The enhanced interrogation report makes you sick to hear. The fact that Congress and the President were lied to is inexcusable–criminal even.
The report cost $40 million dollars and took years to complete. Was it wise to release the report? I guess it had to be. Are we now under greater terrorist threat? Apparently. Should those who broke the law be prosecuted?
Probably. This report is distressing and not reflective of America’s finest hour.
Will we also see from the blog-mistress links to rebuttals of the report by the CIA and the Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee?
I don’t know. How about the speech given by Senator McCain? I figure those who think this behavior is acceptable can find links on their own.
Not a big fan of torture being used on anyone. I am not a fan of McCain but I consider him an expert on the subject of torture. I also consider Moe Davis an expert. He resigned his commission over the subject.
Moe will be interviewed by Al Jezeera tomorrow night at 7. He will be on Anderson Cooper tonight about 8:10.
New York Times, 26 May 2002, by Todd S. Purdom:
“I have no question in my mind that had it not been for 9/11 — and I’d do anything if it hadn’t happened — that it would have been business as usual,” said Senator Diane Feinstein, Democrat from California. “It took that real attack, I think, to kind of shiver our timbers enough to let us know that the threat is profound, that we have to do some things that historically we have not wanted to do to protect ourselves.”
Hypocrisy. She and other Congress critters sought to have the counter-terrorist agencies transforms themselves from source recruiters and investigators into dogs of war who could act to prevent what everyone feared to be more attacks against Americans at home and abroad. Now she wants to claim innocence and push the blame on those shadow warriors who answered the call and were trying to keep the rest of us alive. To hell with her and her staff of clueless putzes. Next time, let them go to the hot spots of the world and do the dirty jobs, with the thought that, if you do not succeed, more innocents will die.
I cannot believe the rule of law GOP – instead of denouncing torturing (sorry, anal feeding and 7 days of sleep deprivation are torture) people – some of them innocent – they are complaining about the timing of the release of the report and the conclusions. The CIA kept GWB in the dark – I do wonder if Cheney knew.
Talk about talking points and coverup! This is America – and I am ashamed that we treated these people like this – because I know that information acquired due to torture is very unreliable. I am also sorry to say that a beheading could be considered more humane.
Moe Davis is indeed an expert on torture — as it applies to the field of prosecution. That’s fine, and I tend to agree with him that “torture” doesn’t fly in the court room. But, unless he tells me differently, Moe never had the field responsibility to track down, capture, and put a terrorist out of business, all the while trying to get him to tell you the when, where, how, and who of the next terrorist attack — and do it quickly. After 9/11, and Gitmo aside, our warriors were not sent out there to conduct tidy little detective operations where we all sat in a court room to see justice done. Because of the nature of the threat, they were sent out there to stop it before it struck again. That is not a clean job. It is a dirty job of preempt, disrupt, and destroy. It is also a dangerous job. Thankfully for the lives of those shadow warriors we now have surveillance and armed drones and the best Special Forces in the world to do some of the dirtiest work. We kill terrorists without benefit of trial, also contrary to our historical standards.. But I don’t see Feinstein and crowd issuing a condemnatory report on that current program as opposed to a program that was stopped almost a decade ago.
Pat — You see anal feeding and sleep deprivation. I see a man and woman, hand in hand, jumping in final desperation from an upper story of the World Trade Center. I also see the face of the waterboarded bastard who planned their demise. And then I hear the terrible screams of that American contractor in Iraq who was beheaded for the video cameras by the prick who headed Al-Quaeda-in-Iraq at that time. And finally I see the death face of that same prick, after our rocket had killed him —sans reading of Miranda rights and sans benefit of trial by jury.
ABC News reported:
Six former Directors and Deputy Directors of the CIA fired back at the Senate Intelligence Committee with a vehemence almost never seen in the intelligence world.
The former CIA leaders — including George Tenet, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden — blasted the Senate report as “one-sided and marred with errors” and called it “a poorly done and partisan attack on the agency that has done the most to protect America after the 9/11 attacks.”
Their 2,500-word rebuttal was posted as an op-ed on the Wall Street Journal website once the report was released. The former intel chiefs are also launching their own website to respond to the attacks on CIA’s post-9/11 activities.
