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In the News: A Tortuous Path

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Found on the Internets …



A series of tubes filled with enormous amounts a wee bit of material making its way tortuously to the Senate floor.

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UPDATE: Link to the report Senate Intelligence Committee Report on CIA Torture Techniques

… the CIA’s interrogation techniques never yielded any intelligence about imminent terrorist attacks”

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Senate Expected To Release Long-Held CIA ‘Torture Report’

Later this morning, the Senate Intelligence Committee will release an executive summary of what’s come to be known as its “torture report.”

The report is expected to be the most comprehensive public accounting the interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

What’s in it is so sensitive and controversial that the report’s release has sparked public spats between the CIA and Senate lawmakers.

It all came to a dramatic head on the floor of the Senate in March. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate intelligence panel, accused the CIA of trying to thwart her committee’s work by deleting files and later by illegally spying on Senate computers. The CIA – which eventually apologized to the Senate – had accused Feinstein and her committee of improperly removing classified documents from a government network.

The Senate is expected to release a 460 page executive summary today.

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Dick Cheney Was Lying About Torture

It’s official: torture doesn’t work. Waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, did not in fact “produce the intelligence that allowed us to get Osama bin Laden,” as former Vice President Dick Cheney asserted in 2011. Those are among the central findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA interrogation and detention after 9/11.

The report’s executive summary is expected to be released Tuesday. After reviewing thousands of the CIA’s own documents, the committee has concluded that torture was ineffective as an intelligence-gathering technique. Torture produced little information of value, and what little it did produce could’ve been gained through humane, legal methods that uphold American ideals.

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More …

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Why the upcoming battle over the Senate torture report is such a big deal

Naturally, the people who approved, executed, and defended the torture program are not happy with the idea that the American public will actually learn just what was done in their name. So they’re preparing push-back: a last-ditch attempt to stop the report’s release, and if that fails, a campaign to blame any negative consequences on the Democrats who wanted the information public.

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CIA torture report: agency braces for impact of inquiry as release nears

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday the administration welcomed the release of the report, but warned US interests overseas were at risk of potentially violent reactions to its contents.

The release of the torture report will represent the third major airing of faulty CIA intelligence in 15 years, following official commissions into the 9/11 plot and Saddam Hussein’s defunct illicit weapons programs.

Despite months of negotiation over how much of the 6,000-page report will be declassified, most of its findings will never see the light of the day. But even a partial release of the report will yield a furious response from the CIA and its allies.

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Editor’s Note: Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.


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/ 20 Comments

20 comments

  3. princesspat

    Pardon Bush and Those Who Tortured

    BEFORE President George W. Bush left office, a group of conservatives lobbied the White House to grant pardons to the officials who had planned and authorized the United States torture program. My organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, found the proposal repugnant. Along with eight other human rights groups, we sent a letter to Mr. Bush arguing that granting pardons would undermine the rule of law and prevent Americans from learning what had been done in their names.

    But with the impending release of the report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I have come to think that President Obama should issue pardons, after all – because it may be the only way to establish, once and for all, that torture is illegal.

    ~snip~

    Mr. Obama could pardon George J. Tenet for authorizing torture at the C.I.A.’s black sites overseas, Donald H. Rumsfeld for authorizing the use of torture at the Guantánamo Bay prison, David S. Addington, John C. Yoo and Jay S. Bybee for crafting the legal cover for torture, and George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for overseeing it all.

    ~snip~

    The spectacle of the president’s granting pardons to torturers still makes my stomach turn. But doing so may be the only way to ensure that the American government never tortures again. Pardons would make clear that crimes were committed; that the individuals who authorized and committed torture were indeed criminals; and that future architects and perpetrators of torture should beware. Prosecutions would be preferable, but pardons may be the only viable and lasting way to close the Pandora’s box of torture once and for all.

    I’m not sure I agree with this, but I do want the Bush administration to be held accountable.

  5. JanF

    Dianne Feinstein leaving intelligence job amid clash on tactics report

    The senior senator from California has spent more than 14 years on the Senate’s most secretive committee, and through much of that time, she has defended the country’s intelligence establishment. […]

    But as she prepares to turn over the committee’s gavel next month to Sen. Richard M. Burr (R-N.C.), Feinstein’s tenure as chairwoman is closing amid an acrimonious fight over a project that pits her against the CIA. Her staff has completed a 6,000-page report evaluating and criticizing the agency’s use during the George W. Bush years of harsh interrogation tactics, which President Obama and others have labeled as torture.

    This was the immediate dilemma:

    Secretary of State John F. Kerry, acting on behalf of the administration, called Feinstein to ask her to delay the release. Making the report public now would threaten the security of American personnel overseas, Kerry told her.

    The request put Feinstein in an agonizingly difficult position – delay the release and run the risk that Burr and the Republicans will block the report after they take over in January, or go ahead and take the blame if Americans in foreign countries are harmed.[…]

    “We have to get this report out,” Feinstein said, even if she had to give in on some of her demands for transparency. “We will find another way to make known some of the problems.”

