https://www.aclu.org/secure/cia_censorship

Quote :

"We don’t have much time left. The summary of the landmark Senate report detailing rampant CIA torture during the Bush years has finally made it to President Obama’s desk. But the White House has said that—incredibly—the CIA will take the lead in redacting that summary report before we can read it. Do you notice a conflict of interest there? The CIA is the agency that tortured people, lied about it, and then even spied on the computers of the Senate committee staffers who were investigating it. Our lawyers are confirming that the torture report summary will be released in a few weeks. And if it isn’t censored, the details in it could blow the lid off the vast extent of CIA brutality since September 11th. But if the CIA has its way, we may never know the full truth. Sign the petition now calling on President Obama to stop the CIA from censoring the Senate’s torture report before it's too late. President Obama has the authority to decide what minimal redactions, if any, will be made to the summary report. The worst thing he could do is let the CIA decide instead. This is the same president that has claimed that his administration is the “most transparent in history.” So we need to publicly hold him to his word. Stand with thousands of ACLU supporters and tell President Obama to keep his promise of transparency and make sure the CIA doesn’t censor key findings in the torture report. This summary report is critical to making sure that our government never again commits acts of torture in our names. According to media accounts, the Senate report found that the CIA lied to Congress, the Justice Department, the Bush White House, and the public—all of us—about the details of its use of brutal torture methods such as simulated drownings. And it lied when it claimed torture resulted in obtaining important information. The CIA should not be handed a black-out pen to hide its use of torture or the lies it told to keep the torture program going. Let’s stand up for transparency. Sign the petition now. Thanks for taking action, Anthony for ACLU Action"

4/22/2014 9:30:43 PM

[no]

4/22/2014 9:55:38 PM

ahaha, like some stupid internet petition will stop the CIA from hiding as much information as they can. hahaha.

It's the government and its intelligence agencies... we're fucked no matter what.

4/23/2014 9:23:37 AM

Committee study of the CIA's detention and interrogation program
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1376748-sscistudy1.html

12/9/2014 1:45:47 PM

So what? We give some guys a good bath, keep em in the dark, threaten them.

Meanwhile innocent people are beheaded and paraded on youtube.

Too bad we can't get Feinstein for treason.

12/9/2014 6:57:06 PM

Maybe the bar we should measure ourselves by is a bit higher than the bar the terrorists have set

12/9/2014 7:04:28 PM

My description IS setting the bar higher. How do you deal with those unafraid to die?

12/9/2014 9:06:31 PM

so you're in favor of torture, even when it's been proven that it rarely does anything other than make the person who is being tortured tell the person who is doing the torturing what they want to hear, regardless of if it's true or not?

[Edited on December 9, 2014 at 9:31 PM. Reason : .]

12/9/2014 9:25:58 PM

i think we should just go buy a big ole farm and let em run around

12/9/2014 10:39:46 PM

^^^lifetime imprisonment works for me

you are implying a moral standard we should hold of "whats good for the goose, is good for the gander"

we should not sacrifice our morals to protect us from some threat

12/10/2014 12:15:20 AM

'MURRCA FUCK YEAH


119: Number of individuals known to have been held in CIA custody under the agency's detention and interrogation program

26: Number of individuals the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has determined to have been "wrongfully" held by the CIA

180: Maximum number of hours detainees were forcefully kept awake, "at times with their hands shackled above their heads"

5: Number of detainees who experienced "disturbing hallucinations" during prolonged sleep deprivation

5: Number of CIA detainees subjected to "rectal rehydration" or rectal feeding without documented medical necessity

3: Number of detainees the CIA threatened with harm to their children or sexual abuse of their mother

834: The number of times "enhanced interrogation" appears

131: The number of times the word "torture" appears in the report

4: The number of years that the CIA used enhanced interrogation before briefing President George W. Bush on the specific techniques they were employing

180: Number of dollars, in millions, the CIA included in a base contract in 2006 to hire psychologists to help devise the agency's enhanced interrogation techniques

17: Number of detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation without approval from CIA headquarters

12/10/2014 7:58:31 AM

"I know from personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence. I know that victims of torture will offer intentionally misleading information if they think their captors will believe it. I know they will say whatever they think their torturers want them to say if they believe it will stop their suffering."

