Sen. Whitehouse
Sen. Whitehouse to call Bush-era officials to testify about torture
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, May 7, 2009
BY JOHN E. MULLIGAN
Journal Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s harsh treatment of suspected terrorists will be back in the spotlight next week when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, launches what he envisions as a series of hearings to probe the legal justification for waterboarding, the effectiveness of such practices and the possibility of prosecuting officials involved in the widely condemned interrogation program.
Bush-era officials from the FBI and State Department — both opposed the tough interrogation tactics — are among the witnesses Whitehouse has called to a May 13 hearing on what he and other critics call “the torture memos,” legal memoranda that authorized the use of waterboarding and other techniques on prisoners suspected of terrorist links, including the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, called the session in his role as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts. This will be the first public hearing to delve into the memos since President Obama sparked controversy by releasing them last month, so it is likely to reignite the debate over such questions as whether officials of the Bush administration should be criminally charged for their roles in permitting waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods.
The hearings on the treatment of the U.S. detainees are also something of a personal milestone for Whitehouse, who was elected in 2006 and has been active in the debate on the Bush interrogation program. With the more senior Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., he is one of two lawmakers who sit on the Judiciary Committee and the Intelligence Committee — the prime Senate platforms for inquiries into the interrogation methods. After Senate Democrats beefed up their majority in last year’s elections, Whitehouse became high enough in seniority on the judiciary panel to claim the chairmanship of the oversight subcommittee.
Based on his access to official secrets as a member of the intelligence panel, Whitehouse has issued dark — but non-specific — warnings of more shameful revelations to come about the treatment of suspects held in clandestine sites outside the United States.
There has been much contention over how far — or even whether — Congress should push its inquiries into the origins of the interrogations, particularly the memos drafted in support by the arm of the Justice Department that advises the president and his advisers on the law. There was much discussion, too, of Sen. Patrick J. Leahy’s call for an independent “truth commission” to bring out all of the facts surrounding the treatment of detainees. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat, is chairman of the full Judiciary Committee.
Whitehouse has offered measured support for that idea, but said much of the investigative work on the issue should be done in secret by the intelligence panel — perhaps with an eventual release of information to the public that would not compromise national security. Meanwhile, he has been planning for the subcommittee hearing that he will launch next week.
Whitehouse plans to focus next Wednesday on the legal analysis used in the memos from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel on the effectiveness of the techniques — or, as a Whitehouse news release phrased it, their “ineffectiveness.”
The witnesses he has scheduled so far include Ali Soufan, a former FBI supervisory special agent, and Philip Zelikow, a former counselor of the Department of State. Both criticized the interrogation techniques at issue.
Republican subcommittee members, led by Sen. Jeff Sessions, have yet to announce the names of witnesses they will call.
jmulligan@belo-dc.com
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