Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/431927
ByBradleyKlapper The Associated Press WASHINGTON Top spies past and present cam- paigned Wednesday to dis- credit the Senate's investi- gation into the CIA's har- rowing torture practices after 9/11, battling to de- fine the historical record and deter potential legal ac- tion around the world. The Senate intelligence committee's report doesn't urge prosecution for wrong- doing, and the Justice De- partment has no interest in reopening a criminal probe. But the threat to former in- terrogators and their supe- riors was underlined as a U.N. special investigator de- manded those responsible for "systematic crimes" be brought to justice, and hu- man rights groups pushed for the arrest of key CIA and Bush administration fig- ures if they travel overseas. Current and former CIA officials pushed back, deter- mined to paint the Senate report as a political stunt by Senate Democrats tarnish- ing a program that saved American lives. It is a "one- sided study marred by er- rors of fact and interpreta- tion — essentially a poorly done and partisan attack on the agency that has done the most to protect Amer- ica," 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 impor- tance of the CIA's bru- tal treatment of detain- ees 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 Associ- ated Press. The intelligence commit- tee's 500-page release con- cluded that the CIA inflicted suffering on al-Qaida pris- oners beyond its legal au- thority and that none of the agency's "enhanced interro- gations" 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 actu- ally employed. The CIA is now in the uncomfortable position of defending itself publicly, given its basic mission to protect the country se- cretly. Its 136-page rebut- tal suggests Senate Demo- crats searched through mil- lions of documents to pull out only the evidence back- ing up pre-determined con- clusions. "That's like doing a crossword puzzle on Tues- day with Wednesday's an- swer's key," the CIA said in an emailed statement. Challenging one of the re- port's most explosive argu- ments — that harsh inter- rogation techniques didn't lead to Osama bin Laden — the CIA pointed to ques- tioning of Ammar al-Balu- chi, who revealed how an al-Qaida operative relayed messages to and from bin Laden after he departed Af- ghanistan. Before then, the CIA said, it only knew that courier Abu Ahmad al-Ku- waiti interacted with bin Laden in 2001 when the al- Qaida leader was accessi- ble to many of his follow- ers. 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 in- sisted most of the 20 case studies cited in the Senate report actually illustrated how enhanced interroga- tions helped disrupt plots, capture terrorists and pre- vent another 9/11-type at- tack. The agency said it ob- tained legal authority for its actions from the Justice De- partment and White House, and made "good faith" ef- forts to keep congressional leaders informed. Former CIA officials re- sponsible for the program echoed these points in in- terviews. 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 in- terrogation program "saved thousands of Americans lives" while the country faced a "ticking time bomb every day." Vice President Dick Cheney also pushed back. And former top CIA offi- cials published a website — ciasavedlives.com — point- ing out decade-old state- ments from Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Jay Rocke- feller in apparent support of agency efforts. The two Democrats spearheaded the Senate investigation. The intelligence com- mittee's Republicans is- sued 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 cor- rected. "We have learned from these mistakes," current CIA Director John Bren- nan said. President George W. Bush approved the program through a covert finding in 2002 but wasn't briefed by the CIA on the details un- til 2006. Obama banned harsh interrogation tactics upon taking office, calling the treatment "torture." But he has shown little inter- est in holding accountable anyone involved, a sore point among human rights groups and his supporters on the left. "Unless this important truth-telling process leads to prosecution of officials, torture will remain a 'pol- icy option' for future presi- dents," said Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch's di- rector. Lawyers representing former CIA detainees have introduced cases in Europe and Canada, though to lit- tle success thus far. Unde- clared prisons existed in Po- land, Romania and Lithua- nia, among countries. Twenty-six Americans, mostly CIA agents, were convicted in absentia in Italy of kidnapping a Mus- lim cleric in Milan in 2003, limiting their ability to travel for fear of extradi- tion. The former CIA base chief in Italy was briefly detained in Panama last year before being returned to the U.S. The potential prosecu- tion of CIA officials ex- plains somewhat the agen- cy's aggressive response. For months, it reviewed the Senate report to black out names or information that might allow foreign governments, investigat- ing magistrates and human rights lawyers to identify individuals. It demanded the elimination of pseud- onyms in part so foreign courts wouldn't be able to connect evidence to a sin- gle individual. 'ONE-SIDED STUDY' CI A fig ht s ba ck a e r Se na te t or tu re r ep or t THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Former CIA director Michael Hayden wrote a Wall Street Journal opinion piece with two other former directors. By John Heilprin The Associated Press GENEVA All senior U.S. officials and CIA agents who authorized or car- ried out torture like wa- terboarding as part of former President George W. Bush's national secu- rity policy must be pros- ecuted, top U.N. officials said Wednesday. It's not clear, however, how human rights offi- cials think these prosecu- tions will take place, since the Justice Department has declined to prosecute and the U.S. is not a member of the International Criminal Court. Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said it's "crystal clear" under inter- national law that the United States, which ratified the U.N. Convention Against Torture in 1994, now has an obligation to ensure ac- countability. "In all countries, if some- one commits murder, they are prosecuted and jailed. If they commit rape or armed robbery, they are prose- cuted and jailed. If they or- der, enable or commit tor- ture — recognized as a se- rious international crime — they cannot simply be granted impunity because of political expediency," he said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hopes the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques at secret over- seas facilities is the "start of a process" toward pros- ecutions, because the "pro- hibition against torture is absolute," Ban's spokesman said. Ben Emmerson, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, said the re- port released Tuesday shows "there was a clear policy orchestrated at a high level within the Bush administration, which al- lowed (it) to commit sys- tematic crimes and gross violations of international human rights law." He said international law prohibits granting immu- nity to public officials who allow the use of torture, and this applies not just to the actual perpetrators but also to those who plan and au- thorize torture. "The fact that the poli- cies revealed in this report were authorized at a high level within the U.S. gov- ernment provides no excuse whatsoever. Indeed, it rein- forces the need for criminal accountability," Emmerson said. Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth echoed those com- ments, saying "unless this important truth-telling pro- cess leads to the prosecu- tion of officials, torture will remain a 'policy option' for future presidents." TORTURE REPORT UN o ffic ia ls d em an d ac co un ta bi li ty , pr os ec ut io ns PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER. Thank you! By Deb Riechmann The Associated Press WASHINGTON The U.S. is considering taking eco- nomic and other counter- measures against Russia for violating a key nuclear weapons treaty, a State De- partment arms control offi- cial said Wednesday. Rose Gottemoeller, un- dersecretary of state for arms control and interna- tional security, told a House panel that the U.S. also is looking at what can be done militarily to make sure Rus- sia does not gain a signif- icant military advantage by not complying with the treaty. President Ronald Rea- gan signed the Intermedi- ate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, which eliminated an en- tire class of nuclear weap- ons. Russia maintains it is in compliance with the treaty, which says the U.S. and Russia cannot pos- sess, produce or test-fly a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles. The current dispute over the treaty comes at a highly strained time between Presi- dentBarackObamaandRus- sian President Vladimir Pu- tin over Russia's intervention in Ukraine, Putin's grant of asylum to former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and other flaps that have heightened tension between the two na- tions. Congress has been step- ping up pressure on the White House to confront Russia over the treaty vio- lation, which has been sus- pected for years. Congres- sional aides have said that there is evidence that the vi- olations date to 2008. Law- makers have complained that the U.S. didn't formally accuse Russia of being in vi- olation until July when the State Department released its annual report on in- ternational compliance of arms control agreements. In her testimony, Gotte- moeller also said that Rus- sia was not in compliance with the Treaty on Conven- tional Armed Forces in Eu- rope and that the U.S. had concerns that Russia might be violating other treaties. So far, Russia has been unwilling to acknowledge its violation if the INF treaty or address U.S. con- cern, Gottemoeller said. "Therefore, we are re- viewing a series of diplo- matic, economic and mil- itary measures to protect the interests of the United States and our allies and en- courage Russia to uphold its nuclear arms control com- mitments," she said, adding that the U.S. is continuing to have diplomatic discus- sions with Russian officials with the hope that Moscow will return to compliance. "Second, we are actively reviewing potential eco- nomic measures in response to Russia's violation," Got- temoeller said. "And third, the United States is assess- ing options in the military sphere to ensure that Russia would not gain a significant military advantage from its violation of the INF Treaty." Brian McKeon, principal deputy undersecretary of de- fense for policy, testified that the Pentagon has conducted a military assessment of the threat, were Russia to de- ploy a missile banned by the treaty in Europe or the Asia-Pacific region. He said military-related responses to Russia's noncompliance would fall into three cate- gories: active defenses to counter intermediate-range, ground-launched cruise mis- siles; counterforce capabili- ties to prevent intermedi- ate-range, ground-launched cruise missile attacks; and countervailing strike capa- bilities to beef up U.S. or al- lied forces. "We do not want to find ourselves engaged in an es- calatory cycle of action and reaction," McKeon said. "However, Russia's lack of meaningful engagement on this issue, if it persists, will ultimately require the United States to take ac- tions to protect its inter- ests and security along with those of its allies and part- ners. Those actions will make Russia less secure. ... This violation will not go unanswered, because there is too much at stake." COUNTERMEASURES US w ei gh s st ep s ag ai ns t Ru ss ia for violation of nuclear treaty Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 527-2151 to find out how. 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