"the use of torture compromises that which most distinguishes us from our enemies, our belief that all people, even captured enemies, possess basic human rights."

- Sen. John McCain

12/10/2014 2:00:55 PM

In one instance, a CIA member fuckin, fuckin, tied him up to a bed post with his ass cheeks spread out and shit, right? He then put a hanger on the fuckin' stove and let that shit sit there for like a half hour.


Then he took it off and stuck it in his ass slow...





....like TSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

12/10/2014 3:43:58 PM

Eh yo, I heard they took their nuts and put em on a dresser, just the fuckin nuts Layin there on the fucking dresser, and then banged them shits with a spiked fucking bat - GABLAUGHHHH......



Also OEP, don't you live in a foreign country? (Where no doubt the CIA is running wild). Are you sure you want to fix any identifiable info to something that is crossing the CIA????

Also Also, did any one read the small blurb about some of the agents were disturbed and crying after carrying out/watching/assessing the waterboarding of some Muhammad cat??? So fucked up.

12/10/2014 3:55:20 PM

It's pretty bad that they couldn't produce one single instance of torture producing actionable intelligence that prevented an imminent attack. You're not going to convince me it helped you catch Osama Bin Laden, no matter what you show me, considering he was never even caught during the life of the program. So the only other thing worth undermining our international credibility for would be actually stopping an attack that could otherwise have not been prevented, otherwise you're just hurting people cuz it feels good.

[Edited on December 10, 2014 at 3:57 PM. Reason : imminent]

12/10/2014 3:55:44 PM

I'm not going to say that we should never, ever, under any circumstances, engage in torture...

but it should be an exceedingly rare exception to the rule, approved at very high levels, and for a specific reason. I'm talking so rare that we might never encounter the need, and if we did, it would really be once in a blue moon.

I'm not saying that these motherfuckers shouldn't very much dislike their time in our custody, and I frankly don't give even the slightest fuck about the welfare or even remotely humane treatment of many of them, but I care because we generally shouldn't be engaging in these sorts of actions if we're the good guys. Even I'm not so realpolitik that I don't mostly believe in us being the good guys. Secondarily, from a practical perspective, I care because it diminishes our standing to insist upon lawful and humane treatment of Americans when we inevitably find the shoe on the other foot. Al Qaeda, ISIS, Boku Harem, and even certain state actors might not care, but that's a genie we shouldn't voluntarily let out of the bottle.

12/10/2014 4:28:12 PM

As is true with all forms of government sanctioned use of force, if you leave the option on the table, it can, and will be abused.


Why even let the option remain on the table if you think it should only be used every once in a blue moon? The risk of it being abused is 100%. The chance of it producing any valuable information is about 0%.

Am I missing something, here?

12/10/2014 5:31:42 PM

I heard that most of the information gathered for this report was obtained from the lawyers of those that were tortured. Intelligence from the source agencies such as the CIA was kept to a minimum.

Nobody gives a crap about any lasting harm releasing this information could do.

12/10/2014 5:44:21 PM

An impeccable argument in favor of government secrecy.


Well done. I was wondering who was going to step to play the role of the good little authoritarian.

12/10/2014 5:52:30 PM

Quote :

