http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/opinion/22thu1.html

May 22, 2008
New York Times
Editorial
What the F.B.I. Agents Saw

Does this sound familiar? Muslim men are stripped in front of female
guards and sexually humiliated. A prisoner is made to wear a dog's collar
and leash, another is hooded with women's underwear. Others are shackled
in stress positions for hours, held in isolation for months, and
threatened with attack dogs.

You might think we are talking about that one cell block in Abu Ghraib,
where President Bush wants the world to believe a few rogue soldiers
dreamed up a sadistic nightmare. These atrocities were committed in the
interrogation centers in American military prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan
and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. And they were not revealed by Red Cross
officials, human rights activists, Democrats in Congress or others the
administration writes off as soft-on-terror.

They were described in a painful report by the Justice Department's
inspector general, based on the accounts of hundreds of F.B.I. agents who
saw American interrogators repeatedly mistreat prisoners in ways that the
agents considered violations of American law and the Geneva Conventions.
According to the report, some of the agents began keeping a "war crimes
file" - until they were ordered to stop.

These were not random acts. It is clear from the inspector general's
report that this was organized behavior by both civilian and military
interrogators following the specific orders of top officials. The report
shows what happens when an American president, his secretary of defense,
his Justice Department and other top officials corrupt American law to
rationalize and authorize the abuse, humiliation and torture of prisoners:

- Four F.B.I. agents saw an interrogator cuff two detainees and force
water down their throats.

- Prisoners at Guantánamo were shackled hand-to-foot for prolonged periods
and subjected to extreme heat and cold.

- At least one detainee at Guantánamo was kept in an isolation cell for at
least two months, a practice the military considers to be torture when
applied to American soldiers.

The study said F.B.I. agents reported this illegal behavior to Washington.
They were told not to take part, but the bureau appears to have done
nothing to end the abuse. It certainly never told Congress or the American
people. The inspector general said the agents' concerns were conveyed to
the National Security Council, but he found no evidence that it acted on
them.

Mr. Bush claims harsh interrogations produced invaluable intelligence, but
the F.B.I. agents said the abuse was ineffective. They also predicted,
accurately, that it would be impossible to prosecute abused prisoners.

For years, Mr. Bush has refused to tell the truth about his
administration's inhuman policy on prisoners, and the
Republican-controlled Congress eagerly acquiesced to his stonewalling.
Now, the Democrats in charge of Congress must press for full disclosure.

Representative John Conyers, who leads the House Judiciary Committee, said
he would focus on the F.B.I. report at upcoming hearings. Witnesses are to
include John C. Yoo, who wrote the infamous torture memos, and the
committee has subpoenaed David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's
chief of staff. Mr. Conyers also wants to question F.B.I. Director Robert
Mueller and Attorney General Michael Mukasey, both of whom should be
subpoenaed if they do not come voluntarily.

That is just the first step toward uncovering the extent of President
Bush's disregard for the law and the Geneva Conventions. It will be a
painful process to learn how so many people were abused and how America's
most basic values were betrayed. But it is the only way to get this
country back to being a defender, not a violator, of human rights.