There are a couple of updates to this morning’s post on the recommendations for an investigation into abuse of terror suspects. Attorney General Eric Holder is appointing a prosecutor to investigate cases where the CIA and contractors might have violated laws regarding torture.
Documents which were recently declassified following a suit filed by the ACLU provide examples of the conduct which should be investigated, including threats by interrogators to kill the children and sexually assault the mother of one suspect.
In one instance cited in the new documents, Abd al-Nashiri, the man accused of being behind the 2000 USS Cole bombing, was hooded, handcuffed and threatened with an unloaded gun and a power drill. The unidentified interrogator also threatened al-Nashiri’s mother and family, implying they would be sexually abused in front of him, according to the report.
The interrogator denied making a direct threat.
Another interrogator told alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, “if anything else happens in the United States, ‘We’re going to kill your children,'” one veteran officer said in the report.
Death threats violate anti-torture laws.
Update: Looking back at the reports of the appointment of a special prosecutor, there is one major problem. The investigation is extremely limited and ignores the people who should really be investigated–those who ordered the use of torture.