The former directors argue that the CIA interrogation program “saved thousands of lives” by helping lead to the capture of top al Qaeda operatives and disrupting their plotting.
“A powerful example of the interrogation program’s importance is the information obtained from Abu Zubaydah, a senior al Qaeda operative, and from Khalid Sheik Muhammed, known as KSM, the 9/11 mastermind,” the former directors write. “We are convinced that both would not have talked absent the interrogation program.”
As for Osama bin Laden, the former directors outline the steps that led the Navy SEALs to the Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
“The CIA never would have focused on the individual who turned out to be bin Laden’s personal courier without the detention and interrogation program,” they write. “So the bottom line is this: The interrogation program formed an essential part of the foundation from which the CIA and the U.S. military mounted the bin Laden operation.”
@Wolve I see that statement that she is endorsing torture. To imply that takes a quantum leap. The fact that the White House and Congress was never given a hint until sometime after 2006 is simply not honest. Who authorized unilateral decisions of that magnitude to be made?
However, I wasn’t surprised by the report. Moe has been consistently saying the same thing.
Torture is a dark stain on American honor.
@Pat.Herve
I would bet Cheney knew and GWB did not know.
@Wolve
The vote to pursue the report was 14 to 1.
Part of the problem right there is that all of a sudden the difference in our soldiers, our special forces and the CIA is blurred. Who answers to whom and where is the accountability?
What did the torture really find? I defer to Senator McCain on this issue.
@Wolve
If you want to kill the prick, just kill him. Don’t torture him. That diminishes us as a people and makes up too much like the Japanese prison camp mentality.
We didn’t treat our enemies like that in previous conflicts.
@Cargosquid
What do you really think they are going to say? Seriously Cargo.
Unfortunately, Moon, if you just kill them instead of capturing and squeezing them, you do not get the intelligence on their pals or on the next time their group intends to hit us — which is the real purpose of it all. Get squeamish about the nastiness of war, and you spend too much time wiping up blood and consoling survivors. What you see in that Feinstein report is peanuts compared to what has been done to Americans in the past. You really don’t want to know how Bill Buckley, the one-time COS in Beirut, died in captivity. We do this Feinstein crap to our own shadow troops in the field, present as well as past; and maybe the next time we need them they will play a PC war. That may well cost all of us. It is no fricking video game out there.
As for the fine old American way….. In 1948-1951, Japan buried the ashes of 105,400 people who had died from November 1944 to August 1945 and especially in the awfulness of 9-10 March 1945. Those people were killed by the American B-29’s firebombing Tokyo. That is apart from the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am not criticizing those decisons by American commanders. Just saying that one might want to put some proportionality to what one sees in the Feinstein report. And ask yourself “Why now?” when the program is long gone and we are now at war with the jihadists in ISIS (as well as al-Qaeda) who rape and torture and behead as a matter of course? They would cut Feinstein’s throat in a minute, and she wants to lay a delayed haymaker on the troops trying to keep that knife from her throat?
I don’t approve of the firebombing either. We cooked over 200,000 Germans also. They were civilians.
How reliable is squeezing? According to most people I have talked to in the “business” it really provides very unreliable information.
If we are a nation of laws, we don’t torture. No freaking wonder they are cutting off heads after some of the stuff I have heard on TV today.
Unilateral decisions were made by not many people, without the approval of the White House or the Congress. I have a real problem with that. I basically think George Bush is a decent human being. I can’t believe he would approve some of the things I have heard today.
@Moon-howler
Seriously. And what makes them wrong?
We didn’t treat our enemies like the previous conflict? I’m assuming that you mean WWII?
Says who? We didn’t have embedded reporters in the field. All war reporting was STRICTLY controlled. Furthermore, the nature of this war is very different. There are no front lines and no traditional targets. This is a spy war, primarily.
Why do you defer to McCain on what we found over the CIA directors? Because he was tortured? THAT makes him the right man to go to? That gives him special knowledge about what we got?
I say that the Congress has to describe exactly what they think is torture. Then, put it into law that no one can do this. EVER. Decide what limits our forces are under. And then get the President to sign it. And the LIVE WITH IT, when people die.
