Newswires from CBS Updated:
Italy Will Resume CIA Rendition Trial
from CBSNews.com | AP
The trial of 26 Americans and seven Italians accused of orchestrating a CIA-led kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect will continue, an Italian judge ruled Wednesday.
Judge Oscar Magi decided the politically sensitive trial could continue after Italy’s Supreme Court threw out key evidence that it said was classified.
Magi announced the decision at a hearing in Milan, and adjourned the trial to next week.
The two-year-old trial is the first by any government over the CIA’s extraordinary renditions program.
Successive Italian governments have denied any involvement in the Feb. 17, 2003 abduction of Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. He was taken from a Milan street in daylight.
The American defendants – mostly CIA agents – have been tried in absentia. All have court-appointed lawyers who have had no contact with their clients. The CIA has refused to comment on the case.
‘GOP’s Torture Strategy: Pelosi
from CBSNews.com
For Democrats pushing an investigation into potential criminal wrongdoing in the war on terrorism, the GOP now has a two-word response: Nancy Pelosi.
Republicans say new revelations about a CIA briefing Pelosi received in 2002 have given them their best shot yet at blocking a sprawling probe into Bush administration interrogation techniques by allowing them to insist that its targets would include the speaker of the House.
“If someone is going to schedule hearings, I believe that the first witness should be Nancy Pelosi,” Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking member on the House intelligence committee, told POLITICO. “Clearly, she was involved in policy formulation.”
Ex-Bush Official Lobbied Against Torture
from CBSNews.com
As a member of Condoleezza Rice’s inner circle at the U.S. State Department, Philip Zelikow argued within the Bush administration that simulated drowning and other extreme interrogation techniques were illegal. Congress will get a look at those internal battles when Zelikow testifies Wednesday before a Senate committee.
Democrats are moving swiftly to hold hearings on recently released Bush administration legal opinions backing rough methods to pry information from terrorist detainees. The Obama administration has expressed reservations about public hearings that would look backward.
While Democrats want to highlight the view that the former administration tortured prisoners, their tactic has been overshadowed by a controversy involving the leader of the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Republicans have challenged her comments that in a briefing six years ago, she was not told the harsh tactics were being used.
CIA Records Unclear On Pelosi Briefing
from CBSNews.com
CIA records show Nancy Pelosi was briefed in September 2002 on harsh interrogation techniques that could be used on terror suspects, but the records are unclear on whether she was informed that waterboarding had already been applied.
Probe Into Torture Memo Writers Nears End
from CBSNews.com
The U.S. Justice Department is nearing the end of its probe into Bush administration lawyers who wrote secret memos approving harsh interrogation techniques of suspected terrorist detainees.
CIA Off The Hook For Past Waterboarding
from CBSNews.com
The Obama administration on Thursday informed CIA officials who used waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects that they will not be prosecuted, senior administration officials told The Associated Press.
Annals of Torture: End Of The Story?
from CBSNews.com
It was a great day for Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, and Jay Bybee. Those ignominious men and dozens more learned that they would be spared from prosecution either here in the United States, where they formulated our odious torture policies.
U.N. Official: No Pass For Torturers
President Barack Obama’s decision not to prosecute CIA operatives who used questionable interrogation practices violates international law, the U.N.’s top torture investigator said.
The following YouTube video was produced and presented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Jonathan Hafetz, attorney for the ACLU National Security Project, explains the history and current status of the al-Marri case.
Our Country in Change 
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