    The interrogations undermined “societal and constitutional values that we are very proud of,” Feinstein said. “Anybody who reads this is going to never let this happen again.”

    I hope she is right.

  6. JanF

    UK Telegraph recaps some highlights

    – CIA lied to Senate and White House on torture methods: report

    – Torture ‘brutal’ and ‘far worse’ than CIA claimed

    – Unsupervised and unqualified officers carried out interrogation

    – At least 26 detainees wrongfully held

    Ed Kilgore at the Washington Monthly pulls a quote from this article which makes one wonder what John Brennan is doing in charge of the CIA:

       In the moments before the Senate’s report into torture by the CIA was released, the agency’s director, John Brennan, released a statement of his own.

       In it, he acknowledges that “the detention and interrogation programme had shortcomings and that the Agency made mistakes” and that “we did not always live up to the high standards that we set for ourselves and that the American people expect of us”.

       But on the fundamental point – was America right to brutalise these terror suspects in an effort to extract information that could prevent the next September 11? – Brennan refuses to give ground.

       Interrogations of detainees on whom [enhanced interrogation techniques] were used did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists, and save lives.” He also disputes the Senate’s claim that America’s spies misled the public about the torture program. He says:

       “While we made mistakes, the record does not support the Study’s inference that the Agency systematically and intentionally misled each of these audiences on the effectiveness of the program.”

    He should not continue the lie that torture leads to any kind of reliable information. This sort of statement should disqualify him from being any part of the management team guiding the agency, much less the head.  

  7. JanF

    From the White House Statement by the President, Report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

    Throughout our history, the United States of America has done more than any other nation to stand up for freedom, democracy, and the inherent dignity and human rights of people around the world.  As Americans, we owe a profound debt of gratitude to our fellow citizens who serve to keep us safe, among them the dedicated men and women of our intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency.  Since the horrific attacks of 9/11, these public servants have worked tirelessly to devastate core al Qaeda, deliver justice to Osama bin Laden, disrupt terrorist operations and thwart terrorist attacks.  Solemn rows of stars on the Memorial Wall at the CIA honor those who have given their lives to protect ours.  Our intelligence professionals are patriots, and we are safer because of their heroic service and sacrifices.

    In the years after 9/11, with legitimate fears of further attacks and with the responsibility to prevent more catastrophic loss of life, the previous administration faced agonizing choices about how to pursue al Qaeda and prevent additional terrorist attacks against our country.  As I have said before, our nation did many things right in those difficult years.  At the same time, some of the actions that were taken were contrary to our values.  That is why I unequivocally banned torture when I took office, because one of our most effective tools in fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe is staying true to our ideals at home and abroad.

    Today’s report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence details one element of our nation’s response to 9/11-the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, which I formally ended on one of my first days in office.  The report documents a troubling program involving enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects in secret facilities outside the United States, and it reinforces my long-held view that these harsh methods were not only inconsistent with our values as nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our national security interests.  Moreover, these techniques did significant damage to America’s standing in the world and made it harder to pursue our interests with allies and partners.  That is why I will continue to use my authority as President to make sure we never resort to those methods again.



    As Commander in Chief, I have no greater responsibility than the safety and security of the American people.  We will therefore continue to be relentless in our fight against al Qaeda, its affiliates and other violent extremists.  We will rely on all elements of our national power, including the power and example of our founding ideals.  That is why I have consistently supported the declassification of today’s report.  No nation is perfect.  But one of the strengths that makes America exceptional is our willingness to openly confront our past, face our imperfections, make changes and do better. Rather than another reason to refight old arguments, I hope that today’s report can help us leave these techniques where they belong-in the past.  Today is also a reminder that upholding the values we profess doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us stronger and that the United States of America will remain the greatest force for freedom and human dignity that the world has ever known.

    Bolding added.

  8. JanF

    The 5 Most Damning Revelations From The CIA’s Report On Bush-Era Torture

    Though former Bush administration officials – who officially approved the methods in August of 2002 – have argued that the revelations could endanger American security at home and abroad, the report completely discredits the former president’s long-standing claims that torture prevented attacks against America and helped capture high value terrorist targets. Below are its most damning revelations:

    1. Torture didn’t stop a single terrorist attack.

    2. The CIA lied about the success of torture in obtaining intelligence.

    3. Not everyone approved of the torture policy.

    4. The torture methods were far more brutal than originally reported.

    5. Water-boarding caused physical harm.  

    I found this encouraging: “”Internally, CIA officers regularly called into question the effectiveness of the CIA’s interrogation techniques, noting how the techniques failed to elicit detainee cooperation or produce accurate intelligence.” ” Not surprising that career officers would have been aware of the legal limits and not so keen to follow John Yoo’s directions approving it. Now we need them to refuse to follow orders that they know to be wrong.

