U.S. Weighs Special Team of Terrorism Interrogators

[laststeamtrain]

Source: WSJ

JULY 18, 2009

U.S. Weighs Special Team of Terrorism Interrogators

By SIOBHAN GORMAN

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is considering overhauling the way terror suspects are interrogated by creating a small team of professionals drawn from across the government, according to people familiar with a proposal that will be submitted to the White House.

The new unit, comprising members of spy services and law-enforcement agencies, would be used for so-called high-value detainees, they said. In a switch from Bush-era efforts, it wouldn't be run by the Central Intelligence Agency, though who might be in charge isn't specified.

One of the team's tasks would likely be to devise a new set of interrogation methods, according to one person familiar with the proposal. Those techniques could be drawn from sources ranging from scientific studies to the psychology behind television ads.

The new interrogation team, if adopted, would represent the Obama administration's effort to sweep away a contentious counterterrorism issue that has dogged the CIA and Justice Department since a U.S. network of secret prisons was revealed in 2005. The team would reduce the CIA's controversial role in interrogations, but the agency remains at odds with Congress. On Friday, the House intelligence committee launched a probe into whether the agency broke the law by withholding information from the panel about a secret plan examining al Qaeda hit teams as well as other matters.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124787391051060705.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[BunkerHill24]

2. You can't teach an dog new tricks

The darn thing is tainted already and in mo way can be salvaged in the eyes of the world.
Simply get rid off anyone who was involved, and have special commissioner appointed to oversee detainee rights. And while you at it, let these detainees give their day in court without a cover-up.

[nosmokes]

3. I'm against it unless they put a Czar in charge.

When did we decide human rights were optional? I never got a chance to vote on that.

[BunkerHill24]

4. I am hoping our dear president would do the right thing!

[FormerOstrich]

5. nor did I vote on that....

nor, do I think torture very very lite is ok.

but I am all about starting anew on the right foot and letting the world see that not that we think we are the greatest country, not that we are a slimy country, but we are a great country and will do the right thing.

Rose colored glasses on

[timeforpeace]

6. With a gigantic labyrinthine bureaucracy to make it even better.