"10 key findings from report on CIA interrogations STEPHEN BRAUN | AP WASHINGTON: Ten major findings from the newly released summary of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program: • Enhanced interrogation techniques used on terror detainees, including simulated drowning and sleep deprivation, were ineffective in gaining intelligence leads that led to important operations against terrorist groups or prevented attacks on the US. • The prison conditions and harsh interrogations of detainees were more brutal than the CIA officials acknowledged to the American public and in contacts with Congress and the White House. The simulated drowning technique of waterboarding was “physically harmful,” with effects that included vomiting and convulsions. At least one terror detainee died of exposure in an overseas prison. • The CIA’s management of coercive interrogations and its system of “black site” prisons was “deeply flawed.” Personnel were sometimes poorly trained, medical personnel assisted in harsh treatment, and record-keeping was mismanaged. • The agency’s use of coercive interrogations was based on a program developed by two psychologists who had no experience in interrogations or counterterrorism. The CIA never conducted a comprehensive analysis of the program’s effectiveness. • The CIA actively impeded or avoided congressional oversight. CIA senior officials repeatedly gave inaccurate information to congressional leaders and at one point under-counted the number of terror detainees who were subjected to harsh treatment under questioning. • CIA officials often gave inaccurate information about its interrogation program to Bush administration White House and legal officials, preventing a proper legal analysis of the prison operations. Bush legal officials relied on erroneous CIA data to codify the use of waterboarding and nine other enhanced interrogation techniques. • Interrogators sometimes used harsh tactics not condoned by CIA superiors or White House legal officials. But interrogators and prison officials who violated CIA policies were rarely disciplined or reprimanded. • Much of the information that the CIA provided to the media about its interrogation and detentions program was inaccurate, preventing clear scrutiny of detainees’ treatment. • The CIA’s reliance on harsh interrogations complicated the national security missions of other federal agencies. The FBI abandoned its traditional role in interrogations as the CIA began to rely on harsh methods. And the CIA often resisted efforts by the agency’s inspector general to investigate the use of harsh interrogations and conditions in black sites. • The CIA’s harsh interrogations and secret detentions in overseas prisons damaged the reputation of the US around the world."

So basically they were lying to everybody, including to the White House and to other agencies. Has anybody been prosecuted for those lies? Will they be?


[Edited on December 10, 2014 at 6:13 PM. Reason : ]

12/10/2014 6:12:14 PM

Quote :

"Also OEP, don't you live in a foreign country? (Where no doubt the CIA is running wild). Are you sure you want to fix any identifiable info to something that is crossing the CIA???? "

I don't give a shit about the CIA. I have done nothing wrong.

If standing up against torture will get me tortured, so be it.

I am studying in the US since June, come get me bro!

12/10/2014 6:14:50 PM

Quote :

"I heard that most of the information gathered for this report was obtained from the lawyers of those that were tortured. Intelligence from the source agencies such as the CIA was kept to a minimum. Nobody gives a crap about any lasting harm releasing this information could do."

serious question: do you ever read?

because you tend to say "I heard" a bunch.

are you in favor of torture? have you "heard" about our government paying 2 contractors, with no expertice in interrogation techniques, $80 million to design and carry out the torture?

[Edited on December 10, 2014 at 6:37 PM. Reason : torture that provided nothing. ]

12/10/2014 6:26:51 PM

wow

http://mic.com/articles/106118/fox-news-host-has-total-team-america-style-meltdown-over-cia-torture-report

(watch the fox news video)

12/10/2014 7:01:22 PM

12/10/2014 9:59:38 PM

Quote :

"Has anybody been prosecuted for those lies? "

Well so far, one person has been prosecuted over the torture stuff. John Kiriakou is currently in prison for blowing the whistle on the torture program.

http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/12/9/7361667/senate-torture-report-kiriakou

12/10/2014 10:02:56 PM

^ thank God for that... the world is a safer place now that he is behind bars!

12/11/2014 12:46:13 AM

Quote :

"I heard that most of the information gathered for this report was obtained from the lawyers of those that were tortured. Intelligence from the source agencies such as the CIA was kept to a minimum."

I have no idea about the former statement, but it is not implausible that the CIA did, in fact, gain valuable information, and just isn't talking about it.

Quote :

"have you "heard" about our government paying 2 contractors, with no expertice in interrogation techniques, $80 million to design and carry out the torture?"

My understanding is that they were both psychologists from a military SERE school; if so, they would certainly have experience with interrogation techniques, and for that matter, "enhanced interrogation techniques." Not performing it themselves, but then again, they were not carrying it out for the CIA, either. I think they were in more of a consulting role.


