Torture, botched rendition investigations dog CIA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two of the CIA's biggest mistakes made under President George W. Bush are coming under fresh scrutiny.

The CIA's inspector general has resumed asking questions about a botched operation in which the agency mistook a vacationing German citizen for a terrorist, then captured him and held him for months in a secret prison. The Justice Department, meanwhile, has opened a torture and war crimes grand jury investigation into the interrogation and death of a prison at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Both incidents have long been known to the public for years and have been investigated repeatedly. The new developments show that the Justice Department is still not ready to close the book on the 2003 death of prisoner Manadel al-Jamadi, and the CIA is still sorting through the internal mistakes that led to Khaled el-Masri's wrongful capture and interrogation.

The investigations are also certain to prompt criticism from Republicans who want these matters put to rest, especially after the CIA located Osama bin Laden and oversaw the raid that killed him last month.

The inquiries were confirmed by people close the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigations are being conducted in secret. The investigation into al-Jamadi's death was first reported by Time magazine.

Much of the attention surrounding al-Jamadi's death has focused on the actions of interrogator Mark Swanner, who questioned al-Jamadi in a prison shower room before he died. Al-Jamadi's head was covered by a hood. His arms were shackled behind his back and bound to a barred window. That way, he could stand without pain but if he tried to lower himself, his arms would be painfully stretched above and behind him.