AP sources: Feds eye CIA officer in prisoner death

[Ichingcarpenter]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A CIA officer who oversaw the agency's interrogation program at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and pushed for approval to use increasingly harsh tactics has come under scrutiny in a federal war crimes investigation involving the death of a prisoner, witnesses told The Associated Press.

Steve Stormoen, who is now retired from the CIA, supervised an unofficial program in which the CIA imprisoned and interrogated men without entering their names in the Army's books.

The so-called "ghosting" program was unsanctioned by CIA headquarters. In fact, in early 2003, CIA lawyers expressly prohibited the agency from running its own interrogations, current and former intelligence officials said. The lawyers said agency officers could be present during military interrogations and add their expertise but, under the laws of war, the military must always have the lead.

Yet, in November 2003, CIA officers brought a prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, to Abu Ghraib and, instead of turning him over to the Army, took him to a shower stall. They put a sandbag over his head, handcuffed him behind his back and chained his arms to a barred window. When he leaned forward, his arms stretched painfully behind and above his back..........The CIA interrogated al-Jamadi alone. Within an hour, he was dead.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-sources-feds-eye-cia-officer-prisoner-death-070722901.html

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Now for Bush and Cheney.

[democrank]

1. K & R

Forget Obama`s "look forward" crap. Stormoen needs to answer for this. So do Bush and Cheney.

[UpInArms]

2. al-Jamadi - known as the "iceman" - here's the background

Manadel al-Jamadi

Former colleague and TIME contributor Adam Zagorin breaks news here on Battleland with exclusive reporting on the latest federal action over the infamous death of “the Iceman” at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison in 2003:

By Adam Zagorin

It has been nearly a decade since Manadel al-Jamadi, an Iraqi prisoner known as “the Iceman” — for the bungled attempt to cool his body and make him look less dead — perished in CIA custody at Abu Ghraib. But now there are rumbles in Washington that the notorious case, as well as other alleged CIA abuses, could be returning to haunt the agency. TIME has learned that a prosecutor tasked with probing the CIA — John Durham, a respected, Republican-appointed U.S. Attorney from Connecticut — has begun calling witnesses before a secret federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., looking into, among other things, the lurid Nov. 4, 2003, homicide, which was documented by TIME in 2005.

TIME has obtained a copy of a subpoena signed by Durham that points to his grand jury’s broader mandate, which could involve charging additional CIA officers and contract employees in other cases. The subpoena says “the grand jury is conducting an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving War Crimes (18 USC/2441), Torture (18 USC 243OA) and related federal offenses.”

[No Elephants]

3. One CIA officer. I see.

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. Notice this news comes out right after a human right group

Says Bush should be prosecuted for torture?



The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Tuesday that the US authorities were legally obliged to investigate the top echelons of the Bush administration over crimes such as torture, abduction and other mistreatment of prisoners. It says that the former administration's legal team was part of the conspiracy in preparing opinions authorising abuses that they knew to have no standing in US or international law.

Besides Bush, HRW names his vice-president, Dick Cheney, the former defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and the ex-CIA director, George Tenet, as likely to be guilty of authorising torture and other crimes.

The group says that the investigation and prosecutions are required "if the US hopes to wipe away the stain of Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo and reaffirm the primacy of the rule of law".

HRW acknowledges the broad allegations are not new but says they should be given fresh attention because of growing documentary evidence with the release of previously classified papers, admissions made in books by Bush and others, and from a leaked International Committee of the Red Cross report that details illegal practices by the former administration.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/12/george-w-bush-torture

[pmorlan1]

5. A few bad apples

Once again we have the "a few bad apples" scenario where the lower level grunts take the fall for the ones who ordered it done. They need to go up the chain of command but they won't because not enough outrage has been expressed by the citizenry.

[buckrogers1965]

6. As a Republican I feel that all crime should be punished.

No matter who committed the crimes. Torture is illegal. Anyone that ordered torture, forwarded the order to torture, or tortured should be tried for war crimes and if found guilty should be executed.

I don't care if it was Republican or Democrats that broke the law. I don't support my country or my party when we are wrong. And nothing is more wrong than torture. Torture is a betrayal of those who are helpless in our care. Hospitality to those in your care is required by an unbroken tradition that extends back to before recorded history began. Every culture has the concept of taking care of guests. We are not only morally obligated, but we are legally obligated under the rules of war and our own laws to take care of prisoners.

We wouldn't want our soldiers or our citizens tortured so we should extend the same hospitality to those we capture. Isn't the golden rule the basis of Christianity?