Scheuer defends CIA counterterrorism program

DURHAM -- The man who started the controversial Central Intelligence Agency program that snatches terrorism suspects from one country and flies them to another for interrogation called it Friday "the single most effective counterterrorism program in American history."

It should have a lessor role, though, and would be unnecessary if the United States was not improperly trying to force democracy on other countries, said Michael Scheuer, who worked for the CIA for 22 years, nearly all of it in covert operations.

Scheuer was speaking at a Duke University Conference on how the next presidential administration will handle some of the more difficult aspects of fighting terrorism. He was on a panel about the CIA program, which is called "extraordinary rendition."

When the practice became known to the public, it triggered outrage and protests around the world and legal action against CIA workers in Europe, where some of the suspects were captured.

Some of the protests have come in North Carolina at the Johnston County airport used by Aero Contractors Ltd, a company widely believed to be a front for CIA aircraft operations. A German court indicted several members of the company's air crews in last year in connection with a rendition.

It's often overlooked, Scheuer said, that the practice began not with President George W. Bush, but under President Bill Clinton. Clinton Administration officials protestations that prisoners were sent only to countries that agreed to treat them according to U.S. laws weren't true, he said, adding that it's hard to imagine a country that would agree to such restrictions.

Scheuer ran the rendition program from its start in July 1995 to June 1999, he said.

Under Clinton, the program was different, he said. For one thing, it wasn't just focussed on terrorists, but also criminals who would face trial if the CIA could spirit them back to the United States. When a terrorist was captured, there was little interest in information gleaned from interrogations.

CIA officials believed that officials of the country doing the questioning would often taint the information to suit themselves. Also, it had become clear that al Qaeda operations had been trained to either give bad information

So instead of interrogations, the CIA tried to get any communications or electronic storage devices he had with him, Scheuer said.

Others on the panel said that rendition may be effective in the short term, but that any rational evaluation of the program would require consideration of long-term effects that may be hard to quantify, which as the erosion it causes to America's reputation abroad. The program should be shut down, said Aziz Huq, an expert on detention cases involving national security who is with New York University Law School.

Among other things, he said, it is damaging the rule of law in countries where the suspected are shipped for interrogation, and these are countries where a proper legal system is of crucial importance to the future of the fight against terror.