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Report Says FBI Agents Balked at Harsh Terror Interrogations

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Crime & Justice News, May 21, 2008

"FBI agents who assisted with overseas interrogations

of suspected terrorists after Sept. 11 often clashed

with their military counterparts and refused to

participate in the most aggressive intelligence-

gathering methods because they doubted they were

legal or effective, a long-awaited Justice Department

audit found. At the same time, the report released

Tuesday by Inspector Gen. Glenn A. Fine faults

officials at FBI headquarters for failing to provide

prompt guidance to agents in the field on what to do if

they witnessed interrogations using snarling dogs,

sexual ploys and other abusive techniques that

violated long-standing FBI policy, says the Los

Angeles Times.

The 370-page analysis also found that, as early as

2002, agents were raising questions about whether

the rough tactics were legal and whether evidence

secured under the circumstances would stand up in

court if the suspects were ever prosecuted. But

Justice Department officials were mostly focused on

whether the interrogations were yielding valuable

intelligence rather than whether they violated any laws,

the report says. Concerns about military interrogation

tactics reached the White House as early as 2003,

Fine reported, but they were apparently dismissed."

Los Angeles Times - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001mRQj09q2xKamcZfyQHEBZN4_E7i3LAjBjG6KtBRaAAP5UdRD076oJEtBXwfS4wEyRjBQHMa-F6dpy_7NtMp--1Mkrpz4UKPXEDLJCaCmMyT0JgDZCDZtj9kxqS2TfBwdxHlYjDv-ZpPUlAHEVar3JR4HVN6sA4HUTC6uDWHbMlOunqE56P2TkyFg1ILAsALSR7l4vKE1ohw=

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on May 21, 2008 (boomark / email).