Intel experts: GOP 'covering their ass' on torture

Far from jeopardizing US security, as some politicians claim, an investigation into torture practices during the Bush administration would prevent future abuses, say three senior veterans of the intelligence community.
An article by Jason Leopold at the Public Record news site says that former FBI counterterrorism expert Jack Cloonan, military interrogator Col. Steve Kleinman, and “Matthew Alexander,” the pseudonym of a special-ops interrogator who was part of a task force in Iraq, are all urging Congress and the White House to launch investigations into torture practices during the Bush era.
Not only would the three like to see a wide-ranging investigation into torture practices — as opposed to the “narrow” investigation being mulled by Attorney General Eric Holder — they would also like to see a separate investigation into how the policies allowing torture were formed in the first place.
Cloonan and Kleinman “sharply disputed” the claim made last week by nine Republican senators that launching a probe into torture, even a limited one, would pose a hazard to US security and expose the country to risk of further terrorist attacks.
The two former intel experts said the GOP senators were sounding “false alarms” in order to keep secret embarrassing and possibly outrageous revelations about a Republican White House.
“What this is really about is cover your ass,” Leopold quoted Cloonan as saying. “To suggest [intelligence gathering] will come to a screeching halt if there were an investigation is not accurate.”
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