Rice admits Bush officials held White House talks on CIA interrogations

[ProSense]

Rice admits Bush officials held White House talks on CIA interrogations

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signs a Memorandum of Understanding on the
WEST (Work, English Study and Travel) Program Monday, Sept. 22, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

Her written statement to Senate investigators is the first official high-level acknowledgment of meetings that led to harsh methods such as waterboarding.

By Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 25, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Senior Bush administration officials held a series of meetings in the White House in 2002 and 2003 to discuss allowing the CIA to use harsh interrogation methods on Al Qaeda detainees, according to a written statement Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently provided to Senate investigators.

Rice's written response to investigators on the Senate Armed Services Committee marks the first time a high-ranking White House official has formally acknowledged the White House discussions, which led to the CIA's use of waterboarding and other coercive methods.

In particular, Rice wrote in the Sept. 12 statement that officials discussed simulated torture techniques that elite U.S. soldiers were subjected to as part of a survival training program, and that she and other officials were told that such methods "had been deemed not to cause significant physical or psychological harm."

Rice, who was serving as national security advisor at the time of the discussions, did not identify the source of that assertion. She was referring to a U.S. military program known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, or SERE, which at times has included waterboarding and other controversial methods subsequently employed by the CIA.

Rice's written responses were released Wednesday by the office of Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the armed services committee, which has been investigating apparent interrogation abuses by U.S. military personnel.

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War criminals.

[spanone]

1. hello, world courts are you listening? hague? our congress won't prosecute but you can

[hootinholler]

7. I'm not sure they will accept jurisdiction until they are pardoned.

As long as there's hope that we can do the right thing, the ICC will stay out of it.

-Hoot

[Usrename]

10. Yep, they'll let us get a new Atty Gen and see what happens.

I don't think our courts can handle any of these criminals.

The court has only gotten worse since Bush v. Gore, what with O'Connor being replaced by Scalito.

To the Hague. They have no strategic intelligence value.

[chill_wind]

2. K & R

Res ipsa loquitur

[AndyTiedye]

3. SEND THEM TO THE HAGUE!

[Mnemosyne]

4. Indeed. To the Hague! knr n/t

[ProSense]

6. These criminals should be served. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

14. Veterans for Peace is trying. I always hoped some D would grow a pair and

make a citizen's arrest at one of those state of the unions. No luck so far and only one last address.

[FlyingSquirrel]

5. elite U.S. soldiers were subjected to as part of a survival training program...

such methods "had been deemed not to cause significant physical or psychological harm."

--------

Well gosh, since you KNOW that the people doing it to you are friendly and do not intend to actually kill you, OF COURSE you aren't gonna be affected the same as if you're actually a prisoner.

[Festivito]

8. So, she just sat there and let soldiers be sentenced?

That's a Republican "supporting" the troops.

Oh, give me ribbon for my car!

[Usrename]

9. The rats are beginning to jump ship.

She's a big fat one, and I bet she's scared she will be charged.

[ProSense]

12. Yup! n/t

[OakCliffDem]

11. Oh! now she remembers

When there is not enough time to impeach Bush

[spanone]

13. war criminals...one and all