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As analysis of the CIA OIG report continues, one section stands out to me. Spanning pages 104 and 105 as they are numbered in the image and pages 112 and 113 as numbered in the pdf file, we have this:
Let’s dissect the sterile language a bit. The decision to "apply EIT’s", that is, the decision to torture, was in many cases based on "analytical assessments that were unsupported by credible intelligence". The assessments of the interrogators were ignored, in favor of CTC "presumptions of what the individual might or should know".
Think about that. Interrogators at the site were overruled, based on "presumptions" about what should be known, not what the interrogators could evaluate based on their first-hand experience. Note that throughout the OIG report, the torture program often is referred to as "the CTC program". So, the CIA Counterterrorism Center was responsible for both the design and the execution of the torture program.
Two CTC directors span the time period of the worst torture. Initially, Cofer Black was in charge of CTC. Black moved to the Department of State in 2002 (but is now at Xe) and was succeeded by Jose Rodriguez. The transition from Black to Rodriguez was noted by James Risen on May 23, 2002. Black’s posting at the Departement of State was as the top counterterrorism position, and since the CTC overlaps with the Department of State, as indicated in Risen’s report, it is likely he continued to have input into the torture decisions. Rodriguez retired in 2007, but is facing possible charges as one of the chief suspects in the destruction of videotapes of torture sessions. Here are the faces of torture:
What do these two men see when they look into a mirror? They decided, based on their own "presumptions", to torture people for what they "should" know. Is it any wonder that Rodriguez destroyed the evidence of these evil acts? Did the tapes have evidence of Rodriguez and Black ordering interrogators to torture prisoners when the interrogators said there was nothing further to be learned?
34 Comments
Nothing.
Thank you, Jim, for adding one more record to the volume: Decline and fall of the United States empire.
Thanks, Jim. For me, you’ve packed a lot of info into your short diary. Cofer Black went on/by 05/23/2002 to State? Cheney’s mole in Powell’s dept? [he looks a lot like Karl Rove to me]
I have to study up on the background of these 2. What gave them such august perception that they presumed to know more than the interrogators who were directly dealing with the detainees? Their prior political connections should be interesting.
Rodriguez and his henchmen probably figured that the penalty for obstruction of justice (destroying the tapes) was preferable to a possible death sentence for war crimes, huh?
I just can’t get a grip on how people become so vile; they’re just not wired up like normal people.
Recommended.
Might we consider adding in Porter Goss to the mix?
Goss didn’t take over until September, 2004, so George Tenet was DCI for the worst of the torture. Black and Rodriguez reported directly to Tenet as heads of CTC, so he undoubtedly had some input, but if there were evidence of a lot of direct intervention in the orders to interrogators to torture, Helgerson probably would have noted it in the paragraph quoted from the OIG report.
Outstanding! I’m a big fan of your posts at Salon, Jim, and I’m glad you linked to your page here. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Lena.
Not to muddy the waters,and I hear ya about the time frame in question, however it IS interesting to note Goss’ activites PRIOR to his 2004 appointment.
Forthwith:
He became chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in 1997.
Goss may have been distracted – in the wake of the September 11th attacks, he was using the committee for political ends of his own, providing political cover to President George W. Bush.
As committee chairman, Goss led a joint House-Senate inquiry into the events leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, but the report his panel issued remained silent on the role of the White House.
He led a party-line vote to defeat an amendment calling for an investigation into U.S. relations with Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi doctor in exile who provided much of the false information leading to the invasion of Iraq.
In the summer of 2004, Goss led a successful effort to beat back an investigation of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. Two months later, in August 2004, President George W. Bush nominated Goss to be CIA Director, and Goss continued to bend the nation’s most important intelligence assets to achieve the President’s political ends.
