Tuesday, March 22, 2005

 

Judicial Nominee Haynes Involved in Gitmo Torture

According to the Washington Post, Carl Levin released information showing the government redacted (blacked-out) comments having no relation to security concerns - but much to do with covering up facts the Bush Administration will find embarassing:

Justice Redacted Memo on Detainees
FBI Criticism Of Interrogations Was Deleted
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 22, 2005; Page A03

U.S. law enforcement agents working at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, concluded that controversial interrogation practices used there by the Defense Department produced intelligence information that was "suspect at best," an FBI agent told a superior in a memo in May last year.

But the Justice Department, which reviewed the memo for national security secrets before releasing it to a civil liberties group in December, redacted the FBI agent's conclusion. It also withheld a statement by the memo's author that Justice Department criminal division officials were so concerned about the military interrogation practices that they took their complaints to the office of the Pentagon's chief attorney, William J. Haynes II, whom President Bush has nominated to become a federal appellate judge.
...

The revelations in the memo, released yesterday by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) generally amplify previously disclosed FBI concerns that military interrogators at the island prison were using coercive interrogation methods that could compromise any evidence of terrorist activities they obtained.
Source: Washington Post Justice Redacted Memo on Detainees (Emphasis added.)

William J. Haynes II is one of the "unreasonably rejected" judicial nominees Mr. Bush is trying to shove down our collective throats:
Among the most controversial nominees are... William J. Haynes II, who served as Pentagon general counsel when controversial detainee policies were set that allowed enemy combatants to be held indefinitely without charges and access to counsel. He was again nominated for the 4th Circuit.
Source: Washington Post Bush Tries Luck Again With Judicial Nominees
Feb 15, 2005

Gee, I wonder what action William Haynes took on these reports of ongoing torture - and what else the Bush Administration doesn't want us to know about this "highly qualified nominee."

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