International

Pentagon: No Link Between Rumsfeld, Iraq Abuses

By Liane Hansen

Published May 15, 2004 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 20 years ago.

The Pentagon issues a denial of charges that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld began a secret program to collect intelligence from foreign detainees independently of the CIA. The report, in a New Yorker article by Seymour M. Hersh, describes Rumsfeld approving the use of Special Access Programs personnel for interrogations in Iraq. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen and Hersh.

International

Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.