According to the latest Washington Post/ABC poll, 59% of Americans believe that our use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” was justified after September 11. Perhaps CIA Director Michael Hayden was farsighted when he said in 2007, “This is not CIA’s Program. This is not the President’s Program. This is America’s Program.”
But I have to wonder how many of those who offered their opinions have actually read the executive summary of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. It’s a quick read. The findings and conclusions cover only 18 pages; it is the documentation of the findings that takes over 500.
Those acting on behalf of our country would tell a detainee that his children would be harmed or his mother sexually abused if he didn’t cooperate. Those acting for us detained an “intellectually challenged” individual in order to obtain information from a relative of that person. The secretaries of state and defense—both principals of the National Security Council—were not informed of “enhanced interrogation techniques” and “black sites” in foreign countries until a year after the program was in place. CIA attorney John Rizzo noted the White House’s concern that “[Secretary of State] Powell would blow his stack if he were to be briefed on what’s been going on.”
One detainee died of hypothermia. Water boarding caused vomiting and convulsions in others. Extended isolation and sleep deprivation resulted in hallucinations and self-mutilation. Degradation was the order of the day, especially actions that were contrary to Islamic injunctions regarding modesty and cleanliness. Naked? Check. Diapered? Check. Rectal hydration? Check.
But did it save American lives? According to Senator Mark Udall, the CIA’s own 2011 internal report did not find the program to be effective. Part of that report, the so-called Panetta Review, was included (accidentally or not) in the voluminous documents examined by the Senate committee’s staff. The full Panetta Review should be declassified by President Obama and released to the public. The CIA can redact names, countries involved, and how much “financial assistance” countries with black site operations received. The numbers must be truly astronomical in that CIA Headquarters encouraged CIA Stations to “think big.”
Did torture save American lives? Is that really the question we should be asking? I have different questions. Why do our lives matter more than the lives of other human beings? Is nothing more important than American lives? Not even American honor?
(Image derived from photo by Fibonacci Blue / CC)
Responses to “The Home of the Brave: Americans and Torture”