United States Senate Report On Torture
Various media outlets in the United States and internationally published articles related to the release of the Senate Panel report on their investigation into issues of torture possibly committed by the Central Intelligence Agency. The period of time that the Panel looked into was from 2001-2009 (Senate Panel Report, 2014). After their investigation, the Panel reported that the CIA did in fact carry out torture against those they suspected of terrorism (USA Today, 2014). The report is 6700 pages in total, but which has not been declassified (CNN, 2014), and thus, what is available is a 500 page summary of the Senate Panel findings (the Senate Panel summary report can be found here). The summary report goes into great lengths discussing the actions used against those in custody. And among them were clearly acts of torture; the CIA used water boarding techniques, sleep deprivation, and placing prisoners in strenuous body positions (USA Today, 2014). According to a summary of the summary (USA Today, 2014), it was also found “…that in order to get approval for the program, the CIA provided false information about the interrogations to the White House, Congress, the Justice Department and others. The report even suggests that the CIA misled President George W. Bush about the effectiveness of the interrogations.” Furthermore, In addition, it was also found that “The CIA had a secret detention facility that was managed by a junior officer with no relevant experience” (USA Today, 2014). Moreover, “[t]he committee concluded the facility kept few records of its operations, and senior officials had little information about what was going on there. According to the committee, “In November 2002, a detainee who had been partially nude and chained to a concrete floor died from suspected hypothermia at the facility.”
But along with the various cases of torture and other human rights violations that the CIA conducted, the report also points out that these actions did not bring about additional usable intelligence (Brook, 2014). And as the New York Times (2014) reports, the use of torture did not give new information in the case of Hassan Gul, or with Abu Zubaydah, who was also said to have had “enhanced interrogation techniques” (or what many see as torture) used on him.
All of this is worth mentioning, since while torture is never justified, some try to argue that it works. It is evident that not only is it wrong, but that it also did not work. What is important about the report is that the Panel points out that despite the horror of the terror attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, that torture is not justified because of it. They specifically say that “such pressure, fear, and expectation of further terrorist plots do not justify, temper, or excuse improper actions taken by individuals or organizations in the name of national security” (2).
However, it remains to be seen if anyone will be held accountable for their acts of torture. This is a shame that such actions were carried out by the CIA. It is critical that we speak out and demand that the government not only not use torture (which is illegal in international law), but that those who were responsible for the actions be held accountable in a court of law. According to a report by Kevin Johnson (2014) The Justice Department stated on Tuesday that it would not again consider criminal investigations on this subject. It is necessary that, in light of these new developments, that like many are arguing (in Johnson, 2014), there should be criminal investigations, as a government agency cannot act in such matter without penalty.
References (not cited within the hyperlinks)
Brook, T.V. (2014). Worst Part: it Didn’t Work, Panel Says. USA Today, December 10th, 2014.
Johnson, K. (2014). Justice Department Won’t Reopen Inquiry. USA Today, December 10th, 2014.
New York Times (2014). Senate Panel Faults C.I.A. Over Brutality And Deceit In Terrorism Interrogations
USA Today (2014). Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The Torture Report: 7 Key Facts.
