A 524 page summary of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's 6700 page report has been released, almost certainly a watered down, diluted version that fails to tell the whole story and full truth, protecting any parties who could exert influence on the the long delayed final report. if the report was handled like a redacted document it would probably be 75% black marks hiding information.
But even so we know that the people at the CIA lied and deceived the congress.
That's where the questions arise.
The WHO questions?
What people in the CIA lied to congress?
We are told that George W. Bush did not know for several years, until 2006. Well, if that is true, and I'm not at all sure I believe that, who DID know?
Did Cheney know?
Did Colin Powell know when he was head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?
Did Bush's chiefs of staff know?
Which members of congress-- probably Intelligence committee chairs or members-- knew and let these shameful acts go un-reported.
What about psychologists, who are supposed to supervise torture-- to the shame of the American Psychological Association, which has condoned this use of psychologists. Who are the psychologists who enabled the torture?
What about the torturers?
What about the pathetic creatures who acted as experts telling the DOJ and the CIA that it was legal to engage in torture?
The What Next Questions:
What steps have already been taken to make the perpetrators accountable-- not just the torturers but those who lied to congress?
What steps have been and are being taken so that lying to congress and withholding essential information to congress leads to strong consequences?
What steps will be taken to punish those who betrayed the American people in so many ways?
What steps are possible by different agencies-- by congress, by the Department of Justice, by the Executive branch? And if those all choose to protect the perpetrators-- as we've seen has been the case for bankers, what are the steps the the citizenry can take?
Already, Robert Brennan, the director of the CIA has issued a Statement on the report, in which he disputes the conclusions and argues that the torture was deemed legal at the time by the Department of Justice. That tells me that this isn't over, and makes me believe that it hasn't even been stopped. Brennan doesn't make a statement like that without it being vetted by the president.
Let's be clear. The summary makes it clear that the CIA engaged in sick, perverted, unconsionable torture, including stuffing objects and fluids up victims rectums, threatening to kill their families, their children, keeping them awake for up to a week.
Here's a statement, calling for accountability, from the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Based on early reports on the release of the executive summary and the conclusions and findings of the Senate inquiry into the CIA's post-9/11 torture program, Center for Constitutional Rights Legal Director Baher Azmy issued the statement below.
Attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights have represented survivors of the CIA torture program, including Majid Khan, and Abu Zubaydah. The Center also represents extraordinary rendition victim Maher Arar, and Mohammed al-Qahtani, victim of the Pentagon's "First Special Interrogation Plan" at Guantanamo, a regime of "aggressive interrogation techniques" amounting to torture. In addition, the Center for Constitutional Rights has filed and joined several cases against the architects of the U.S. torture program, including President Bush and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, under the laws of universal jurisdiction in Spain, Switzerland, Germany and Canada. Said Mr. Azmy:The long-delayed Senate report proves what we have been saying since 2006: that the CIA engaged in a sophisticated program of state-sanctioned torture, notable for its elaborate planning and ruthless application. We have witnessed firsthand the devastating human consequences in meetings with our clients at Guantanamo. The report also exposes the CIA's lies about how the program operated and the utility of the information obtained: False claims about the usefulness of that information were used to justify and cover up monstrous crimes. We renew our demand for accountability for those individuals responsible for the CIA torture program. They should be prosecuted in U.S. courts; and if our government continues to refuse to hold them accountable, they must be pursued internationally under the principles of universal jurisdiction.The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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