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Investigate the CIA

Congress has looked away for too long as the intelligence agency has pursued extralegal strategies in the name of the war on terror.

The extensive use of "extraordinary rendition," by which the CIA moves terrorist suspects to undisclosed prisons around the world for interrogation, has to be the agency's worst kept secret. News reports abound of potentially dozens of al-Qaida suspects held overseas by the CIA, incommunicado and without charge or turned over to the security services of other nations known for their abusive treatment of prisoners, such as Egypt and Syria.

Congress has been inexcusably reluctant to investigate these actions. The Republican leadership apparently has been happy to let the CIA dirty its hands with extralegal strategies in the nation's efforts to fight terrorism. But thanks to some pushing by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Congress may begin to open its eyes. Rockefeller has asked the committee to open a formal investigation into the CIA's use of detention, interrogation and rendition. Rockefeller told the New York Times that he felt the committee would be "derelict if we did not carry out our oversight responsibilities."

Until now, Congress has done little more than shrug as more evidence has emerged of U.S. intelligence services engaging in brutal interrogations. During the Senate confirmation proceedings of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, it became clear that the CIA had solicited the Justice Department memorandum giving legal cover to those who use aggressive techniques against prisoners. The CIA wanted to protect its agents from criminal liability. And the administration's view remains that the CIA is not bound by the president's 2002 directive that prisoners in American custody be treated humanely. Late last year, when some in Congress sought to impose new limits on abusive interrogation tactics by the CIA, the White House intervened and the those limits were dropped.

Congress has willingly collaborated in this charade that America is maintaining its moral authority in the world even as it adopts the tactics of human rights abusers. But as former Secretary of State Colin Powell and retired military leaders have repeatedly warned, when America approves of the use of torture it puts its own soldiers in danger of facing the same brutality.

Rockefeller's call for an investigation seems to have some momentum. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., the Intelligence Committee's chairman, is open to the suggestion. This is Congress' duty. The committee should demand a full accounting of every detainee under the direct or indirect control of the CIA, and it should demand to know precisely what techniques have been used to elicit information. This has been allowed to go on far too long.

[Last modified February 17, 2005, 01:21:16]