Personally, since I know people who went through SERE school (Search, evasion, Rescue, escape) school, and they were ALL waterboarded there…. I don’t have problem with that enhanced interrogation. Khalid Sheik whatisface seems to be quite well.
But if Congress wants to get rid of it…then we lose it at SERE school too. Less trained personnel. I guess we better stop having Hollywood make those movies where the good guys get rough with the bad guys and question them too roughly. Jack Bauer will just have to forego that questioning.
McCain lived as a POW for over 5 years. I would say that makes him more knowledgeable about the mindset of how torture works and doesn’t work.
There were embedded reporters and photographers. Granted, they were military but at some point, the war was over. Thus, the control was over. Additionally, Americans prided themselves on their humanitarianism. That was one of the justifications for the atomic bomb, btw–how horrible our POWs were treated by the Japanese. My father actually worked with POWs stateside for a while. He knew a little German from college and so they made him an interpreter for a while. Go figure. POWs were used…they were used to get troops ships safely across the Atlantic. Not sure about Japanese POWs. I know we didn’t torture the German and Italian ones.
I have a problem with enhanced interrogation. If there wasn’t a problem with it, we wouldn’t have a cutesy name for it. We would call it like it was. My problem with all of this is that neither Congress or the White House had approved it. It was illegal. Those seem like good enough reasons to me. Then there are the humanitarian reasons…to quote Shep Smith: We don’t F-ing torture.
What makes you think McCain knows what he is talking about when it comes to actual intelligence collection, intelligence analysis , and overseas field operations? No more than Feinstein and her staffers.
I am not so sure all that torture actually saved lives. Naturally the people dishing it out are going to say it was invaluable. I think you have to wonder about people who do that for a living.
And the LIVE WITH IT, when people die.
I mean, that when people die because of limitations placed upon us by Congress, etc…hold THEM accountable. Demand that they resign. Shun them. I’m tired of all these Congress people being cocooned away from any disasters that they are responsible for.
How do you prove cause and effect? Give me an example.
I guarantee you that they would be cutting off heads regardless.
It was my impression that torture was illegal. What I heard yesterday sounded like torture.
We have no real way of knowing about those heads now, do we?
Shep Smith needs to get his prissy little ass off of FOX News and join the CIA. Then they can send him to work counter-terrorist ops in Afghanistan where we will have only a small number of American troops left in the country. “F-ing” will become a frequent part of his vocabulary. Even more so if they sent him to Northern Nigeria so he could play footsie with Boko Haram.
Frigging armchair quarterbacks.
So people who oppose torture are prissy-assed?
It appears that the report is history. Are you implying that the report isn’t true and that people didn’t do what is charged or are you saying people who oppose the CIA enhanced interrogation are not dealing with reality?
So Senate Democrats spent $40 million dollars and took years to complete a report on CIA enhanced interrogation…. without interviewing ONE single person in the CIA? The report is thousands of pages of crap we already knew. What new information came out of this report?
Then Democrats release said ‘report’, which contained information that was already known for the most part, after acknowledging that it will put Americans at risk? Why? Just wait for the next ISIS video with them cutting off an Americans head mentioning this ‘report’. What a great recruiting tool that would be for the “JV” team.
Does anyone else see why Democrats have suffered historical defeats in the last two election cycles? Stuff like this…
Wrong. The Senate Democrats didn’t spend $40 million dollars. The Senate Intelligence Committee voted to study the CIA enhanced interrogation program by a 14 to 1 vote. Are you telling me everyone on that committee was a Democrat but one?
As for historical defeats, I think you overlooked the fact that there is a Democratic president. Do you call that a defeat?
Your logic is all twisted this morning, Jackson. Let’s take the politics out of most of that. Perhaps there is a discussion about torture in there if you can cast aside all the right wing stuff you have managed to absorb since yesterday.
Actually, most of us didn’t KNOW all of that.
@Wolve
I am thinking about the fire bombings in Japan and Germany. Absolutely not America’s finest hour. However, it wasn’t done as an intelligence matter. There’s your difference.
It was done to civilian populations for the most part. I am assuming it was someone’s plan to end the war…carry the pain to the civilian population. Make them squeal and they will beg to end the war. Poor timing. The people had no power then.
