The CIA’s exoneration and Holder’s reckoning

By Marc A. Thiessen, Monday, July 4, 10:59 AM
This Fourth of July weekend, some of the CIA’s dedicated counterterrorism officials will be celebrating more than our nation’s freedom from oppression — they will be celebrating their own. On Thursday, after a grueling two-year investigation, the Justice Department announced that a special prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder found no criminal wrongdoing by the CIA officials involved in the agency’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogationprogram.

Almost every news report led with the fact that the prosecutor, John Durham, was continuing his inquiry into two detainee deaths that took place outside the CIA interrogation program. But the real news was that, after an exhaustive look into the handling of some 100 high-value terrorists held in the CIA program, Durham found no crimes to prosecute. The agency’s interrogators, whose work stopped numerous terrorist attacks and led us to Osama bin Laden, have now been exonerated by the Justice Department for a second time.

Therein lies the outrage................

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... print.html

They weren't "exonerated"... They "declined to prosecute".... Big difference.


Particularly in light of the fact that it wasn't their torture that led to Osama bin Laden's demise...

Perhaps if their tactics had been able to remain in place.....he might have been found sooner.
A lot of really bad people are not walking free today to do harm to this country and its citizens thanks to many of those interrogation techniques.

You don't know that... But for someone who thinks "torture is OK", I'm sure it makes you feel better.

LadyJazzer wrote: They weren't "exonerated"... They "declined to prosecute".... Big difference.


Particularly in light of the fact that it wasn't their torture that led to Osama bin Laden's demise...

Declined to prosecute because they could find no crimes committed, sounds like exonerated to me.

neptunechimney wrote:

LadyJazzer wrote: They weren't "exonerated"... They "declined to prosecute".... Big difference.


Particularly in light of the fact that it wasn't their torture that led to Osama bin Laden's demise...

Declined to prosecute because they could find no crimes committed, sounds like exonerated to me.

Remember you are not suppose to use 'facts' when explaining things to certain people on here.

Source please?

Yeah, I read the original article by "Marc A. Thiessen"... Interesting background on Thiessen:

According to the recently established Oval Office Writers, LLC, Marc Thiessen, who's partnering with one Peter Schweizer,

served as Chief Speechwriter to President George W. Bush, and a member of the White House Senior Staff. He was the lead writer on the President’s 2007 and 2008 State of the Union addresses, helping the President navigate his first appearances before a Democratic Congress.

He worked closely with the President on hundreds of speeches – including remarks for his 2004 presidential campaign and televised addresses from the Oval Office. Over five years at the White House, Marc helped the President craft his public arguments on issues ranging from defense and national security, to energy, health care, taxes, trade, and economic policy. He is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Thiessen served as a chief speechwriter to President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and before that as a senior aide to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms.

So, he's either got a vested interest or is trying to drum up some business by penning controversial op-eds.

Hmmmm Bush speechwriter, torture apologist... Got it... So, this is another "opinion piece" by a right-wing Bush apologist... Got it.

The CIA officers who ran the agency’s interrogation program have been cleared, but their lives will never be the same. They have spent much of the decade since Sept. 11 under threat of prosecution, fighting to defend their good names even as they worked "to keep us safe."

To which I say, GOOD...

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/June/11-ag-861.html