SOME SENIOR Republicans have criticised US president Barack Obama’s release of secret Bush administration memos that authorised torture, but former US vice-president Dick Cheney wants the White House to publish more classified material – to show that the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation methods” were effective.
Mr Cheney, who is writing his memoirs, told Fox News that he had asked the CIA to declassify documents that demonstrated detainees subjected to torture provided valuable intelligence.
“One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the office of legal counsel, but they didn’t put out the memos that showed the success of the effort.
“And there are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. They have not been declassified,” he said. “I know specifically of reports that I read, that I saw, that lay out what we learned through the interrogation process and what the consequences were for the country and I’ve now formally asked the CIA to take steps to declassify those memos so we can lay them out there and the American people have a chance to see what we obtained and what we learned and how good the intelligence was, as well as to see this debate over the legal opinions.” During a visit to CIA headquarters this week, Mr Obama told officers they should not be discouraged by the storm of criticism that greeted the release of the torture memos.
Senior members of the Bush administration who approved the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation measures could face prosecution, Mr Obama said yesterday in a surprise about-turn. He said his attorney general was conducting an investigation and the final decision rested with him. – ( Guardianservice)