[Article] US Senate report condemns CIA brutality

[TheMohammadman]

Article 1:

A US Senate report on harsh techniques employed to interrogate 'terror' suspects post-9/11 attacks has condemned the CIA for brutality and deception.

The heavily redacted 480-page report - published on Tuesday - covered the treatment of around 100 suspects rounded up by US operatives between 2001 and 2009 on terrorism charges.

The full 6,200-page report remains classified. Ahead of the publication of the report, the US had tightened security at its embassies across the globe.

Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein said the techniques used by the CIA were "far more brutal than people were led to believe" and that "coercive techniques regulalry resulted in fabricated information" from detainees.

"There are those who will seize upon the report and say see what the Americans did? And they will try to use it to justify evil actions or incite more violence," said Feinstein. "We can't prevent that, but history will judge us by our commitment to a just society governed by law and the willingness to face an ugly truth and say never again."

The report said harsh CIA interrogations produced much bad information, including a fake story about al-Qaeda recruiting African-Americans. It said the interrogations were ineffective and never produced information that led to foiling of "imminent terror threat".

The report followed a five-year investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee into the programme. The CIA maintained the harsh techniques were effective and foiled terrorist plots.

The report said the CIA misled the public and policymakers about the programme, much of which was developed, operated and assessed by two outside contractors.

Reacting to the report, US President Barack Obama said the CIA actions "were contrary to our values".

"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," he said in a statement.

The enhanced interrogation programme was dismantled by Obama in 2009.

Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane, reporting from outside the White House in Washington DC, said the aim of the report was to guarantee that torture was never used again in any sort of covert programme.

"But it is not exactly clear why the Senate has that confidence. Remember, no one was prosecuted for the programme," said Culhane.

Another Al Jazeera correspondent Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Capitol Hill in Washington DC, said it was unclear what Congress would do next.

"It is hard to say what Congress will do, because Congress had plenty of opportunities to do something and yet did not," said Halkett.

Article 2:

The US has heightened security at its embassies across the globe as it prepares to release a long-delayed report into the CIA's interrogation of suspects following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The report, scheduled to be released on Tuesday, will be the first public account of the CIA's use of torture on detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia.

"There are some indications that the release of the report could lead to a greater risk that is posed to US facilities and individuals all around the world," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

"The administration has taken the prudent steps to ensure that the proper security precautions are in place at US facilities around the globe," Earnest added.

On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry asked Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee that prepared the report, to "consider" the timing of its release.

The White House, however, said it would be "difficult to imagine" there being an ideal time to make the report's summary public.

'Heavily redacted'

The heavily redacted 480-page report is understood to cover the treatment of around 100 suspects rounded up by US operatives between 2001 and 2009 on terrorism charges.

The full 6,200-page report remains classified.

According to many US officials who have read the report, the document alleges that the harsh interrogations failed to produce unique and life-saving intelligence.

The suspects were subjected to waterboarding, stress positions and other harsh methods, in a series of interrogations either at CIA-run secret prisons or the Guantanamo Bay US military base in Cuba.

It also asserts that the CIA lied about the covert programme to officials at the White House, the Justice Department and congressional oversight committees.

Talking about the contents of the report in August, US President Barack Obama said, "We tortured some folks," as he sought to distance himself from policies enacted during the era of former President George W Bush.

The enhanced interrogation programme was dismantled by Obama in 2009.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/12/us-alert-ahead-torture-report-release-201412915521624425.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/12/us-releases-cia-torture-report-2014129122456718264.html

This video form the Guardian is an example of one of the types of torture methods being used: Force Feeding

[Aladeen]

Yah I don't have an issue with the list of people they have water boarded. Seems like better treatment than they deserve.

[-SN-]

Yah I don't have an issue with the list of people they have water boarded. Seems like better treatment than they deserve.

They managed to torture their own people too.

http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/12/9/7361195/cia-torture-report-informants/in/7125250

[nuckin_futz]

Yah I don't have an issue with the list of people they have water boarded. Seems like better treatment than they deserve.

I don't think anyone takes issue with Al Qaeda officials being water boarded. That's not the point of this report. The point is the CIA regularly lied to everyone about what they were doing and acted as a rogue agency.

People are either OK with that or they have a problem with it.

Some of the highlights are as follows.

