fueled the war revenge. During the live coverage on 9/11/2001, Clancy called into MSBC, I think it was, and demanded of NC senator John Edwards "Sir, Ten Thousand Americans have just been killed, what are you going to do about it??????"
I thought, yessirie, guilt from his book that discribes using airliners as weapons. (which I never read.)
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Dostoevsky was once removed from his cell and stood in front of a wall with two other prisoners.
They were kept waiting there for hours in sub zero temperatures.
Finally the firing squad came out: 'READY, AIM,...' then another actor in the charade galloped up with a reprieve.
Dostoevsky said later he could not remember being cold. One of the other prisoners later died from exposure, and the third went mad on the spot.
Latest Press Release From The FBI:
Press Release
For Immediate Release
August 22, 2009
Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691
Letter from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, to Scottish Minister Kenny MacAskill
August 21, 2009
The Honorable Kenny MacAskill, MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Scottish Government
St. Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
EH13DG
Dear Mr. Secretary:
Over the years I have been a prosecutor, and recently as the Director of the FBI, I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors, since only the prosecutor handling the case has all the facts and the law before him in reaching the appropriate decision.
Your decision to release Megrahi causes me to abandon that practice in this case. I do so because I am familiar with the facts, and the law, having been the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and indictment of Megrahi in 1991. And I do so because I am outraged at your decision, blithely defended on the grounds of "compassion."
Your action in releasing Megrahi is as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice. Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation, the conviction by jury after the defendant is given all due process, and sentence appropriate to the crime, the terrorist will be freed by one man's exercise of "compassion." Your action rewards a terrorist even though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder and even though neither he nor the government of Libya ever disclosed the names and roles of others who were responsible.
Your action makes a mockery of the emotions, passions and pathos of all those affected by the Lockerbie tragedy: the medical personnel who first faced the horror of 270 bodies strewn in the fields around Lockerbie, and in the town of Lockerbie itself; the hundreds of volunteers who walked the fields of Lockerbie to retrieve any piece of debris related to the breakup of the plane; the hundreds of FBI agents and Scottish police who undertook an unprecedented global investigation to identify those responsible; the prosecutors who worked for years--in some cases a full career--to see justice done.
But most importantly, your action makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988. You could not have spent much time with the families, certainly not as much time as others involved in the investigation and prosecution. You could not have visited the small wooden warehouse where the personal items of those who perished were gathered for identification--the single sneaker belonging to a teenager; the Syracuse sweatshirt never again to be worn by a college student returning home for the holidays; the toys in a suitcase of a businessman looking forward to spending Christmas with his wife and children.
You apparently made this decision without regard to the views of your partners in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy. Although the FBI and Scottish police, and prosecutors in both countries, worked exceptionally closely to hold those responsible accountable, you never once sought our opinion, preferring to keep your own counsel and hiding behind opaque references to "the need for compassion."
You have given the family members of those who died continued grief and frustration. You have given those who sought to assure that the persons responsible would be held accountable the back of your hand. You have given Megrahi a "jubilant welcome" in Tripoli, according to the reporting. Where, I ask, is the justice?
Sincerely yours,
Robert S. Mueller, III
Director
...
Allow Me to try to answer Your question in all humility.
It is widely believed amongst a large number of Humans, that one Man was born from a Virgin Mother and lived to Be an example of how His Father had actually envisioned Human Mankind. Amongst other very important lessons about Love and Compassion Jesus made it unmistakably clear, that if You endure any kind of distress or suffering from another Human Being, that You have to turn in the other Cheek, too.
The Scottish 'Honorable' acted on behalf of the principles Jesus wanted Us to Live by. Compassion Is Not A Weakness.
Sarcastically I could remark, that death by disease is not the same as death through hanging in the minds of a many people. Believe Me, in the consequence they Are absolutely identical. There should Be no problem to acknowledge a higher Justice or Karma as I call it.
Sincerely Yours
It's Just Karma
P.S.: I wish all the people that draw joy out of the death of another Being, justified for whatever reasons, that the next time they feel that way to think about Jesus. Enjoy.
Believe That You Can Change Your Beliefs.
Or, if he wanted to go on the offensive he might like to ask the third version of Robert S. Mueller to cast his mind back to some six months before the Lockerbie terrorism to an incident with Iran Air 655 (Google it if you are too young to remember, but also read the non-US entries) that was "accidentally" shot down by the USS Vincennes. Where was the justice there?
Granted two wrongs don't make a right, but I wonder to what extent the former incident played some part in the latter.
Apart from which, a person in his position asking where is the justice is disingenuous, to say the least. Justice is a now commodity, not some abstract concept.
Another draft response:
Dear Director Mueller:
On behalf of the government of Scotland, I express our sincere regret and disappointment that you have taken a critical view of our decision to release Mr Magrahi.
Perhaps it would help to understand that Scotland still abides by a fundamental concept of modern government that has apparently fallen into disuse in the United States of America: the Rule of Law.
Though this doctrine is regarded as "quaint" by the political leaders in the United States, and even by certain members of the United Kingdom, it must be remembered that Scotland was the Home of the Enlightenment from which modern concepts of democratic law and civil liberty emerged. Therefore, it is to be expected that the Scottish people and government still cling firmly to this doctrine despite its occasional awkward shortcomings and inconveniences.
This doctrine compels judicial authorities to take extraordinary action and grant relief on humanitarian or compassionate grounds after due consideration of the heinousness of the crime, the sentence served by the criminal, and whether the criminal remains a risk to the public.
We in no way intend to disparage the flourishing United States state security apparatus, or take issue with doubtless successful innovations such as kidnapping, torture, abandonment of due process of Law, and de facto life imprisonment without amenities or trial, described officially as "indefinite detention".
In closing, allow me to restate our sincere regret and disappointment that, as a civilized nation, we cannot countenance the continued detention of Mr Magrahi on the grounds of self-righteous vindictiveness.
Sincerely yours,
The Honorable Kenny MacAskill, MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Justice
· Yr Obd't Servant
Hats off to our friend Obedient!
I am going to send this little gem to friends, with proper attribution, naturally.
Excellent.
Thank you.
My, what a vengeful bunch of lowlife types are governing us in the USA. But you know, this is the signal many of us were watching for. It is "THE SIGN" that we are no longer an economic superpower. The other countries are losing their fear of US retribution because we have lost our economic clout. Hopefully, we will get "dictated" into a better attitude about humanity by other, more economically powerful countries. We'll see.
Ray Berthiaume
Dear Karma: Well said. No one is harmed by the release of this man. The desire for revenge is thwarted, true. But revenge never advanced civilization.
This is a typical inversion: the battle against terror turns into terror.
This is enough to know that the CIA is "the worst of the worst" just as Cheney said.
The will of the political animal will determine the course of Yoo/Cheney's fate. Obama will not want to be a one-term pres. as is his destiny given his betrayal of his base. UNLESS about 18 months before 2012 he brings the long knives out and moves Holder forward on torture. This will happen. It will fracture the gop. BO will get reelected because of it.
Sacrifices will be made at the Altar of Further Betrayal.
It could be fun to watch, but it won't be on FAUX.
According to Olberman about 50% of the text is "blacked out" which means we will get a half-truth at best, if even that. Meanwhile the "Prosecutor Charade" at Justice continues. In my book an Independent Investigator is not hogtied by rules from the Justice Department. Ergo, there will be no "Independent Investigator". Yoo, Cheney, Bush, et al. can continue to sleep peacefully. They will not be disturbed. We have become the Argentina and Chile of North America.
Totally true!
It's like I'm feeling shame for having any thing at all to do with this federal government, like Thoreau.