Obama spokesman announces new interrogation unit

Obama spokesman announces interrogation unit

By STEVEN R. HURST and DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writers


WASHINGTON (AP) -- A presidential spokesman says Barack Obama has approved creation of a new, special terrorism-era interrogation unit which will be supervised by the White House.

Deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton told reporters covering the vacationing Obama on Martha's Vineyard, Mass., that the new unit does not mean the CIA is now out of the interrogation business.

Burton said Monday said that the new unit would include "all these different elements under one group," and it said that it will be situated at the FBI headquarters in Washington.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is moving more forcefully than ever to abandon Bush administration interrogation policies, approving creation of a White House-led unit for questioning terrorism suspects, as Attorney General Eric Holder weighs whether to reopen and pursue prisoner abuse cases.

A senior administration official told The Associated Press Monday that Obama has approved establishment of the new unit, to be known as the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which will be overseen by the National Security Council. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the program has not yet been officially announced.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CIA_INTERROGATIONS?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

sounds like a fine idea to me.

And not a fine idea even in the hands of a Democratic administration, when you get down to it.

This is not the answer to the problem. This is opening a whole new problem.

There are other solutions. This is not a solution.

There just happens to be a guy in the White House you trust right now. Eventually there won't be. And he or she will have a personal interrogation unit at their disposal.

Whoever is in the office, this is a bad idea, a bad way to solve the problem.

It is run by the NSC and is under the FBI.


Even under Bush... this would've been better than having the CIA do it.


The CIA is a rogue organization.... even under a bad President, it is better to be under the FBI and NSC.

...and it was under the CIA as well, considering that the CIA head is a Presidential appointment.


The difference is... the CIA has an agenda that is not always in the best interest of the US.

The intentions may be the most noble. But this is not a good idea.

Let me spell out a few random points:

• Despite promises, the Obama administration has yet to roll back a single expansion of Executive power from the Bush years. (Yes it pains me to type that.)
  
  
• The Obama administration has lobbied against efforts to give hearings and trials to terror detainees. (It pains me to type that too.)
  
  
• This is an expansion of Executive power. A great expansion. Because of the precedent which has yet to be renounced, the White House will likely arrogate the same power to detain without hearing or trial, and engage in extraordinary renditions. The only thing that's being promised, according to the article, is sort of a kinder, gentler interrogation; see next point.
  
  
• The White House promises to adhere to better standards with this new interrogation unit, to "rely solely on the Army Field Manual when interrogating prisoners." Where's the oversight to make sure that's the case? There is none. Who's going to oversee the president? There is not a single way to guarantee this will not be abused either now or in the near future, either by the current administration or a future Republican or extremist administration. It's just the word of whoever holds the office.
  
  
• What would you think if Cheney made this same announcement two years ago? How would you feel about that?
  
  
• What do you think of the fact, as reported in the original article, that the CIA "welcomed the new interrogation unit"? Doesn't that make you think that maybe this is just a way to deflect investigations and criticism and present a "we fixed the problem, it's all good now" front to the public, while continuing the same policies of indefinite detention without hearing or trial, interrogation without oversight, and extraordinary rendition and incarceration?
  

There's a better way to do this, one that involves public investigations of what has happened, transparency, and oversight. This has the smell of not just a coverup, without fixing the core problems of lack of transparency and oversight, but -- dare I say it? -- the establishment of a secret police directly under the control of the White House. There is no way that's a good thing.