Modern News

By David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – CIA officials briefed at least 68 U.S. lawmakers between 2001 and 2007 on enhanced interrogation methods like simulated drowning that were being considered or used against captured al Qaeda members, according to declassified documents released on Tuesday.

The once-secret CIA papers, obtained in a lawsuit by the conservative legal foundation Judicial Watch, shed new light on which lawmakers knew the details of the controversial interrogation program and when.

Human rights groups have argued the harsh interrogation methods were forms of torture and violated U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions on treatment of war prisoners. President Barack Obama banned the techniques shortly after taking office in January 2009.

The declassified memos show the program began after the capture of al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Palestinian who was the group’s operations director, in the city of Faisalabad in central Pakistan in March 2002.

In a statement to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence dated April 12, 2007, then-CIA director Michael Hayden said the agency decided new “techniques” were needed because “Abu Zubaydah was withholding information that could help us track down al Qaeda leaders and prevent attacks.”

The CIA briefed lawmakers as it began seeking expanded authority for the interrogation program. Current House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then minority whip, attended a briefing on Abu Zubaydah’s interrogation April 24, 2002, along with seven other members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the documents show.

The CIA did not begin using the interrogation techniques until after receiving legal guidance from the Department of Justice in August 2002.

Pelosi, who became House Democratic leader in late 2002, said at a news conference in April last year that she was never told at the time that simulated drowning — or waterboarding — and other harsh interrogation techniques were being used. She said she was only told the CIA had legal opinions that approved harsh interrogation methods.

Hayden, in his 2007 statement for the Senate Select Committee, said as the CIA began implementing the interrogation program in 2002 “the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the speaker, and the minority leader of the House, and the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence committees were fully briefed on the interrogation procedures.”

INFORMATION CHAIN

Documents obtained by Judicial Watch indicate 68 lawmakers were briefed on the interrogation program between 2001 and 2007.

After the interrogation program began, Abu Zubaydah become “one of our most important sources of intelligence on al Qaeda,” helping U.S. authorities identify alleged al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla and others, according to Hayden’s statement, marked “TOP SECRET.”

Early in his detention, Abu Zubaydah identified Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Hayden’s statement says. Until that time, it says, Mohammed “did not even appear in our chart of key al Qaeda members and associates.”

According to the statement, Sheikh Mohammed also provided information about another al Qaeda operative, Majid Khan, who, in turn, identified another operative named “Zubair” who was captured in June 2003.

Zubair later provided information that led to the arrest of Jamaah Islamiya leader and al Qaeda’s South Asia representative Hambali, Hayden said.

The memos show that lawmakers were told as far back as July 13, 2004, that Mohammed had been subjected to waterboarding 183 times.

CIA Inspector General John Helgerson, briefing Reps. Porter Goss and Jane Harman, said “three people had been interrogated with the waterboard,” a CIA memo on the meeting states.

“On one, the IG felt that it had been used excessively, beyond what the IG thought was the agreement with DOJ (Department of Justice). Khalid Sheikh Mohammed got 183 applications (redacted),” it says.

(Additional reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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By Reed Stevenson and Aaron Gray-Block

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s coalition government collapsed on Saturday when the two largest parties failed to agree on whether to withdraw troops from Afghanistan this year as planned.

The fall of the government in the EU member country, just two days short of the coalition’s third anniversary, all but guarantees that the 2,000 Dutch troops will be brought home this year and will eventually prompt new parliamentary elections.

The collapse, the fourth for a cabinet led by Balkenende in eight years, throws into doubt the scope and timing of planned budget cuts for next year as the Dutch economy struggles to emerge from the global downturn.

“I unfortunately note that there is no longer a fruitful path for the Christian Democrats, Labour Party and Christian Union to go forward,” Balkenende, who leads the center-right Christian Democrats, told reporters.

The collapse came after more than 15 hours of talks that lasted until early on Saturday, following acrimonious exchanges throughout the week.

Balkenende wanted to extend the Dutch troop deployment in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan past an August deadline, but Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos’s Labour Party opposed any extension.

NATO had asked the Netherlands, among the top 10 contributing nations to the mission, to investigate the possibility of a longer stay in Afghanistan as the alliance seeks to contain the Taliban insurgency.

NATO spokesman James Appathurai said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen respected the Dutch discussion and NATO would not interfere.

“The Secretary General continues to believe that the best way forward for the mission would be a new smaller Dutch mission to consolidate the progress that the Dutch have made until now, and to help the process of transition to Afghan lead,” he said.

(more…)

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By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A job-creation bill could be headed for defeat in the Senate next week, lawmakers and aides said on Friday, as key Republicans have withdrawn support for what was supposed to be a relatively noncontroversial measure.

The measure’s uncertain fate highlighted the partisan rancor that threatens even relatively modest measures like the jobs bill, which aims to reduce the nation’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate before the November congressional elections.

A defeat could be embarrassing for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has struggled to hold his Democrats together on high-priority legislation like healthcare reform over the past year, and is sure to frustrate President Barack Obama, who has called for increased bipartisanship.

Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress say job creation is their top priority this year.

A defeat could also help Democrats paint Republicans as “the party of ‘no,’” more concerned with blocking Democratic initiatives than helping to blunt the impact of the deepest recession in 70 years.

Reid is expected to go ahead with the vote on Monday evening, even though he has not yet secured the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle, an aide said.

