Obama pledges to declassify CIA interrogations report

[G_j]

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/82599/obama-pledges-to-declassify-cia-interrogations-report

By: Agence France-Presse
March 13, 2014 7:15 AM

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

WASHINGTON DC - President Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to declassify a report on CIA interrogations that sparked a fierce public row between the spy agency and a top senator.

Obama also said that claims that the CIA snooped in on computers used by the Senate Intelligence committee as it probed the agency's interrogations of George W. Bush era terror suspects had been properly handled by chief John Brennan.

It was the first time Obama weighed into the controversy since an extraordinary intervention by Senator Dianne Feinstein this week opened an unprecedented political battle between the CIA and the committee that oversees it.

"I am absolutely committed to declassifying that report as soon as the report is completed," Obama told reporters.

"In fact, I would urge them to go ahead and complete the report, send it to us.

"We will declassify those findings so that the American people can understand what happened in the past, and that can help guide us as we move forward."

Obama said that Brennan, a former close White House counterterrorism aide who he put in charge of the CIA, had referred the matter to the "appropriate authorities."

"That's not something that is an appropriate role for me and the White House to wade into at this point," Obama said.

...more..

[Solly Mack]

1. ...

"We will declassify those findings so that the American people can understand what happened in the past, and that can help guide us as we move forward."



Uh...

Never mind.

[randome]

3. Torches and pitchforks don't really do much for the Present.

Bush and his minions successfully muddled everything with those idiotic 'findings' that torture was not torture. Prosecutions would serve no purpose. Obama is more 'in the know' because of his position. I trust him on this.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[Solly Mack]

5. LMAO

OK

[grasswire]

15. always the outlier nt

[G_j]

8. real transparency

transparency is the only possible way to move forward. We would also like to see accountability for criminal actions.

[Solly Mack]

9. and w/ using accurate words - like torture, war crimes, war criminal, crimes against humanity

Thank you, G_j.

[randome]

11. So would I. A LOT more transparency all across the board.

But the only thing that might come of trying to prosecute someone is a long, drawn-out and ultimately pointless trial because those who engaged in torture can always say, "Well, look we had this document from the Attorney General."

I just don't see how you can get past that. It would go all the way to the Supreme Court and we're pretty sure how they would rule on the matter.

So the only thing that would come of this is angst and anger. Unproductive, to say the least.

Identifying the individuals and letting the public take their 'revenge' on them? I can see that but I'd bet it would soon be open season an anyone even associated with the CIA, the innocent as well as the guilty. And that would not serve 'the public good', either.

So maybe it's a Catch-22 position for Obama. I'm just throwing out some thoughts.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[G_j]

18. true for the most part

although I'm pretty sure there are some things that are cut and dry, such as the destruction of documents.

[randome]

19. Absolutely. And isn't there talk about imminent prosecutions of those individuals?

I think that's part of what DiFi's report will encompass. It's one thing to 'hide' behind a bogus legal opinion, it's another thing entirely to actively destroy evidence. You can't have it both ways. Or at least you shouldn't be allowed to.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[underpants]

2. Oh here we go again-blame Bush for everything....

that happened during HIS term

[riderinthestorm]

4. Then give the Senate Intelligence committee those documents you've been withholding!

Then maybe they can finish!

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. That FACT WAS OMMITTED

Because as of now He closed the library for them to finish the report.

But it sounds good in a sound bite.

As they say 'show me the money'

[ProSense]

6. Senate-CIA controversy widens over enhanced interrogation probe

Senate-CIA controversy widens over enhanced interrogation probe

<video>

The public battle between the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA is growing over a confidential report on the spy agency. The committee's top Republican says a special investigator may now have to get involved.

The highly unusual case is now dividing not just the Senate and the CIA but senators themselves, Nancy Cordes reports. Many Republicans didn't want to investigate the CIA in the first place. They didn't have a problem with its enhanced interrogation tactics, and they now feel the Democrats might be making too many uncomfortable details public.

CIA Director John Brennan was on Capitol Hill Wednesday but ignored CBS News' questions about his agency's dispute with Congress... Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif...said Brennan informed her earlier this year that CIA agents searched her committee's computer system while the committee was investigating the CIA's Bush-era interrogation program. Feinstein said in her speech Tuesday, "The CIA's search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution."

Outrage spread Wednesday, with Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. - who chairs the House Oversight Committee - calling the CIA's actions, if true, "effectively treason." ...not all Republicans shared his view. After meeting with Brennan, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the top member on the Intelligence Committee, argued the facts are still murky.

- more -

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-intelligence-committee-cia-battle-widens-over-computer-search/

[Scuba]

10. The CIA meddling with the Senate Intelligence Committee's work is evidence of a far greater ....

... threat to our democracy than their many other misdeeds combined. DiFi's statement is an indictment of the Intelligence Committee's allowing the CIA to manipulate them. It is astounding that the Committee let the CIA dictate terms to them, denied them access to documents, etc.



More here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024655603

[L0oniX]

13. Silly people still don't know who is in control yet.

[L0oniX]

12. Oh ...I can't wait to see all the black magic marker artwork.

[jsr]

14. Folks, let the appropriate authorities handle this.

Last edited Thu Mar 13, 2014, 12:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Let's move forward.

[randome]

16. Best advice of the week!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[grasswire]

17. you forgot the sarcasm tag. nt

[jsr]

21. Thanks.

[Oilwellian]

20. Does that include the 9,400 pages he's refusing to give Intel Committee?

President Barack Obama’s administration has refused to release about 9,400 documents connected to the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation at the heart of an ongoing dispute with the Central Intelligence Agency, (CIA) McClatchy Newspapers reported on Wednesday.

The White House has allegedly rejected or ignored written and verbal requests for committee members to review the materials, which relate to the agency’s “enhanced interrogation” program shut down near the beginning of Obama’s presidency. Committee staff members allegedly first learned about the documents in 2009, but it is not clear whether the CIA granted them access to them before the White House made them unavailable.

However, McClatchy reported that Obama has not made a formal statement indicating the documents were protected by executive privilege.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024653838