Bush Fights to Prevent Suspects from Revealing How They’ve Been Tortured

Matt Apuzzo for AP reports: WASHINGTON - A suspected terrorist who spent years in a secret CIA prison should not be allowed to speak to a civilian attorney, the Bush administration argues, because he could reveal the agency's closely guarded interrogation techniques. Human rights groups have questioned the CIA's methods for questioning suspects, especially following the passage of a bill last month that authorized the use of harsh — but undefined — interrogation tactics. In recently filed court documents, the Justice Department said those methods, along with the locations of the CIA's network of prisons, are among the nation's most sensitive secrets. Prisoners who spent time in those prisons should not be allowed to disclose that information, even to a lawyer, the government said. "Improper disclosure of other operational details, such as interrogation methods, could also enable terrorist organizations and operatives to adapt their training to counter such methods, thereby obstructing the CIA's ability to obtain vital intelligence that could disrupt future planned terrorist attacks," the Justice Department wrote. In other words, can't let a suspect reveal that he was tortured, because the terrorists can "adapt their training" and grow gills to "counter" waterboarding, or develop super powers and become impervious to pain. And besides, the guy is presumed guilty anyway, so he can't be allowed to have an attorney who might muck up Bush's peachy little kangaroo court tribunal and prove him innocent.