Had Germany not surrendered in the spring of 1945, would the atomic bomb have been used on that country? We can only speculate.
I still won’t forgive FDR for not even telling Harry Truman about the atomic bomb. Truman certainly did well considering he was one of the most unprepared vice presidents to ever ascend to the presidency.
@Moon-howler
Your right, let me correct that…
The Democrat led Senate Intelligence Committee spent $40 million and years to come up with the 6,000 page report on a decade old CIA enhanced interrogation program (which they all knew about at the time and did nothing to stop)…. without interviewing a single person in the CIA.
I believe that it’s things like this that have led to them suffering historical losses, and not just in the House and Senate. You can throw Governor losses and state representative losses in there as well.
Except Virginia where there is a Democratic governor and two Democratic Senators. The reason there aren’t more state officials and Congress members has a lot to do with the gerrymandering that went on. There are 6-8 state senators serving Prince William County alone. My congressman also serves the Northern Neck and Newport News. 🙄
I have seen no proof that “they” knew all the time. Many started learning that something was going on in 2006 about the same time GWB started learning. I think the onus was on them to find out what happened, who knew and exactly who was responsible. They too saw a train-wreck. This is American history. It cannot be swept under the rug, any more than you can deny the fire bombings of Dresden or Tokyo and other Japanese cities.
VA was somewhat of an anomaly Moon, do you want me to list all of the other states and their losses?
Wrong. They did know, Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats were briefed on September 4 2002 on EITs including use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah, background on authorities, and a description of the particular EITs that had been employed. More top Democrats were briefed in 2003 and even more in 2006. After each and every briefing they did NOTHING to stop any of it.
Again Ill ask, what new information came out of this report that we didn’t already know?
They knew, as well as the White House, that releasing this report NOW would endanger Americans and they still did it. Why? What purpose does it server? The program is over 10 years old, they HAD to release it now?
Saying that someone knew and saying that someone approved are two different things. What do you want 3 democrats to do about it? You are aware that all information relating to interrogations was classified at some point? Nancy Pelosi knowing something, if in fact, she did know, isn’t the same as John Q Public knowing.
Tell me again, what is it you wanted the Democrats to do to stop it?
Do you feel that using enhanced interrogation methods on detainees is a part of our national history? Do you think the American people should know about it?
As for Virginia being an anomaly, why do you say it is an anomaly? We have had that kind of breakdown for a fairly long time. It isn’t an anomaly for Virginia.
Perhaps you have the proof that all those top Democrats knew in 2002? How about the Republicans? Which ones of them knew?
If it wasn’t released now do you think it would ever be released? What would have become of that report? why is releasing it now a problem? Would there be a better time to release it?
Tell us why the release was delayed.
Wolve is right that we’re a nation of hypocrites who want to see “semething done” after 9/11, then want to pretend that we had no idea that something like torture would ever happen even while we enabled it.
At the same time, it should be noted that the CIA is and has been out of control. They do this stuff, cover it up, lie about gaining good intel from these practices, cast FUD on everything, and then actually hack into members of Congress’ computers to see what’s being discovered about them.
I think that the big picture here is that it was wrong to politicize the CIA and intelligence circa 2001-2002. That nice Mr. Cheney was involved in this effort.
I don’t object so much to the fact that the CIA and others made errors in judgement in that climate. I object that at the highest levels of government, we work to obscure the facts of what happened, and we impede our ability to learn lessons and to do better next time.
I don’t accept the argument that we should suppress public knowledge of what’s real, because it might “infame passion” about the retarded cultures of the world. Any more than I think we should fear publishing cartoons they don’t like. To me “the terrorists win” if we fear them.
@Moon-howler
If it wasn’t released now I do think it would be, why wouldn’t it be?
Why is releasing it now a problem? Let me ask you something Moon, how many immediate family members and friends to you have currently serving in Afghanistan?
Ill ask this question again… what new information have we learned from this report that we didn’t already know?
It depends on who WE is. That is the only answer you will get. Most Americans really didn’t know much about it.
I have several friends serving in Afghanistan. I have no relatives. Do you not think most of them know about what was done to their countrymen? They knew more than the American people. Bad news travels fast.