CIA mislead President Bush. Largely keeping him in the dark regarding their practices. Kept VP Cheney in the dark, as well as Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld.

Regularly mislead congress about their actions.

Regularly collected intelligence from detainees who were tortured to the point of hallucinating.

Put a Jr officer in charge of one of these facilities. (In the event of their actions becoming known it's probably easier to discredit a Jr officer and chuck him under the bus)

Let people with known violent tendencies and behavioral issues conduct interigations.

Failed to keep proper records of what they were doing.

The rest is from a CNN article. ......

In its most graphic details, an executive summary of the report finds that conditions for detainees at top secret overseas interrogation sites were much harsher than the CIA has previously admitted. It finds that high value detainees were subjected to methods like waterboarding and sleep deprivation "in near nonstop fashion for days or weeks at a time."

"In many cases, the most aggressive techniques were used immediately, in combination and nonstop," the report says. "Sleep deprivation involved keeping detainees awake for up to 180 hours, usually standing or in painful stress positions, at times with their hands shackled above their heads."

In one facility, a detainee was said to have died of hypothermia after being held "partially nude" and chained to a concrete floor, while at other times, naked prisoners were hooded and dragged up and down corridors while being slapped and punched.

Multiple CIA detainees subjected to the techniques suffered from hallucinations, paranoia, insomnia and tried to mutilate themselves, the report says.

On one occasion, high-value al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah became completely unresponsive after a period of intense waterboarding. He had "bubbles rising through his open full mouth," the report says.

Meanwhile, the confessed mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, was subjected to a "series of near drownings."

The report finds that at least 119 detainees went through the CIA detention program and at least 26 were held "wrongfully," partly because there was no information to justify their detention.

Previously, the CIA had said only 100 prisoners had been processed through the program, Democratic Senate aides said.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/09/politics/cia-torture-report/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Regarding the first bolded part. What kind of actionable intelligence are you going to get from a dead man?

[Aladeen]

They managed to torture their own people too.

http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/12/9/7361195/cia-torture-report-informants/in/7125250

Fair enough, I suppose this is why there a courts so people can't be punished without reason... you have to take the fun out of everything

[Mr. Ambien]

They managed to torture their own people too.

http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/12/9/7361195/cia-torture-report-informants/in/7125250

[riffraff]

Sucks to be those guys.....

[Dazzle]

Yah I don't have an issue with the list of people they have water boarded. Seems like better treatment than they deserve.

You're missing the point badly.

If they could do that to him, they could easily do that to you.

As others have pointed out, this is like out of the movies. Scripts often have CIA as some rogue organization that looks after its own interest. This isn't too far from that. CIA is a very corrupt organization.

[nucklehead]

What the hells going on? First the supreme court refuses to cut BP any slack in the billion dollar judgement against them. Then the competetion bureau is given the green light to seriously investigate the gap in fuel prices between us and the U.S. And now this???? Somethings wrong in the world today.

[Tortorella's Rant]

Most of these guys such as those in Guantanamo are not even charged with a crime? They were/are just being held without any sort of charge against them thus no trial and ultimately tortured indefinitely.

[freebuddy]

Catherine Thompson TPMLivewire

McCain Gives Stirring Speech Against Torture On Senate Floor

12/9/2014 12:24 PM EDT

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Tuesday gave a stirring speech against the torture of detainees after the 9/11 attacks, following the release of a Senate report that found the CIA's interrogation methods were harsher than the agency led lawmakers and the public to believe and did not produce valuable information.

McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said on the Senate floor that his personal experience has shown abused prisoners offer up more bad than good, or even deliberately misleading, intelligence.

"Most of all, I know the use of torture compromises that which most distinguishes us from our enemies," he said. "Our belief that all people, even captured enemies, possess basic human rights which are protected by international conventions, [which] the United States not only joined but for the most part, authored."

McCain did acknowledge that the CIA resorted to extreme interrogation techniques with the goal of protecting Americans, but argued the ends didn't justify those means.

"I dispute wholeheartedly it was right for [CIA officers] to use these methods, which this report makes clear were neither in the best interest of justice, nor our security, nor the ideals we have sacrificed so much blood and treasure to defend," he said.

Many of McCain's Republican colleagues opposed the release of the report. Incoming Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) denounced it as harmful to national security, while McCain's ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called the timing of its release "politically motivated."