Goss seeded the CIA’s upper echelons with political appointments, driving out experienced career officers. In perhaps his most surprising move, he elevated Kyle “Dusty” Foggo from a mid-level position as a procurement officer to the No. 3 job at the agency. But Foggo quickly came under investigators’ scrutiny when Duke Cunningham admitted to accepting bribes from two defense contractors, one of them Foggo’s best friend, Wilkes.
Before Goss promoted him, Foggo had spent much of his career at the CIA awarding contracts to private companies, and prosecutors say he abused his posts to direct contracts to Wilkes.
Foggo was indicted on corruption charges in May 2007, and in that indictment, prosecutors say he used his job as CIA Executive Director to slip classified information to Wilkes and to award him a $132 million contract to “provide commercial cover for CIA air operations.
” Goss resigned abruptly in May 2006, just days before the FBI raid on Foggo’s home. At least one published report has hinted that Goss may also be under investigation. Goss has refused to explain why he was resigning.(Excerpt)
(Continued)
This did not stop House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) from naming Goss the chief of a new House ethics arm. Goss will lead the Office of Congressional Ethics as it conducts investigations into complaints against members of Congress and makes recommendations for action to the Ethics Committee.~~~National Corruption Index.org
Goss Among Former Members Appointed to Ethics Office, The Hill, July 24, 2008: thehill.com/leading-the-news/goss-among-former-members-appointed-to- ethics-office-2008-07-24.html
This link will lead to a history of TPM threads re:Jose Rodrigues. Perhaps they will be of value to you and other readers.
Bob Baer’s Pertinent Question | diachronic’s BlogAug 24, 2009 … I think I can answer that question: Porter Goss hired them. … including former CIA counterterrorism chief Cofer Black and former deputy …
tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/…/bob-baers-pertinent-question.php?… – Cached – Similar
Eichmann and Himmler were pretty nondescript as well. And in all probability these two, if called before a tribunal, will also claim that they were defending their country from imminent, irreparable danger.
Excellent catch, Jim. This fits in with the story in the WashPo that Mitchell and other interrogators wanted to stop the waterboarding of AZ as unproductive (not to alibi the fact here they were torturing AZ), but were overruled from above, until a team from above came to observe the waterboarding and render their own decision.
Black and Rodriquez are war criminals, pariahs, treif. But I imagine they believed, with good reason, they were doing the bidding of those above them, too. Imagine Cheney wheezing into the phone, “I don’t want to hear its over. I want you to keep at it until I say different.”
Jim- One of the factors that was assessed was the psychological profile of he detainees in order to evaluate potential long-term mental harm.
Notice that no where does it state that psychiatrists or anyone with a medical degree was involved. The evaluation was made by the SERE psychologists and “officers” (it’s unclear if this means CI A officers in the field or if these officers were the self-same SERE psychologists…who would be doing the “interrogation”.
Footnote 26 indicates that the Agency’s own psychiatrists and medical professionals were cut out of the evaluations.
So you’ve got Jessen/Mitchell in the field sayin’ “our methods wouldn’t hurt them”…and a bunch of CTC officers sayin’…”well they might have some info so if we have these two fools sayin’ it’s not going to harm them- let’s do it. We’re clear.”
I’m still betting Cheney had a live feed, so he would have called Black or Rodriguez very quickly once he realized the interrogators felt there was nothing more to learn. I agree that there most likely was pressure, but this part of the report sure seems to pin the order to do more on these guys.
If I recall correctly the psychologists were paired with interrogators. So one or the other, or both, expressed concern at one point about continuing the act. Hard to know which one.
But it should also be pointed out that this only occurred at about #l80 in the applications of water on Z (or perhaps it was #280 on KSM, I forget). It took them that long to realize that “Hey, we aren’t getting anything out of this guy…maybe there is no information to be gotten?”
Jim, in case you weren’t aware of this, Cofer Black is part of ‘The Family’.
As is Grassley,Romney,et al. I don’t know about Rodriquez but he may now also be at Xe or one of it’s subsidiaries. Jeremy Scahill would know.
