Inquiry into the CIA hits a series of snags

Special Prosecutor John Durham has taken on the Gambino mafia family in New York, the Irish mob in Boston and he's put dozens of gangsters behind bars. Now he's facing his toughest assignment to date: Investigate the Central Intelligence Agency itself for war crimes committed against Iraqi detainees. Right now, in a government building in Alexandria, Virginia, the respected US Attorney has started calling witnesses before a secret federal grand jury looking into abuses allegedly committed by CIA interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. One of the deaths being examined is that of Manadel Al Jamadi, more commonly known as "the iceman", who died in custody on November 3, 2003 at Abu Ghraib following repeated interrogation sessions. In an attempt to make his body look less abused, CIA agents packed it in ice to reduce decomposition and to throw investigators off the actual time of death. Al Jamadi's body was later removed from the infamous prison with an intravenous tube attached to one arm in an apparent attempt to show he was still alive. According to the subpoena being issued to CIA and other agents by Durham, a Connecticut special prosecutor, the federal grand jury is "conducting an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving war crimes and related federal offences." Durham was instructed to investigate the CIA and other employees working for Blackwater and other security contractors shortly after Barack Obama replaced George W. Bush as President. Durham's appointment came shortly before the CIA itself decided to release a detailed five-year-old report detailing abuse against Abu Ghraib inmates by the Langley, Virginia-based agency. Under US law, the federal grand jury can decide to indict agents and contractors for their actions in Abu Ghraib. Durham's investigation is focusing on specific question like who took the photgraphs of Al Jamadi as he lay covered in ice cubes. His death has already been ruled a homicide and it has been determined that he was hung from a wall and asphyxiated. Disturbingly, he also suffered what have been described as "blunt force" trauma. The grand jury is hearing evidence from those present at the prison wing when, and where, Al Jamadi died. While the grand jury deliberations are held in secret, it's understood they are focusing on a specific CIA interrogator and polygraph expert who questioned Al Jamadi immediately before his death. The torture probe, however, is hampered by a lack of evidence from Abu Ghraib caused, in part, when Al Jamadi's blood was washed from a cell on the orders of a military officer. In addition, a bloody hood which covered Al Jamadi's head was destroyed on the orders of a CIA officer. After Al Jamadi died, military and CIA personnel argued over who was to blame, and his body was covered in ice and taken to a shower room overnight to allow them time to get their story straight. The interrogator and polygraph reader isn't talking and his lawyer has refused comment. The US Department of Justice is also keeping quiet on the proceedings. Under US law, anybody appearing before a grand jury can "plead the Fifth" exercise their legal right under the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution not to answer questions and without any inference of guilt or innocence being taken from their action. From / Gulf News