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WASHINGTON — FBI agents repeatedly complained that harsh interrogation techniques used on detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay might violate the law and jeopardize future criminal trials, but administration officials did little to address the concerns, a government watchdog concluded in a report released Tuesday.

At one point in 2003, several top Justice Department officials took the concerns about interrogation practices used by the military at Guantanamo to the National Security Council, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine said in his report. However, Fine said the complaints did not appear to trigger any response from the National Security Council, which includes President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Although the FBI’s concerns about harsh interrogation techniques were previously known, Fine’s report provides the most detailed narrative yet of how top law enforcement and military officials were slow to respond to the agents’ complaints and how, in some instances, administration officials appear to have disregarded them.

Several witnesses told Fine’s investigators that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft also brought the matter to the attention of the National Security Council or the Pentagon.

Fine couldn’t verify the accounts because Ashcroft refused to be interviewed.

The 370-page report took four years to complete, with its release delayed by the Pentagon’s attempt to keep a larger portion of the report classified, according to Fine. His investigators interviewed more than 230 witnesses and surveyed 1,000 FBI agents.

The report describes how agents beginning in 2002 became deeply troubled by some of the interrogations they saw. It details frequent clashes between agents and their military counterparts over the military’s and CIA’s use of techniques that one agent described as “borderline torture.”

In late 2002, the military adopted broad interrogation policies that clashed with those permitted by the FBI. Among the permitted techniques were hooding, putting prisoners in stress positions for as long as four hours, 20-hour interrogations and removal of clothing.

A vast majority of the FBI agents followed FBI policies and did not participate when other agencies used techniques that violated the bureau’s policies, Fine said.

“In sum, we believe that while the FBI could have provided clearer guidance earlier, and while the FBI could have pressed harder for resolution of concerns about detainee treatment by other agencies, the FBI should be credited for its conduct and professionalism in detainee interrogations,” said Fine, who has no jurisdiction over the CIA or the Pentagon.

On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Pentagon found no evidence in 2005 that interrogators had tortured detainees.

In a brief statement, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the department is “pleased” that the report “credited the FBI for its conduct and professionalism during interrogations.”

In 2002, the FBI decided not to participate in joint interrogations with other agencies when techniques violated the bureau’s policies.

However, the FBI did not formalize the guidance until May 2004, after abuse surfaced at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

May 22nd, 2008 | Category: "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques", Abuse, C.I.A., Detainee Abuse, F.B.I. |  Print This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL