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Subscribe to RSSThe Justice Department announced Thursday that it has ended a lengthy investigation into the CIA's interrogation and treatment of prisoners without bringing any criminal charges.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the investigation into the deaths of two suspected terrorists who died in CIA custody -- one in Iraq and another in Afghanistan -- was ended without charges because "the admissible evidence would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt."
The two cases include the highly publicized case of Manadel al-Jamadi, who died in a shower stall at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq while in CIA custody. Several U.S. soldiers, who were photographed with al-Jamadi's body, packed in ice inside a body bag, were later prosecuted and convicted in military courts for prisoner abuse.
The investigation spanned more than four years. It began with an investigation into the CIA's destruction of videotapes of aggressive interrogations of terrorist suspects, but was later expanded to include the deaths of the two detainees.
In all the Justice Department investigated the treatment of 101 detainees who been held in U.S. custody since 9/11.
CIA Director David Petraeus issued a statement thanking everyone at the CIA who supported the Justice Departments investigations.
In an apparent effort to put the incidents and investigations to rest, Petraeus added, "As intelligence officers our inclination of course is to look ahead to the challenges of the future rather than backwards at those of the past."
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How about prosecuting these murders in the same courts that you try terrorist. If those courts are as fair as the administration claims and are built to handle sensitive information, there should be no problem.
It just kind of makes you proud to be an American...dosen't it???
They are the Untouchables of today - above the law more so than a US president.
Offical investigation over and the ones who are realy guilty walk!!
Just another instance of the government finding insufficient evidence to prosecute government employees. I propose we do away with the Democrat donkey and the Republican elephant and replace them with blue and red ostriches.
That's a start. But I'm thinking just make them all purple ostriches instead, so there is no Red vs Blue anymore. One color, one purpose... maybe they could actually get something done without bickering.
LordPyrinc,
I like it.
The CIA should be neutered and caged !
The US is a terrorist state.
holder is just a pawn of former president bush
A shame the US is unwilling to uphold its own laws. This period of Bush torture and war crimes is a stain on our history.
No wonder most countries (including Canada) are no longer willing to extradite terrorism suspects to the US, because they know for a fact those suspects might be tortured.
Yeah, that damned Bush and his influence over the Eric Holder Justice Department. While you're at it, why don't we rename the San Andreas Fault. Let's call it Bush's Fault.
If we want to take the moral high ground and be able to truthfully say that we are a fair, just, compassionate nation, we need to stop torturing people. Torture has never been proven to not get anything useful. Just like narcointerrogation, where you have to sort through a lot of bullpuckey to get even a small amount of truth, torture will make the person being tortured say pretty much anything to make it stop. Doesn't matter if it's true or not.
We cannot win the 'War on Terror' without changing the mind of the terrorist, and right now the average terrorist fanatic out there has been brainwashed by the head terrorist fanatic flavor-of-the-month that we are savage, barbarian infidels. The only way to change their mind is to be the opposite of what you expect; compassion instead of inconsiderate dealing, kindness instead of hatred, justice without anger, fairness without spite. We can't say we are better but then sink to their level; actions speak louder than words. And some of our actions, of late, have been much less than honorable; urinating on dead soldiers, wantonly massacring infants and women in their beds.
And some of the words of hatred that have been posted on these forums don't portray the US population (in general) as being any better than the news stories.
Umm amanda....going to play a bit of devil's advocate here... before you even think about bringing in the actions of the soldiers maybe you should know whats actually happening to them psychologically and physiologically...they are nervous, amped up, and bored. That being said they have "New" Rules of Engagement that does not allow them to do what they need to do to get a job done. And then on top of all that most of them have had multiple tours...and still some are unsure of how many more tours.... Tell me, do you think that is a great set up mentally for anyone??? I sure as hell don't and now doctors and scientists are scrambling to find out how to keep some of these people from killing themselves....You can NOT expect 100% normal behavior from 100% of the population you send over there 100% of the time... you are not sending them to go play in the field somewhere...they are doing a high stress job that involves killing people...
Now, I do NOT condone torture at all, but I also wouldn't clump those instances together either.
The only way to change the mind of the average terrorist fanatic is to put a bullet in it. It is amazing at some of the stupid statements being made here!
The problem with terrorists is that they do not fear death (at least that is what bin Laden said in 2002). They have been brainwashed for so long. Sadly, you can kill the terrorist, but killing the idea is not as easy.
Tim and dmiller - the problem with killing terrorists is that it creates more of them not less of them. The "idea" - radical islamic fundamentalism - must be destroyed from within Islam. It cannot be fixed from outside the religion.
