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CIA torture brutal and ineffective: US Senate report

Al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees captured in Afghanistan after the 2001 terror attacks were transferred to the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba/AFP

Al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees captured in Afghanistan after the 2001 terror attacks were transferred to the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba/AFP

WASHINGTON, Dec 10 – CIA torture of Al-Qaeda suspects was far more brutal than acknowledged, did not produce useful intelligence and was so poorly managed it lost track of detainees, a scathing US Senate report revealed Tuesday.

The Central Intelligence Agency also misled the White House and Congress with inaccurate claims about the program’s usefulness in thwarting attacks, the Senate Intelligence Committee said in its graphic report that revived the debate over interrogation tactics such as waterboarding.

President Barack Obama admitted some of the tactics detailed in the explosive findings in the report’s 500-page declassified summary were “brutal.”

“There are a lot of folks who worked very hard after 9/11 to keep us safe, during a very hazardous situation and a time when people were unsure of what was taking place,” he said in an interview with Telemundo.

“But what was also true is that we took some steps that were contrary to who we are, contrary to our values.”
Among the findings: a CIA operative used “Russian Roulette” to intimidate a prisoner and another – untrained in interrogation techniques – threatened to use a power drill.

Detainees were humiliated through the painful use of medically unnecessary “rectal feeding” and “rectal rehydration.” One died of hypothermia while shackled, some suffered broken limbs.

CIA director John Brennan defended his agency’s adoption of tough tactics under president George W. Bush in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on US cities.

He insisted that, while mistakes were made, brutal techniques “did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives.”

US embassies were on alert for reprisals as committee chair Senator Dianne Feinstein pushed ahead with publication of the report, despite Secretary of State John Kerry warning it could provoke anger around the world.

The extensive detailing of the CIA’s interrogation of Al-Qaeda suspects followed Obama’s admission in August that “we tortured some folks.”

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