The CIA knows rendition is illegal and fears a Democratic Congress

[Rose Siding]

A former intelligence official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said he knew of CIA officials who had refused to attend meetings related to the rendition -- or capture and transfer -- of suspected terrorists, because of opposition or anxiety about the legality of the practice. "They believe that if one chamber of Congress goes to the other party, there will be investigations, and those involved could be impoverished by legal fees."
....
Several sources who know her said they were disappointed. Others were sympathetic, saying many feel frustrated by a lack of debate over policies on the treatment of detainees that are seen as radical by many officers. "They're thinking Mary had nowhere else to go," said one former official who would only discuss the issue on the condition of anonymity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/22/AR2006042201442_pf.html

Mary's probably hoping she'll get to do her time stateside.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. All the more reason we MUST have a Democratic Congress!

[0007]

2. Sounds like someone is running scared.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. It ain't just the CIA.

This administration is so far in on their crime wave that they cannot possibly allow either house to fall to the opposition. They long ago crossed the point of no return.

[Hubert Flottz]

6. I think you're right about that!

Happy endings are not in the cards I'm afraid.

[jazzjunkysue]

13. They said as much on Tim Russert, about lobbying. Election reform

is essential because they'll do anything to keep power.

This scares me more than anything: They'll keep power permanently by rigging the elections.

If you're going to the April 29th demonstrations, election reform should be on your sign. Nothing else matters without that.

[Neil Lisst]

4. Good. CIA has to know the public has had it with the Bush Crime Spree

If I were in CIA, FBI, or NSA, I'd be thinking about the very real likelihood that sometime in the next two years, I would have to answer for my role in the Crime Spree, and if my answers are not good enough, my career in government is over.

I think some of these guys never really comprehended that the Bush reign of Terror was going to end, and when congress flips, government goons are going to pay for their excesses.

[formercia]

15. I was just following orders, the Nuremberg defense.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/iraq/abughraib_commandresponsibility.html

[stillcool]

5. The CIA “Wehrmacht”

Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006. By Ken Silverstein.
Sources

With the war in Iraq an utter debacle and public opinion turned against the White House, anger within the armed forces towards Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Administration is growing, and the Pentagon is fighting back (see “Pentagon Memo Aims to Counter Rumsfeld Critics” in the April 16 New York Times). But what's been little noted thus far is what looks to be a similar revolt brewing at the CIA. An ex-senior agency officer who keeps in contact with his former peers told me that there is a “a big swing” in anti-Bush sentiment at Langley. “I've been stunned by what I'm hearing,” he said. “There are people who fear that indictments and subpoenas could be coming down, and they don't want to get caught up in it.”

Today's “Wehrmacht” officers at the CIA are right to be worried about subpoenas: a legal analysis prepared by a senior FBI attorney in 2002 deemed that renditions to countries that torture detainees were illegal. The attorney concluded that such actions were designed to circumvent American laws against torture and that anyone even discussing such a plan could be found criminally liable. If the political winds shift, some “bad apples” in the CIA could find themselves indicted for torture.

http://www.harpers.org/sb-cia-wehrmacht.html

Wehrmacht (literally: defense force) was the name of the German defense forces during the years 1935–1945. The Wehrmacht was made up of three branches: the army, the navy, and the air force. The commander in chief of this defense force was the Chancellor. Today the German armed forces are called the Bundeswehr.

[DrBloodmoney]

7. The truth will set us free...

... (and shame the ever-loving shit out of America). It'll be a very good day when the truth of this issue comes to light. Our hubris is amazing.

[misternormal]

8. One would think...

... that "being impoverished by legal fees", might be the least of the worries.

[enough]

9. k&r

[kentuck]

10. We knew it was illegal but...

we did it anyway. ???????

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. "Ve vus only followink orders!"

[Stockholm]

12. The work of the European Parliament continues

Part of the temporary committee traveled to Macedonia Friday to meet witnesses and civil servants there. On Thursday a fmr British Ambassador to Uzbekistan was interviewed and it was discovered that both the CIA and the British Security Service had used and acted on information gained by torture in Uzbekistan and probably in other countries as well.

Website of the European Parliament's Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners (TDIP):

http://www.europarl.eu.int/comparl/tempcom/tdip/default_en.htm

[Cleita]

14. I'm afraid the RW neo-cons both in Congress and in the

White House are not going to go away easily even if voted out. There are too many secrets, of rendition, of overseas prison camps, and probably many things we haven't gotten wind of yet that they would have to pass on to their successors. This would mean that finally they would be brought to justice when all these illegal and criminal activities are brought out into the daylight. I don't think they consider this an option.

[glitch]

16. Agreed. They won't go without a fight. So, we fight.

It's too bad, I'd rather be hiking in the mountains, but whatever.