International Shia News Agency

Iqna/ US Muslims seek accountability for CIA torture

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association)- In the most sweeping condemnation to the CIA’s torture methods, a long-awaited Senate investigators’ report was released on Tuesday, revealing that Bush era harsh tactics did not work and sparking calls for “accountability,” along with changes in law and government policies.

“This disturbing report clearly demonstrates the need for those who approved of and carried out this campaign of torture to be held accountable for their actions,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement released on Tuesday, OnIslam.net reported.

“It also shows that strong legal and policy measures need to be enacted in order to prevent such illegal actions being taken during any future security crisis.”

A 600-page summary from the 6,000-page report has been declassified after months of disputes between the committee and the CIA over redactions.

Issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the report is seen as a damning condemnation of the torture tactics deployed by the George W. Bush administration after the September 11.

The techniques, according to the report, were “deeply flawed,” poorly managed and often resulted in “fabricated” information.

It concludes that the CIA repeatedly tortured detainees, including using the simulated drowning technique called “waterboarding.”

The report also concludes that the information gathered using torture produced no security benefits and accuses the CIA of repeatedly lying to Congress, the White House and the American public.

“Torture is not an American value,” CAIR said.

“We should not be questioning whether or not it worked, but why we ever used such brutal and illegal interrogation techniques.”

The torture report is deemed the third major episode of faulty CIA intelligence in 15 years, following official commissions into the 9/11 plot and Saddam Hussein’s defunct illicit weapons programs.

It emerges after four-year running battle between the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Democrat chair Dianne Feinstein and the CIA, who earlier this year were forced to admit they had spied on her committee, causing outrage in Congress.

The release comes after the Obama administration made a last-ditch effort to suppress a report that has plunged relations between the CIA and its Senate overseer to a historic low point.

 

Source: Iqna

www.shafaqna.com

 

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