CIA Ordered to Turn Over Prisoner Records

[stevedeshazer]

NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the CIA to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and turn over to watchdog groups records concerning the treatment of prisoners in Iraq.

"Congress has set the laws, and it is the duty of executive agencies to comply with them," U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote.

It was the second time in six months that the judge suggested the government was impeding the American Civil Liberties Union's quest to monitor government actions in the war on terrorism.

The ACLU filed its lawsuit in October 2003 seeking information on treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. The group is seeking the records to show that prisoner abuse by the United States is "not aberrational but systemic."

more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DETAINEE_RECORDS?SITE=NJPAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Pam-Moby]

1. This is great. Long over due..

The Judge done the correct thing.

[TahitiNut]

2. It's time agency heads were jailed for contempt.

Law enforcement is an executive branch function and this executive branch is violating, not enforcing, the law. They have steadfastly ignored court rulings and continued to violate the law. Thus, the only enforcement action available to the court is a contempt citation and imprisonment of the responsible agency heads until the orders are complied with.

As for which jail, I'd suggest abu Ghraib. :evilgrin:

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. Hopefully this will all lead to the top

[Supersedeas]

5. in local ctrooms--citizens can be jails for not turning off cell phones

yet, these thugs get away with completely disregarding court orders

[katinmn]

3. CIA's in the hot seat these days.

I think they are becoming known as the scape-goat department.

[Disturbed]

6. CIA Interogation Techniques.

This agency is the one that formulated various torture tech that were used at Gitmo and prison in Iraq, not just Abu Grahib, so hell yea they shoud be forced to turn over their files.

[Supersedeas]

10. forumulated after consultation with AG and WH officials.

[HereSince1628]

7. But they have the option of coming up with a better argument

to keep from having to reveal anything.

Someday in late winter 2055 I expect the surviving records to be produced.

[Carl Brennan]

8. Is this a precedent?

I haven't heard of this happening before.

I wonder if this order has the force of law to arrest those who don't follow it?

[struggle4progress]

9. A.C.L.U. Gains in Its Quest for C.I.A. Documents on Detainees

By JULIA PRESTON
Published: February 3, 2005

<snip> So far the civil liberties union has received more than 25,000 pages of documents, mainly from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, other branches of the Justice Department, and the State Department, said Jameel Jaffer, a lawyer for the group. Most of the material has been organized by the A.C.L.U. and released, and shows efforts to suppress investigations of prisoner abuse in Iraq and the use of "torture techniques" at Guantánamo.

The Defense Department and the C.I.A. have been far more resistant to disclosing their documents, Mr. Jaffer said. He said the civil liberties union was still waiting for thousands of pages from the Pentagon, which he said had engaged in "every kind of obfuscation and delay tactic."

The intelligence agency vigorously challenged the civil liberties union's FOIA suit, saying special statutes governing the C.I.A.'s handling of information provided a blanket exemption allowing it to withhold any documents about current operations, a category in which the agency places all material sought in the suit.

But Judge Hellerstein ruled that the law required the agency to process FOIA requests related to an active internal investigation. Last May, the C.I.A.'s inspector general opened an inquiry into the agency's role in brutal interrogations of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other prisons in Iraq. <snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/03/national/03foia.html