Lawyers Will Meet Wednesday to Debate the Release of CIA IG’s Torture Report

http://washingtonindependent.com/50701/lawyers-will-meet-wednesday-to-debate-the-release-of-cia-igs-torture-report

Lawyers Will Meet Wednesday to Debate the Release of CIA IG’s Torture Report
By Spencer Ackerman 7/13/09 5:14 PM


When last we left the saga of the CIA’s 2004 inspector general report on torture, Judge Alvin Hellerstein had left the ACLU hanging on its objection to the Justice Department’s request to put off declassification until August 31. But now word comes from Hellerstein — in the form of handwritten notes scribbled on the upper-right-hand corner of ACLU’s complaint — that he’ll meet with lawyers on Wednesday morning to discuss the dispute. “The gov’t will consider accelerating its schedule of production” for how much information in the report can be responsibly declassified, Hellerstein scribbled.

How gruesome are the accounts of torture contained in the 2004 report? According to Newsweek, so bad that Attorney General Eric Holder is considering reversing an earlier inclination against empanelling a prosecutor to investigate the abuse.

I have been down with a mild fever for a few days, and things are kind of hazy.