Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
International

America reacts with horror to CIA torture report

Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Dec, 2014 11:02 AM
     A shocked America reacted with horror to a scathing Senate report detailing CIA's brutal interrogation techniques used in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that in the end yielded little actionable intelligence.
     
    The spy agency's techniques detailed in a Democrat majority Senate intelligence committee report are "contrary to who we are", President Barack Obama said in an interview to a news channel
     
    "We've got better ways of doing things" than resorting to the "brutal" tactics chronicled in the report, he told Telemundo/MSNBC when asked whether he agreed with then President George W. Bush's view that CIA interrogators should be considered "patriots".
     
    Based on more than six million internal agency documents, the report details tactics like sleep deprivation, isolation in total darkness, rectal feeding and at least two mock executions.
     
    The waterboarding of Shaikh Mohammed, the Pakistani mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, is described as a "series of near drownings".
     
    Amid a partisan divide, Republicans defended the CIA, which called the programme as "effective", and criticised the report's release, saying it puts US personnel at risk.
     
    But Senator John McCain, 2008 Republican presidential candidate, commended its release, saying "the truth is sometimes a hard pill to swallow", but the American people are "entitled" to it.
     
    Dianne Feinstein, Democratic chairperson of the Senate panel that authored the report said the CIA's actions were "a stain on our values and our history".
     
    The Washington Post agreed saying in an editorial, "The horrors in America's 'dungeon' should never have happened."
     
    The release "might rouse anti-American sentiment in thenear terma", it said but in the long term, the US "will benefit by demonstrating a commitment to transparency and self-criticism -- and, most of all, by pledging never to repeat its post-9/11 mistakes".
     
    The New York Times said the "report on the CIA's torture and lies" raised "again, with renewed power, the question of why no one has ever been held accountable for these seeming crimes".
     
    Foreign Policy group's CEO David Rothkopf called it "a vital step toward bringing to an end the Age of Fear" saying the issue it "raises is not just what we did to these people, but what we became by doing it".
     
    However, Council on Foreign Relations' Max Boot disagreed saying it "will only aid our enemies who will have more fodder for their propaganda mills".
     
    The report "merely rakes up history and for no good purpose beyond predictable congressional grandstanding", he said.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Anni Dewani Murder: British-Indian Businessman Shrien Dewani Accused Of Killing Wife Walks Free

    Anni Dewani Murder: British-Indian Businessman Shrien Dewani Accused Of Killing Wife Walks Free
    An Indian-origin businessman from Britain, accused of arranging the murder of his wife while on honeymoon trip in South Africa, was discharged Monday....

    Anni Dewani Murder: British-Indian Businessman Shrien Dewani Accused Of Killing Wife Walks Free

    IS militants behead four children in Iraq

    IS militants behead four children in Iraq
    Sunni radical group Islamic State (IS) beheaded four Christian children in Iraq for refusing to convert to Islam, a media report said Monday....

    IS militants behead four children in Iraq

    Before Delhi, Uber taxi service faced trouble in Germany

    Before Delhi, Uber taxi service faced trouble in Germany
    International mobile cab-booking company, Uber, which has been banned by the Delhi government after one of its drivers was arrested on charges...

    Before Delhi, Uber taxi service faced trouble in Germany

    Nepal prevents airing TV show for satirising Modi

    Nepal prevents airing TV show for satirising Modi
    The Nepalese authorities have banned the telecast of a popular comedy TV show, "Tito Satya" (Bitter Truth), for reportedly satirizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Nepal prevents airing TV show for satirising Modi

    UK Politician Nigel Farage Criticized For Saying Breast-feeding Women Could 'Sit In Corner'

    UK Politician Nigel Farage Criticized For Saying Breast-feeding Women Could 'Sit In Corner'
    British politician Nigel Farage on Friday defended a hotel that insisted a breast-feeding mother cover up, suggesting women might "sit in the corner" while they feed their babies.

    UK Politician Nigel Farage Criticized For Saying Breast-feeding Women Could 'Sit In Corner'

    Reeva Steenkamp's Parents Call For Justice In Shrien Dewani Murder Trial

    Reeva Steenkamp's Parents Call For Justice In Shrien Dewani Murder Trial
    Barry and June Steenkamp, parents of Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot dead by athlete Oscar Pistorius, have called for justice in the Anni Dewani murder case.

    Reeva Steenkamp's Parents Call For Justice In Shrien Dewani Murder Trial