[Marxism] Panetta approves of "tougher" interrogation methods and renditions

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

NY Times, February 6, 2009
Panetta Open to Tougher Methods in Some C.I.A. Interrogation
By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON — Leon E. Panetta, the White House pick to lead the Central 
Intelligence Agency, on Thursday left open the possibility that the 
agency could seek permission to use interrogation methods more 
aggressive than the limited menu that President Obama authorized under 
new rules issued last month.

Under insistent questioning from a Senate panel, Mr. Panetta said that 
in extreme cases, if interrogators were unable to extract critical 
information from a terrorism suspect, he would seek White House approval 
for the C.I.A. to use methods that would go beyond those permitted under 
the new rules.

“If we had a ticking bomb situation, and obviously, whatever was being 
used I felt was not sufficient, I would not hesitate to go to the 
president of the United States and request whatever additional authority 
I would need,” Mr. Panetta said in his nomination hearing before the 
Senate Intelligence Committee.

He gave no specifics about what interrogation methods he would suggest, 
but he said that the agency would always abide by the law. He also said 
he believed that interrogators could reliably get information from 
detainees using noncoercive means.

“We can protect this country, we can get the information we need, we can 
provide for the security of the American people and we can abide by the 
law,” Mr. Panetta said. “I’m absolutely convinced that we can do that.”

Mr. Panetta would inherit a spy agency governed by rules somewhat more 
restrictive than under President George W. Bush, because of the 
executive orders issued by Mr. Obama last month that would shut agency 
prisons and require agency interrogators, for the time being, to abide 
by the same noncoercive interrogation techniques as those used by the 
military.

Some critics of the new administration, including former Vice President 
Dick Cheney, have said that limiting the agency’s role in 
counterterrorism could backfire and leave the United States more open to 
a terrorist attack.

In his testimony, Mr. Panetta said that under the rules issued by Mr. 
Obama, the C.I.A. is still allowed to detain and question terrorism 
suspects before transferring them to a military jail. But he said that 
unlike during the Bush administration, the International Committee of 
the Red Cross would be granted access to C.I.A. prisoners.

Mr. Panetta also said the agency would continue the Bush administration 
practice of “rendition” — picking terrorism suspects off the street and 
sending them to a third country. But he said the agency would refuse to 
deliver a suspect into the hands of a country known for torture or other 
actions “that violate our human values.”

A task force appointed by Mr. Obama is to investigate whether any 
interrogation methods beyond those currently allowed ought to be 
approved. Mr. Panetta did not hesitate Thursday to label as torture the 
interrogation technique known as waterboarding, which C.I.A. 
interrogators used on three terrorism suspects in 2002 and 2003 and has 
since prohibited.

But Mr. Panetta said no agency operatives should be prosecuted for 
waterboarding — which induces the feeling of drowning — or any other 
interrogation method that had been authorized by the Justice Department.

Before the same Senate panel last month, Dennis C. Blair, who is now the 
director of national intelligence, declined to say that waterboarding is 
torture, telling senators that it would be awkward for him to lead 
intelligence operatives he had accused of carrying out an illegal act.

For years, C.I.A. officials have argued that the agency’s detention and 
interrogation program not only helped thwart terrorist attacks, but also 
was the government’s most valuable resource for gaining insight into Al 
Qaeda.

Mr. Panetta pledged to examine the harsh interrogation techniques used 
by the spy agency after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to determine whether 
any damage done to America’s reputation abroad “counterbalanced” the 
intelligence gained during the interrogations.

Although the C.I.A. can no longer hold prisoners indefinitely, and can 
no longer hide prisoners from the Red Cross, the exact rules governing 
agency detention operations remain murky. For instance, Mr. Obama has 
yet to spell out exactly how long the C.I.A. can detain a prisoner, and 
how long a detainee can be in C.I.A. custody before the agency notifies 
the Red Cross.

Obama administration officials said the agency was likely to follow a 
Pentagon rule that requires Red Cross notification within a few weeks of 
a prisoner’s capture.

Mr. Panetta is scheduled to testify further on Friday, but is expected 
to be easily confirmed by the Senate, which would make him the final 
member of Mr. Obama’s national security team to join the administration. 
Mr. Obama did not choose him for the job until early January, after 
other candidates for the job were passed over because of their 
association with controversial Bush administration counterterrorism 
policies.

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