Outgoing CIA director defends detainee interrogation program

[babylonsister]

Outgoing CIA director defends detainee interrogation program

By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers


LANGLEY, Va. — Outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden vigorously defended on Thursday the agency's use of secret prisons and coercive interrogation methods on suspected al Qaida terrorists, saying they helped avert new terrorist attacks and were done "out of duty, not out of enthusiasm."

Hayden argued that the CIA detainee program shouldn't be subjected to a public investigation because the administration had obtained Justice Department legal opinions to support it and had informed members of Congress.

A public inquiry also would damage the careers of dedicated intelligence officers and the agency's espionage operations, he said.

"We are asked to do things routinely that no one else is asked to do, that no one else is allowed to do," Hayden said. "You can't do this to these people."

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/59821.html

[Hieronymus]

1. They're all scared shitless. Bush will pardon them but if they set foot outside

the US they can be arrested for war crimes...as Pinochet was.

[gratuitous]

2. Can we not let the perps determine whether laws were broken?

Of course everything they did was necessary, and done because of their duty and not for shits and giggles . . . if you take their word for it. A mugger probably has a raft of good "reasons" why someone else's money had to go into his pocket. And the cosh on the head was absolutely necessary to bring about the desired result. Okay, the kicks in the ribs were probably not absolutely necessary once the transaction was completed, but you can't do to this to these people.

Hayden's post hoc justifications should be placed in the same category as a common thief's rationalizations and excuse-making.

[Bandit]

3. that no one else is allowed to do,"

What does that tell you. To me it is an open admission of guilt. There is a reason no one is allowed to do those things...They are "War Crimes"

[OregonBlue]

4. Interrogation/Torture was contracted to Blackwater. We need to know how this happened, who

authorized it and make sure it can never happens again. Not only that, members of the Administration actually went to Guantanamo and OBSERVED the interrogations and recommended additional techniques. This has to be prosecuted and I truly hope these sick f--ks are shaking in their boots.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Mr. Magoo Hayden would look spritely in an orange jumpsuit