{"id":183384,"date":"2014-12-09T20:34:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T01:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2014\/12\/09\/we-finally-got-the-torture-report-it-is-actually-a-bit-worse-than-i-expected\/"},"modified":"2014-12-09T20:34:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-10T01:34:00","slug":"we-finally-got-the-torture-report-it-is-actually-a-bit-worse-than-i-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2014\/12\/09\/we-finally-got-the-torture-report-it-is-actually-a-bit-worse-than-i-expected\/","title":{"rendered":"We Finally Got the Torture Report.  It is Actually a Bit Worse than I Expected."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Understand that we are talking about an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.intelligence.senate.gov\/study2014\/sscistudy1.pdf\">executive summary<\/a> (PDF) that spans 525 pages(!), and I have not read it in detail.<\/p>\n<p>But here are the basic points from the report:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA&#8217;s use of &#8220;enhanced interrogation techniques&#8221; was not an  effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining co-operation from  detainees.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA&#8217;s justification for the use of its enhanced  interrogation techniques rested on inaccurate claims of their  effectiveness.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The interrogations of CIA detainees were brutal and far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The conditions of confinement for CIA detainees were harsher than the CIA had represented to policymakers and others.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information to the  Department of Justice, impeding a proper legal analysis of the CIA&#8217;s  Detention and Interrogation Program.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA has actively avoided or impeded congressional oversight of the program.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA impeded effective White House oversight and decision-making.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA&#8217;s operation and management of the program  complicated, and in some cases impeded, the national security missions  of other executive branch agencies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA impeded oversight by the CIA&#8217;s Office of Inspector General.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA coordinated the release of classified  information to the media, including inaccurate information concerning  the effectiveness of the CIA&#8217;s enhanced interrogation techniques.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA was unprepared as it began operating its  Detention and Interrogation Program more than six months after being  granted detention authorities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA&#8217;s management and operation of its Detention and  Interrogation Program was deeply flawed throughout the program&#8217;s  duration, particularly so in 2002 and early 2003.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">Two contract psychologists devised the CIA&#8217;s enhanced  interrogation techniques and played a central role in the operation,  assessments, and management of the CIA&#8217;s Detention and Interrogation  Program. By 2005, the CIA had overwhelmingly outsourced operations  related to the program.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">CIA detainees were subjected to coercive interrogation  techniques that had not been approved by the Department of Justice or  had not been authorized by CIA headquarters.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA did not conduct a comprehensive or accurate  accounting of the number of individuals it detained, and held  individuals who did not meet the legal standard for detention. The CIA&#8217;s  claims about the number of detainees held and subjected to its enhanced  interrogation techniques were inaccurate.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA failed to adequately evaluate the effectiveness of its enhanced interrogation techniques.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA rarely reprimanded or held personnel accountable  for serious and significant violations, inappropriate activities, and  systemic and individual management failures.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA marginalised and ignored numerous internal  critiques, criticisms, and objections concerning the operation and  management of the CIA&#8217;s Detention and Interrogation Program. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA&#8217;s Detention and Interrogation Program was  inherently unsustainable and had effectively ended by 2006 due to unauthorized press disclosures, reduced cooperation from other nations,  and legal and oversight concerns.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: blue;\">The CIA&#8217;s Detention and Interrogation Program damaged the  United States&#8217; standing in the world, and resulted in other significant  monetary and non-monetary costs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>First, I curse the people who jade me agree with John McCain, when he said that he suspected that, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/livewire\/john-mccain-damning-speech-torture-report\">The  objection of those same officials to the release of this report is  really focused on that disclosure: torture&#8217;s ineffectiveness<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is the nature of secret organizations to misuse the classification process to avoid embarrassment and for bureaucratic and budgetary infighting.<\/p>\n<p>BTW, John &#8220;I Opposed Torture, I Pinkie Swear&#8221; Brennan is saying that we should the ignore this document, because <a href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/edblog\/cia-torture-john-brennan\">torture really worked<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He keeps slicing that bullsh%$, and Barack Obama keeps a swallowing it.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some things have been observed by people who have read the report in more detail than I have been able to yet: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/livewire\/senate-cia-torture-report-realsed\">Gratuitous rectal feedings<\/a> (This is <b>not<\/b> a typo)<\/li>\n<li>That Jose Rodriguez, the official who ordered that tapes of the torture be destroyed, also <a href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/fivepoints\/cia-torture-report\">ordered his subordinates not raise legal issues to his superiors<\/a>. (Why is this guy not in jail?&nbsp; This is clear obstruction of justice)<\/li>\n<li>Psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, while being paid $1800\/day, were the most strenuous supporters of torture, accused people not torturing were, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/12\/10\/world\/senate-torture-report-shows-cia-infighting-over-interrogation-program.html\">Running a \u2018sissified\u2019 interrogation program<\/a>. (Why are these guys still accredited by the APA?)<\/li>\n<li>The CIA ignored recommendations that certain agents who went overboard be disciplined, almost certainly because they did not want a disgruntled agent blowing the whistle to Congress or the <i>New York Times<\/i>.<\/li>\n<li>Unsurprisingly, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2014\/12\/08\/world\/does-torture-work-the-cias-claims-and-what-the-committee-found.html\">none of the CIA cases for torture held up under scrutiny<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/articles\/2014\/12\/09\/the-most-gruesome-moments-in-the-cia-torture-report.html\">Threats of violence against detainees, sexual assaults, and lying to the President<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>The management of the program was so f%$#ed up that, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/fivepoints\/cia-torture-report\">The CIA once used harsh interrogation tactics on two of its own informants<\/a>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note the Obama had to be dragged kicking and screaming into releasing this report.<\/p>\n<p>For all of his assertions that the President wants to ensure that this will not happen again, the people who did this, people who were rewarded with promotions and prestige, will suffer no consequences.<\/p>\n<p>We will torture again, and we will do this soon, because people in senior positions at the US state security apparatus are in those positions <b>because<\/b> they either tortured or facilitated torture.<\/p>\n<p>Fire Brennan.&nbsp; He supports torture, and he lied to Congress.<\/p>\n<p>Fire Clapper.&nbsp; He lied to congress.<\/p>\n<p>Pull the security clearances of those involved in the torture program, particularly Jose Rodriguez, for moral turpitude.<\/p>\n<p>Get the contractors out of the intelligence committee.&nbsp; They are a cancer on an already dysfunctional culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Understand that we are talking about an executive summary (PDF) that spans 525 pages(!), and I have not read it in detail. But here are the basic points from the report: The CIA&#8217;s use of &#8220;enhanced interrogation techniques&#8221; was not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining co-operation from detainees. The CIA&#8217;s justification for &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1142,998,1032,1051,1168,1173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-barack-obama","category-congress","category-crimes-against-humanity","category-hypocrisy","category-torture","category-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}