Cia, Banned Interrogation Techniques | featured news

Seven former heads of the CIA urged President Barack Obama on Friday to end the probe into allegations of abuse of prisoners held by the agency, arguing that it would hamper intelligence operations.

The White House on Monday fired back after former Vice President Dick Cheney called the Obama administration's decision to open a probe into alleged CIA abuses an "outrageous political act." White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs broadly dismissed Cheney's comments on "FOX News Sunday" as typical and unfounded.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney says politics are driving the Justice Department's decision to investigate whether CIA interrogators abused terror suspects detained after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Sleep deprivation, "insult slaps," water dousing and "walling," or slamming a detainee's head against a wall, were techniques used by CIA interrogators to break high-value detainees, according to an agency memo.

Attorney general's decision to probe alleged abuses of terrorist detainees draws sharp criticism, as leading Democrats largely applaud the action.

Several news organizations reported Friday night that a Central Intelligence Agency document details extreme tactics employed by agency interrogators, including what was described as a "mock execution." Those news organizations' reports could not be independently confirmed.

CIA director Leon Panetta says it's almost as if former vice president Dick Cheney would like to see another attack on the United States to prove he is right in criticizing President Barack Obama for abandoning the "harsh interrogation" of terrorism suspects.

The Democratic House speaker says, 'I don't have anything more to say about it. I stand by my comment' that the CIA failed to tell her waterboarding already had been used on terrorism suspects.

The agency fears that public scrutiny and new restrictions will hinder future interrogations.

Top Republicans are demanding an apology from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or proof to back her claim that the CIA misled Congress about the use of harsh interrogation tactics.