BY ADEYEMI OSHUNRINADE
December 10, 2014
In a mind-blowing report detailing the CIA’ interrogation techniques, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein D- California, described the horrifying method used by the CIA to draw information from detainees held in the agency’ custody after the attacks of 9/11.
In her condemnation of the interrogation methods used by the U.S. intelligence, the report criticized the CIA’s use of torture and concluded that the CIA interrogation of suspected terrorists captured after 9/11 was far more brutal than the agency disclosed and that top officials misled Congress, the Bush administration and the American people about what they were doing.
A summary of the report detailed CIA’s use of inhumane methods of waterboarding, extreme sleep deprivation, rectal feeding, mock execution, dungeon like condition and brutal imprisonment, which led to the freezing deaths of some of the prisoners, who were chained in painful positions in the cold.
According to the damaging report, the methods employed by the CIA have done nothing to protect America from attacks and were not effective in producing any information crucial to save lives. In the wake of this revelation of brutality by the CIA, those opposed to the CIA techniques have called for the prosecution of Bush-era administration officials found responsible for mistreatment of detainees held in U.S. custody.
Republicans on the other hand, are opposed to the timing of the release calling it a move by Democrats to discredit former President Bush by shifting focus from the damaging results of the Midterm Elections, which saw Democrats losing the Senate to Republicans. Many consider the information misguided and some are quick to call the report a partisan pile of nonsense.
It is unclear if anyone in the Bush administration will face prosecution for engaging in the harsh interrogation methods. However, there are those who believe any attempt to prosecute participants is unnecessary since such move will question the patriotism of all the CIA officials involved and divert the nation’s resources towards unwarranted prosecution.
The ACLU known for its intolerance to civil rights violation has called for the Obama administration to pardon all Bush-era torturers. One of the reasons for the sudden shift in policy asserts the difficulties that investigators might encounter in interrogating victims as it tries to gather evidence against those involved.
The victims themselves are terrorists who have killed Americans and committed acts of terror against American interests home and abroad. Therefore, it is unlikely a court set up to prosecute those charged with torture, will consider credible any testimony by a terrorist.
Though, the report is a stain on America’s stand as a global force against acts of torture, it also shows U.S. commitment to transparency and the desire for human rights protection. The good that came from the report is that torture is against U.S. policy. Every incoming administration is now on guard that torture is unacceptable as a tool for intelligence gathering.
Adeyemi Oshunrinade [E. JD] is the author of ‘Wills Law and Contests,’ ‘Constitutional Law-First Amendment,’ ‘Criminal Law-Homicide’ and ‘SAVING LOVE’ available at http://www.amazon.com/author/adeyemioshunrinade. Follow on Twitter @san0670.
Categories: Current Affair, Politics, U.S. Economy and Policies, War and Politics
Gettysburg Institute Post 
Leave a Reply