I can certainly understand why you would want this brushed under the rug if you are a new-con. It really is a red badge of shame.
The President didn’t know the full extent of what was going on at the time. Most Americans didn’t. You are aware that much of the information was classified?
When you have liked the information to be released to the American [public? My guess is never. It really is nothing to be proud of.
Lots has been done to shut people up. Look at what happened to Colonel Davis. Ask him how many times his court case has been rescheduled?
Yes, you have proof of it as well. Just look at any of the reports on EITs that came out in 2009.
How many Republicans knew (in 2002 I assume your asking about)? 2 – Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan)
How many Democrats knew? 4 – Pelosi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.)
Not only did nobody do anything to stop the CIA from using EITs but these members voted and encouraged the CIA continue to use EITs as well as fund it. It’s even been said that some of these members even asked the CIA to push even harder and go farther with EITs.
So your saying that it doesn’t matter what NEW information was learned by the release of this report. That the main thing is that it brought up EITs again in general because “most Americans really didn’t know much about it”?
Hmmm…. when would I have liked the information to be released (even though most of it has been out there since 2009)? Though question…. How about after we get our troops out of Afghanistan!!! That would be a good time for starters.
My family members and friends face enough danger day in and day out. They don’t need this to endanger their live even more.
Let’s put this another way. If there is nothing wrong with what went on, what do we have to fear? If it wasn’t torture, why do you fear for your friends and family?
Of course the enemy knows about it.
This is not something that can be hidden.
The President is correct. Torture does undermine the moral authority of the United States.
Seriously Moon? What do we have to fear and why do I fear for my friends and family?
Have you not been watching the news today?
“The US intelligence agencies predict that the publication of a Senate report on the use of torture on terror suspects by the CIA will cause “violence and deaths” abroad, with security beefed up at US foreign installations.”
http://rt.com/usa/212303-cia-torture-report-violence/
U.S. forces on ‘high alert’ after release CIA interrogation report
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/us-prepares-to-protect-citizens-facilities-abroad-ahead-of-cia-interrogation-report/2014/12/08/3fdc24b4-7f23-11e4-9f38-95a187e4c1f7_story.html
Not to mention that the White House, as well as Diane Feinstein, have acknowledged that releasing this report will endanger Americans lives.
I never said there was nothing wrong with what went on BTW. My main concern is what release it NOW?
Let me put it another way to you… why do you think the report was released now, and could it have been released later on?
It was released now because Dianne Feinstein was concerned it would never be released if it wasn’t released now.
If it weren’t the CIA report it would have been something else. I don’t have a problem with it being released now. At some point, it would have been released. Do you think the reaction would be better ten years from now?
Full disclosure here… my father-in-law retired from the military early summer 2001. I had met and hung out with many of his co-workers at various events. I went to his retirement party that summer, then a few months later 9/11 happened. The plane hit where his office use to be. Almost everyone I met and talked with at his retirement party or at other functions died that day. Most of his co-workers that I met were burned alive, others died instantly and their remains were only partially recovered.
Only one person that I met lived, he was in the hospital for weeks but he lived. I heard first hand from him what happened that day. Hearing his story of when the plane hit, how he was burned and disoriented and how he heard the screams of his friends and co-workers was horrible.
He even described how he somehow was still in his office chair, he looked behind him and the floor was missing when he looked down into the floor below all he could see was nothing but body parts and disfigured people burning and screaming. He couldn’t tell who was burning but there were body parts all around him on fire. He assumes some of the body parts and flesh that were on fire were passengers from the plane and some were his friends. Lucky for him someone pulled him out of his chair and carried him out, covered in blood, bits of flesh, debris and bone and partially on fire himself.
My father-in-law spent the next several weeks going to the funerals of all of his friends and co-workers.
So do I personally think that we did anything wrong with EITs? Not one bit. To be quite honest with you I wouldn’t have cared if we pulled their fingernails out one by one or worse. Does that make me a hypocrite when it comes to ‘rule of law’? Yep, but at least I will admit it when it comes to this.
Fast forward to today… my family and friends are serving in active combat zones in Afghanistan as a direct result of 9/11. Senate Democrats and the White House knew that if they release this report it will put my family and friends lives in danger. Why? Because politics of course…. F them.
