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| Cheney has advocated the use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding [EPA] |
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Dick Cheney, the former US vice-president, deliberately withheld details of a secret CIA spy programme from the US congress for eight years, a US senator has said.
Cheney, who was vice-president to George Bush until January this year, ordered the CIA not to tell congress of a new “counter-terrorism” programme in 2001.
Cheney’s role in stifling the information was revealed by Leon Panetta, who now heads the CIA and who ordered the programme to be stopped in June.
Senator Diane Feinstein, the chairman of the senate intelligence committee, speaking on a US television show on Sunday, said: “Director Panetta did brief us two weeks ago … and tell us that he was told that the vice-president had ordered that the programme not be briefed to the congress.”
Amid calls for an investigation, senator Dick Durbin said Cheney’s actions had been “inappropriate”.
“To have a massive programme that is concealed from the leaders in congress is not only inappropriate; it could be illegal,” he said.
The details of the intelligence programme, launched after the attacks on the US in September 2001, remain secret.
Covert operations
A spokesman for the CIA said it was not policy to discuss classified briefings, but added: “When a CIA unit brought this matter to Director Panetta’s attention, it was with the recommendation that it be shared appropriately with congress.
“That was also his view, and he took swift, decisive action to put it into effect.”
Under US law, the president is required to make sure intelligence committees are fully informed about covert operations.
The newspaper did not name its sources and said it had been unsuccessful in reaching Cheney for comment.
Cheney has been criticised in the past for supporting controversial interrogation techniques such as waterboarding (where a detainee is made to feel as if he is drowning), sleep deprivation, long periods of standing and exposure to cold.
Many critics have described the methods as being torture.
Controversial move
Eric Holder, the US attorney general is reported to be considering assigning a prosecutor to investigate interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects by the government of George Bush, the former US president.
Such an appointment could lead to a criminal inquiry into the treatment of prisoners by the CIA following the 2001 attacks in New York.
The move is seen as being controversial as Barack Obama, the US president, had previously said he wanted to leave the issue “in the past”.
An official from the US justice department said Holder planned to “follow the fact and the law”.
Holder’s decision is expected to be made in the next few weeks. |
Peace and Justice Post
Dick Cheney ‘silenced CIA over spy plan’
Dick Cheney, the former US vice-president, deliberately withheld details of a secret CIA spy programme from the US congress for eight years, a US senator has said.
Cheney, who was vice-president to George Bush until January this year, ordered the CIA not to tell congress of a new “counter-terrorism” programme in 2001.
Cheney’s role in stifling the information was revealed by Leon Panetta, who now heads the CIA and who ordered the programme to be stopped in June.
Senator Diane Feinstein, the chairman of the senate intelligence committee, speaking on a US television show on Sunday, said: “Director Panetta did brief us two weeks ago … and tell us that he was told that the vice-president had ordered that the programme not be briefed to the congress.”
Amid calls for an investigation, senator Dick Durbin said Cheney’s actions had been “inappropriate”.
“To have a massive programme that is concealed from the leaders in congress is not only inappropriate; it could be illegal,” he said.
The details of the intelligence programme, launched after the attacks on the US in September 2001, remain secret.
Covert operations
A spokesman for the CIA said it was not policy to discuss classified briefings, but added: “When a CIA unit brought this matter to Director Panetta’s attention, it was with the recommendation that it be shared appropriately with congress.
“That was also his view, and he took swift, decisive action to put it into effect.”
Under US law, the president is required to make sure intelligence committees are fully informed about covert operations.
The newspaper did not name its sources and said it had been unsuccessful in reaching Cheney for comment.
Cheney has been criticised in the past for supporting controversial interrogation techniques such as waterboarding (where a detainee is made to feel as if he is drowning), sleep deprivation, long periods of standing and exposure to cold.
Many critics have described the methods as being torture.
Controversial move
Eric Holder, the US attorney general is reported to be considering assigning a prosecutor to investigate interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects by the government of George Bush, the former US president.
Such an appointment could lead to a criminal inquiry into the treatment of prisoners by the CIA following the 2001 attacks in New York.
The move is seen as being controversial as Barack Obama, the US president, had previously said he wanted to leave the issue “in the past”.
An official from the US justice department said Holder planned to “follow the fact and the law”.
Holder’s decision is expected to be made in the next few weeks.
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Tags: CIA spy programm, Dick Cheney, Eric Holder, torture, U.S. Congress
This entry was posted on July 12, 2009 at 9:19 pm and is filed under Commentary, crime, imperialism, torture, Uncategorized, US policy, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.