Council unsure of sign's future
John Bojarski
Issue date: 3/11/10 Section: News
Last update: 3/11/10 at 3:33 AM EST
At a public hearing on March 1, Pittsburgh City Council did not come to a decision regarding whether a street sign honoring the former head of the CIA under President George W. Bush would remain hanging in the North Side.
A petition sponsored by Duquesne University English Professor Greg Barnhisel to remove the sign honoring Gen. Michael V. Hayden, a North Side native and Duquesne graduate, lead to the hearing. At the hearing, Barnhisel said Hayden's actions while he was the head of the CIA from 2006 to 2009 should not be honored by the city.
The sign will remain pending further decision, according to Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle.
Hayden's brother Harry Hayden, a North Side resident, spoke on his behalf at the hearing. Gen. Hayden, who currently lives in northern Virginia, was not present at the hearing.
Gen. Hayden said he did not feel he should attend the hearing.
"I didn't ask for [the sign]," Hayden said in a telephone interview with The Duke. "I don't need to defend myself."
Hayden said Barnhisel does not understand the facts concerning his tenure as head of the CIA.
"I'm not going to argue with someone who is not informed," Hayden said.
Before the hearing, Barnhisel said interrogation techniques such as waterboarding and the practice of extraordinary rendition were "beyond ethical."
According to Hayden, the last documented incident of waterboarding by the CIA took place in 2003, before he was named head of the CIA. He said he made a move to formally remove waterboarding from CIA procedures during his tenure.
Hayden said extraordinary rendition, which is when detainees are moved from the U.S. to other countries, is nothing new. The process was conducted under President Bill Clinton and continues under current President Barack Obama, Hayden said.
Barnhisel said he knows the CIA stopped waterboarding in 2003, but said he is still concerned about Pittsburgh's honoring Hayden's tenure.
A petition sponsored by Duquesne University English Professor Greg Barnhisel to remove the sign honoring Gen. Michael V. Hayden, a North Side native and Duquesne graduate, lead to the hearing. At the hearing, Barnhisel said Hayden's actions while he was the head of the CIA from 2006 to 2009 should not be honored by the city.
The sign will remain pending further decision, according to Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle.
Hayden's brother Harry Hayden, a North Side resident, spoke on his behalf at the hearing. Gen. Hayden, who currently lives in northern Virginia, was not present at the hearing.
Gen. Hayden said he did not feel he should attend the hearing.
"I didn't ask for [the sign]," Hayden said in a telephone interview with The Duke. "I don't need to defend myself."
Hayden said Barnhisel does not understand the facts concerning his tenure as head of the CIA.
"I'm not going to argue with someone who is not informed," Hayden said.
Before the hearing, Barnhisel said interrogation techniques such as waterboarding and the practice of extraordinary rendition were "beyond ethical."
According to Hayden, the last documented incident of waterboarding by the CIA took place in 2003, before he was named head of the CIA. He said he made a move to formally remove waterboarding from CIA procedures during his tenure.
Hayden said extraordinary rendition, which is when detainees are moved from the U.S. to other countries, is nothing new. The process was conducted under President Bill Clinton and continues under current President Barack Obama, Hayden said.
Barnhisel said he knows the CIA stopped waterboarding in 2003, but said he is still concerned about Pittsburgh's honoring Hayden's tenure.
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