Democracy Now!
August 24, 2009
Newsweek: Inspector General Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions
The Justice Department is scheduled today to disclose a long-suppressed 2004 report by the CIA’s inspector general detailing prisoner abuse. Among the findings are that CIA interrogators staged mock executions on prisoners. The report also describes how one detainee was threatened with a handgun and an electric power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. Newsweek magazine first reported details from the report on its website on Friday night. We speak with Michael Isikoff, investigative correspondent for Newsweek.
The Justice Department’s ethics office has recommended the attorney general reopen and pursue nearly a dozen CIA prisoner-abuse cases, the New York Times is reporting. The move would reverse Bush administration policy which had closed the cases, and could expose CIA employees and contractors to criminal prosecution.
The Times reports the recommendation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was recently presented to Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder is also expected to announce within days his decision on whether to appoint a prosecutor to conduct a new investigation into prisoner abuse.
The ethics recommendation comes as the Justice Department is scheduled today to disclose a long-suppressed 2004 report by the CIA’s inspector general detailing prisoner-abuse. Among the findings are that CIA interrogators staged mock executions on prisoners. The federal law banning the use of torture expressly forbids threatening a detainee with “imminent death.” The report also describes how one detainee–suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri–was threatened with a handgun and an electric power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. Newsweek magazine first reported details from the report on its website on Friday night. Michael Isikoff is the investigative correspondent for Newsweek. He joins us on the telephone from Washington DC.
Michael Isikoff, investigative correspondent for Newsweek magazine.
video/transcript: Newsweek: Inspector General Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions
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