Spooks Spooked - They smell the sulfu(R) too

CIA ‘refused to operate’ secret jails

By Guy Dinmore in Washington

Published: September 20 2006 22:07 | Last updated: September 20 2006 22:07

The Bush administration had to empty its secret prisons and transfer terror suspects to the military-run detention centre at Guantánamo this month in part because CIA interrogators had refused to carry out further interrogations and run the secret facilities, according to former CIA officials and people close to the programme.

The former officials said the CIA interrogators’ refusal was a factor in forcing the Bush administration to act earlier than it might have wished. ...

... But the former CIA officials said Mr Bush’s hand was forced because interrogators had refused to continue their work until the legal situation was clarified because they were concerned they could be prosecuted for using illegal techniques. One intelligence source also said the CIA had refused to keep the secret prisons going. ... (source: Financial Times)

Bush and his pals have operated beyond the law long enough that nearly everybody has figured it out.

IN TREATMENT OF POWs, THE U.S. SHOULD…

Follow international agreements
63%
Do what it thinks right, regardless of what other nations think
32%

Source: CBS News

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Smell the sulfu(R)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez calls President Bush 'the devil' during speech at U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, Sep. 21, 2006
By IAN JAMES Associated Press Writer
(AP photo)
... "The devil came here," Chavez said. "Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of."

He then made the sign of the cross, brought his hands together as if praying and looked up to the ceiling.

Chavez's words drew tentative giggles at times from the audience, but also some applause.

He later spoke to hundreds of New Yorkers who filled a college hall Wednesday night, saying he hopes Americans choose an "intelligent president" in the future.

"I'm not an enemy of the United States. I'm a friend of the United States ... the people of the United States," Chavez said during his speech to an audience including union organizers and professors. "They're two very different things _ you the people of the United States, and the government that's installed there." ...