I'm not on the side of torturing people, but it's important to be accurate in such statements and distinctions.

12/12/2014 2:59:01 PM

I can't imagine any psychologists saying to anybody "yeah, feed them through their anuses, confine them in boxes 2 feet tall for 2 days, keep them awake for 8 days in a row, pour water over them while lying at a negative angle..." and so on.

Those psychologists are not psychologists using any stretch of the imagination. They are evil doctors and should be locked away for life.

12/12/2014 3:40:44 PM

I was at Diane Feinstein's congressional office on Monday (taking the teenagers I work with on a lobbying/advocacy experience). We had no idea any of this was about to come out so we were kind of shocked to walk up and see so many press people outside her door. It definitely added a new interesting factor to the experience, especially to see the controlled chaos of a congressional office during a controversial reveal.

12/12/2014 5:14:01 PM

^^^

https://news.vice.com/article/exclusive-psychologist-not-named-in-torture-report-confirms-his-role-in-cia-interrogation-program

Quote :

"The report goes on to say that neither Mitchell nor Jessen had any experience as an interrogator, nor did either have specialized knowledge of al Qaeda, a background in counterterrorism, or any relevant cultural or linguistic expertise."

[Edited on December 12, 2014 at 7:22 PM. Reason : .]

12/12/2014 7:19:22 PM

^ exactly, that's what i remember reading elsewhere.

as i said, they were in it for the money, and they sold their souls to the devil. in a perfect world, they would be locked away for life.

12/12/2014 9:23:51 PM

^ exactly, that's what i remember reading elsewhere.

as i said, they were in it for the money, and they sold their souls to the devil. in a perfect world, they would be locked away for life.

12/12/2014 9:23:51 PM

We're worried about throwing water on terrorists.

Meanwhile, ISIS declares sex slavery ok for women, teens and prepubescents as long as they're unbelievers. Yet people want the UN to look into our past presidents and officials.

Why are liberals dead set on making this country look bad in the eyes of the world. Whatever went on behind the scenes, it should have stayed behind the scenes.

12/13/2014 9:37:40 AM

Is rjrumfel actually retarded?

12/13/2014 10:03:59 AM

The only thing worse than defending torture is wishing you could just pretend it never happened.

12/13/2014 10:10:32 AM

^^^ Jesus Christ dude

12/13/2014 10:24:12 AM

Quote :

"We're worried about throwing water on terrorists."

Water boarding... It's basically a baptism.

12/13/2014 2:10:46 PM

First of all, is anyone surprised this went on?

Secondly, do you not realize that this is almost certainly still happening? I mean, Christ, Obama has killed more people with drones than Bush did even in Cheney's wettest dreams. What makes you think that the CIA has dialed back it's tactics just because some other guy is in office ignoring everything they do?

There are a lot of problems with "enhanced interrogation" and torture. From a moral standpoint I don't have a problem with threatening to kill family members or similar tactics, but when you start shocking testicles or depriving people of sleep you've gone too far and that erodes our ability to claim the moral high ground. The biggest problem though, is from a purely utilitarian standpoint. Torture just doesn't produce good intelligence. This is not a new revelation either, it's something we have known for years.


Most people who get into positions of power have serious psychological problems, most politicians are narcissists, most prison guards are sadists, etc. The kind of person who wants to join a country's secret police are warped. Our CIA is going to attract the same kind of person that the Stasi and Gestapo did, but fortunately our government is a little more benign.

12/13/2014 3:33:29 PM

saying the USA is morally above or better than this is pretty naive / stupid.

obviously this is horrible, but when was the last time we were truly the force of good in the world?

it doesnt matter who the president is, what agency is responsible, who investigates who, or what the UN says (every country including us is going to have these little holes in the dirt where they shove green beans in suspect asshole).

12/13/2014 9:30:41 PM

No I'm not saying we actually are morally superior, I'm saying it hurts our ability to make that claim on the international stage.

