The CIA released 50 new documents yesterday relating to its post-9/11 torture and rendition program. Despite the many disclosures that have come in the course of our decade-long fight to reveal the details of the program, the new revelations still have the capacity to shock.
The documents, released in response to an 老澳门开奖结果 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, vividly depict the brutality of torture, and further expose the fiction that this abuse is a scientific method for extracting information from victims. The documents also reveal how hard the CIA worked to bury the evidence of its crimes 鈥� including by seeking to silence its victims.
A few of the many new findings include:
CIA pressure to 鈥渂reak鈥� detainees was deadly. A newly released CIA inspector general report about the death of detainee Gul Rahman that he was singled out for especially harsh torture because of 鈥減ressure鈥� to 鈥渂reak him.鈥� that he was kept nude or in a diaper for most of his detention, 鈥渟olely for humiliation.鈥� When they ran out of diapers, the guards would use 鈥渁 handcrafted diaper secured by duct tape.鈥� CIA torturers kept Rahman naked in 鈥渃old conditions with minimal food or sleep鈥� and kept questioning him even when he 鈥渁ppeared incoherent.鈥� When they decided he wasn鈥檛 sufficiently 鈥渂roken,鈥� CIA personnel brutalized, starved, and froze him to death 鈥� and then lied about it.
We also learned just why the CIA and Bruce Jessen, one of the psychologists who designed the program, considered Rahman 鈥渞esistant,鈥� leading to torture so extreme that it resulted in his death. Based on pseudoscientific theories of torture and 鈥渞esistance,鈥� they assessed Rahman to have a 鈥渟ophisticated level of resistance training,鈥� because 鈥� among other reasons 鈥� he 鈥渃omplained about poor treatment鈥� and said he couldn鈥檛 鈥渢hink due to conditions (cold).鈥� No one has yet been held accountable for Mr. Rahman鈥檚 death, but the 老澳门开奖结果 represents Mr. Rahman鈥檚 family in suing Jensen and James Mitchell, the other psychologist who collaborated with the CIA in designing and overseeing the torture program.
The CIA鈥檚 rush to use the most brutal techniques on prisoners it decided were 鈥渞esistant.鈥� Although the CIA claimed that it would only use its most extreme torture techniques after more moderate interrogation methods failed, from previously secret sections of the CIA inspector general report that the CIA in fact 鈥渁ccelerated鈥� the use of waterboarding because 鈥渋t was considered by some in Agency management to be the 鈥榮ilver bullet.鈥欌�� The CIA would 鈥渞apidly escalate鈥� to the waterboard based on its flawed belief that if a prisoner couldn鈥檛 provide new information, he must be withholding. Under the CIA鈥檚 logic, the less a detainee had to say, the more he would be tortured 鈥渁nalysts are reluctant to agree that a detainee is not employing resistance techniques.鈥�
More details about the extent to which the CIA was willing to go try and keep its crimes secret. of the inspector general report reveal that 鈥渁 particular concern for senior Agency managers is the long-term disposition of detainees who have undergone鈥� torture. They were 鈥渓oath to send CIA detainees鈥� who had been tortured 鈥渢o detention facilities where they would be available to the ICRC [the International Committee for the Red Cross].鈥� In document after document, CIA employees made clear that they wanted a guarantee that their victims would never 鈥� for the rest of their lives 鈥� have a chance to tell their stories.
The documents also reveal why the CIA was so obsessed with secrecy: As everyone knew, the torture program could never withstand legal scrutiny. That is why the CIA discussed seeking an extraordinary 鈥溾�� 鈥� an advance promise from the attorney general not to prosecute its agents for their crimes.鈥�
The CIA鈥檚 fixation on secrecy even impeded its own intelligence work. Newly disclosed sections of the inspector general report describe senior officers expressing concern that efforts to keep the existence of the torture program secret were blocking 鈥渢he dissemination of information obtained from the interrogation of detainees to analysts and the FBI in a timely manner.鈥�
This new cache of documents fills in the picture of one of our darkest hours. Today, when loud voices call for a return to brutal and unlawful torture methods, it鈥檚 more important than ever that we have access to the full story of CIA torture. These documents, which the CIA suppressed for years, show just how horrific the torture program was, and how shameful it is that none of the perpetrators have yet been held accountable for their crimes.
