According to McClatchy news service, a classified U.S. Senate report found that the CIA’s legal justification for the use of harsh interrogation techniques, which critics say amount to torture- was based on faulty legal reasoning.
The CIA issued false claims about how many people were subjected to techniques such as simulated drowning or “water boarding” according to the news service, citing conclusions from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report obtained by McClatchy.
The CIA used interrogation methods that were not approved by the U.S. Justice Department, or by their headquarters, disrupted White House oversight and actively evaded oversight both by it’s own Inspector General and Congress, also the CIA gave false information to the U.S. Justice Department, which used the information to conclude that the methods would not break the law because those applying them did not specifically intend to inflict severe pain or suffering, a report concluded.
“The reports findings appear to show that the CIA systematically misled Congress, the White House, and the Department of Justice about its brutal and unlawful interrogation program,” said Raha Wala, senior counsel at Human Rights First in Washington.
“How does it make sense for the president to allow the CIA to take charge of declassifying a report that shows unlawful and embarrassing conduct on its part?” she asked in a statement responding McClatchy report.
A spokesman from the CIA, Dean Boyd told Reuters, said he could not comment because the report is still classified. “As we have stated previously, the CIA, in consultation with other agencies, will carry out an expeditious classification review of those portions of the final SSCI report submitted to the Executive Branch for review, our responses to the 2012 version of the SSCI report found several areas in which CIA and SSCI agreed, and several other areas in which we disagreed,” he said.
A rendition of the report was completed in 2012, but it was adjusted before the Senate Committee voted in favor of declassifying parts of it, including its findings and conclusions, on April 3.
The committee’s democratic chairwoman, Senator Dianne Feinstein said, she hoped President Barack Obama’s administration would declassify the report within 30 days. She declined to comment on McClatchy’s story, but said: If someone distributed any part of this classified report, they broke the law and should be prosecuted.”
Feinstein blamed the agency of spying on Democratic committee staff who collected it and the CIA accused staff members of illegally securing CIA documents.
When the declassification process by the White House and CIA are done, the report will give everyone the it’s first official look at the procedure if interrogation and detentions in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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