Reporter Says CIA Report Revelations Coming Monday Will Be ‘Pretty Explosive’ [View All]

CIA report to reveal agency conducted mock executions

BY MURIEL KANE

Published: August 22, 2009
Updated 1 day ago

Update (at bottom):

The long-delayed release of a CIA inspector general’s report has been scooped by Newsweek, which obtained details from one source who has read a draft of the report and another who was briefed on its contents.

A version of the report with newly declassified details is expected to be released on Monday.

According to Newsweek’s sources, the report will reveal that the CIA interrogators of suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri brandished a gun in front of him in an attempt to make him believe he was going to be shot — thus violating a federal law against threatening a detainee with “imminent death” — and also threatened him with a power drill.

In other cases, mock executions were staged, including one case in which a gun was fired in an adjoining room to make a suspect believe another prisoner had been shot.

- snip -

Attorney General Eric Holder is also expected to announce his decision on a possible investigation into the use of torture under the Bush administration. A group of Republican senators has already sent Holder a letter warning that any investigation “could have a number of serious consequences, not just for the honorable members of the intelligence community, but also for the security of all Americans.”

Update: Reporter says revelations coming Monday will be ‘pretty explosive’

Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff, appearing on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show on Friday night, explained that revelations from the CIA Inspector General’s report will be “pretty explosive,” even though the public version will be significantly redacted.

“About half of the report, I’m told, will still be redacted,” he said. “But, what’s in the half that’s going to be publicly released is going to be pretty explosive.”

VIDEO HERE: Jeremy Scahill on The Rachel Maddow Show: 'Blackwater Exposed... Child Prostitution, Wife Swapping, Murder?'

AND HERE: Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now: 'CIA Hired Private Military Firm Blackwater for Secret Assassination Program 1 of 2'

AND HERE: Jeremy Scahill on Democracy Now: 'CIA Hired Private Military Firm Blackwater for Secret Assassination Program 2 of 2'