12/14/2014 1:37:55 AM

Quote :

"it doesnt matter who the president is, what agency is responsible, who investigates who, or what the UN says (every country including us is going to have these little holes in the dirt where they shove green beans in suspect asshole)."

This is true, someone in our government likely always has tortured, and always will. The correct response to this is to condemn it, shut it down, make a few public scape goats, and hope it doesn't get found out again for a while. Bush never got this, and Obama hasn't yet seemed to get this. Republicans are going the opposite direction and trying to justify and rationalise and embrace it.

It's funny when it comes to illegal immigrants and blacks, they're the scum of the earth for their civil and misdemeanor violations, but when it comes to torture, the law doesn't matter anymore.

Our gov't always has tortured, always will torture, and it's unquestionably wrong. There's not much more that needs to be said about it.

12/14/2014 2:04:25 AM

You'd probably get better intelligence out of these guys by getting them drunk and playing flip-cup or beer pong with them than by torturing them. Nobody is going to keep bin Laden's location a secret if you offer them another re-rack in exchange for intel. And even if you don't get the information, who cares? At least you get to play beer pong with a terrorist, which I can only imagine would be fun.



Stuck in Gitmo, torture victim weighs in on LeBron, ‘Gangnam Style’

Quote :

"“Dear Mr. Warner: I like this new song Gangnham-style,” Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani wrote in imperfect English to his lawyer in November 2012. “I want to do the dance for you but canot because of my shakles. please ask to have this changed... ...Rahim “is a man who has endured great hardship yet finds a way to make the best of a situation that would drive most others to a hopeless place,” Warner told Al Jazeera, citing letters from the detainee that display a wry sense of humor and remarkable awareness of American pop culture. A note on the Fox News channel, for example, questions one of that network’s key branding slogans. “If they were ‘fair and balanced,’” Rahim wrote, “They would not have to say it every 5 minutes.” He encourages Warner to play basketball with President Barack Obama and “take him straight to the post,” confident that his attorney is “bigger, stronger and younger.” He also aligns himself with Cavaliers fans by calling Lebron James “a very bad man,” demanding that the NBA star “apologize to the city of Cleveland.””"

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/12/gitmo-detainee-rahim.html


http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1378776-rahimlebron.html

12/14/2014 4:35:17 AM

Clearly Obama will shut this down as fast as he closed Guantanamo just like he promised.

12/14/2014 10:43:16 AM

It's likely Obama has authorized torture, which means he can't take action against Cheney, otherwise the next president will take action against him.

We'll see though... I guess it depends on what the international response is. Cheney openly declaring he doesn't regret torturing innocent people hurts Obama.

It's funny Jon Stewart made a movie about Iran locking up an innocent journalist, while our own government was doing much worse things.

12/14/2014 10:01:02 PM

^^Congress blocked Obama from shutting down Gitmo

12/14/2014 10:29:24 PM

Quote :

"moron: This is true, someone in our government likely always has tortured, and always will. The correct response to this is to condemn it, shut it down, make a few public scape goats, and hope it doesn't get found out again for a while."

What does the part I bolded mean? You are saying that if the US does torture in the future (which you said will always happen), you hope it doesn't get found? Really? Shouldn't you be saying that it should be stopped, or that if can't be stopped (as you indirectly said it can't), then it should ALWAYS BE FOUND AND PUBLICISZED?

12/14/2014 11:50:14 PM

he's saying that's how anyone okay with torture should act/think, not that its okay to act/think that way

12/15/2014 9:19:35 AM

Awesome Cheney quotes:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/fox-news-catches-dick-cheney-dissembling-about-torture/383690/

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/dick-cheney-defends-the-torture-innocents/383741/

12/16/2014 2:13:12 AM

Bush/Cheney and the lot should have been tried for war crimes but that will never happen.

[Edited on December 16, 2014 at 5:39 PM. Reason : .]

12/16/2014 5:39:03 PM

WE ARE WHO WE THOUGHT WE WERE!!!!11!!!1!!!!

[Edited on December 16, 2014 at 7:48 PM. Reason : America the beautiful]

12/16/2014 7:46:56 PM