Today, finally, the Obama administration is set to release a redacted version of the 2004 CIA Inspector General’s report on the Bush administration’s interrogation of terrorism suspects.
We already know a lot about what the IG found. On Friday, Newsweek‘s Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff reported that the IG detailed how the CIA staged mock executions and threatened one detainee with a gun and a power drill. If you want more foreshadowing, Marcy Wheeler has reposted two items (1, 2) she wrote in June outlining what already-released memos tell us about what’s in the IG report.
Two more things you should know about developments on the detainee treatment front. First, as Spencer Ackerman originally reported, the Obama administration is setting up special new teams to interrogate terrorism suspects. According to the Washington Post‘s story, the new teams will have to abide by the techniques laid out in the Army Field Manual, but as Spencer points out, the field manual itself—once widely considered to be Geneva Conventions-compliant—has been revised to include some questionable techniques.
Second, a new Justice Department report recommends reopening a number of prisoner abuse cases, making it “all but certain that the appointment of a prosecutor or other concrete steps will follow,” according to today’s New York Times. So much for “not looking backwards.” Good.