But the Arizona Republican said he believes officials who object to the release of the Senate report just don't want the finding that so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" produced no helpful intelligence to finally come to light.

"I suspect the objection of those same officials to the release of this report is really focused on that disclosure: torture's ineffectiveness," McCain said.

"We gave up much in the expectation that torture would make us safer," he added. "Too much."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/john-mccain-damning-speech-torture-report

[freebuddy]

U.N. investigator calls for prosecuting Bush-era torture crimes

GENEVA | Tue Dec 9, 2014 1:50pm EST

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - A U.N. human rights expert said a report that the U.S. Senate released on Tuesday revealed a "clear policy orchestrated at a high level within the Bush administration" and called for prosecution of U.S. officials who ordered crimes, including torture, against detainees.

Ben Emmerson, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, said senior Bush administration officials who planned and authorized crimes must be prosecuted, along with as CIA and other U.S. government officials who committed torture such as waterboarding.

"As a matter of international law, the U.S. is legally obliged to bring those responsible to justice," Emmerson said in a statement issued in Geneva. "The U.S. Attorney General is under a legal duty to bring criminal charges against those responsible."

The CIA routinely misled the White House and Congress over its harsh interrogation program for terrorism suspects, and its methods, which included waterboarding, were more brutal than the agency acknowledged, a Senate report said on Tuesday.

Emmerson, a British international lawyer serving in the independent post since 2010, welcomed the belated release of the report, commending the Obama administration "for resisting domestic pressure to suppress these important findings".

"It is now time to take action. The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today's report must be brought to justice, and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes," he said.

International law prohibits granting immunity to public officials who have engaged in acts of torture, he said.

"The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorized at a high level within the U.S. government provides no excuse whatsoever. Indeed, it reinforces the need for criminal accountability," Emmerson said.

Torture is an international crime and perpetrators may be prosecuted by any other country to which they might travel, he added.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee, which reviewed the U.S. record in upholding civil and political rights in March, called for the release of the report then.

Critics, including independent experts on that U.N. rights panel, say the CIA program set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States included harsh interrogation methods that constituted torture banned by international law.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Larry King)

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0JN25020141209?irpc=932

[Lockout Casualty]

Leave it to Fox News to make excuses for torture.

CIA torture: Fox News says 'the US is awesome' – and torture report is just 'one last shot at Bush'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PgIKAukheo

[etsen3]

It's OK guys, calm down. The US is allowed to break the rules and moral standards it imposes on the rest of the world, remember?

[freebuddy]

Answers to leading questions under torture naturally tell us nothing about the beliefs of the accused; but they are good evidence for the beliefs of the accusers.

― C.S. Lewis

[Ghostsof1915]

Reminds me of this.

[freebuddy]

Industrial band Skinny Puppy demand $666,000 after music is used in Guantánamo torture

Band file claim for $666,000 and express outrage at their music being used 'as an actual weapon against somebody' in the US detention centre

Sean Michaels

A Canadian electro-industrial band is asking for thousands of dollars in royalties after learning that the US military used their music to torture prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. Skinny Puppy claim they filed a $666,000 (£368,000) bill with America'd defence department.

"We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an actual weapon against somebody," keyboardist Cevin Key recently told CTV News. "I am not only against the fact they're using our music to inflict damage on somebody else but they are doing it without anybody's permission."

Skinny Puppy first learned about the alleged use of their music from a former Guantánamo Bay guard, who was "affected or offended" by the detention camp's practices. Although the Vancouver-born band originally planned to use their new album cover as an invoice to the Pentagon, they have now received "coaching" and apparently sent an actual physical document to government officials. They are even considering a lawsuit.

"We're not making a point looking for financial gain," Key underlined. But nor is the group entirely surprised that their songs were used as sonic punishment for Gitmo's detainees: "We thought this would end up happening, in a weird way," he admitted in an interview with the Phoenix New Times. "Because we make unsettling music, we can see it being used in a weird way. But it doesn't sit right with us."

Skinny Puppy aren't the only group whose music has reportedly been used to torture terrorist suspects and "enemy combatants" at the United States' base in Cuba. According to earlier reports, interrogators have employed songs by Metallica, Rage Against The Machine, Queen, Eminem, and even David Gray. "It's an issue that no one wants to deal with," Gray said in 2008. "It's shocking that there isn't more of an outcry."