The US is bracing itself for a series of investigations that could see top officials from the administration of former US president George W. Bush hauled in front of Congress, grilled by a special prosecutor and possibly facing criminal charges.
Several investigations will now cast a spotlight on Bush-era torture policy and a secret CIA assassination program, examining the role played by big names such as former US vice president Dick Cheney and former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
In one investigation into the controversial firing of federal prosecutors, Bush’s political guru, Karl Rove, has already been forced to appear before Congress and give testimony behind closed doors. Another investigation by the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee has already asked for documents from the CIA and has now announced that it will examine the legality of keeping a secret CIA hit squad hidden from Congress, something alleged to have been ordered by Cheney himself.
“I intend to make this investigation fair and thorough,” said the committee’s chairman, Texas congressman Silvestre Reyes late on Friday night.
The moves reveal a long-awaited desire by elements of the administration of US President Barack Obama and Democrat-controlled Congress to examine alleged abuses of power by Bush officials. They also raise the prospect of a bitter political fight with Republicans, who are likely to portray any attempt to investigate leading Bushites as a witch-hunt.
The inquiries also seem to go against the wishes of some in the White House, including Obama. The president has said he does not want to be distracted by the past and instead intends to focus on economic recovery and healthcare reform.
“The White House is more in the mood for going forward on the issues, such as healthcare, by which they want to define their presidency,” said Gary Schmitt, a former intelligence official under Ronald Reagan and a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute.
But Obama may not have too much say in what could be the most explosive investigation — one set to be launched by Attorney-General Eric Holder. Holder is mulling whether to appoint a special prosecutor to examine CIA activities since 2001, focusing on the use of torture in interrogation of terror suspects. Any such prosecutor could have the power to bring criminal charges.
Obama has made clear that the final decision is Holder’s alone and news reports last week indicated that Holder was “leaning” toward making such a move. The prosecutor’s mandate could be narrowly focused on minor officials or broaden to reach the top levels of Bush’s Cabinet.
Holder’s decision will be influenced by the results of numerous reports on his desk. One, a survey on interrogation techniques carried out by the CIA’s inspector-general is due to be made public at the end of this month. Holder spent two days reading the report and friends have said he was “shocked and saddened” by its contents.
Another report to be released in the next two months is being compiled about top officials in the US Justice Department who drew up legal advice that justified the new interrogation techniques. That probe focuses on John Yoo, a former deputy assistant attorney general and Jay Bybee, a federal judge.
Many insiders think public reaction to those two reports is likely to ensure Holder eventually appoints a special prosecutor, similar to Kenneth Starr, who investigated former US president Bill Clinton’s affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
“I think it is likely that Holder will do that,” said Larry Johnson, a former senior CIA official.
At the same time, other senior politicians in Congress are investigating the CIA’s activities in the Bush era, especially allegations that it kept hidden a secret assassination squad aimed at top al-Qaeda figures.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not