The US Senate Intelligence Committee after much procrastination has released its investigative report on the horrendous atrocities inflicted on the prisoners detained in secret locations in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania, Lithuania and Thailand. The prisoners were arrested soon after the attack on the Twin Tower in New York on September 11, 2001. In the name of interrogation the prisoners were subjected to myriad methods of torture including sleep deprivation, water boarding, slamming against the wall, hanging upside down and rectal rehydration, known as Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs). The Central Intelligence Committee (CIA), the custodian of the prisoners, assigned its staff to conduct brutal torture without the explicit approval of the higher authority in the government.
The Senate report, released on December 09, 2014, concludes: EITs amounted to severe torture; has not been an effective means of acquiring intelligence; conditions of confinement of detainees were harsher, brutal and far worse than CIA represented; CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information, impeded national security missions; deeply flawed throughout the programme's duration, coercive interrogation techniques were not approved; CIA ignored numerous internal critiques, criticisms and objections, impeded oversight by the CIA's Office of Inspector General and damaged the standing of the United States in the world. The report castigated the CIA leadership for deliberately misleading the Congress on the number of detainees and the excruciating torture the detainees was subjected.
REACTIONS: The Republican lawmakers and members of the former Bush administration defended CIA's harsh treatment of the detainees on the ground that they posed a security risk to the United States. John McCain, the lone Republican Senator, demanded that the findings of the report should be made public to allow the Americans to draw their own conclusion. He added that the information provided by the detainees in duress can hardly be reliable. McCain observed "We gave up much in the expectation that torture would make us safer- that was too much."
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairperson of the Committee, justified the release of the report and said "History will judge us by our commitment to a just society governed by law and the willingness to face an ugly truth and say never again."
John Brennan, CIA Director, characterised the post 9/11 situation as an uncharted territory. CIA was not prepared and 22 CIA personnel were killed while hunting the enemies. Brennan claimed that EITs proved useful in getting information that helped in circumventing enemy attacks on the US interests at home and abroad. He, however, did not elucidate whether the credible information were received after or prior to the application of EITs. Brennan denied that his agency had repeatedly, systematically and intentionally misled the Congress and claimed EITs had the approval of the White House and the Judicial Department. Brennan admitted that staff might have exceeded the legal limit but suggested that excess committed in limited number of cases should not excoriate agency's long list of accomplishments. He admitted that some of the techniques were not authorised and "rightly should be repudiated by all." The authorisation of EITs was rebuked in 2006.
Following the publication of the Senate report many former CIA officials were interviewed at the CNN and MSNBC. They were unanimous in their contention that EITs are of little use in extracting credible information. They referred to standard methods which have been proved useful in getting the information from enemy prisoners. Some observers termed the EITs as war crimes and demanded those who had authorised and applied these methods should be brought to justice. Demand has also been raised for Brennan to resign.
The reaction of President Obama on the application of EITs has been cautious. In May 2009 he condemned tortures in general and remarked that "we went off." In a recent statement, he said the report "reinforces my long held view that these harsh methods were not only inconsistent with our values as nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our national security interests." He, however, lauded CIA and said, "Our intelligence professionals are patriots, and we are safer because of their heroic service and sacrifices."
CIA DURING COLD WAR: This is not the first time CIA has acted egregiously. It has a long list of heinous crimes committed around the glove. The agency was created in 1947 mainly to keep foreign adversaries under surveillance. The ultimate objective was to make the US government well informed of hostile plans beforehand enabling the government to take preemptive actions. Its role was never well defined and the agency enjoyed a broad spectrum to operate including conduct covert operations overseas that would involve killings, bribery, blackmail and spying intended to weaken the adversaries.
During the cold war era leaders in the newly-independent countries were its targets. Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh nationalised oil industries in 1951 and demanded withdrawal of British troops protecting the oil fields in Abadan. This move was deemed to have been inspired by Moscow. Two years later Mossadegh was overthrown in a CIA-sponsored military coup.
The government in Guatemala was dislodged in 1954 as it appeared enamoured with socialist ideology. The US government could not trust Soviet-educated Patrick Lumumba to remain in power in Brazzaville. He was assassinated and a military government opposed to communism ruled Congo for a long time.
Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia was removed through a coup and Lon Nol was brought into power to extend full support to US war efforts in Vietnam.
President Salvador Allende of Chile pursued a policy of nationalisation of industries, distribution of land and collectivisation of agriculture. CIA orchestrated a military coup and Allende was assassinated in September 1973. General Pinochet grabbed power and ruled until 1991 setting a record of the worst human rights abuse in Latin America.
Contras, a rebel group in Nicaragua, received massive American economic and military assistance to dislodge the elected government which had diplomatic relation with Cuba. CIA arranged sale of arms to Iran and channelled the sales proceeds to Contras to finance its guerrilla war efforts.
During the cold war era US had channelled huge economic and military assistance to anti-communists military regimes in Latin America and Asia. Washington was alleged to promote totalitarian system as opposed to pluralistic society with good governance. Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, branded the decades of 60s and 70s as a black period of American diplomacy. Powell should have gone one step farther and declassify the reports on CIA-orchestrated coups, counter-coups and assassination plots that destabilised a number of governments in Africa and Latin America. That would have enabled the Americans to arrive at a just conclusion about the agency which has now placed the US in the list of countries violating human rights.
WAY FORWARD: The 528-page summary of the 6000-page report of the Senate committee catalogues the torture applied on different detainees by name. The released report, however, does not identify the persons responsible for the excesses and refrained from making any recommendation. The onus is now on President Obama to take the process further. He should set up a committee to review the report, frame charges against the perpetrators and bring them to justice. This would go a long way towards restoring the image of the country which has been profoundly tarnished by keeping prisoners in Guantanamo without trials for years and recent revelations of unprecedented torture of the detainees.
Senator Dianne Feinstein has earned a place in the US history by debunking the crimes CIA had committed in the past twelve years. She very accurately described the episode as "a stain in our values and history." Human rights organisations have demanded the perpetrators be brought to justice. President Obama, however, does not seem prepared to initiate the process.
The author is a former official of the United Nations.
darahman.chowdhury@hotmail.com