Thursday, February 07, 2008

FBI And Pentagon: We Stand By Our Decision Not To Waterboard

THINK PROGRESS


After acknowledging for the first time publicly that the CIA waterboarded three prisoners, CIA Director Michael Hayden “left open the option of reinstating” the interrogation tactic in the future.

The FBI and Department and Defense, however, are standing by their position that waterboarding is unnecessary. The Pentagon has banned employees from using the tactic, and the FBI said its investigators do not use coercive tactics when interviewing terror suspects.

In a hearing today, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) asked FBI Director Robert Mueller and Lt. Gen. Michael Maples of the Defense Intelligence Agency why their agencies don’t use coercive interrogations: “Do you never interrogate people who have critical information?” The agency heads responded:

MUELLER: Our protocol is not to use coercive technqiues. That is our protocol, we have lived by it. And it is sufficient and approprriate for our mission here in the United States. … We believe in the appropriateness of our techniques to our mission here in the United States.

MAPLES: The Army Field Manual guides our efforts and the efforts of the Armed Forces. … We believe that the approaches that are in the Army Field Manual give us the tools that are necessary for the purpose under which we are conducting interrogations.

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