I could care less if this report came out, AFTER we get our troops out of Afghanistan. But to release it now is purely political and is a slap in the face of anyone who is serving abroad and their families.
Review some history. Last week I had lunch with the son of a POW who was held captive by the Germans. The father was never the same after that experience. I still don’t like thinking about the Dresden fire bombings. I would have said no. It was inhumane and targeted civilians–old folks, women and children.
I get furious every 9-11. I only know one person who was in 9-11 and he lived. I know a few from the Pentagon but no one who died. I watch every year to make sure I stay furious. I hope it never takes my humanity. Torturing people is not an American standard of behavior. It just isn’t us. I hope you get past thinking torture is ok. I hope you get angry forever though because that is what keeps us on our toes and keeps us from letting our guard down.
20 things we learned from the report:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/cia-interrogation-report/key-findings/?hpid=z2
Very true and I think we agree on this 100%.
Since Democrats lost control of the Senate, thus losing control of the Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein released the report out of fear that a Republican led Intelligence Committee would never release it.
The release of this report (by my assumption and your admission) was PURELY and SOLELY because of politics. It’s an F’ing shame that ANY politician would put American lives in danger because of their own petty politics especially when there is absolutely nothing to gain.
The Democrats actions on this remind me of tenants I’ve had over the years, they realize they are about to be kicked out so they trash the place on their way out as a petty and childish FU. Only in this situation people could very well die as a result and they could care less. American lives mean less to them than them getting a stupid report out about a 10 year old program that discloses very little than we already knew.
Shame on them! They will have blood on their hands, I just pray that blood isn’t one of my loved ones.
Do you seriously think this kind of scandal needs to be kept from the American people? Why shouldn’t they know? I think sunshine is the best disinfectant, not to be trite.
You want to hide bad behavior of our government. I want it brought to light. Are you aware, according to Admiral Woosley, that the Japanese were tried for war crimes over water-boarding? why is it OK for us and not for them?
I make no apology for feeling that the behavior was inappropriate.
I have nothing to admit to.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/12/09/torture-cia-senate-intelligence-report-911-column/20088647/
A Senator speaks.
Yeah, just what I thought from a partisan source about a partisan report which NEVER interviewed a single person involved in subject of the report.
Honestly, this report could have very well have been written by the same ‘journalist’ from Rolling Stone that did the UVA story.
What do you think would be the value of an interview? Doesn’t the paper trail tell the story?
People say one thing. The paper trail might say another.
I am surprised that conservatives are going so government on this one. I have always thought the CIA was fairly evil. I have known a lot of employees. Not all are evil but some of them were. Some of the jobs they do …evil. Maybe some of the jobs need doing. Still glad it isn’t MY job.
The FBI hates them and they hate they FBI.
I really don’t care who was interviewed and who was not.
The CIA had a lot of oversight. They had to release the document.
No, Shep is prissy assed and always has been. You know, Faux News and all.
I think he is the only decent human being on there.
Mr. Bentley, how would you know that the CIA “has been out of control”? Sourcing please.
I think most Americans think the CIA is out of control and has been pretty much since its inception. It is designed to be covert. how do you have oversight of something covert?
Jose Rodriguez was Chief of Staff and then Director of the CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center (CTC) immediately after 9/11. He was the senior operations officer who directed the detention and interrogation program. I recall that he recently stated he had briefed the intelligence committees in both houses of Congress on at least 40 occasions while the programs were up and running — in detail. That includes Pelosi and presumably Feinstein. Somewhere squirreled away in CTC or the Director’s Office should be an historical record of those briefings. Rodriguez later became the last Deputy Director for Operations (DDO) before the title was changed to Director of the National Clandestine Service. During the after-the-fact federal investigation of the cancelled program, he was deemed not to be subject to legal action for his role. He is now in the private security business.
Evil? Thanks a bunch.
Are you former CIA?
I don’t think everyone is evil. I knew lots of CIA people I didn’t think were evil. Lots of CIA people live in Manassas. They usually say State Dept if really spooky. Some used to say Dept of the Army.
It was a huge mistake to release this report.