“We still hope that Republicans will join us,” said Reid aide Regan Lachapelle.

Democrats need to work with Republicans after they lost their 60-vote supermajority in last month’s surprise Republican Senate victory in Massachusetts.

Several Republicans have worked with Democrats to craft a $90 billion jobs bill that relies on tax breaks and construction spending, but they angrily withdrew their support after Reid scaled back the measure last week.

TOO MUCH FOR BUSINESS?

Reid opted for a smaller package after fellow Democrats complained it gave away too much to businesses and did not do enough to help those looking for work, aides say. Other job-creating efforts are expected to advance separately.

Since the tax breaks and spending measures are paired with a crackdown on offshore tax shelters, it would actually lead to $8.7 billion in savings over the coming decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

That estimate does not take into account the $19.5 billion that would be used to help pay for highway construction.

But even if Republicans support individual provisions of the bill, it is not clear if any of them will vote for the bill as a whole. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said on a Thursday conference call he was unaware of any Republicans who support it.

The smaller bill includes a tax credit to spur job creation designed by Schumer and Republican Orrin Hatch.

But Hatch said he would not vote for it.

“Leader Reid’s surprising decision to abandon a bipartisan job creation bill is an ominous sign and contradicts the president’s call for both parties to come together,” Hatch said. “This is not how you legislate in the United States Senate and demonstrates a tremendous arrogance of power.”

Republican Charles Grassley, who helped craft the initial package, also will probably vote against the bill unless he gets a chance to change it, according to an aide.

“Democracy isn’t working when the majority leader decides behind closed doors what’s in a package and then doesn’t allow any amendments,” Grassley said in a statement.

Some Democrats have also expressed dissatisfaction.

Senator Blanche Lincoln, a centrist who faces a tough re-election campaign in Arkansas, said she would vote to advance Reid’s bill, but released a letter on Friday with centrist Republican Susan Collins asking him to take up the wider-ranging bill instead.

Reid’s task of rounding up 60 votes is further complicated by the absence of cancer-stricken Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg, who will be undergoing treatment on Monday.

The bill could also face a floor challenge from Republican Senator Judd Gregg, who has said the portion designed to boost highway spending violates budget rules.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Alexander Haig, the retired four-star general who served as Richard Nixon’s chief of staff during the Watergate scandal, was in a Baltimore hospital on Friday with an undisclosed medical condition.

Johns Hopkins Medical Center spokesman Gary Stephenson confirmed that the 85-year-old Haig had been admitted as a patient. But he did not provide details.

Haig served as a top adviser to three Republican presidents — Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. A career Army officer, he was also NATO supreme allied commander and later Reagan’s secretary of state.

Haig ran for president in 1988, but was dogged in the campaign by his famous declaration “I’m in control here” after the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan.

Critics called that statement, which seemed to incorrectly state the line of presidential succession, pompous and militaristic and used it against him.

(Reporting by David Morgan, editing by Vicki Allen)

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By Julian Linden

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – American Lindsey Vonn defied a painful shin injury to win the women’s downhill on Wednesday and briefly help lift the gloom shrouding the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Vonn, who could not ski for a week because of an injury that threatened her participation in the race, won the women’s blue-ribbon event on a picture-perfect winter’s day in the Canadian mountains.

The 25-year-old hurtled down an icy Whistler mountain in one minute 44.19 seconds to win her first Olympic gold medal, collapsing into the snow after she crossed the finish line.

Her American team mate Julia Mancuso collected the silver medal, 0.56 seconds behind Vonn, while Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl won the bronze medal.

Germany’s Maria Riesch, Vonn’s best friend and main rival, was unable to produce her best and finished well out of the medals.

Vonn’s victory in one of the most dangerous and glamorous events of the Olympics provided a rare feelgood story to a Games blighted by tragedy and unseasonal bad weather.

Almost on cue, the heavy snow falls and thick fog that forced the postponement of some of the earlier Alpine events finally gave way to clear blue skies and transformed the mountain into a winter wonderland.

(more…)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the families of two detainees who died at the controversial American prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in a case seeking compensation from U.S. officials.

The two men, one from Saudi Arabia and the other from Yemen, were found dead in June 2006 in apparent suicides. Their families filed a lawsuit accusing the officials of subjecting the men to torture and abuse before they died at the prison.

The U.S. military had accused the Saudi, Yasser al-Zahrani, of going to Afghanistan to fight in a “jihad” with the Taliban and carrying a radio. Al-Zahrani had worked as a cook and denied ever fighting, the military has said.

The Yemeni, Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed Al-Salami, was accused by the U.S. military of having links to al Qaeda and was captured in a safe house in early 2002 where a notebook with information about nuclear bomb-making was found. He had denied knowledge about past or future attacks on the United States.

At the times of their deaths, the families questioned why they would commit suicide because it violated their Muslim faith. U.S. military investigators in 2008 ruled their deaths suicides by hanging.

The families had filed the lawsuit in a Washington federal court seeking unspecified damages. The Obama administration countered that it should be dismissed because the court had lacked jurisdiction over the prison for such claims.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle in a decision late on Tuesday granted the Obama administration’s request.

Lawyers for the families were not immediately available for comment.

President Barack Obama pledged in January 2009 to close the controversial prison within a year, arguing it has served as a recruiting symbol for anti-American militants. His efforts to shutter the facility have been hampered by legal and political hurdles.

There are still 192 detainees at the prison.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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