CIA a ‘rogue organization’ that violates international law: Lawyer

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a “rogue organization” that routinely violates international law and the US Constitution, an international lawyer in Indonesia says.

“The simple fact is that Congress itself concluded last year that the CIA is essentially a ‘rogue organization’ with one very strong faction within the CIA routinely violating the law and the Constitution,” Barry Grossman told Press TV on Saturday.

“Congress concluded that the CIA deliberately misled the executive branch, misled Congress, and provided both direction and cover for those within the security and political apparatus who conceived of, implemented, and carried out the CIA torture program,” he said.

Mr. Grossman made the comments following a report that a large number of American psychologists could be charged over their alleged involvement in the CIA torture program after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

An independent review conducted by a former US attorney, published by the New York Times on Friday, revealed that the American Psychological Association (APA) lied about and covered up the involvement of its members in the torture techniques.

The report, completed this month, concludes that some of the association’s top officials, including its ethics director, sought to gain favor with US military officials by seeking to keep the association’s ethics policies in line with the Pentagon’s interrogation policies, while several prominent outside psychologists took actions that aided the CIA’s interrogation program and helped protect it from growing opposition inside the agency.

The CIA and the US Defense Department both conducted harsh and torturous interrogations during the administration of President George W. Bush, although the spy agency’s program included more brutal tactics.

The revelation, exposing years of false claims, has already led to at least one APA leadership firing and has created the potential for loss of licenses and even prosecutions.

“The most we can expect from this initiative is to see the US government’s hypocrisy in refusing to prosecute anyone further exposed to the scrutiny of a public which, for the most part, does not care,” Grossman said.

“Neither Congress nor any federal law enforcement agency has seen fit to advance criminal prosecutions against any officials involved,” he added.

“I find it bizarre that anyone would actually expect the FBI to be willing to prosecute civilian psychologists who were retained by the CIA to hone the skills of its henchmen,” the lawyer concluded.

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