"OLC lawyers argued that efforts to refine and improve the application of techniques would provide a potential 'good faith' defense for interrogators against charges of torture," the report said. "They argued that such a medical monitoring regime would remove the element of intent to cause harm from the act, which is a necessary requirement for a successful prosecution of a torture charge under US law, and that a 'good faith belief need not be a reasonable belief; it need only be an honest belief.' Thus, research on the detainees became a key part of the OLC legal strategy to demonstrate the lack of intent to commit torture."
Nathaniel Raymond, director of PHR's Campaign Against Torture, said, "Justice Department lawyers appear to have never assessed the lawfulness of the alleged research on detainees in CIA custody, despite how essential it appears to have been to their legal cover for torture."
Brent Mickum, Zubaydah's attorney, said PHR's report is evidence that there was an "experimental element to the torture program and it was approved at the highest levels of government."
"I have said literally for years that I believe my client was tortured before any of these enhanced interrogation techniques were approved by the Justice Department," Mickum told Truthout. "And now we know that not only was my client subjected to torture but he was part of an experiment. This is so ugly, so shameful, so unlawful. If this revelation doesn't kick in an obligation on the part of the Department of Justice to investigate war crimes than I don't know what does. The Obama administration has essentially refused to do that. At some point, this president and his appointees have to take seriously what their obligations are under the law."
Mickum said he is preparing to file a series of motions in federal court, calling on the government to preserve evidence related to the CIA's research and experimentation.
"Research" Continues
Meanwhile, Obama's presence in the White House has not resulted in an abandonment of the research side of the interrogation program.
Last March, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, who recently resigned, disclosed that the Obama administration's High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG), planned on conducting "scientific research" to determine "if there are better ways to get information from people that are consistent with our values."
"It is going to do scientific research on that long-neglected area," Blair said during testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. He did not provide additional details as to what the "scientific research" entailed.
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