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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 18 august 2017
Marking a milestone: Wisconsin Assembly passes

Legal deal set on harsh CIA interrogations $3 billion for Foxconn plant

By SCOTT BAUER
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS at secret CIA prisons over- their work, saying, “I am Associated Press
Associated Press seas. Mitchell and Jessen confident that our efforts MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Assembly ap-
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A were under contract with were necessary, legal and proved a $3 billion tax break Thursday with bipartisan
settlement in a landmark the federal government helped save countless support for Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group
lawsuit against two psy- following the Sept. 11 terror lives.” to build a massive display panel factory in the state, a
chologists who helped de- attacks. But the group Physicians project President Donald Trump touted as a transfor-
sign the CIA’s harsh inter- The lawsuit claimed they for Human Rights said the mational win for the U.S. economy.
rogation methods used in designed, implemented case shows that health Foxconn announced three weeks ago it planned to
the war on terror marked and personally admin- professionals who partici- invest $10 billion in Wisconsin on the first liquid crystal
the first time the agency or istered an experimental pate in torture will be held display panel factory located outside of Asia. The
its private contractors have torture program. The tech- accountable. “These two company, which employs about 1 million people in
been held accountable for niques they developed psychologists had a funda-
China, said it could eventually hire 13,000 workers at
the Wisconsin facility.
As part of the deal, the Wisconsin Legislature must ap-
prove the $3 billion incentive package by the end of
September.
Democratic critics, who didn’t have the votes to stop
the incentive package or the project, argued Thurs-
day that the proposal should be improved to add
more protections for taxpayers, workers and the envi-
ronment. They also said Republicans, who control the
Legislature, were moving too quickly in voting for the
bill less than three weeks after it was introduced.
“Usually if you rush things, FYI, it means the deal stinks,”
said Democratic Rep. Gordon Hintz, an opponent of
the project who noted that Foxconn has made prom-
ises to build factories elsewhere and never followed
through.
But Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos argued
that the project was an “American field of dreams”
that will transform the state’s economy and should not
be passed up.
“I care about the future of our state,” Vos said. “We
can continue to be naysayers. We can continue to find
every fault. We can say, ‘Let’s not take a chance.’”
Republican Rep. Dale Kooyenga said there are as-
This April 13, 2016 photo shows the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at CIA headquarters in
Langley, Va. A settlement was announced Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017, in a landmark lawsuit brought pects of the tax break proposal he opposes, but he
by the American Civil Liberties Union against two psychologists involved in designing the CIA’s was looking past those concerns because he views
harsh interrogation program used in the war on terror. the project as a “game changer.” He compared it to
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Thomas Jefferson signing the Louisiana Purchase.
Gov. Scott Walker has used a more contemporary
the program, legal experts included waterboarding, mental ethical obligation analogy: saying Foxconn could mean as much to Wis-
said Thursday. slamming the three men to do no harm, which they consin’s economy as the Green Bay Packers’ signing
The deal in the lawsuit from into walls, stuffing them in- perverted to inflict severe of All-Pro defensive end Reggie White in 1993 did to
the American Civil Liberties side coffin-like boxes, ex- pain and suffering on hu- the team’s turnaround.
Union also makes it unlikely posing them to extreme man beings in captivity,” “When you have an opportunity to bring an entire in-
the CIA will again pursue temperatures, starving said Donna McKay, execu- dustry to Wisconsin, that offers hope to people,” Kooy-
the tactics, which included them and keeping them tive director of the group. enga said.
beatings and waterboard- awake for days, the ACLU The group’s anti-torture ex- The Assembly approved the tax break bill on a bipar-
ing, said Deborah Pearl- said. James T. Smith, lead pert, Sarah Dougherty, said tisan 59-30 vote, with three Democrats who are from
stein, professor at the Car- defense attorney, said the she hopes the case opens near where the plant may locate joining 56 Republi-
dozo Law School in New psychologists were public the door for additional law- cans in support. Twenty-eight Democrats and two Re-
York. “This sends a signal to servants whose interroga- suits and more. publicans voted against it. The bill now heads to the
those who might consider tion methods were autho- “What needs to happen Senate, also controlled by Republicans. It must pass
doing this in the future,” rized by the government. next is criminal account- the Senate in the same form and be signed by Walker
Pearlstein said, adding, “The facts would have ability,” Dougherty said. before taking effect.
“This puts an exclamation borne out that while the The lawsuit sought un- Democrats said Walker, who is up for re-election next
mark at the end of ‘don’t plaintiffs suffered mistreat- specified monetary dam- year, so desperately wants the project for political
torture.’” ment by some of their cap- ages from the psycholo- gain that he’s rushing it and willing to remove impor-
Terms of the settlement tors, none of that mistreat- gists on behalf of Suleiman tant environmental protections to ease construction.
were not disclosed, but it ment was conducted, con- Abdullah Salim, Mohamed “This is a huge gamble and we can’t afford this boon-
avoided a civil trial set for doned or caused by Drs. Ahmed Ben Soud and the doggle,” said Democratic Rep. Lisa Subeck, of Madi-
Sept. 5 in federal court in Mitchell and Jessen,” Smith estate of Gul Rahman. son.
Spokane. said. Rahman, an Afghan, was Walker, who led negotiations on the deal won by Wis-
The ACLU sued psycholo- Jessen said in a state- taken from his home in Pak- consin over competition from several other nearby
gists James Mitchell and ment that he and Mitchell istan in 2002 to a secret CIA states, has called it a once-in-a-generation opportu-
John “Bruce” Jessen on “served our country at a prison in Afghanistan. He nity. The plant, which would build LCD panels for tele-
behalf of three former de- time when freedom and died of hypothermia sev- visions, computers, the medical field and other uses,
tainees, including one who safety hung in the bal- eral weeks later after being would be spread over a 20 million-square-foot cam-
died in custody, who con- ance.” shackled to a floor in near-
tended they were tortured Mitchell also defended freezing conditions.q pus. Construction would begin in 2020.q