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Panetta Mailing to CIA Employees and Media Demonstrates Need for Broad Investigation, Not Enough Just to Go After Low-Level Interrogators

August 25th, 2009

from Kevin Zeese

Washington, DC: Today, Kevin Zeese, an attorney who filed complaints seeking the disbarment of 15 Bush-Cheney torture lawyers, pointed to Leon Panetta’s statement on the Inspector General’s CIA report as indication that a broad torture investigation is needed.

“Panetta claimed that ‘The Agency sought and received multiple written assurances that its methods were lawful’ in a letter to CIA employees that was shared with the media. This attempt to protect CIA interrogators involved with torture with a false legal shield of the Department of Justice indicates that Attorney General Holder must appoint an independent special prosecutor to investigate the torture program, not just individual cases,” said Kevin Zeese, executive director of VotersForPeace.US.

“The DOJ is implicated in the torture program because of the memoranda produced by the agency and cannot credibly investigate itself. If the memoranda are not shown to be parts of an illegal effort to facilitate torture than those investigated will have a defense against the war crime of torture. Further, the real culprits, the policy makers who created the policy and directed agents to use torture techniques need to be held accountable. If Attorney General Holder wants to cleanse the reputation of the Department of Justice and the U.S. government he needs to follow the law. The Convention Against Torture requires him to investigate all involved in the program. Such an investigation is not discretionary.” said Zeese.

Zeese sent a letter to the attorney general on August 10th 2009, on behalf of 150 organizations seeking an independent special prosecutor which concluded:

“You can restore our moral high ground and the Department of Justice’s reputation as an agency that follows the law by appointing a special prosecutor, independent of the Department of Justice, with the very clear mandate – investigate the facts and apply the rule of law wherever it leads – as required by the Convention Against Torture.”

For more information visit www.DisbarTortureLawyers.com a project spearheaded by Velvet Revolution and www.VotersForPeace.US.

See, “Groups Call on Attorney General Holder to Appoint Independent Special Prosecutor to Investigate Torture,” http://votersforpeace.us/press/index.php?itemid=2457.

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By Kevin Zeese

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