This report has parallels to the Pentagon Papers. The CIA torture of innocent captives is well documented. It reminds me of the book Chain of Command which I read back in 2006. Remember the photographs of detained prisoners that caused a media sensation? Wow by comparison to the forced rectal feedings in the CIA report those photos really were just the tip of the iceberg.
The report turns out to be a series of blunders one right after another. Questionable evidence that enhanced torture resulted in deeper intelligence vs. ‘normal’ torture. And of course one type of “torture” forcing someone to stand for more than 72 hours. Yet the Senate report indicates less than 72 hours is ‘normal’ torture. Forcing prisoners to stand for three consecutive days is torture especially when normal torture is repeated on a weekly basis.
Beyond the obvious black eye, the report reveals horrifically cruel actions. A short passage on page 110 sums up the ineffectiveness of the program. CIA reveals they were holding prisoners determined to be confined by mistake. Yes innocent civilians were abducted, flown to secret prisons and tortured. As in all wars innocent people were at the wrong place at the wrong time:
A Year After DETENTION SITE COBALT Opens, the CIA Reports “Unsettling Discovery That We Are Holding a Number of Detainees About Whom We Know Very Little”
In the fall of 2003, CIA officers began to take a closer look at the CIA detainees being held in Country raising concerns about both the number and types of detainees being held by the CIA. CIA officers in Country X provided a list of CIA detainees to CIA Headquarters, resulting in the observation by CIA Headquarters that they had not previously had the names of all 44 CIA detainees being held in that country. At the direction of CIA Headquarters, the Station in Country X “completed an exhaustive search of all available records in an attempt to develop a clearer understanding of the [CIA] detainees.” A December 2003 cable from the Station in Country X to CIA Headquarters stated that; “In the process of this research, we have made the unsettling discovery that we are holding a number of detainees about whom we know very little. The majority of [CIA] detainees in [Country X] have not been debriefed for months and, in some cases, for over a year. Many of them appear to us to have no further intelligence value for [the CIAl and should more properly be turned over to the [U.S. military], to [Country X ] authorities or to third countries for further investigation and possibly prosecution. In a few cases, there does not appear to be enough evidence to continue incarceration, and, if this is in fact the case, the detainees should be released.”
The CIA knew they held and tortured innocent people but the band played on:
Records indicate that all of these CIA detainees had been kept in solitary confinement. The vast majority of these detainees were later released, with some receiving CIA payments for having been held in detention.
Cash payments? Were they paid more than college students who volunteer for sleep deprivation studies at local hospitals?
Maybe the horrors of the torture report and the consultants not authorized by the Justice Department, FBI or CIA to conduct enhanced torture. They did anyway and can be summed up in this release:
In October 2003, the CIA interrogated Arsala Khan, an Afghan national in his mid-fifties who was believed to have assisted Usama bin Laden in his escape through the Tora Bora Mountains in late 2001. After 56 hours of standing sleep deprivation, Arsala Khan was described as barely able to enunciate, and being “visibly shaken by his hallucinations depicting dogs mauling and killing his sons and family.” According to CIA cables, Arsala Khan “stated that [the interrogator] was responsible for killing them and feeding them to the dogs.”
Arsala Khan was subsequently allowed to sleep. Two days later, however, the interrogators returned him to standing sleep deprivation. After subjecting Khan to 21 additional hours of sleep deprivation, interrogators stopped using the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques “[d]ue to lack of information from [Arsala Klian] pinning him directly to a recent activity. Three days after the reporting about Khan’s hallucinations, and after the interrogators had already subjected Khan to the additional 21 hours of standing sleep deprivation (beyond the initial 56 hours), CIA Headquarters sent a cable stating that RDG and the Office of Medical Services believed that Arsala Khan should not be subjected to additional standing sleep deprivation beyond the 56 hours because of his hallucinations.
After approximately a month of detention and the extensive use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques on Arsala Khan, the CIA concluded that the “detainee Arsala Khan does not appear to be the subject involved in …. current plans or activities against U.S. personnel or facilities,” and recommended that he be released to his village with a cash payment.
CIA interrogators at DETENTION SITE COBALT instead transferred him to U.S. military custody, where he was held for an additional four years despite the development of significant intelligence indicating that the source who reported that Arsala Khan had aided Usama bin Laden had a vendetta against Arsala Khan’s family.
Cannot help but recall similar findings by RAND Corporation researchers who revealed in the Pentagon Papers repeated failures by the Diem family. Both Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Ngô Dình Nhu who ran the secret police ignored US Military advice in combating the growing communist aggression in the south during the early 1960s.
One step forward, two steps back. Some things never change.