Senate to investigate CIA's actions under Bush

Senate to investigate CIA's actions under Bush

J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press

CIA chief Leon E. Panetta said officers should not be prosecuted if they were acting on orders.
The 'fact-finding' effort will seek details on secret prisons and interrogation methods -- but will not aim to determine if CIA officials broke laws, legislative sources say.

By Greg Miller
February 27, 2009


Reporting from Washington -- The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing to launch an investigation of the CIA's detention and interrogation programs under President George W. Bush, setting the stage for a sweeping examination of some of most secretive and controversial operations in recent agency history.

The inquiry is aimed at uncovering new information on the origins of the programs as well as scrutinizing how they were executed -- including the conditions at clandestine CIA prison sites and the interrogation regimens used to break Al Qaeda suspects, according to Senate aides familiar with the investigation plans.

Officials said the inquiry was not designed to determine whether CIA officials broke laws. "The purpose here is to do fact-finding in order to learn lessons from the programs and see if there are recommendations to be made for detention and interrogations in the future," said a senior Senate aide, who like others described the plan on condition of anonymity because it had not been made public.

Still, the investigation is likely to call new attention to the agency's conduct in operations that drew condemnation around the world. It is also bound to renew friction between Democrats and Republicans who have spent much of the last five years fighting over the Bush administration's prosecution of the war on terrorism.

The investigation also could draw comparisons to the special Senate committee formed to investigate the CIA in 1975 and headed by Sen. Frank Church, an Idaho Democrat. Revelations by the Church Committee led to greater congressional oversight and legislation restricting intelligence activities.

more...

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-cia-secrets27-2009feb27,0,7984922.story?track=rss

:hi:

That excuse was no excuse for the Nazis we prosecuted and hanged. "Just following orders" is different when Bushies do it, I guess...

Because if it is determined that they did break laws;
and they were ordered to by Rummy Cheney and *,
Then Rummy Cheney and * must answer to the law.