CIA powers in Ireland

mustang68

Anyone else spot this one, haven't seen it anywhere else.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sg46g7Ks0cvBEsg7OWirIStPSk.asp

Essentially its about the USA getting power in Ireland.

egan007

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=281001

mustang68

Ahhh!

Apoligies for band waggon jumping....

santosubito

Department of Justice press release: (20/07/2005)

Examiner Articles: The Facts



· There is no question at all of the CIA interrogating Irish citizens or residents in secret or at all.

· Nor is there any question of the British MI5 or the French Surete doing so.

· Joint investigating teams between police forces in no way permit foreign security or police services to interrogate persons in custody in Ireland. Only Gardai can do that. And only Gardai can arrest, detain or question suspects in this state.

· All decisions made in respect of questioning suspects are made by Gardai and there is absolutely no legal basis for delegating or transferring or sharing such powers.

· There is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that persons will be deprived of the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination.

· Under existing law, the right against self-incrimination is fully protected and it will continue to be under any new law. The existing law is fully set out in Para 3 of the 2nd Schedule of the Criminal Justice Act, 1994. This will not change.

· There is no provision for the CIA to have access to bank accounts. All such accounts can only be accessed by Gardai at the request of foreign police forces under Mutual Legal Assistance law.and only by Court order.

· There is no provision for the transfer of prisoners against their will to the US or anywhere else.(See Sections 53 and 54 of the 1994 Act).

· No new curtailments or qualifications of any person constitutional rights or liberties or protections are contemplated.

· There is no “Torture Treaty” in contemplation, as alleged.

· The European/US Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements were extensively discussed on a number of occasions in the Joint Oireachtas Committee. There has been full consultation. Newspapers journalists were present.

· The Minister strongly condemned the abuse of Guantanamo prisoners in June 2004. The Agreements have nothing to do with Guantanamo and could not result in any person going there or being sent back there.

· The proposals to amend the law on Mutual Legal Assistance have already been referred to the Human Rights Commission some time ago.

zenith

Sansubito: if you're lifting Departmental Press Releases, you should probably have included the rebuttal to the rebuttal from the author of the original article, which was also pretty comprehensive.

In the interests of fairness, like.

Blub2k4

zenith wrote:

Sansubito: if you're lifting Departmental Press Releases, you should probably have included the rebuttal to the rebuttal from the author of the original article, which was also pretty comprehensive.

In the interests of fairness, like.

So any chance you could provide it, In the interests of fairness. like?

zenith

Don't have it. Only read it. Like.

santosubito

Zenith, I didn't lift anything. I displayed the DoJ release and fully credited it -that's not lifting. Now, I couldn't really post this rebuttal to which you refer because the release appeared on the day of the first article appeared. I presume the rebuttal appeared the next day. Either way, it doesn't appear to be on the Examiner website. Anyway, it was a poor piece of journalism in the first place. The man didn't bother to check the facts. If he had, he would have realised his article was baseless.

But in the interests of fairness, here is Harry McGee's piece from the Examiner the following day:




McDowell refutes CIA interrogation claims

By Harry McGee, Political Editor
JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell yesterday rejected an assertion that CIA operatives would have the power to come to Ireland to interrogate people in secret.As the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) confirmed it intends to examine the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance between the US and Ireland, Mr McDowell issued a detailed and emphatic rebuttal of yesterday’s article in the Irish Examiner.

The agreement, signed by Mr McDowell and US Ambassador James Kenny last week, will give both countries extensive powers to discover documents, conduct searches and search bank accounts in each other’s jurisdiction.

Under its terms, US law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI, will be allowed to have questions put to witnesses and suspects resident in Ireland as part of investigations or criminal prosecutions.

It also provides for the establishment of joint investigation teams.

However, Mr McDowell insisted yesterday that such powers would remain in the hands of the gardaí and that those powers would neither be delegated nor ceded to US police authorities.

But it was the assertion that CIA operatives would be able to interrogate suspects in Ireland with which Mr McDowell took issue.

“There is no question at all of the CIA interrogating Irish citizens or residents in secret or at all,” he said.

He contended that the establishment of joint investigation teams would in no way “permit foreign security or police services to interrogate persons in custody in Ireland”.

“Only gardaí can do that. And only gardaí can arrest, detain or question suspects in this State.

“All decisions made in respect of questioning suspects are made by gardaí and there is absolutely no legal basis for delegating or transferring or sharing such powers.”

Mr McDowell argued the CIA would have no function under the agreement. Nor was there any provision for the transfer of prisoners against their will.

Mr McDowell pointed out that he had condemned the abuse of Guantanamo prisoners in June 2004.

“The agreements have nothing to do with Guantanamo and could not result in any person going there or being sent back there.”

The agreement has already been referred to the IHRC by Mr McDowell, and its chairman, Dr Maurice Manning, said yesterday that they would examine the proposals when the bill giving effect to it was published.

Labour Justice spokesman Joe Costello said it was premature of Mr McDowell to sign the agreement before the legislation was published.

“The implications should be teased out. There is serious concern with American respect for human rights in recent times. There are fundamental issues that need to be clarified,” he said.

Brendan552004

I have an ex wife who married a lieutenant in the US marines. Two FBI/CIA guys called out to my house in South Dublin after observing me for two days and interviewed me about my ex wife. They spent 3 hours interviewing me about her.

The reason they said was that she would have access to US bases. That was in 1985, did not see a Garda around, did they get clearance from Justice or Foreign Affairs, I do not think so.

God only knows what is going on.