UhOh Condi et al played a central role in Talks on Interrogations

[malaise]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/washington/25detain.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

<snip>
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: September 24, 2008

WASHINGTON — Senior White House officials played a central role in deliberations in the spring of 2002 about whether the Central Intelligence Agency could legally use harsh interrogation techniques while questioning an operative of Al Qaeda, Abu Zubaydah, according to newly released documents.
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Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press


In meetings during that period, the officials debated specific interrogation methods that the C.I.A. had proposed to use on Qaeda operatives held at secret C.I.A. prisons overseas, the documents show. The meetings were led by Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, and attended by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Attorney General John Ashcroft and other top administration officials.

The documents provide new details about the still-murky early months of the C.I.A.’s detention program, when the agency began using a set of harsh interrogation techniques weeks before the Justice Department issued a written legal opinion in August 2002 authorizing their use. Congressional investigators have long tried to determine exactly who authorized these techniques before the legal opinion was completed.

The documents are a list of answers provided by Ms. Rice and John B. Bellinger III, the former top lawyer at the National Security Council, to detailed questions by the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is investigating the abuse of detainees in American custody. The documents were provided to The New York Times by Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the committee.
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Arrest these war criminals

[rurallib]

Well --- gosh I am surprised

that she told the truth. Or something close to it.

[ThomWV]

1. That woman is as evil as old Henry, and someday the world will know

[madokie]

3. I think maybe the world already knows

[malaise]

4. And connected to this - Another Gitmo prosecutor resigns

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/505606
<snip>
Randall Mikkelsen
REUTERS NEWS AGENCY

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba–The prosecutor in a Guantanamo war crimes case has asked to quit his assignment due to ethical concerns, defence attorneys and the lead military prosecutor said yesterday.

The departure would make at least four Guantanamo prosecutors who have left with misgivings about the fairness of the process, which has drawn international criticism as inhumane and unjust.

Army Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld gave notice within the last few weeks that he wanted to quit the prosecution team early and cited "personal reasons," Col. Lawrence Morris, the Guantanamo military commissions chief prosecutor, told reporters.

The request was accepted and Vandeveld is winding down his involvement with the commission, Morris said.

Vandeveld was prosecuting Afghan murder suspect Mohammed Jawad and the case will go on, Morris said.

Morris acknowledged a defence affidavit in which, lawyers said, Vandeveld described concerns including that prosecutors withheld evidence that could help the accused.

"There are no grounds for his ethical qualms," Morris said. "All you have is somebody who is disappointed that his superiors didn't see the wisdom of his recommendations in the case."

Jawad's lawyer, air force Maj. David Frakt, said he has asked the court to let Vandeveld testify in support of motions asking that the case be dismissed on the grounds of "outrageous government conduct."

[tanyev]

2. Oooh, did she have some creative ideas for using piano wire?