Ethics

Rumsfeld and Ashcroft Knew About Torture and Abuse

By Ed Brayton

This will come as a shock to no one who has been paying attention for the last few years, but we now have more evidence that top Bush administration officials were made aware of abuse and torture of detainees by American personnel around the world.

Top White House officials were told in early 2002 about harsh measures used by the CIA to extract information from suspected al-Qaeda terrorists in the agency's secret prisons, according to an account given to congressional investigators by the office of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The details of the controversial program were discussed in multiple meetings inside the White House over a two-year period, triggering concerns among several officials who worried that the agency's methods might be illegal or violate anti-torture treaties, according to separate statements signed by Rice and her top legal adviser.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on October 01, 2008 (boomark / email).