Release the Senate Torture Report

Via ACLU.org.

By Ralph E. Stone

November 13, 2014

I urge Senator Dianne Feinstein (D. CA) to expedite the release of the Senate Torture Report before she loses her position as Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). Once the Republicans take over the Committee, I fear the Torture Report will never see the light of day, or if it does, it will be so heavily redacted by the CIA as to render it of little use to the public. The Torture Report has been approved for public release – the public has a right to know.

President Barack Obama has acknowledged that “we tortured some folks.”

The $40 million investigation began in 2009 and resulted in a 6,300-page report with a 430-page executive summary of its findings. Reportedly, the Torture Report found that the CIA misled Congress, the Justice Department, and President George W. Bush about the “effectiveness” of torture methods such as waterboarding, shackling prisoners in painful positions, and slamming detainees against walls. The report also reportedly found that the abuses did not help locate Osama bin Laden or thwart any terrorist plots, and were ultimately counterproductive.

The Republicans refused to participate in the investigation and will issue a separate report claiming the investigation was not fairly conducted. The CIA is also expected to issue a separate report.

In August, an inter-agency declassification review delivered a version with about 15 percent of the words redacted by the CIA. Senator Feinstein has been negotiating to remove some of the redactions.

In addition to the Torture Report, there is a CIA formal response defending the agency’s actions. A third report, commissioned by former CIA Director Leon Panetta, is reportedly consistent with Torture Report findings, but contradicts the CIA’s response to it. It is not clear whether these reports will be released.

There is no legitimate reason why the Torture Report should not be released now. I look forward to seeing what our government has done in our name.

Ralph E. Stone

I was born in Massachusetts; graduated from Middlebury College and Suffolk Law School; served as an officer in the Vietnam war; retired from the Federal Trade Commission (consumer and antitrust law); travel extensively with my wife Judi; and since retirement involved in domestic violence prevention and consumer issues.

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