The full article can be accessed via Yahoo!News here.WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has moved more forcefully than ever to abandon Bush administration interrogation policies, approving creation of a special White House unit for questioning terrorism suspects, as Attorney General Eric Holder weigh a Justice Department recommendation to reopen and pursue prisoner abuse cases.
A senior administration official told The Associated Press Monday that Obama has approved establishment of the new unit, to be known as the High-Value Detainee National Security Council The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the program has not yet been officially announced.
The new group and new directives to rely soley on the Army Field Manual when interrogating prisoners is an attempt by the administration to separate itself from allegation that the Bush administration tortured some prisoners. While the practice of waterboarding — simulated drowning — has been banned, the field manual directives would also end the practice of subjecting prisoners to loud music for long periods and sleep deprivation.
The administration is announcing the new interrogation unit on the same day that the CIA inspector generalwas to unveil a report on Bush administration handling of suspects. Details were expected to show that highly questionable tactics were used.
The Justice report is said to reveal how interrogators conducted mock executions and threatened at least one man with a gun and a power drill. Threatening a prisoner with death violates U.S. anti-torture laws.
WASHINGTON – CIA interrogators threatened to kill the children of one detainee at the height of the Bush administration's war on terror and implied that another's mother would be sexually assaulted, newly declassified documents revealed Monday as the government launched a criminal investigation into the spy agency's "unauthorized, improvised, inhumane" practices.At the same time, the Obama administration announced a new policy for future interrogations — under White House supervision.
With the release of the five-year-old CIA documents, the Justice Department began a probe into the spy agency's tactics, under the direction of a veteran prosecutor who has been looking into other aspects of the interrogations.
The documents released by the CIA's inspector general said interrogators went too far — even beyond what was authorized under Justice Department legal memos that have since been withdrawn and discredited.
"Ten years from now we're going to be sorry we're doing this (but) it has to be done," one unidentified CIA officer said in the report, predicting that interrogators would someday have to appear in court to answer for such tactics.
Monday's documents represent the largest single release of information about the Bush administration's once-secret system of capturing terrorism suspects and interrogating them in overseas prisons.
The updated full article can be accessed through Yahoo!News here. Please note that the full article gives details over how the prisioners were abused and spiritually, mentally, and emotionally tortured; as such I will warn you that it is both graphic and disturbing.
