Cheney Intervened in CIA Inspector General's Torture Probe

Are you surprised? I am not. Nothing this man does, has done, or would do will ever surprise me again.

This is why I worry about the prosecution of him and his cronies here in this country and think it may best be handled by the World Court.

Look at how the Dumbocrats, as a friend called them this week, were manipulated into voting against the President on the closing of Guantanamo. They acted like this was something they hadn't heard before, and didn't know was in the works for the last 5 months. If they had reservations why had they not talked to the President and told him they needed this plan before they voted against the money?

But, that is digressing from this story, in a way. Cheney has a lot of power still in Washington and beyond, and so do the Rethuglicans, and they use it wisely. Even though they are the minority, look at how they drive the news cycle and the content of the news. That should tell you the power and the authority they wield.

This story, by Truthout.org tells of Cheney's influence over the investigation into the CIA's use of Torture.

(Jane) Mayer added that Cheney routinely "summoned" Inspector General Helgerson to meet with him privately about his investigation, launched in 2003, and soon thereafter the probe "was stopped in its tracks." Mayer characterized Cheney's interaction with Helgerson as highly unusual.

Cheney's "reaction to this first, carefully documented in-house study concluding that the CIA's secret program was most likely criminal was to summon the Inspector General to his office for a private chat," Mayer wrote. "The Inspector General is supposed to function as an independent overseer, free from political pressure, but Cheney summoned the CIA Inspector General more than once to his office."

"Cheney loomed over everything," the former CIA officer told Mayer. "The whole IG's office was completely politicized. They were working hand in glove with the White House."

However, it is also noted that

"Helgerson has denied that he was pressured by Cheney."

And I really believe that. (My Emphasis, only to denote the quote from the article.) Which is why there was no investigation of anything but the few underlings who were prosecuted for the murders of the 3 detainees who were killed and the few who were prosecuted from the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

Tell me another story please, because I don't believe for a minute that one. There is too much evidence out there, has been and still is for that to be true.

If there is truth in his report, then it was covered up and buried so that no one could be punished from it and I will say I am wrong. But, I am still not convinced.

Here is more from it that may say, I am wrong.. but it will take more than this to prove to me.

In October 2007, former CIA Director Michael Hayden ordered an investigation into Helgerson's office, focusing on internal complaints that the inspector general was on "a crusade against those who have participated in [the] controversial detention program."

News reports have suggested that when Helgerson's report is declassified it will seriously undercut claims made by Cheney in numerous interviews that the systematic torture of "high-value" detainees produced valuable intelligence, thwarted pending terrorist plots against the United States and saved "hundreds of thousands of lives."

I really hope he was on a crusade, that would be a difference from what we have seen of others who have investigated, except for Jane Mayer, and a very few of the others. But this is a familiar charge. Anyone who dared to say anything against BushCo. was called a traitor, was against the country, and several other names I can't really even think of right now. Geeze the Dixie Chicks were almost ruined for daring to speak out and say they were ashamed to be from the same state as he.

"After being removed from his house, Jamadi was manhandled by several of the SEALs, who gave him a black eye and a cut on his face; he was then transferred to CIA custody, for interrogation at Abu Ghraib. According to witnesses, Jamadi was walking and speaking when he arrived at the prison. He was taken to a shower room for interrogation. Some forty-five minutes later, he was dead."

At the time of his death, Jamadi's head was covered with a plastic bag, he was shackled in a crucifixion-like pose that inhibited his ability to breathe and according to forensic pathologists who have examined the case, he suffocated.

The CIA interrogator implicated in his death was Mark Swanner, who was never charged with a crime despite a recommendation by investigators working for Helgerson that the Justice Department launch a criminal investigation into the matter.

The Swanner/Jamadi case was forwarded in 2004 to then-Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, where the file remained. McNulty is under scrutiny by a special prosecutor investigating the role he and other Bush administration officials played in the firings of nine US attorneys in 2006.

Helgerson also "had serious questions about the agency's mistreatment of dozens more, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," Mayer wrote in her book, adding that there was a belief by some "insiders that [Helgerson's investigation] would end with criminal charges for abusive interrogations."

The entire article is good. Like I said, maybe I am wrong. I certainly hope I am. But when I see reports done during the last 8 years, by someone appointed by BushCo, I am very wary of what I see. I guess, I am just a skeptic.

Read it for yourself.. it is a good article, and worth reading.