Term "enhanced interrogation techniques"didn't come in to use until '06 ( CIA "disingenuous")

[mod mom]

05.19.09 -- 12:41PM // recommend (2)

SMOKE AND MIRRORS, II
It gets better (or worse). A former intelligence professional who has participated in congressional briefings tells TPMmuckraker that the term "enhanced interrogation techniques" or EITs -- which appears throughout those CIA documents about who in Congress was briefed starting in 2002 about which aspects of the Bush torture program -- didn't come in to use until 2006.

It's a crucial point, our Zack Roth reports:

That's not just an issue of semantics. The former intel professional said that by using the term in the recently compiled document, the CIA was being "disingenuous," trying to make it appear that the use of such techniques was part of a "formal and mechanical program." In fact, said the former intel pro, it wasn't until 2006 that -- amid growing concerns about the program among some in the Bush administration -- the EIT program was formalized, and the "enhanced interrogation techniques" were properly defined and given a name.

Panetta has offered to make available to Congress the underlying memos on which the documents he released were based. Obviously, we need to see those. But there's a whole lot more going on here. Nancy Pelosi is a collateral victim (although probably not an innocent one) of the CIA's effort to cover its aft, an effort that commenced years ago, well before Bush left office.
-snip

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/05/source_eit_term_wasnt_in_use_when_pelosi_was_brief.php?ref=fpblg

[mod mom]

1. Hats off to Josh Marshall & his team for excellent reporting!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. They often engage in some weird vernacular

Do you remember when ever single Republican was using the word "robust" as their favorite adjective?

[Solly Mack]

3. But I can find articles dating to 2005 with the term and what the term means

in relation to exactly which techniques and what they are

So....the term had to come "into use" before 2006...and what constituted "enhanced interrogation techniques" had to be formulated before 2006 then as well (though I'm sure the CIA was doing a lot more stuff than what they admitted to)

So..which is it?

Not before 2006? Or..as the article below indicates..the term was being used and defined - in 2005?


Before anyone knee-jerks - this is about finding the facts and not an attack.

Nov. 18, 2005

The CIA sources described a list of six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" instituted in mid-March 2002 and used, they said, on a dozen top al Qaeda targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in regions from Asia to Eastern Europe. According to the sources, only a handful of CIA interrogators are trained and authorized to use the techniques:

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear.

3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage.

4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.

6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.

According to the sources, CIA officers who subjected themselves to the water boarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in. They said al Qaeda's toughest prisoner, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, won the admiration of interrogators when he was able to last between two and two-and-a-half minutes before begging to confess.

[Crabby Appleton]

6. and a Jun 2004 WaPo article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8534-2004Jun26.html

"The "enhanced interrogation techniques," as the CIA calls them, include feigned drowning and refusal of pain medication for injuries. The tactics have been used to elicit intelligence from al Qaeda leaders such as Abu Zubaida and Khalid Sheik Mohammed."

[Solly Mack]

7. Thank you

[mod mom]

9. Thanks, I forwarded it to TPM

[merh]

4. I don't understand how they have continued to maintain the information

about torture is classified? The Executive Order which sets forth the system of classifying and declassifying and safeguarding national security information specifically provides that violations of the law cannot be concealed by labeling the information classified.

Executive Order 12356
National Security Information
April 2, 1982

This Order prescribes a uniform system for classifying, declassifying, and
safeguarding national security information. It recognizes that it is
essential that the public be informed concerning the activities of its
Government, but that the interests of the United States and its citizens
require that certain information concerning the national defense and
foreign relations be protected against unauthorized disclosure.
Information may not be classified under this Order unless its disclosure
reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security.
NOW, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

~snip~

Sec. 1.6 Limitations on Classification.

(a) In no case shall information be classified in order to conceal
violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; . . .

http://epic.org/open_gov/eo_12356.html

According to this executive order, all the information on the torture program is information that pertains to the violations of the law thus it cannot be classified.

Is there another law or executive order that these folks are going by to claim "classified"?

[HopeHoops]

5. Actually, the term was lifted from the NAZI documents of WW II.

[jaxx]

10. I didn't know this.

You are right and it's not a pretty story.

[unblock]

11. the shrubbies seem to have lifted quite a lot from the nazis.

not that there's any conclusion to be drawn from that.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. And, rapes never happened until they were called "Sexual Assaults".

And, civilians never died in wars until they were called "collateral damage".