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| Detainee Abuse Photos to be Released:CIA's People 'Don't Believe They Have Cover Anymore' |
| 2009-04-24 |
| In a letter from the Justice Department to a federal judge yesterday, the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon would turn over to the American Civil Liberties Union 44 photographs showing detainee abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq during the Bush administration. The photographs are part of a 2003 Freedom of Information Act request by the ACLU for all information relating to the treatment of detainees -- the same battle that led, last week, to President Obama's decision to release memos from the Bush Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel providing legal justifications for harsh interrogation methods that human rights groups call torture. Courts had ruled against the Bush administration's attempts to keep the photographs from public view. ACLU attorney Amrit Singh tells ABC News that "the fact that the Obama administration opted not to seek further review is a sign that it is committed to more transparency." Dr. Mark M. Lowenthal, former Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production, said the president's moves in the last week have left many in the CIA dispirited, based on "the undercurrent I've been getting from colleagues still in the building, or colleagues who have left not that long ago." "We ask these people to do extremely dangerous things, things they've been ordered to do by legal authorities, with the understanding that they will get top cover if something goes wrong," Lowenthal says. "They don't believe they have that cover anymore." Releasing the photographs "will make it much worse," he said. Even though President Obama has announced that the Justice Department will not prosecute CIA officers who were operating within the four corners of what they'd been told was the law, Lowenthal says members of the CIA are worried. "They feel exposed already, and this is going to increase drumbeat for an investigation or a commission" to explore detainee treatment during the Bush years, he said. "It's going to make it much harder to resist, and they fear they're then going to be thrown over." The Bush administration argued that releasing these photographs would violate US obligations towards detainees and would prompt outrage and perhaps attacks against the U.S. On June 9 and June 21, 2006 judges directed the Bush administration to release 21 photographs depicting the treatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, and last September, the Second Circuit Court affirmed that decision The materials will be released to the ACLU no later than May 28, after which the ACLU says it will make them public. This release will come just days before President Obama travels to the volatile Middle East. Lowenthal said his former colleagues at the CIA were "put off" by President Obama's trip to the CIA earlier this week. "I don't think the president's speech went down very well, particularly the part when he said they made mistakes. They don't think they made mistakes. They think they acted to execute policy. And those in the intelligence service don't make policy." Those in intelligence are "gong to become increasingly wary about doing dangerous things," Lowenthal said. "They feel at the end of the day they won't be covered. It's not irreparable right now, but it's problematic." |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #13 CIA - Its a 'Slam Dunk'! Unfortunately I can see the CIA funding going to something like ACORN. You don't need spies - you need 'community organizers'! |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-04-24 23:25 |
| #12 If eliminating the CIA would result in additional load and funding for the DoD, I'd be fine with that, but it won't. at least not enough. It would end up as part of DoS. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2009-04-24 22:54 |
| #11 Isn't it the CIA that finds the targets for the Predators in Pakistan? There's still good work going on there. Would the DoD be able to do send agents in to handle that? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-04-24 22:06 |
| #10 CIA - that's the organization that couldn't predict the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, attacks on the US by Al Qaeda, and the lack of WMD's in Iraq. For some obscure reason, I'm not bothered if Obama impacts their effectiveness. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2009-04-24 20:23 |
| #9 Completing the work Rumsfeld began. The DIA is adequate to handle our intelligence needs. The elimination of the CIA will return our domestic politics to the people. Good riddance. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-04-24 20:14 |
| #8 ...the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon would turn over to the American Civil Liberties Union 44 photographs showing detainee abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq during the Bush administration. The ACLU. Gimme a friggin break. This is nothing but a witch hunt. It is unprecedented in my lifetime--maybe longer. Remember Bambi, the chickens may come home to roost for you after you leave if you open this door. You will be judged by what you do or don't do also--and besides what makes you the moral arbiter for previous administrations? Hell by your measuring stick (whatever it is) we would have been guilty of WWII--particularly of winning. i guess the response would be an apology to the Germans and Japanese. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-04-24 17:58 |
| #7 Obama smearing and discrediting the George HW Bush Center for Intelligence? Tell me it ain't so... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2009-04-24 17:55 |
| #6 What other foreign agency would work with the CIA when they know whatever information will be leaked, above the fold on the NYT, or maybe dragged in front of lefty lawyer congress critters. If I was a friendly foreign intel agency , I would steer clear of the CIA...it's damaged goods |
| Posted by: Glaiger Prince of the Antelope5359 2009-04-24 16:46 |
| #5 Imagine if you will an agency full of "Secret Agents" like Valerie Plame. But I would not worry because that new position of Homeland Security Chief is always filled with the most competent person they can find. So to tally the score: 1) We have a military that isn't allowed to shoot 2) A spy angency that can't spy 3) an Inteligence Czar that is anything but. I fear for my country, I really do. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2009-04-24 15:05 |
| #4 Unfortunately the likes of Obama and Ralm will be the ones who create any new 'CIA'. I'm betting the new York Times and |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-04-24 14:46 |
| #3 That's okay, I wanna do away with the CIA anyway and bring back the OSS. Of course, I also want to take over the world, but sadly I'm not Evil Overlord yet. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2009-04-24 13:48 |
| #2 Many of us here wanted to clean house at CIA. This is one way to do it, it's just that there won't be anything left in six months. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2009-04-24 13:10 |
| #1 CIA's People 'Don't Believe They Have Cover Anymore They don't. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-04-24 12:29 |