The release of the Senate "torture report" today confirmed the worse fears of many - the United States with authorization engaged in torture and committed acts which read like something right out of the narratives about Nazi torture techniques and atrocities. Since all of this occurred under the foul Bush/Cheney regime, it is no surprise that Congressional Republicans - many of whom rubber stamped everything Bush/Cheney did - did not want to have this report see the light of day. The bottom line: any moral standing that America may have had in the world is now gone and murderous foreign despots can throw back in our diplomats' faces the activities on American authorities should criticisms be made of foreign atrocities. The only way to avoid this is for America - and by this I mean Barack Obama and the Justice Department - to live up to its obligations under the UN Convention on Torture. These would mean that either America prosecutes George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and a number of their minions, or they extradited and turned over to other nations for prosecution.
Mother Jones provides a taste of the horrors done in the name of the American people:
On Tuesday morning, the Senate intelligence committee
released an executive summary of its years-long investigation into the
CIA's detention and interrogation program. President George W. Bush
authorized the so-called "enhanced interrogation" program after the 9/11
attacks. The United States government this week has warned personnel in
facilities abroad, including US embassies, to be ready in case protests
erupt in response.
The full report includes over 6,000 pages and 35,000 footnotes. You can read the executive summary here. Here are some of the lowlights:
1. The CIA used previously unreported tactics, including "rectal feeding" of detainees (p. 100, footnote 584):
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2. CIA officers threatened the children of detainees (p. 4):
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3. Over 20 percent of CIA detainees were "wrongfully held." One was an
"intellectually challenged" man who was held so the CIA could get
leverage over his family (p. 12)
4. One detainee, Abu Hudhaifa, was subjected to "ice water baths" and
"66 hours of standing sleep deprivation" before being released because
the CIA realized it probably had the wrong man.
5. The CIA, contrary to what it told Congress, began torturing detainees before even determining whether they would cooperate.
6. CIA officers began torturing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed "a few minutes" after beginning to question him (p. 108):
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9. In 2003, Bush gave a speech at a UN event condemning torture and
calling on other nations to investigate and prosecute torture
allegations. The statement was so at odds with US practices that the CIA
contacted the White House to make sure enhanced interrogation
techniques were still okay (pp. 209-210).
14. Bush Justice Department official Jay Bybee, who is now a federal
judge, told Congress the torture of Al Qaeda detainees led to the US
capture of Jose Padilla. That wasn't true.
16. Even President George W. Bush wasn't informed where the facilities
were—because he feared he'd "accidentally disclose" the information.
The Daily Beast has additional details. Here are excerpts:
Interrogations that lasted for days on end. Detainees forced to stand
on broken legs, or go 180 hours in a row without sleep. A prison so
cold, one suspect essentially froze to death. The Senate Intelligence
Committee is finally releasing its review of the CIA’s detention and
interrogation programs. And it is brutal.
Here are some of the most gruesome moments of detainee abuse from a summary of the report, obtained by The Daily Beast:
‘Well Worn’ Waterboards. The CIA has previously said that only three detainees
were ever waterboarded: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Abd
Al Rahim al-Nashiri. But records uncovered by the Senate Intelligence
Committee suggest there may have been more than three subjects. The
Senate report describes a photograph of a “well worn” waterboard,
surrounded by buckets of water, at a detention site where the CIA has
claimed it never subjected a detainee to this procedure. In a meeting
with the CIA in 2013, the agency was not able to explain the presence of
this waterboard.
Near Drowning. Contrary to CIA’s description to the
Department of Justice, the Senate report says that the waterboarding was
physically harmful, leading to convulsions and vomiting. During one
session, detainee Abu Zubaydah became “completely unresponsive with
bubbles rising through his open full mouth.” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was
waterboarded at least 183 times, which the Senate report describes as
escalating into a “series of near drownings.”
Standing on Broken Legs. In November 2002, a detainee who
had been held partially nude and chained to the floor died, apparently
from hypothermia. This case appears similar to the that of Gul Rahman,
who died of similarly explained causes at an Afghan site known as the
“Salt Pit,” also in November 2002. The site was also called “The Dark Prison” by former captives.
Forced Rectal Feeding and Worse. At least five detainees were subjected to “rectal feeding” or “rectal
hydration,” without any documented medical need. “While IV infusion is
safe and effective,” one officer wrote, rectal hydration could be used as a form of behavior control.
Others were deprived of sleep, which could involve staying awake for
as long as 180 hours—sometimes standing, sometimes with their hands
shackled above their heads.
Some detainees were forced to walk around naked, or shackled with
their hands above their heads. In other instances, naked detainees were
hooded and dragged up and down corridors while subject to physical
abuse.
Sexual Assault by Interrogators. Officers in the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program included
individuals who the committee said, “among other things, had engaged in
inappropriate detainee interrogations, had workplace anger management
issues, and had reportedly admitted to sexual assault.”
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