Feds Investigating Ex-CIA Agent for War Crimes

A federal investigation into a potential war crime committed at Abu Ghraib is closing in on the man who ran the CIA’s “ghosting” program. In the hush-hush program headed up by now-retired agent Steve Stormoen, the CIA interrogated prisoners without ever having noted their presence in Army logs, the AP reports. That’s illegal under the laws of war—which say that the military must lead all interrogations—and the CIA itself officially prohibited ghosting.

The Justice Department is looking into the death of one “ghosted” prisoner—Manadel al-Jamadi, who became known as the “Ice Man” thanks to the image at left. Within an hour of being interrogated by the CIA, al-Jamadi was dead. Stormoen wasn’t there for the interrogation, but processed al-Jamadi into custody. Two witnesses say they have testified on Stormoen's role at Abu Ghraib before a grand jury in Virginia. The AP notes that war crimes charges are a rarity in the US; the last notable case was in 2008. (More Manadel al-Jamadi stories.)