Memo to Judge Mukasey: Ask Director Mueller If It Is Torture

[ProSense]

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Memo to Judge Mukasey: Ask Director Mueller If It Is Torture

Marty Lederman

"By mid-2002, several former (FBI) agents and senior bureau officials said, they had begun complaining that the CIA-run interrogation program amounted to torture and was going to create significant problems down the road -- particularly if the Bush administration was ever forced to allow the Al Qaeda suspects to face their accusers in court. . . . (Director) Mueller pulled many of the agents back from playing even a supporting role in the interrogations to avoid exposing them to legal jeopardy, in the belief that White House and Justice Department opinions authorizing the coercive techniques might be overturned. 'Those guys were using techniques that we didn't even want to be in the room for,' one senior federal law enforcement official said. 'The CIA determined they were going to torture people, and we made the decision not to be involved.'"

The LA Times on why it's going to be difficult to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the 14 other high-level Al Qaeda leaders.

Before asking "whether waterboarding is 'constitutional' or not, let’s ask whether it’s a CRIME."

[annabanana]

1. k&r. . . n/t