February 19, 2009
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A retired Army general who investigated the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is among a group of former public officials and religious and human rights figures urging President Barack Obama to appoint a nonpartisan commission to investigate the treatment of terror detainees under the Bush administration.

US Guantanamo

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Anthony Taguba, whose internal report on abuse of prisoners by Army military guards at Abu Ghraib spawned multiple investigations, joined former FBI chief William Sessions, retired under secretary of state Thomas Pickering and several other public figures Wednesday in pressing for a commission that would review controversial Bush-era policies, including harsh interrogations and “extraordinary renditions,” the forced movements of terror detainees.

The officials, who also include Juan E. Mendez, former special adviser to the U.N. secretary-general on the prevention of genocide, and Rev. John H. Thomas, president of the United Church of Christ, were backed in their call for an independent commission by 18 human rights groups ranging from Amnesty International to the National Institute of Military Justice.

Taguba and the other officials called on Obama to “solicit recommendations from the majority and minority leaders in both houses (of Congress)” for commission members who would develop a comprehesive report on “the detention, treatment and transfer of detainees” since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Senate and House Judiciary chairmen Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. John Conyers are also pushing for wide-ranging investigations into detainee issues, warrantless wiretapping and political hires by the Justice Department during the Bush years.

Obama moved quickly in that direction after his inauguration to appoint a task force to recommend new policies for handling terror suspects who are detained in the future and decide where they would be housed once the prison at Guantanamo Bay closes.

But Obama has resisted calls for a review of his predecessor’s record. “I’m more interested in looking forward than I am in looking backwards,” Obama said on Feb. 9.

More than 700 prisoners have been held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, most for several years and only a handful were ever charged with a crime. The CIA took fewer than 100 prisoners and used harsh interrogation tactics on about a third of them, including three who were subjected to waterboarding, a harsh technique that makes the prisoner feel he is in danger of drowning.

An undisclosed number of the CIA prisoners were part of the extraordinary rendition program, in which they were handed over to other countries for questioning. Some prisoners claim they were tortured, but proving that in court has proved difficult.

“We need to understand what happened and how to prevent any illegal actions from taking place in the future,” said Sessions in a written statement.

Their proposal comes the same day a U.S. appeals court blocked a plan to free 17 detainees- Turkic-speaking Muslims from western China- now held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the United States.

There is no evidence they plotted or fought against the United States so the government has no authority to hold them, but finding a nation where they can be released has proven difficult. The United States will not release them to their home for fear they will be tortured. The U.S. military says the detainees have ties to a militant group that demands separation from China. Earlier this month, Beijing warned other countries not to accept them.

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