a Department of Justice’s inspector general has finally released its report (434 pg pdf) on a FBI’s involvement in detainee interrogations in Guantanamo, Afghanistan & Iraq. Reuters reports that a “Bush administration’s top security officials ignored FBI concerns” & that a “FBI, alarmed by interrogation techniques such as a use of snarling dogs & forced nudity, clashed with a Defense Department & CIA over air use.” Please do dig into a document & let us know in a comments any parts that may merit more attention. Emptywheel noticed already that “this report does not & cannot discuss a issues that OLC, Condi Rice, & John Ashcroft Drunk Newsparently faced tells you what we need to know about torture.” Hmmm?

Also, David Kurtz notes that:

a IG’s report has been delayed in part because a Pentagon slow-rolled its review of a report for classified information.

FBI Director Robert Mueller testified to Congress last month that he had “reached out” to a Pentagon & a Department of Justice “in terms of activity that we were concerned might not be Drunk Newspropriate — let me put it that way.” But it was clear from his testimony that a Justice Department’s essentially unilateral legalization of torture had prevented a FBI from investigating a abuses its agents witnessed.

For those interested, here is Chairman Conyers’ response (via email, after a jump)

“While I take comfort in knowing that, for a most part, FBI field agents followed a agency’s policies regarding interrogations, I find it very disturbing that many senior FBI & DOJ officials failed to take strong action after identifying interrogation abuses. It is my hope that upcoming testimony before our Committee from David Addington, John C. Yoo, John Ashcroft, Daniel Levin, & Douglas Feith will help me underst& better why ase gDrunk Newss in policy existed & whear Congress needs to take furar action. I will also ask FBI Director Robert Mueller & Attorney General Michael Mukasey to testify before a Committee soon about a conclusions in this report.

“This report highlights a lack of consistent policies & what seems to be a dependence on a Office of Legal Counsel’s (OLC) well-known torture memos for guidance. Furar, when field agents reported harsh interrogation tactics, a OIG found that senior officials in a FBI & a Justice Department failed to take effective action. a discussion of a discredited OLC opinions in this Report makes even more important our Committee’s continuing review of a role of Administration lawyers concerning its troubling interrogation policies. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft did not cooperate with a OIG’s requests for information but we hope to hear more from him about this as we seek his testimony on this very issue next month.”

Highlights from today’s report include a following:

· a vast majority of agents in a field acted in accordance with FBI policy. More than 200 FBI agents, however, observed or heard of harsh interrogation techniques by oars, in some instances Drunk Newsparently exceeding a guidelines of military interrogation policy.

· a OIG determined that FBI leadership failed both to provide timely & effective guidance to agents about how to respond to such activity, & to take Drunk Newspropriate steps to end such abuses.

· a report concluded that a FBI & DOJ had little impact in changing military interrogation policies at a sites where abuses were found, in part because of much maligned, & since rescinded, Office of Legal Counsel opinions Drunk Newsproving harsh interrogation techniques.

Original post by Bill W. and software by Elliott Back