Obama urged to create special detainee commission

[babylonsister]

Obama urged to create special detainee commission

By PAMELA HESS
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The former general who investigated abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison is joining an ex-FBI director and others in seeking a presidential commission to investigate the Bush administration's treatment of terror detainees.

They want President Barack Obama to create a nonpartisan, independent panel that would review policies such as harsh interrogations and "extraordinary renditions," the forced movement of suspected terrorists.

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The new push comes from a group that includes retired Army Maj. Gen. Anthony Taguba, former FBI Director William Sessions and former Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering. It was Taguba's internal report on abuse of prisoners by Army military guards at Abu Ghraib that led to various investigations.

Others involved in the commission effort are Juan E. Mendez, former special adviser to the U.N. secretary-general on the prevention of genocide, and Rev. John H. Thomas, president of the United Church of Christ.

Also supporting the idea are 18 human rights groups, from Amnesty International to the National Institute of Military Justice.

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