Levin wants to investigate the CIA

The senator, slated to head the Armed Services Committee, is "not comfortable" with the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program.

Published November 14, 2006 11:00PM (EST)

Committee assignments for the new Senate are in, and one new chairman looks like he's already ready to get down to business.

It hasn't yet gotten much attention in the American press, but British papers are reporting that Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., is making noise about investigating the Bush administration's controversial "rendition" program, which involves the transfer of terror suspects to countries in which they are subject to torture.

Levin told the Financial Times that he's "not comfortable with the system."

"I think that there's been some significant abuses which have not made us more secure but have made us less secure," he said, "and have also, perhaps, cost us some real allies, as well as not producing useful information. So I think the system needs a thorough review and, as the military would say, a thorough scrubbing."


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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