Psyche, Science, and Society

Torture-supporter CIA station chief in Baghdad

January 29th, 2007

Ken Silverstein, at Harper’s online, reports that the new CIA station chief in Baghdad is someone implicated in the Extraordinary Rendition torture-by-proxy campaign:

[S]everal sources have informed me that the CIA has nominated a man who has been widely criticized within the agency and seen as a bad fit for the role. Furthermore, I’m told, the new station chief is closely associated with detainee abuses, especially those involving “extraordinary renditions”—the practice of covertly delivering terrorist suspects to foreign intelligence agencies to be interrogated….

James was a key advocate for the increased use of renditions after 9/11 and was a central figure in the rendering of Ibn al-Shaikh al-Libi, who was suspected of running a major Al Qaeda training camp. Al-Libi was picked up by Pakistani security forces in late 2001, following the fighting at Tora Bora in Afghanistan, and was turned over to the FBI for questioning. But James wanted the CIA to take charge of al-Libi, and so he pressed his case with then‒CIA director George Tenet, with Black at the CTC, and, through them, with the White House. Despite the strong objections of the head of Bagram Air base and FBI director Robert Mueller, James got his way, and the CIA soon took charge of al-Libi. (Newsweek has an account of the fight between FBI and CIA, which I have confirmed independently.)

“[James] thought al-Libi was being uncooperative and he saw the FBI as an impediment to getting the information he wanted,” said one person with direct knowledge of the affair. “He had a sympathetic audience at the CIA and [also at] the White House, which spearheaded the rendition. But al-Libi was already cooperating with the FBI, only the White House didn’t think [the Bureau] was being aggressive enough.”

The CIA transferred al-Libi to Egyptian intelligence, which is known for its “aggressive” tactics. The Egyptians got al-Libi to talk, but much of what he said, undoubtedly obtained under torture, was nonsense—including bogus information about collaboration between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein that soon found its way into then‒Secretary of State Colin Powell’s notorious address to the United Nations.

Was “James” appointed because of his lack of qualms at torture, as the U.S. revs up its efforts to quash the Iraqis into submission? Or, was he selected because he played a role in generating Powell’s silly UN testimony, thus securing support for the war, in other words, because of his willingness to lie to support the policies of those in power? Stay tuned. The bodies piling up in Iraq will tell us, if we care to listen.

Entry Filed under: Iraq, Middle East, Rights and Liberties, Terrorism, Torture, War Crimes, War and Peace