Gen. Barry McCaffrey (ret.) Alleges US Military and CIA 'Murdered Dozens' of Detainees

By Kyle-Anne Shiver and Lee Cary

A retired Army General's startling new accusation about torture passed without follow-up from the host of MSNBC News Live, apparently accepted as fact.

At approximately 3:51 pm (Eastern), Monday, April 20, 2009, during the broadcast of MSNBC News Alive television program, as a panel discussed President Obama's speech before Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employees at CIA headquarters, retired U.S. Army General Barry Richard McCaffrey, in the context of discussing the Agency's used of "torture" on detainees, said this at the 6:23 mark of the 6:37 video clip.

"We should never, as a policy, maltreat people under our control, detainees. We tortured people unmercifully. We probably murdered dozens of them during the course of that, both the armed forces and the C.I.A."

"We" clearly referred to the C.I.A. and the U.S. military, and "them" to terrorist detainees in U.S. custody.

This is an astonishing allegation, only slightly mitigated by use of the word "probably."

McCaffrey has a long and distinguished career in public service. He appears frequently as a commentator on NBC. He, obviously, retains many contacts within the military and the government at large.

His allegation should not be taken lightly, although it was received during the show that way, without further comment from the other three panel members or the moderator.

Given this astonishing accusation against the C.I.A. and the U.S. military from a credible source, the General's statement warrants explanation and substantiation.

If his accusation is true, let's know what happened. If it's false, then the onus to make amends is on the source and the network.