Exclusive: Judge orders CIA to hand over Inspector General report in Iraqi prisoner's death

Questions of improper classification: Is a CIA cover-up a protected intelligence source or method?

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. government to hand over an investigation into a deadly CIA interrogation in Abu Ghraib prison as he considers whether it can be made public.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, DC, ordered the government to produce a “clean and redacted” copy of the CIA Inspector General’s report of its investigation into the 2003 death of Manadel al-Jamadi by Tuesday.

Judge Boasberg will conduct an in camera or private review of the 2005 Inspector General’s report into Jamadi’s death—a document the agency has been fighting to keep secret for nearly two decades. Boasberg’s in camera review suggests the court is skeptical of the CIA’s assertions that all but a few pages of the report are properly exempt from public disclosure.

Jamadi’s face became one of the unforgettable images of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Bags of ice covered his naked corpse. A trickle of blood oozed from an open wound on his temple. Two Army reservists with lighthearted grins to…