While the newly released CIA Inspector General report, as redacted as it is, has raised eyebrows with the techniques used during interrogations, I found some items that raised MY eyebrows:
231. During the course of this Review, a number of [CIA] Agency officers expressed unsolicited concern about the possibility of, recrimination or legal action resulting from their participation in the CTC Program. A number of officers expressed concern that a human rights group might pursue them for activities. Additionally, they feared that the Agency would not stand behind them if this occurred.
232. One officer expressed conern that one day, Agency officers will wind up on some wanted list to appear before the World Court for war crimes stemming from activities.
Another said, “Ten years from now we’re going to be ‘sorry we’re doing this … [but] it has to be done.” He expressed concern that the CTC Program will be exposed in the news media and cited particular concern about the possibility of being named in a leak.
Glenn Greenwald has a great article on this issue.
What these three passages from the IG report show us is that there are many within the CIA who were scared when the program began, and thus, are probably shitting their pants now that a special prosecutor has been named to investigate.
In a perfect world, these low-level operatives would be interviewed and they give up their superior as having ordered the torture. This cycle would continue until it reached those who thought up the program, instituted the program, and sent down the guidance on the program. Alas, this is not a perfect world.
Additionally, they feared that the Agency would not stand behind them if this occurred.
That is the real fear. The military hung the reservists at Abu Ghraib out to dry, and, when they tried to plead their case about being given orders, etc, how do you think that turned into a guilty plea with no argument of “just following the orders of…”? It’s called leverage to scapegoat.
For the military to stand behind those reservists, it would have had to see the case start working its way up the chain of command. Who ordered what? How high did these orders go? Instead, what we saw was the exact opposite; the military said, plead guilty and we’ll get you a reduced sentence, or, try it your way without us and spend your life there. This is the blueprint that will be used during the CIA torture investigation.
Any CIA operative who gets indicted for torture or murder that thinks they can pass the buck up the chain is going to find out real quick that the buck stops with them. They can keep the names to themselves and the government will be lenient, or, they can try to drag in their superiors, to which, they will simply be tossed to the wolves.
This investigation will find some contractors guilty of crimes, maybe a CIA operative or two, but, that is where it will end.