Amanda "Torture has never been proven to not get anything useful." Screwed that sentence up didn't you? What you are trying to say is that "Torture has never been proved to get anything useful." and you are absolutely wrong. There is a difference in using torture to inflict pain for the sake of pain, and using aggressive interrogation techniques for obtaining information. Most of what is called torture today, was an Army recruits basic training in the past. Your entire post speaks of your naivety. Your entire experience with the subject matter appears to be based on reading headlines in the liberal media. You know nothing of the acts of compassion, kindness, caring and friendship that take place every day by our troops because that isn't news. You take a single heinous act by a single person and assert that we are all that way. Do you have any clue as to how the Taliban treated the people of Afghanistan during their reign of terror? This had nothing to do with anything brainwashed into them about savage, barbarian infidels in the U.S. Do you not see what happens to people who only go to those countries to help, to show compassion, love, caring and kindness? Haven't you seen the headlines like this one; "Red Cross halts most Pakistan aid after beheading"? Do you not read about the aid provided by the U.S. to these countries after floods and earthquakes? Do you believe enough in what you are saying, to go to one of these countries and put your theory into practice or are you only being self righteous?
Realist - I think what Amanda is trying to say is that more compassion is needed Everywhere in the world.
Violence begets violence.
Kill MORE! MORE MORE! - just ends up with more killing, NOT Peace!
Nobody ever wins a fight - Patrick Swayze - Roadhouse
So, it's fine to kill in cold blood but you'd better not release evidence by taking a photo? What kind of message are we sending our soldiers?
Read the article again ...... slowly. I realize CIA looks a lot like United States Army at first glance.
Denver - I'm not really sure what your response even means. Todd's point is that we punished the soldiers that took pictures with the body but not to CIA operatives who killed him through torture.
joemike404,
You're right. I mis-read the comment.
Once more, America, like Israel, has proven itself a criminal enterprise. Shame on us all.
The message to our soldiers, like that of Nazi Germany and modern Israel is that murder, torture, etc. is just simply fine and dandy. Just don't get caught or we'll fine you two weeks pay.
See #5.1 above.
You think terrorists will treat their detainees better? They will just behead them and burn American flags saying we are the devil and we are infidels. Screw the apologies and the waste of taxpayer dollars on these bogus trials. Was there wrong doing in this case, maybe, but when did a hostile get the same rights as a citizen? These people play dirty and don't have boundaries. The US bends over backwards with their rules while these religious fanactics kill innocents every day without rules. Stop blaming republicans and democrats! It's the cowardly terrorists that are to blame and we have been way too lenient on them. So a couple of them died in detention, boo f-n hoo.
The stupidity of comments like those of LordPyrinc is that most of the detainees at Abu Ghraib were not terrorists at all just like the number of people swept up and pointed out for money that eventually reached Guantanamo. In any event I don't want my country beating people to death during interrogations because it makes the claims by others that we "are devils and infidels" ring true and it simply lowers us to the level of the beast we are trying to destroy. It is totally unprofessional and just adds to the resolve against us.
Stupidity? I thought I was just voicing my opinion. Your opinions may differ from mine, but that gives you no right to insult my intelligence.
I don't think that expressing falsehoods is the same as expressing opinion.
Everyone- even you- is "innocent until proven guilty".
This tenet no longer pertains to anyone with the label- or in some cases the libel- of "terrorist".
If accusation without proof suffices to lock people up for decades, then justice becomes a witch hunt, and national security a prison camp.
Do we need to treat terrorists with kid gloves? Does their prison need to be graciously commodious? Not just no, but HELL no.
In fact, where proven terrorists are concerned, I believe cruel and unusual punishment should be elevated to an art form.
But when you take the word of some jerk in a third world country- someone who gets a bounty on everyone they finger for you- as cause to imprison without trial, then you've destroyed your credibility, motivated others to become the enemy you're attempting to suppress, and sown the teeth of dragons which will rise to haunt Americans for generations.
It's stupid- and exonerating murder with an official song-and-dance routine is a cynical reprisal of injustice.
We have to be better.
You people are amazing- This is a war, people. You 15 bleeding hearts here condemning their country for not being able to assemble a conviction worthy case.
Go use the 1st Amendment rights your military protects and defends every single moment you are alive and well within the borders of our country and tell Daniel Pearl's widow how screwed up YOUR country, and the moment you finish, board a plane and go find the closest Taliban or Al Qaeda leader and rant up his ass about how you want them to convene a trial to convict the Haji who beheaded Daniel, or William Snow, a private contractor beheaded and tied to a radio tower, or the two American servicemen burned alive and hung from an Iraq bridge, better yet, fly your butts over there and demand legal proceedings for every of the 4927 American servicemen and women who currently rest six feet under. Go do THAT and then come here and bash your country for not being able to follow it's own legal requirements to bring a case against those responsible.