Thanks for that, I didn’t know about the Family connection. They’re a pretty disgusting group, overall.
Here is an excerpt from a piece by leveymg re:waterboarding of Abu Zubaydeh:
Why did Bush-Cheney and the CIA Destroy the Minds of 9/11 Detainees? Others Disappeared or Dead.
Posted by leveymg in General Discussion
Wed May 20th 2009, 12:49 PM
Abu Zubaydah, Abu Zubaydeh
The question is being asked, why did the White House order the CIA to waterboard 9/11 suspect Abu Zubaydeh 83 times? That’s an important start to this line of inquiry.
Here’s a more telling question: why did they waterboard AZ without monitoring his blood-oxygen level, which predictably resulted in his brain damage and memory loss?
And, why are so many other material witnesses now disappeared or dead?
Fingertip Blood Oximeter – $48 Monitoring of blood-oxygen is a routine part of any procedure where respiration may be interrupted. The device that measures oxygen levels, a pulse oxomiter, is hardly an exotic medical instrument.
Abu Zubaydeh blacked out several times and almost died while he was waterboarded repeatedly and for extended periods without oxygen monitoring.
It appears the IG report footnote is referring to a waterboarding “ADVERSE EVENT” of Zubaydah that required resuscitative medical intervention.
The CIA dramatically altered the protocol for waterboarding by March 2003. Specifically, The ICRC report description of the waterboarding of AZ and KSM is almost identical with the exception of one detail. KSM had a pulse oximeter (a device to measure blood oxygen levels) attached to his finger to measure the level of oxygen in his blood during waterboarding, and he noted that there was a doctor present in the room each time this procedure was used. This suggests that “ADVERSE EVENTS” in the experience of waterboarding Zubaydah led to this drastic change in protocol requiring close medical supervision.
They stopped waterboarding after KSM in March 2003. This suggests they knew waterboarding was prone to “ADVERSE EVENTS”. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/27/72…
***
This wasn’t something that was done in some isolated cellar by untrained goons. The waterboarding of AZ was carried out at Baghram Air Base, where it was overseen by a team of experts in waterboarding who had developed the SERE program for the U.S. military. These contractors were paid a thousand dollars a day each plus expenses for their subject matter expertise. CCTV video cameras were “everywhere” according to CIA officers interviewed, broadcasting every one of these interrogations back to Washington and Langley. Each painful step of these interrogations had to be approved in advance.
leveymg archives,leveymgjournals(democratic underground)
)
My, but coverups have become so much more efficient since the heady days of Watergate. Great post, Jim.
While Goss was an active field officer he was part of Op40, an assassination team that operated throughout Latin America. How cynical a move was it on the part of Bush/Cheney to make this monster DCI when the Agency was torturing and killing people?
These Goddamn cowards:
They even lack the courage to call torture what it is. And now they work for Xe/Blackwater. I, for one, am not going to let them escape the name ‘Blackwater’ anytime soon.
Jim, I give you a lot of credit for hitting this stuff on a near-daily basis; I feel on the edge of a stroke just reading these things–imagine how quickly I’d pass on were I to research and write about it.
If I listen to the Villagers, it seems like the entire CIA was involved in the torture program and would become demoralized and ineffective if they were investigated and any of them were prosecuted. But in fact, in the case of the CIA, it appears to have been a few bad apples (going all the way to the top) plus a lot of hired help from contractors.
Absolutely. There are quite a few other instances in the OIG report like this one where it is clear the professional interrogators are upset by the torture program and the contractors who did most of the dirty work. Couple that with the great interview piece from Jason Leopold recently where he talked with interrogators who want prosecution of torturers and you see that there is an argument to be made that prosecutions would actually improve CIA morale.
there is no doubt this is true, the CIA is an organization like any other and the tone is set at the top. those in disagreement suffer quietly until the tone changes. imagine them seeing black, goss and rodriguez doing the perp walk…priceless.
