Free Republic

RALEIGH, N.C. - A former CIA contract employee was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 8 1/2 years in prison for beating an Afghan detainee who later died. David Passaro, 40, was accused of hitting Abdul Wali with a flashlight and kicking him in the groin during a two-day interrogation at a remote military base in Afghanistan in July 2003. Wali died within 48 hours of the interrogation, after complaining of abdominal pain and an inability to urinate. Passaro was the first American civilian charged with mistreating a detainee during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was found guilty last year...

RALEIGH, N.C. - Federal prosecutors won their battle Monday to keep former CIA Director George Tenet and several other agency employees from having to testify at the trial of a one-time CIA contractor accused of beating an Afghan detainee. But U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle said he would allow defense attorneys for David Passaro to subpoena six witnesses whose identities are classified, and promised to rule on later on four others. The judge heard the dispute behind closed doors before a jury was selected and opening statements began. Passaro, a 40-year-old former Special Forces medic from Lillington, N.C., is the...