The report into CIA prisoner interrogation

Q&A: The report into CIA prisoner interrogation
Key points on a document, due to be released under US freedom of information legislation, expected to shed light on CIA conduct during the 'war on terror'



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Matthew Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Monday 24 August 2009 14.50 BST
Article history
When was the report written?
The document was drawn up by the CIA inspector general, John Helgerson, in 2004. It was kept under wraps until last year, when a heavily edited version – in which large sections were blacked out – was released.
Why are details emerging now?
The Bush administration refused to release the report, and Barack Obama's officials said they did not want to become bogged down in allegations of abuse during the previous administration.
However, human rights groups, and some Democrats, refused to let the matter rest, and when the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) launched a successful appeal under freedom of information legislation, the authorities were forced to act.
What is the report expected to show?
Helgerson's report is said to document, in detail, a number of cases of the abuse of prisoners at the hands of CIA investigators.
It focuses on techniques used at the CIA's so-called "black site" prisons – secret centres set up in Europe, the Middle East and north Africa to interrogate suspects in the "war on terror".
According to press reports, it contains detailed allegations including claims that CIA officers carried out mock executions and threatened inmates with guns and power drills. It is a violation of the federal torture statute to threaten a detainee with imminent death.
Are any other documents expected to be released today?
A 2007 justice department memo reauthorising the CIA's "enhanced" interrogation techniques is expected to be released as well as other documents that the former vice president Dick Cheney has claimed will provide evidence that the interrogation methods used by the CIA produced valuable information about al-Qaida.
What happens next?
Today's disclosure is likely to reinvigorate an already partisan debate on Capitol Hill.
The US attorney general, Eric Holder, is considering appointing a prosecutor to examine the allegations, and the New York Times has reported that the justice department's ethics office has recommended reopening nearly a dozen prisoner abuse cases, potentially exposing CIA employees and contractors to prosecution.
However, some intelligence officials are arguing that congressional preoccupation with the CIA's past misdeeds is hindering its current operations and threatening US security.