12.30.2005
Prisoners Move Begun by Clinton, Says Agent (SMH.com.au)
December 30, 2005
The CIA's controversial program of having terrorist suspects captured and questioned on foreign soil began under President Bill Clinton, a former US agent says.
Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA who resigned last year, told yesterday's issue of the German newspaper Die Zeit that the US administration had been looking in the mid-1990s for a way to combat the terrorist threat and circumvent the cumbersome US legal system.
"President Clinton, his national security adviser Sandy Berger and his terrorism adviser Richard Clark ordered the CIA in the autumn of 1995 to destroy al-Qaeda," the newspaper quoted Mr Scheuer as saying.
"We asked the president what we should do with the people we capture. Clinton said, 'That's up to you."'
Mr Scheuer, who headed the CIA unit that tracked Osama bin Laden from 1996 to 1999, said he developed and led the "renditions" program, which included moving prisoners without due legal process to countries with no strict human rights protections.
"In Cairo, people are not treated like they are in Milwaukee. The Clinton administration asked us if we believed that the prisoners were being treated in accordance with local law. And we answered, 'Yes, we're fairly sure."'
At the time, he said, the CIA did not arrest or imprison anyone itself.
"That was done by the local police or secret services," he said, adding that the prisoners were never taken to US soil. "President Clinton did not want that."
He said the program changed under Mr Clinton's successor, George Bush, after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
(More ... Prisoners move begun by Clinton, says agent - World - smh.com.au) ¶ 19:29
The CIA's controversial program of having terrorist suspects captured and questioned on foreign soil began under President Bill Clinton, a former US agent says.
Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA who resigned last year, told yesterday's issue of the German newspaper Die Zeit that the US administration had been looking in the mid-1990s for a way to combat the terrorist threat and circumvent the cumbersome US legal system.
"President Clinton, his national security adviser Sandy Berger and his terrorism adviser Richard Clark ordered the CIA in the autumn of 1995 to destroy al-Qaeda," the newspaper quoted Mr Scheuer as saying.
"We asked the president what we should do with the people we capture. Clinton said, 'That's up to you."'
Mr Scheuer, who headed the CIA unit that tracked Osama bin Laden from 1996 to 1999, said he developed and led the "renditions" program, which included moving prisoners without due legal process to countries with no strict human rights protections.
"In Cairo, people are not treated like they are in Milwaukee. The Clinton administration asked us if we believed that the prisoners were being treated in accordance with local law. And we answered, 'Yes, we're fairly sure."'
At the time, he said, the CIA did not arrest or imprison anyone itself.
"That was done by the local police or secret services," he said, adding that the prisoners were never taken to US soil. "President Clinton did not want that."
He said the program changed under Mr Clinton's successor, George Bush, after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
(More ... Prisoners move begun by Clinton, says agent - World - smh.com.au) ¶ 19:29