Get ONE conviction in Afghanistan for the ADF members who killed their ISAF counterparts, then cry about how life is unfair, and your country sucks.
Unbelievable.
don't switch cause with effect. It you seed wind, you'll harvest storms. And that is what we have been doing since the second world war (once we gained superpower status). Wonder how China is going to act when we are going to meddle with them. By the way: your approach is narrow minded and does not touch the issue: it is not about defence, it is about moral justice and ethical conduct of a government. How would you recat when this would happen to a friend of yours by, let's say, the Chinese or Russian government? They would claim the same as the CIA and would you still be shouting the same??
The fact you are trying to explain things to a brainwashed "jarhead" is sad. Spend your energy more wisely, he will be polishing his gun collection...
I'm not insulting your intelligence, I'm lambasting the notion you voiced that just because people were were being held that they were terrorists and that that made them fair game for abuse or death. That is stupid.
I never said that all the detainees were terrorists. When I said...
I was speaking of terrorists, not all detainees. Maybe I should have been more clear on my wording. That being said, I doubt that any of the detainees are there because of traffic tickets.
No, they were there because people got money for fingering them. And what makes you think the prisoners that died or were severely beaten were in fact terrorists?
I find your attitude of :
even if they were terrorists (of which we have no proof) extremely repulsive.
2/7 Jarhead in TX,
War or not, a force that cannot or will not control the behavior of its members is a weak and unprofessional force. I suspect the what who, where and when of these deaths is well known, but the military refuses to proceed with charges because it would lead to culpability moving up the chain of command. That's how it is, but it doesn't make it desirable or right.
oh please Habeus Corpus is soooooooooo 17th century. (I'm talking about the habeus corpus act of 1679).
No body, no crime? not anymore, my lovely little worker prols. Now, stop reading this or I'll whip your *ss and throw you in the hole for an indeterminate amount of time!!!!
That's about it.
They are the Untouchables of today - above the law more so than a US president.
Petraeus added, "As intelligence officers our inclination of course is to look ahead to the challenges of the future rather than backwards at those of the past."
Yep, move past the crimes of the past to look ahead to the tortures and killings of the future. I'd have more respect for the U.S. government if it was honest by saying something like, we torture and kill to get information. Not a problem for us, because we make the rules, and change or circumvent them to suit our needs and to function with impunity.
This case is just another investigation in a long history of self-policing that has led to nothing. Add these tortures and deaths to all the other things that are best forgotten, such as poisoning Vietnamese civilians with dioxin, overthrowing democratically elected leaders in Latin America, spying on U.S. citizens, firebombing and nuking Japanese civilians, carpet bombing Cambodia, extraordinary rendition, suspension of habeas corpus, and supporting murderous dictators to protect business interests. The U.S. government is always at war, whether war has been formally declared or not.
It’s always such a laugh to hear U.S. politicians dressing down other countries. Let’s separate the American people from the U.S. government. America is a nice place to live, and many American citizens do a lot of good, both in the U.S. and abroad. But let’s not pretend that the U.S. government necessarily follows some moral code that is better than all the other countries.
weel spoken!
Does anybody still believe there's not a continuum of policy between Rep and Dem administrations? Or that it will somehow magically change if Romney wins?
Perhaps we should all realize that the sequence of governance comes down to this: do our elected officials make decisions to which particular agencies (CIA, NSA, etc.) of government react or do our elected officials react to decisions and data issued by the aforementioned agencies? Think about it and ponder over just who is running the country.
From my observations, too many elected officials are idiotic puppets who are relatively clueless but absolutely love to dress up in their own self-importance.
Wow, America, look at us. Why do so many Americans think we are more civilized than other nations? It does not matter which administration is in office, this disgusting.
for some reason I feel increasingly uncomfortable on the way justice handles this. It has two consequences: it brings back distant memories from an era where this kind of "justice" was also supported by a government and we had to nearly annihilate them in war. And secondly it increases the odds our guys abroad will get slaughtered more.
It is so similar to Wall street and their cover ups, a sign of this corrupt times.
What's everyone so upset about? Who cares? They were "just" muslims.
i hope this means we have a green light to kill the rest of these muslim pigs now.
Great waste of a few million more dollars of taxpayer money. Who give a holy crap about how these alqaeda/taliban pukes are treated? I can tell you from personal experience that they are subhuman and should have no rights.
And if you truly believe that, neither should you.
Leave the race and religeon out of it and well, there "terrorists' are dead. Dont care if they are muslim christian or whatever, if they threaten our way of life and existince with violence and death, they deserve no better in return. Service members should no better and are taught better than that, yet no matter how we strive to be "good", one bad incident sparks an out cry, yet some of these same commenting poor schumucks wont say anything about the deaths of US service members over there and begin bashing those responsible. Truely sad.