Interrogation! Cheney, Rice...

The who's who ...
- Cheney, Rice, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales
- Claims, such as that made by former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz that detainee abuses could be chalked up to the unauthorized acts of a 'few bad apples,' were simply false," said Sen. Carl Levin in an April 21 floor statement introducing the report.

Document: Cheney, Rice signed off on interrogation techniques
Posted on Wednesday, April 22, 2009
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/66727.html

WASHINGTON — A newly declassified narrative (fas, pdf 17pp) of the Bush administration's advice to the CIA on harsh interrogations shows that the small group of Justice Department lawyers who wrote memos authorizing harsh interrogation techniques were operating not on their own but with direction from top administration officials, including then-Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

The narrative, posted Wednesday on the Senate Intelligence Committee's Web site and released by its former chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., came as Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters that he'd "follow the evidence wherever it takes us" in deciding whether to prosecute any Bush administration officials who authorized harsh techniques that are widely considered torture.

In a statement (pdf 17pp) accompanying the narrative's release, Rockefeller said the task of declassifying interrogation and detention opinions "is not complete" and urged prompt declassification of other opinions from 2006 and 2007 that he said would show how Bush Justice Department officials interpreted laws governing torture and war crimes.

These developments come days after the Obama administration declassified four Justice Department memos from 2002 and 2005 that revealed in detail authorized interrogation methods, such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, sleep deprivation and putting detainees in containers with insects.
...

Among other details, the narrative shows that:
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_ The Director of Central Intelligence in the spring of 2003 sought a reaffirmation of the legality of the interrogation methods. Cheney, Rice, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales were among those at a meeting where it was decided that the policies would continue. Rumsfeld and Powell weren't.

_ The CIA briefed the Rumsfeld and Powell on interrogation techniques in September 2003.

_ Administration officials had ongoing concerns about the legality of waterboarding as they continued to justify its legitimacy.

Cheney couldn't be reached for comment. Rice, through an aide, declined to comment. ...

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More breaking news:
Defense Chief Gates Says He Backed Releasing CIA Memos
By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 23, 2009; 12:22 PM

MORE DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS ON TORTURE
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
SECRECY NEWS from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2009, Issue No. 37 - April 23, 2009

Another newly declassified report [link below, pdf 263pp], from the Senate Armed Services Committee, does not shrink from drawing conclusions. "The report represents a condemnation of both the Bush administration's interrogation policies and of senior administration officials who attempted to shift the blame for abuse--such as that seen at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and Afghanistan--to low ranking soldiers.

Claims, such as that made by former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz that detainee abuses could be chalked up to the unauthorized acts of a 'few bad apples,' were simply false," said Sen. Carl Levin in an April 21 floor statement introducing the report (inquiry into the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody, fas pdf 263pp).