LEGAL ABSURDS

"Central Intelligence Agency Director nominee Leon Panetta testifies
on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Feb. 6, 2009, before the Senate
Intelligence Committee hearing on his nomination. (AP Photo/Susan
Walsh)

Š2009 Google - Map data Š2009 Tele Atlas - Terms of UsePanetta: No
prosecution for CIA interrogators
By PAMELA HESS – Feb 6, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration will not prosecute CIA
officers who participated in harsh interrogations that critics say
crossed the line into torture, CIA Director-nominee Leon Panetta said
Friday.

Asked by The Associated Press if that was official policy, Panetta
said, "That is the case."

WHYICH IS ? TO TRY TO KILL ME AND MY SONS SINCE 1992 AND BGEACUSE THE
OFFENDER ORGANIZATIOPN FAILS YOU ABUSE THE LAW ONE MORE TIOME. IS THAT
THE TYPE OF POLICY SPECIALITY OF YOURS?

PENETTA YOU HAVE NMO LEGAL RIFGHT UNDER THE USA CONSTITUTION AND ALL
OTHER LAWS INVOLVED,. STOP LYING!

It was the clearest statement yet on what Panetta and other Democratic
officials had only strongly suggested: CIA officers who acted on legal
orders from the Bush administration would not be held responsible for
those policies. On Thursday, he told senators that the Obama
administration had no intention of seeking prosecutions for that
reason.

Panetta, in an interview with the AP after a second day of
confirmation hearings with the Senate Intelligence Committee, said
that he arrived at that conclusion even before he began meeting with
CIA officials.

"It was my opinion we just can't operate if people feel even if they
are following the legal opinions of the Justice Department" they could
be in danger of prosecution, he said.

Panetta demurred on saying whether the Obama administration would take
legal action against those who authorized or wrote the legal opinions
that, for a time, set an extremely high legal bar for an action to
constitute torture.

"I'll leave that for others," Panetta said.

Panetta, a former chief of staff in the Clinton administration and an
ex-congressman from California, is expected to be confirmed by a wide
margin next week.

Panetta told the committee that the Obama administration will continue
to hand foreign detainees over to other countries for questioning, but
only if it is confident the prisoners will not be tortured in the
process.

That has long been U.S. policy, but some former prisoners subjected to
the process — known as "extraordinary rendition" — during the Bush
administration's anti-terror war contend they were tortured. Proving
that in court has proven difficult, as evidence they are trying to use
has been protected by the president's state secret privilege.

"I will seek the same kind of assurances that they will not be treated
inhumanely," Panetta said during his second day before the Senate
Intelligence Committee. "I intend to use the State Department to be
sure those assurances are implemented and stood by, by those
countries."

Some critics worry that any gray area in delineating policy on
renditions could allow for abuses.

A detainee could be handed over to another country for reasons other
than harsh or coercive questioning. Some prisoners may not have
intelligence of value to the United States in its effort to break up
global terrorist groups, but they might yield intelligence valuable to
another government's more localized security problems.

How such renditions work and what happens after prisoners are handed
over are secrets, and it is unclear that the Obama administration
would have any more tools to assure humane treatment than its
predecessor.

The options are limited: refuse to transfer prisoners to governments
that have a history of torture or human rights abuses; require
prisoners be allowed regular visits by the International Committee of
the Red Cross; or demand that U.S. officials have access to the
prisoners after the transfer. Each option carries with it the
potential of harming or complicating relationships with foreign
intelligence agencies.

Panetta formally retracted a statement he made Thursday that the Bush
administration transferred prisoners for the purpose of torture.

"I am not aware of the validity of those claims," he said.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., chastised Panetta for careless words. "You
cannot be making statements or making judgments based on rumors and
news stories," he said.

Because he has not yet been confirmed, Panetta has not been briefed on
the details of the secret program.

Panetta said he believed the Bush administration was trying to protect
the country from terrorists with its use of secret prisons, renditions
and harsh interrogations.

"I think they made some wrong decisions, I think they made mistakes,"
he said. "I think sometimes they believe the ends justifies the means,
and that's where people sometimes go wrong."

Panetta said he thinks that in the fear of another Sept. 11-style
attack, Bush administration officials thought, "We can't be bothered
with legalisms."

Panetta said, however, that he believes the greatest weapon the United
States has against terrorists is its moral authority and commitment to
the rule of law.

"The sense that we were willing to set that aside did damage our
security," he said.

Panetta said the Obama administration will no longer move detainees to
secret CIA prisons for interrogation, because the so-called "black
sites" have been ordered closed. But it will move prisoners to other
countries for prosecution, he said.

Me pisze:

keep silent

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