Goss was also a member of the Book and Snake,at Yale.It is the fourth oldest secret society there.
Bob Woodward and Les Aspin, in addition to Henry Louis Gates,Jr. are also affiliated.
BTW,Gates was the Professor arrested in his own home,resulting in beerfest with the Pres and the arresting officer.
Wow! Now you can order your own set of trading cards for the torturers, courtesy of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Unfortunately, they don’t have cards for Black or Rodriguez (or for Stanley McChrystal–a definite shortcoming).
h/t Stellaa
Black was the – take a deep breath -
“Special Assistant to the Secretary of State, Office of the Coordinator of Counterterrorism.”
In CIA/State Department cables, memorandums and e-mail he would be referred to as S/CT. Similar to how SECDEF is shorthand for Secretary of Defense. State has their own arcane titles and acronyms.
The State Department has long has the unwanted and dubious task of employing, housing and obscuring the identies of CIA station chied abroad (who, while ostensibly CIA, work out of the embassies, usual under a fake, diplomatic title. Some are entitled to immunity, others of the paramilitary variety who use the same method to move around are not).
State has always had pockets of DoD, DIA and CIA employees within, at the Ambassador, deputy secretary/deputy assistant secretary level, and the little known intelligence arm of the State Department, INR:
http://www.state.gov/s/inr/
It should be noted that John Negroponte, the first Director of National Intelligence was an Ambassador to Honduras during the Reagan administration. He later became the Ambassador to Iraq before Crocker took over in 2007 at the request of GEN Petraeus.
Why force your employees to do things they object to on moral or legal (even Constitutional) grounds when you can hire contractors? Contractors who are more skilled then your own employees and less willing to follow the rules?
I’m not endorsing it. I’m exposing the mentality because I like the discussions here at FDL/EW but am afraid you are painting the entire CIA as devious villians. They are anything but. They were risk adverse and, thanks to a few political appointees and ex-special operations/military contractors were given a very bad rap. CIA rank and file are some of the geekiest and passive people you will ever meet. I live in Northern Virginia. CIA leadership under Bush did what any corporation would do – import talent that wouldn’t ask questions and export the work load to them. Most CIA employees are UNC, CalState, UCLA, Syracruse, Penn State, UNH, UMass, Princeton and Yale grads who are really, really good with numbers and languages. The cadre of paramilitaries is very small and most of them are Rangers, former Marines, etc that didn’t want to move from the DC area so they took their security clearance and drove and extra 10 minutes to McLean instead of Quantico or Fort Belvoir. They are not evil.
The small (~25) group that seized control of policy and that capitulated to demands from the OVP and OLC in Justice are the targets of your scorn, not the geeks. Jose Rodriguez, for example, is probably here…
http://bit.ly/gnOIm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Point
…and I doubt you’ll see him anytime soon. But EW readers should look into it. Black is with Xe and is now on the board of directors.
Focus, people. Focus.
Fact:
There were and are no interrogators, per se. Just these. They were TOLD to be interrogators – and resented it. These will be the first people to crack during the probe by Holder and Durham. They are in their late 40’s, early 50’s and were supposed to have a quiet life of obscurity in the metro DC area, occasionally shooting people in the face. Not torturing them. They didn’t sign up for that and they certainly don’t make enough to defend themselves legally and they know that.
The paramilitary guys (who are all former Marines, career Army infantry or special operations, and a smattering of SEALs and former narcotics cops) were all opposed to it from the beginning. Especially the Marines. Because it goes against their values.
Xe contractors (not the more refined, higher quality former special operations, but the guys that spent four years in the Army in the 1990s) had no problem and thus the reins where turned over to them.
This to the dismay of the paramilitary guys who – literally – don’t get paid enough to put up with this shit (they make $75K – that’s less than a third of what an Xe contractor makes and they’re based in Northern Virginia, the cost of living is high there).
McCrystal (if you haven’t noticed) has been “picked” to be the next Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. By picked I mean he’s being groomed and has Powell, Gates and Obama’s support – unstoppable, right?
