YAHOO: On the torture report, a confrontation looms

[grahamhgreen]

Sometime this summer, probably when as many Americans as possible are tanning on a beach and not paying attention, the White House is expected to release a version of a classified report on torture during the Bush years. Actually, what's likely to become public is only the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report; the entire thing, five years in the making, clocks in at about 6,700 pages, making it the most exhaustive account yet of what really went on in secret CIA prisons around the world.

President Obama has repeatedly said he favors declassifying the report, which the public really ought to see. And should he release the summary in something close to the form in which it was sent to him, then his decision will likely end an unusually public standoff between top senators and the CIA, each of whom accused the other of spying illegally as the report was being compiled and written.

If, on the other hand, Obama delays the release much longer, or bows to the intelligence community and decides to black out the report's most damaging findings, then we may find ourselves on the brink of a serious escalation between the legislative and executive branches in Washington — a war over what kind of secrets the government should be allowed to keep and, more to the point, who gets to decide.

The doomsday device in this fight, which the Senate has rolled out a few times in the past but has never actually used, is an arcane, almost 40-year-old provision known as Senate Resolution 400. (Not the catchiest name ever, but you know, Hollywood thrillers have worked with less.) It's a drastic measure that's now being openly discussed as a serious option inside the Senate. But before we get to all that, let's take a step back and consider what's really going on here....

http://news.yahoo.com/on-the-torture-report--a-confrontation-looms-085034400.html;_ylt=A0SO80fk49BTeB8Aai6l87UF;_ylu=X3oDMTByNWU4cGh1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--

..................


Here's a summary:

The CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques did not effectively assist the agency in acquiring intelligence or in gaining cooperation from detainees.

The CIA repeatedly provided inaccurate information to the Department of Justice, impeding a proper legal analysis of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program.

The CIA subjected detainees to interrogation techniques that had not been approved by the Department of Justice or had not been authorized by CIA Headquarters.

The CIA did not conduct a comprehensive or accurate accounting of the number of individuals it detained and held individuals who did not meet the legal standard for detention. The CIA’s claims about the number of detainees held and subjected to its enhanced interrogation techniques were inaccurate..

The CIA inaccurately characterized the effectiveness of the enhanced interrogation techniques to justify their use.

The CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques was brutal and far worse than the agency communicated to policymakers.

The conditions of confinement for CIA detainees were brutal and far worse than the agency communicated to policymakers.

The CIA impeded effective White House oversight and decision-making.

The CIA has actively avoided or impeded congressional oversight of the program.

The CIA impeded oversight by the CIA’s Office of Inspector General.

Numerous internal critiques and objections concerning the CIA’s management and use of the Detention and Interrogation were ignored.

The CIA manipulated the media by coordinating the release of classified information, which inaccurately portrayed the effectiveness of the agency’s enhanced interrogation techniques.

The CIA was unprepared as it began operating its Detention and Interrogation Program more than six months after being granted detention authorities.

The way in which the CIA operated and managed the program complicated, and in some cases hindered the national security missions of other Executive Branch agencies.

Management of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program was deeply flawed throughout its duration, particularly so in 2002 and 2003.

Two contract psychologists devised the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques and were central figures in the program’s operation. By 2005, the CIA had overwhelmingly outsourced operations related to the program.

The effectiveness of the enhanced interrogation techniques was not sufficiently evaluated by the CIA.

CIA personnel who were responsible for serious violations, inappropriate behavior, or management failures in the program’s operation were seldom reprimanded or held accountable by the agency.

The CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program ended by 2006 due to legal and oversight concerns, unauthorized press disclosures and reduced cooperation from other nations.

The CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program damaged the United States’ global reputation, and came with heavy costs, both monetary and non- monetary.

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1109052-senate-intelligence-report-list-of-cia-findings.html

[Bandit]

1. USA...USA...USA...

So what no one will ever be held accountable.. We elect SCUM and guess what happens. America becomes SCUM to the world..

[conservaphobe]

2. At least it has been 6 years since scum sat in the Oval Office.

If we keep sending good men like President Obama to the White House, each administration will need a smaller and smaller shovel to clean up Dubya's mess.

[grahamhgreen]

6. As long as it gets cleaned up:)

[sabrina 1]

3. 'Deeply flawed'! More weasel language for WAR CRIMES. If they had been properly

prosecuted for War Crimes under the law, domestic and international, they wouldn't be impeding anything, they would be busy trying to keep their rear ends out of jail for life.

Six of them are wanted after being convicted in Spain I believe, but the US isn't sending them there to serve their sentences.

The US has also protected six more of the Bush Torture team from prosecution in another Spanish court.

Until there are prosecutions of these monstrous crimes against humanity, these little slaps on the wrists mean nothing.

And this is why we cannot criticize Israel or anyone else for war crimes, because we lost the moral authority to do so. Which is very convenient for some of our allies, like Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia who routinely torture people as we look the other way.

[LisaLynne]

4. And when it comes out ...

we will hear the cons yelling about how horrible it is and that Obama is to blame.

[underpants]

5. I think it would normally be a great political move.

Release it just after Labor Day. It should bring W&hisDick right back onto everyone's radar just in time for the midterms.

I say would and should because the press mention it more one news cycle and then return to being RW tools and distractors.

[jakeXT]

7. go ahead with S 400 /nt