CIA gets directions on interrogations - Order allows use of some harsh methods
CIA gets directions on interrogations - Order allows use of some harsh methods
By Greg Miller
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
July 21, 2007
WASHINGTON - President Bush signed an order Friday that clears the way for the CIA to resume some of the harsh interrogation methods it has used against terrorism suspects, even while it prohibits techniques that had caused an international outcry, including sexual humiliation and denigration of religious symbols.
The executive order ends months of legal skirmishing within the government over how to comply with laws barring mistreatment of detainees and a Supreme Court ruling last year requiring the U.S. government to treat terrorism prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
In practical terms, the document places significant new limits on the CIA, even while making it clear that the agency will continue to operate under special rules that set it apart from the rest of the government. The order places no restriction on employing coercive methods -- such as sleep deprivation and the use of stress positions -- that are expressly off limits for the military and domestic law-enforcement agencies.
On another level, the order represents an attempt by the Bush administration to straddle two competing mandates by bringing the CIA program into line with court rulings and legislative requirements without disabling an operation that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have defended as one of the most valuable weapons in the war on terrorism.
The order does not specifically address one of the most controversial methods employed by the CIA: water boarding, a technique in which a prisoner is strapped to a board and doused with water to simulate the sensation of drowning. A separate document spelling out specific techniques remains classified.
Human-rights groups said the order brings the U.S. closer to international standards on the treatment of prisoners, but still gives the CIA significant latitude to employ methods that other countries and organizations have condemned.
"It certainly was a positive thing to see express prohibitions on things like sexual humiliation," said Jumana Musa, advocacy director for Amnesty International in Washington. "But the places where [the document] is silent speak volumes."
In a statement issued to the CIA workforce on Friday, agency director Michael Hayden said that because of the order, "we can focus on our vital work, confident that our mission and authorities are clearly defined."
The agency suspended its use of harsh methods three years ago as the Bush administration's legal justifications for them began to crumble and CIA operatives working in secret detention facilities overseas became worried that they might face lawsuits or even criminal prosecution for the techniques they were being told to use.
In a telephone briefing with reporters, an administration official refused to elaborate on what the order will allow CIA interrogators to do. The official stressed that the order contains "red lines which I think we can all agree are beyond the pale," but acknowledged that there is no provision for allowing the Red Cross to visit CIA facilities or to allow prisoners to be in contact with their families.
The order prohibits acts deemed "beyond the bounds of human decency, such as sexual or sexually indecent acts undertaken for the purpose of humiliation." It forbids "acts intended to denigrate the religion, religious practices, or religious objects of the individual," a provision that appears designed to address complaints at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
By Greg Miller
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
July 21, 2007
WASHINGTON - President Bush signed an order Friday that clears the way for the CIA to resume some of the harsh interrogation methods it has used against terrorism suspects, even while it prohibits techniques that had caused an international outcry, including sexual humiliation and denigration of religious symbols.
The executive order ends months of legal skirmishing within the government over how to comply with laws barring mistreatment of detainees and a Supreme Court ruling last year requiring the U.S. government to treat terrorism prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
In practical terms, the document places significant new limits on the CIA, even while making it clear that the agency will continue to operate under special rules that set it apart from the rest of the government. The order places no restriction on employing coercive methods -- such as sleep deprivation and the use of stress positions -- that are expressly off limits for the military and domestic law-enforcement agencies.
On another level, the order represents an attempt by the Bush administration to straddle two competing mandates by bringing the CIA program into line with court rulings and legislative requirements without disabling an operation that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have defended as one of the most valuable weapons in the war on terrorism.
The order does not specifically address one of the most controversial methods employed by the CIA: water boarding, a technique in which a prisoner is strapped to a board and doused with water to simulate the sensation of drowning. A separate document spelling out specific techniques remains classified.
Human-rights groups said the order brings the U.S. closer to international standards on the treatment of prisoners, but still gives the CIA significant latitude to employ methods that other countries and organizations have condemned.
"It certainly was a positive thing to see express prohibitions on things like sexual humiliation," said Jumana Musa, advocacy director for Amnesty International in Washington. "But the places where [the document] is silent speak volumes."
In a statement issued to the CIA workforce on Friday, agency director Michael Hayden said that because of the order, "we can focus on our vital work, confident that our mission and authorities are clearly defined."
The agency suspended its use of harsh methods three years ago as the Bush administration's legal justifications for them began to crumble and CIA operatives working in secret detention facilities overseas became worried that they might face lawsuits or even criminal prosecution for the techniques they were being told to use.
In a telephone briefing with reporters, an administration official refused to elaborate on what the order will allow CIA interrogators to do. The official stressed that the order contains "red lines which I think we can all agree are beyond the pale," but acknowledged that there is no provision for allowing the Red Cross to visit CIA facilities or to allow prisoners to be in contact with their families.
The order prohibits acts deemed "beyond the bounds of human decency, such as sexual or sexually indecent acts undertaken for the purpose of humiliation." It forbids "acts intended to denigrate the religion, religious practices, or religious objects of the individual," a provision that appears designed to address complaints at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 7:24 AM
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