Wrong. His past as leader of JSOC will haunt him and it is my opinion the Democratic Senate has made a calculated gamble to delay frying him. When he goes to the confirmation hearing for his next four-star position, they will quiz the bejesus out of him and force him to roll on his JSOC cronies.
Unless he wants to retire, which he won’t if he succeeds in Afghanistan.
Success in Afghanistan for McCrystal would make him the modern day Patton and counterinsurgency would become the norm. He is too vain to jeopardize that and will eventually face the music and sing like a canary. It’s in his best interest and that’s his number one priority. Think like a General and you’ll understand.
The same cynical minds brought in Negroponte (a key but indicted figure in Iran-Contra), Boykin (a Christian supremacist Army General from CAG that I’ve met), John Bolton (who would go to war with Iran all by himself) and this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E…..ident_Bush
Once again pointing to the fact, not conjecture, that there are more criminally inclined policymakers hiding in the State Department than the CIA. Who is the Senate going to examine more, a deputy to a deputy in State, or a counterterrorism director at CIA?
I rest my case. This is how the bureaucracy works. Understand it and you will be successful at nailing these guys. More importantly, you’ll pay attention to the Deputies and Special Assistants to the President and Vice President. They actually do stuff, the Secretaries are just figure heads.
Someone upthread made mention of Cofer Black being a member of the Family.
You mentioned Boykin.
Here is a bit of info re:Boykin ,and the C Street group,the Family:
Eventually, the Fellowship would count some of the military’s top leaders among its members. They include former Joint Chiefs Chairman General David Jones, Joint Chiefs chairman General Richard Myers, former Marine Corps Commandant and NATO commander General James L. Jones, Iran-contra figure Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, and, perhaps even more controversial than North, Army Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, the military head of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s intelligence branch.
In 2003, Boykin, in a speech to the First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida, referred to the United States as a “Christian nation” and, that in reference to a Somali warlord, he stated, “ I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.”
The reverberations of Boykin’s comments were felt around the world. But his allies and Fellowship compatriots, Rumsfeld, Myers, Kansas Representative Todd Tiahrt, and most important, George W. Bush, refused to condemn him.
Calls for Boykin’s reassignment when unheeded. Soon afterwards, Boykin’s Pentagon intelligence group was discovered to have been involved with the torture and sexual molestation of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The sexual molestation of prisoners included male and female teens being held in Iraq. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Expose’:Christian Mafia…Insider Magazine.
Note: The Family and The Fellowship denote the SAME group.
The Same General Boykin?
The Pentagon official, an evangelical, was nearly fired for insulting Islam. So far, conservative Christians stand by him.
BY: Deborah Caldwell
It has the potential to be a public relations nightmare buried within a public relations nightmare: one of the major players in the Iraqi prison abuse scandal, it now appears, was the same general almost fired last year for describing the war on terror as a clash between Judeo-Christian values and Satan.
According to testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, and new reporting from the New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh, the prison abuse scandal grew out of a decision to give greater influence to the Defense Intelligence unit, led by Stephen Cambone, the Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence–and his deputy, Lt. General William G. “Jerry” Boykin(Excerpt)
Officer implicated in prison abuse scandal once proclaimed ‘holy …… for Intelligence–and his deputy, Lt. General William G. “Jerry” Boykin. … Appearing in uniform during a speech at the Oregon church, Boykin said: …
http://www.beliefnet.com/News/……..oykin.aspx – Cached – Similar
(Imho, this is an excellent,even handed article and well worth a read.)
Great post, Jim!
I’ve been offline a bit more and so I missed this when you first posted it.
As for analyses… I’d be interested in some analyses of the torture team’s principals, i.e., those who could, after the interrogators/psychologists said that there was no info to be obtained… still said, keep on torturing. Clearly, brain scans should be in order, just so we can begin to isolate that torture section of the brain.