ANALYSIS
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CIA Manipulated Every Detail of Interrogation Sessions
Top-level approval of interrogation techniques could complicate Justice probe
By Nick McMaster
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Posted Aug 26, 09 1:41 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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As the CIA discloses internal reports concerning “enhanced” interrogation techniques on detainees at secret prisons, the ugliest details—threats of execution and harm with a power drill—have grabbed headlines. But the documents also reveal an intriguing level of control that the CIA and Department of Justice maintained over every detail of interrogations—down to the size of light bulbs in a cell—in a painstaking attempt to keep the abuse within a hair's breath of the law, the New York Times reports.
The documents “show how deeply rooted this new culture of mistreatment became,” said Tom Parker, policy director for Amnesty International. The high level of supervision by Washington officials evident in the documents may complicate Attorney General Eric Holder's probe into abuse. Rogue interrogators may have broken the rules, but their actions apparently were only slightly more brutal than conduct that had top-level authorization.