Democrats to press for documents on detainees
Democrats to press for documents on detainees
By David Johnston
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: November 24, 2006
WASHINGTON: Seeking information about the detention of terrorism suspects, abuse of detainees and government secrecy, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are reviving dozens of demands for classified documents that until now have been rebuffed or ignored by the Justice Department and other agencies.
"I expect real answers, or we'll have testimony under oath until we get them," said Senator Patrick Leahy, who will head the committee beginning in January when the Democrats take over leadership of the Senate.
"We're entitled to know these answers," the Vermont Democrat said in an interview, "and in many instances we don't get them because people are hiding their mistakes. And that's no excuse."
Leahy, who had said little about his plans for the committee, expressed hope for greater cooperation from the Bush administration, which he described as having been "obsessively secretive." His aides have identified more than 65 requests he has made to the Justice Department or other agencies in recent years that have been rejected or permitted to languish without reply.
Now that they are about to control Congress, what he and other Democrats regard as a record of unresponsiveness has energized their renewal of longstanding requests for information about some of the administration's most hidden and fiercely debated operations.
Little more than two weeks after the elections that gave his party a majority in both houses, Leahy has begun pressing the Justice Department for greater openness. He asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to release two documents whose existence the CIA, in response to a suit by the American Civil Liberties Union, recently acknowledged the existence of for the first time.
One is a directive, signed by President George W. Bush shortly after the September 2001 attacks, that granted the CIA authority to set up detention centers outside the United States and outlined allowable interrogation procedures.
The second is a memorandum, written by the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department in 2002, that is thought to have given the CIA legal advice about interrogation methods that would not violate a U.S. law on torture.
With Democrats in control, it will be harder for executive branch agencies to sidestep requests for documents. Behind each request will be the possibility of Democrats voting to issue subpoenas that would compel documents or testimony.
Lawyers for the CIA have sought in the past to avoid any discussion of whether the agency has documents related to its detention and interrogation of leading members of Al Qaeda in secret prisons overseas. The lawyers have said national security would be endangered if the agency was forced to tell of its involvement in such operations.
But in September, Bush said 14 high- level terrorism suspects had been transferred from secret locations abroad to the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. That effectively confirmed the existence of the prisons, as long reported.
The two documents requested by Leahy are among what congressional aides maintain are perhaps hundreds, crucial to shaping the government's counterterrorism policies, that have never been publicly acknowledged.
Justice Department officials have long said they will resist efforts to require disclosure of classified documents that provide legal advice to other agencies. But in the interview, Leahy signaled that he expected the department to provide a fuller documentary history on issues like detention.
The senator asked Gonzales in a letter for "all directives, memoranda, and/or orders including any and all attachments to such documents, regarding CIA interrogation methods or policies for the treatment of detainees." The letter also sought an index of all documents related to Justice Department inquiries into detainee abuse by "U.S. military or civilian personnel in Guantánamo Bay, Abu Ghraib prison or elsewhe
By David Johnston
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: November 24, 2006
WASHINGTON: Seeking information about the detention of terrorism suspects, abuse of detainees and government secrecy, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are reviving dozens of demands for classified documents that until now have been rebuffed or ignored by the Justice Department and other agencies.
"I expect real answers, or we'll have testimony under oath until we get them," said Senator Patrick Leahy, who will head the committee beginning in January when the Democrats take over leadership of the Senate.
"We're entitled to know these answers," the Vermont Democrat said in an interview, "and in many instances we don't get them because people are hiding their mistakes. And that's no excuse."
Leahy, who had said little about his plans for the committee, expressed hope for greater cooperation from the Bush administration, which he described as having been "obsessively secretive." His aides have identified more than 65 requests he has made to the Justice Department or other agencies in recent years that have been rejected or permitted to languish without reply.
Now that they are about to control Congress, what he and other Democrats regard as a record of unresponsiveness has energized their renewal of longstanding requests for information about some of the administration's most hidden and fiercely debated operations.
Little more than two weeks after the elections that gave his party a majority in both houses, Leahy has begun pressing the Justice Department for greater openness. He asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to release two documents whose existence the CIA, in response to a suit by the American Civil Liberties Union, recently acknowledged the existence of for the first time.
One is a directive, signed by President George W. Bush shortly after the September 2001 attacks, that granted the CIA authority to set up detention centers outside the United States and outlined allowable interrogation procedures.
The second is a memorandum, written by the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department in 2002, that is thought to have given the CIA legal advice about interrogation methods that would not violate a U.S. law on torture.
With Democrats in control, it will be harder for executive branch agencies to sidestep requests for documents. Behind each request will be the possibility of Democrats voting to issue subpoenas that would compel documents or testimony.
Lawyers for the CIA have sought in the past to avoid any discussion of whether the agency has documents related to its detention and interrogation of leading members of Al Qaeda in secret prisons overseas. The lawyers have said national security would be endangered if the agency was forced to tell of its involvement in such operations.
But in September, Bush said 14 high- level terrorism suspects had been transferred from secret locations abroad to the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. That effectively confirmed the existence of the prisons, as long reported.
The two documents requested by Leahy are among what congressional aides maintain are perhaps hundreds, crucial to shaping the government's counterterrorism policies, that have never been publicly acknowledged.
Justice Department officials have long said they will resist efforts to require disclosure of classified documents that provide legal advice to other agencies. But in the interview, Leahy signaled that he expected the department to provide a fuller documentary history on issues like detention.
The senator asked Gonzales in a letter for "all directives, memoranda, and/or orders including any and all attachments to such documents, regarding CIA interrogation methods or policies for the treatment of detainees." The letter also sought an index of all documents related to Justice Department inquiries into detainee abuse by "U.S. military or civilian personnel in Guantánamo Bay, Abu Ghraib prison or elsewhe
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 8:05 AM
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