CIA Contractor guilty of assault in Afghan death

[stuartj]

CIA contractor beats Afghan prisoner during 48 hour interogation. Afghan prisoner dies. CIA contratcor convicted of assault.

Sounds about right.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CIA employee convicted in Afghan abuse
Ex-cop accused of beating prisoner who died

By Julian E. Barnes
Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published August 18, 2006


WASHINGTON -- A civilian CIA contractor accused of beating an Afghan detainee who later died in custody was found guilty of assault Thursday, becoming the first person affiliated with the spy agency to be convicted in a post-Sept. 11 abuse case.

David Passaro, a 40-year-old former police officer the CIA sent to Afghanistan, was accused of beating Abdul Wali during an interrogation in 2003 by hitting him with a flashlight and kicking him. Wali, suspected of firing rockets at a U.S. military base, died from his wounds.

Passaro was not charged with murder but with several counts of assault. The jury found him guilty of felony assault and three misdemeanors. Although he could face up to 11 1/2 years in prison, under federal sentencing guidelines he is likely to serve two to four years. Earlier in his career, Passaro was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of beating a man while serving as a police officer in Hartford, Conn., a prior offense that could increase his prison time.

Witnesses at the trial in Raleigh, N.C., testified that Passaro had said that as a CIA contractor, he was allowed to use interrogation techniques soldiers were not. But prosecutors argued that CIA contractors were not permitted to use physical force without the approval of superiors, and that Passaro was not authorized to use physical techniques.

Passaro's defense attorneys tried to argue that top officials had allowed tougher interrogation techniques, but much of that line of questioning was cut off by the judge.

At least 20 other cases involving CIA agents or military contractors have been referred to the Justice Department, according to human-rights organizations. But advocates said Thursday it was becoming unlikely that anyone would be indicted.

"We should applaud the verdict and applaud the fact that the Justice Department chose to prosecute," said Priti Patel, a lawyer with Human Rights First who observed the trial. "But there are larger issues the trial raises. If the U.S. is serious about ending the abuse of detainees, the CIA needs to issue clear guidance to its agents and contractors."

In an e-mail message to CIA employees, Gen. Michael Hayden, the agency director, condemned Passaro's actions and said they were inconsistent with the "the normal conduct of CIA officers and contractors."

"I think it is very important for all of us to bear in mind that Passaro's actions were unlawful, reprehensible and neither authorized nor condoned by the agency," Hayden wrote.

Passaro was charged under a provision of the USA Patriot Act that allows American citizens accused of crimes at military installations to be prosecuted in U.S. federal courts.

Prosecutors painted a picture of a man out of control. In closing arguments, prosecutors said Passaro beat Wali for 48 hours. During the trial, they called soldiers to the stand who had been guarding Wali. The soldiers testified that Passaro hit Wali when the prisoner said he did not know anything. Wali, they testified, was not allowed to sleep and Passaro ordered them to keep him standing in stressful positions.

The defense argued that Passaro became a scapegoat after Wali's death. Defense attorney Joseph Gilbert said Wali was a terrorist who attacked U.S. soldiers by firing rockets at the base near Asadabad, Afghanistan.



Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

[fintstone]

Tough being a terrorist, huh?

[dafischer]

Originally posted by fintstone
Tough being a terrorist, huh?

Ah, therein lies the rub. This guy was "suspected of firing rockets at a US military base".

I guess that in the New Order suspected = guilty. But wait...that's not new! Seems to me that such justice was meted out in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia.

Seems that the methods don't change, only the players.

Frankly, I'm surprised that he wasn't shot trying to escape, after having been beaten for 48 hours.

[fintstone]

I guess to liberals...all terrorists are innocent "freedom fighters."

[stuartj]

Originally posted by fintstone
I guess to liberals...all terrorists are innocent "freedom fighters."

And a "liberal" must be someone who objects to a prisoner being being beaten to death in interogation in his own country by a foreign intelliegence service.

Assault. This guy will do three years for beating someone to death.

[fintstone]

Nah..just someone who allways sympathizes with the bad guy.

[stuartj]

Originally posted by fintstone
Nah..just someone who allways sympathizes with the bad guy.

The "bad guy" has just been convicted of assault, Fint, pathetic as that is for beating a captive man to death.

The other guy, in this case, is dead. Charged with nothing, much less convicted. Simply "suspected". An Afghan, in Afgahnistan, beaten to death by while handcuffed by a hero with a heavy flashlight. A servant of a foreign public service, acting on behalf of that public service.

So the law is not just an ass, its a liberal ass , in Fintworld.

Sort of funny. Had it been 1980, and the Russians done this, the Afghan would have been portrayed in Rambo 3 as noble freedom fighter. Perspective is such a funny thing, innit?

[fintstone]

On the contrary. Now there is a legally elected democratic government that is being attacked by terrorists that fire rockets that kill innocent women and children. The Russians were just the opposite.

They only say he is "suspected" in the article because he was not tried before he died. I don't defend the guy that accidently killed the terrorist..because he screwed up...but I do condemn those who only post articles that only make one side look bad...when the vast majority of evil is from the other side. You are the best friend a terrorist could have...other than Jimmy Carter......

I know, I know...Terrorists are all innocent "freedom fighters" and the US is always guilty in Stuartworld. Lack of perspective is equally funny.

[stuartj]

Originally posted by fintstone

They only say he is "suspected" in the article because he was not tried before he died. I don't defend the guy that accidently killed the terrorist..because he screwed up...but I do condemn those who only post articles that only make one side look bad...when the vast majority of evil is from the other side.

So it was OK to beat the captive- acceptable interrogation technique- but he screwed up when he killed the captive. You'd be OK with your Intelligence Services visting foreign countries and beating captives to within an inch of their lives, but no more, then?

Had the captive not died, its a fair bet the criminal would not have been charged with "assault". Or anything else. So we would never have heard about it.

And yet the "vast majority of the evil is from the other side". Are you measuring this with your trusty GWB Mk2 Evilometer, Fint?

[fintstone]

Terrorists should be executed...only after the interrogation is complete. he was not being beaten to find out if he was a terrorist....only who the other terrorists were. If they had shot him when they caught him shooting the rockets....there would have been no problem.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by fintstone
I guess to liberals...all terrorists are innocent "freedom fighters."

Since he was an Afghan in Afghanistan, he couldn't have been a terrorist. If he fired rounds at a US government installation in Afghanistan, then yes, he was a Freedom Fighter attempting to rid his land of a ruthless, murderous, bloodthirty band of thugs.