First of all, it did not reveal anything truly new to the public. There were already published reports that described water boarding, stress positions, and sleep deprivation used in “enhanced” interrogation. What this report did was to release a gruesome roadmap of exact methods that the public does not need to know and could easily provide motivation for terrorist attacks.
Second of all, Wikipedia defines classified information as that information which if released could harm national security, which includes loss of life. The fact that the State Dept and DoD are bracing for attacks indicates that a more reasonable response would have been to classify this report and forbid its release.
This is the same Administration that thought a video led to attacks in Benghazi. The report could have been written to state which techniques were used in broad terms without going into gory detail. The fact that the report did not avoid inflammatory detail indicates disdain for the military and IC.
Of course this disdain is hardly news for the rank and file.
Then lets just let the CIA have its own reins and do whatever the hell it wants to do. Same with NSA. Might as well let the FBI run wild too. Pretty soon we will be a totalitarian country. That’s the sell off. You guys here want to not hold the CIA accountable. I do.
If the Japanese are brought to trial for war crimes for waterboarding, then that should be a hint that something isn’t right.
“Mr. Bentley, how would you know that the CIA “has been out of control”? ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/01/world/senate-intelligence-commitee-cia-interrogation-report.html?_r=0
They broke their own rules on torture.
The lied not only about what they were doing, but about the number of detainees.
The real kicker, when they were being investigated, they hacked into Government resources to find out what was being discovered.
Sounds pretty far gone to me. I have no illusion that Congress exerts much control on the CIA.
There was little honesty here. It actually sounds like the SS. I believe that not only were they out of control on this issue, they have been out of control for a long time, since their inception.
The CIA head asserted that they weren’t breaking into computers and spying on Senate staffers. Then later admitted they were.
http://www.masslive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/08/editorial_is_cia_out_of_contro.html
@Rick Bentley
One contentious issue in the middle of the biggest terrorist scare ever to hit this country, and it becomes an agency “out of control.”? Hardly the kind of subjective, generalized reporting to be disseminated to the intelligence community, as CIA analysts would say.
@Rick Bentley
They also claimed that those Senate staffers were trying sub rosa to get computer access to highly classified material for which they had not been cleared. They probably would have stuffed the material into their socks like a doofus in the Clinton administration did at the National Archives.
Future captured terrorists will now be well versed in what to expect from their American captors in terms of interrogation. Just keep your mouth shut, ask for an ACLU lawyer, and demand a flat-screen television and a Game Boy for your cell. They won’t dare to get tough with you because their Feinsteins will stand up and scream “Foul!!!!!” while weeping copious tears for us poor little jihadist head choppers.
You all have really missed the point. I don’t particularly feel sorry for any of them. What I care about is that our country is condoning behavior that Nuremburg trials were held over. I would rather not been seen as Nazi Germany or Imperialist Japan.
My mother always told me that we (Americans ) were different from the Japanese because of how we valued human life. So did she lie?
“One contentious issue”. I’m trying to imagine that my boss walks in at night and I’ve broken into their computer, looking to see what he/she knows about me. Just a small matter.
@Rick Bentley
Perhaps you’ve seen too many movies, Mr. Bentley.
“You want to hide the bad behavior of our government. I want it brought to light.”
Why, Madam Blog-mistress, I have been saying this for a long, long time. Fast and Furious, IRS, the ACA kick-off mess, just about everything which happens in this opaque White House. Surely that is a large and very important goal. Now that Feinstein has issued a report on the CIA, it is time for full reports on the evils at the higher pay grade on Pennsylvania Avenue. Sunshine IS, indeed, the best disinfectant, don’t you think?
It appears that we often think different things need different amount of light.
What do you want to know about the ACA kick off mess? why is that a scandal? A screw up doesn’t necessarily mean scandal.
That’s what I thought. And then Bill Clinton and Janet Reno brought us Waco.
I see them as stopping child abuse. 12 year olds shouldn’t become wives.
Prissy.
Most Americans have no clue. The think Jack Whatzhisface is for real. Too many movies. Too many stupid television shows. However, the comment about oversight of something covert is a good one. Doggone covert White House is out of control, and nobody knows how to figure out what goes on in that “evil” place.