CIA

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'Good Cop' Enticed 9/11 Mastermind to Talk

But detainee had already faced waterboarding

(Newser) - A CIA interrogator’s rapport with a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks helped provide vast amounts of information on terrorism while raising tough questions about interrogation methods, the New York Times reports. Agent Deuce Martinez cajoled Khalid Sheikh Mohammed into discussing his thoughts in great detail—but it’s unclear...

CIA Gave Pentagon Torture Tips
CIA Gave Pentagon Torture Tips

CIA Gave Pentagon Torture Tips

Methods were 'reverse-engineered' from manuals

(Newser) - The CIA gave the Pentagon advice about the legality of harsh interrogation techniques to be used on detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, the Washington Post reports. Documents shown to a Senate committee yesterday reveal that the agency had a bigger role than first thought. Torture is "subject to...

German Sues Again to Nab CIA Agents

Berlin dropped extradition try last year when US refused

(Newser) - A German man is suing his country to have 13 CIA agents extradited in a case of "extraordinary rendition," the BBC reports. Khaled al-Masri says they grabbed him by mistake in 2003 and dropped him in an Afghan prison, where he was tortured for 5 months. But Germany...

CIA Chief: Tide Turning Against Al-Qaeda

Hayden says terrorists are all but defeated in Iraq, Saudi Arabia

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda is "near strategic defeat" in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and the tide is turning against it elsewhere, CIA chief Michael Hayden says in a surprisingly upbeat Washington Post interview today. In contrast to a  reports of an al-Qaeda resurgence a year ago, Hayden now cites “significant setbacks...

Rove Brushes Off McClellan Claims on Plame Deception

Says he didn't mislead anyway

(Newser) - With the political world abuzz over the harsh tone of Scott McClellan’s new memoir about the "culture of deception''  in the Bush White House, Karl Rove is defending himself against one of the former spokesman’s most damning claims—that Rove and Scooter Libby colluded in a Valerie...

FBI Stalled in Addressing Prisoner Abuse

Report says agents didn't participate in torture, but knew of it

(Newser) - FBI agents dragged their feet in reporting torture inflicted on prisoners by Defense contractors and CIA employees, an an internal FBI report shows, but agents themselves generally did not participate in torture. FBI brass, however, was scolded for not providing more guidance or “pressing harder” to curb other agencies’...

Judge Orders CIA to Release 'Torture' Memo

Key document said to outline waterboarding techniques

(Newser) - A federal judge has ordered the CIA to release a 2002 memo believed to outline interrogation methods that may amount to torture. The ACLU, which brought the suit sparking the order, claims that the memo details harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, and calls it "one of the most important...

Showdown Looms Over Cheney Staffer

VP battling House subpoena for key aide on interrogation policy

(Newser) - Whether a key Dick Cheney aide can be forced to testify is at the heart of a pending blow-up between Congress and the White House over a probe into interrogation techniques, Reuters reports. The House Judiciary Committee plans to subpoena Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington—but the vice president...

CIA Can Skirt Torture Laws, Justice Claims

Letters justify legal 'latitude' for tactics to prevent terrorism

(Newser) - International anti-torture laws don't necessarily apply to CIA agents fighting terrorism, the Justice Department has explained to Congress in letters recently made public, reports the New York Times. The letters reveal the White House position that interrogators have some legal "latitude" outside the Geneva Conventions protecting detainees from "...

US Hesitates to Strike Inside Pakistan

Fears attacks on militant leaders would upset Islamabad

(Newser) - US commanders are itching to strike tribal militants in Pakistan, but Washington fears such a move could anger Islamabad's new leaders, the New York Times reports. American intelligence officials say the region is a growing threat, and warn that militants are forging alliances with al-Qaeda. But Pakistan is in talks...

Top Bushies Personally OK'd Tough Interrogation Tactics

Meetings show high-level approval of CIA's 'enhanced' detainee treatment

(Newser) - Senior White House officials explicitly approved interrogation technique details in several meetings beginning in 2002, sources tell ABC. It was previously known that the CIA drafted a “Golden Shield” memo approving highly specific tactics for use on al-Qaeda detainees, but that top officials—including Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Colin...

US Spies Surf Internet for Open Secrets

In Information Age, useful intelligence hides in plain sight

(Newser) - Where do America’s spies go to get their most useful information? The Internet, mostly. Intelligence reports are increasingly filled with “open-source intelligence,” or information that’s available to nearly anyone, USA Today reports. The much-publicized December report on Iran’s nuclear program, for example, relied heavily on...

CIA's Legal Troubles Grow Over Tapes' Destruction

Agency faces growing number of challenges from detainees

(Newser) - The CIA's decision to destroy interrogation videotapes to save itself legal trouble is backfiring in a big way, the New York Times reports. Lawyers for more than a dozen detainees have filed challenges citing the destruction of evidence, putting terrorism cases on shaky ground and jeopardizing future prosecutions as well,...

NYPD and FBI Tussle Over War on Terror

Frustrated NY cops use 1,000 officers to thwart attacks

(Newser) - Irked by the FBI, New York police have quietly turned their anti-terror mission into a global operation, the Washington Post reports. They have nabbed suspected terrorists and won convictions, but Big Apple cops still fume over the FBI's refusal to share data. “Controlling information is power, and they don't...

Lawyers Declare Innocence of Waterboarding Victim

Gitmo detainee 'was never in al Qaeda'

(Newser) - Guantanamo detainee Abu Zubaydah isn’t a member of al Qaeda or the Taliban, his lawyers contend, and he’s never tried to harm American citizens. Held in CIA secret prisons and waterboarded, Zubaydah wasn’t given anything “that would satisfy even the most basic notions of due process,...

Qaeda Suspect Held by CIA, Moved to Gitmo

Bin Laden aide has been in CIA custody since last year

(Newser) - A top al-Qaeda suspect who has been in secret CIA detention for at least 6 months was moved this week  to Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon said yesterday. Muhammad Rahim, described as a "tough, seasoned, jihadist," is said to have been a close associate of Osama bin Laden's who...

US 'Buried' Tortured Yemeni in Jail for Years: Rights Group

Prisoner finally freed without charge was hung upside down, beaten

(Newser) - A Yemeni man was held by the US in secret prisons for nearly three years and subjected to torture after his capture in Iraq, a human rights group has charged in a condemnation of America's "cruel" defiance of international law. The man, Khaled al-Maqtari, was held in Baghdad's notorious...

UK Questions Mount Over US 'Torture Flights'

Brits uncertain of extent that rendition flights utilized UK territory

(Newser) - Amid pressure British officials said yesterday that they were “working behind the scenes” to root out more information about the CIA rendition flights that landed on British soil, the Guardian reports. The UN’s special torture investigator has said there is credible evidence to suggest that the US ran...

War Architect Blasts CIA, State Dept. for Iraq Fumbles

Ex-defense official says his advice was ignored

(Newser) - A top Iraq war architect slams the CIA and State Department for flawed handling of the build-up and eventual invasion in a new book, the Washington Post reports. Douglas Feith, former undersecretary of defense, takes shots at Colin Powell, Tommy Franks, and ex-occupation chief Paul Bremer, among others, for brushing...

Bush Vetoes Ban on Waterboarding
Bush Vetoes Ban on Waterboarding
UPDATED

Bush Vetoes Ban on Waterboarding

He says terrorist threat remains; Dems don't have votes to override

(Newser) - President Bush today vetoed a bill that would have prevented the CIA from using harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, the New York Times reports. "We need to ensure our intelligence officials have all the tools they need to stop the terrorists,” the president said. Democrats do not...

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