  9. Portlaw

    The world has long known that the United States government illegally detained and tortured prisoners after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and lied about it to Congress and the world. But the summary of a report released today of the Senate investigation of these operations, even after being sanitized by the Central Intelligence Agency itself, is a portrait of depravity that is hard to comprehend and even harder to stomach

    . my bold

    The editorial concludes


    The litany of brutality, lawlessness and lack of accountability serves as a reminder of what a horrible decision President Obama made at the outset of his administration to close the books on this chapter in our history, even as he repudiated the use of torture. The C.I.A. officials who destroyed videotapes of waterboarding were left unpunished, and all attempts at bringing these acts into a courtroom were blocked by claims of national secrets.

    It is hard to believe that anything will be done now. The Republicans, who will soon control the Senate and have the majority on the Intelligence panel, denounced the report today, acting as though it is the reporting of the torture and not the torture itself that is bad for the country. Maybe George Tenet, who ran the C.I.A. during this ignoble period, could make a tiny amends by returning the Presidential Medal of Freedom that President Bush gave him upon his retirement.

     http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12…

  10. Portlaw

    “Today’s release once again makes crystal clear that the US government used torture. Torture is a crime and those responsible for crimes must be brought to justice,” Amnesty International USA’s executive director, Steven W Hawkins, said in a statement.

    “Under the UN convention against torture, no exceptional circumstances whatsoever can be invoked to justify torture, and all those responsible for authorising or carrying out torture or other ill-treatment must be fully investigated.”

    In Geneva, the United Nations’s special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson, said CIA officers and other US government officials should be prosecuted.

    “The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorised at a high level within the US government provides no excuse whatsoever,” Emmerson said in a statement.

     http://www.theguardian.com/us-…

  11. JanF

    This Is How a Prisoner of War Feels About Torture

    In a nearly 15-minute speech from the Senate floor, McCain offered what is arguably the most robust defense so far of the report’s release, referencing his own experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and rebuking his Republican colleagues by endorsing the study’s findings.

       It is a thorough and thoughtful study of practices that I believe not only failed their purpose-to secure actionable intelligence to prevent further attacks on the U.S. and our allies-but actually damaged our security interests, as well as our reputation as a force for good in the world.

    His longtime amigo Senator Lindsey Graham was one of many politicians and intelligence officials to say that the report-which contained graphic accounts of physical and psychological abuse-could damage American interests abroad and that the timing of its publication was “politically motivated.”

    McCain:

    “I know from personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence. I know that victims of torture will offer intentionally misleading information if they think their captors will believe it. I know they will say whatever they think their torturers want them to say if they believe it will stop their suffering.”

    McCain added (emphatically) that “the use of torture compromises that which most distinguishes us from our enemies, our belief that all people, even captured enemies, possess basic human rights.”

  12. JanF

    Exposing the CIA’s Stain on America

    … as Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., noted, President Obama’s self-imposed executive order to restrict the CIA from holding detainees and limit interrogation techniques to those in the Army Field Manual “could be overturned by a future president with the stroke of a pen.” As Feinstein argued, “They should be enshrined in legislation.” […]

    There will never be a comfortable time to disclose embarrassing information. […[

    But the Senate report makes clear that OLC’s flawed advice was also based on inaccurate information provided by the CIA. One example involved a 2002 OLC memo permitting 10 interrogation techniques to be used against detainee Abu Zubaida.

    In seeking legal approval, the CIA both exaggerated Zubaida’s importance — asserting incorrectly that he “has been involved in every major terrorist operation carried out by al-Qaeda” and “was one of the planners” of 9/11 — and, again incorrectly, that interrogators were “certain” Zubaida was withholding “critical threat information.”

    Officials can’t defend themselves by claiming reliance on counsel that they themselves misled — and the Zubaida episode was just part of a series of inaccurate representations.

  13. JanF

    Senator Publicizes Classified CIA Report To Prove The Agency Is Lying


    Following Tuesday’s release of a 600-page declassified summary, the CIA acknowledged that the agency “did not always live up to the high standards that we set for ourselves.” However, it insisted that “[o]ur review indicates that interrogations of detainees on whom EITs were used did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists, and save lives.”

    Udall contradicted that statement, arguing that a classified 2009 internal review conducted by former CIA Director Leon Panetta “directly refutes information in the Brennan response.”

    “Director [John] Brennan and the CIA today are continuing to willfully provide inaccurate information and misrepresent the efficacy of torture,” Udall said, reiterating his call on Brennan to resign. “In other words, the CIA is lying.” […]

    In his speech, the Colorado senator revealed – for the first time – that the Panetta review confirmed the Senate’s conclusion that “the CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information to the Congress, the president and the public on the efficacy of its coercive techniques.” Former Bush administration officials and the CIA have publicly disputed this claim.

    In contrast to the CIA’s assertions, Panetta’s analysis also reveals, Udall said, “how detainees provided intelligence prior to the use of torture against them” and that the agency “tortured detainees before trying any other approach,” even when “less coercive methods were yielding intelligence.”

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