Some thoughts on the Senate torture report

Any true patriot should be ashamed of the torture used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) post-911.

A glimpse of these techniques details how the CIA employed sleep deprivation to wear down victims: It “involved keeping detainees awake for up to 180 hours, usually standing or in stress positions, at times with their hands shackled above their heads.”

Other techniques included “rectal rehydration,” “ice water ‘baths,'” and threatening detainees with threats to harm detainees’ families, including threats to “sexually abuse the mother of a detainee,” according to the summary of the report.

Other psychological tactics involved keeping detainees in pitch-black rooms “with loud noise or music and only a bucket to use for human waste.”

And the rooms were cold — freezing.

One detainee, “who had been held partially nude and chained to a concrete floor” died in Nov. 2002 from suspected hypothermia.

CIA detainees who underwent these interrogation tactics were later found to experience “hallucinations, paranoia, insomnia and attempts at self-harm and self-mutilation.”

Medical personnel were sidelined and their concerns quieted when it came to coercive interrogations — which the report says took precedent.

The waterboardings of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed became, according to the report, “a series of near-drownings.” Mohammed was waterboarded at least 183 times.

Our country’s use of torture is a black mark for a nation that has held itself up as being exceptional, because there’s nothing exceptional about the use of torture.

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54 thoughts on “Some thoughts on the Senate torture report

  1. Nazis and terrorists do not have rights. We can pull out fingernails, waterboard them 500 times in order to save Americans. Works fine with most of us.

    1. So get rid of the guy. You know the names he uses. If you can’t recall, I can help. Let me know.

      1. I am first class Conservative, publish Wisconsin Conservative Digest, who can tear Leftwing issues to pieces and have for 50 years. That of course makes me a dumbass. if you take me off here I will cry myslef to sleep.
        Sorry I cant type well, but I can thing and the White Liberal racists in this state cannot do it. They can throw Blacks and Hispanics phones and food stamps but cannot get them jobs or teach them to read.

        1. Get them jobs just like Walker has done by providing tax breaks to the “JOB CREATORS.” And your real estate business didn’t participate in red-lining racial segregation in SE WI over the last 5 decades? I’m convinced you are just off your meds at this point, maybe somebody can help you with that.

          You’ve got no clue about anything in foreign affairs, for instance, Obombya’s (I make mistakes tyoing, too) and the CIA’s funding of the Syrian mercenaries (rebels) to take out Assad, that has morphed into ISIS/ISL or the Ukrainian coup and the US proxy war against Russia to control gas and oil shipments to the EU that is pissing off and making life extremely difficult and expensive for certain business members of the EU.

          1. I have owned apts. for 40 years. they have been the UN for that long. I have spent most of my life working with all nationalities, races in N Homes and pharmacies. Black people are easier to work than Liberal, White Racists. It is no secret to Conservatives, who want to solve problems, that it was the democrats that started KKK, that stopped voting rights in 1964, that practiced actual segregation, now they practice overt segregation. They are in charge of all of the cities and they cannot even teach kids to read or get them jobs. They do toss them free phones and food stamps.

  2. What we should have done is chopped their heads off while they screamed in agony, filmed it ,then released it to the world. Once they got the message then we could have offered to sell the decapitated bodies back to them for one million dollars and claim it was for humanitarian reasons.

  3. Nah, just kidding. Ha ha… clearly we should have fed them good food and clothes and bathed them. We should have offered them or homes and our love, every “enemy combatant” should have been given a car, an amount of money sufficient to start a new life in America and free citizenship. Surely the Muslims that are radical would have seen our mercy and would stop jihad.

    1. Nazis and terrorists have no rights. If every Jew had a rifle and pistol in Germany, shot one nazi after krystalnacht WWII would not have happened. Treat ISIS, Radical Mulsims the same as they treat their captives. Take those that terrorized innocent people, put them on display at base of World Trade center and waterboard them all ,then hang them.

            1. Baloney, you are ignorant of what we are saying and of history. Stalin started it. We are saying that those that are terrorists, Nazis etc. are causing chaos, they are not covered by Geneva. Therefore all bets are off. If we found spies in US during war we tortured to get info, then then shot them. They were not covered by Geneva.
              I have three boys in special forces, all over there for the last 12 years. They know what the radicals, terrorists do. They blow up families, poison them, hang them cut off organs, rape them, They have seen that. See no reason to treat them like soldiers or covered by laws for US citizens. Kill them all, after torturing them for info to stop more of their horrendous acts..

              1. “Stalin started it.” I should be mighty careful of accusing someone of not knowing history if I were going to write such a statement.

                “Kill them all…” I should be mighty fearful of the Lord’s wrath upon me were I you. You seem, Dohnal, the very embodiment of your hate.

                  1. We support the release of the Senate reports executive summary and Progressive leaders are pushing for full release. The question is why would any Conservative not support the questionning of runaway state power? Are you for big government?

                    1. I support the release and he knowledge if it does not hurt our troops in the filed. If it does then they should have waited till war over. I have son over there. Plus the Left, Pelosi, Rockefeller etc. all knew about what was going on and it was mild in comparison.

                    2. Dohnal, please do us the favor of writing in English. I can make neither heads nor tails of what you’re attempting to communicate at 8:52.

                  2. LOL

                    I’m absolutely dumbfounded. Look, I’ll tolerate a lot, but if all you’re going to do is come here and write about Nazis, Stalin, and “liberal white racists,” then perhaps you should go back to where you came from.

                    1. Where is that d’you think? North of the Wall… the Capitol… Mendota Mental Health? Probably just Waukesha. Where they’re all from.

                    2. I am where I came from. HQ of those that want to solve state problems as Wal
                      ker has done, pick up Left wing messes.

                  3. Dohnal, so you’re OK with Pontius Pilate torturing Jesus, the scourging, the mocking, and the crown of thorns?

                    1. You are really nuts, Jesus was not terroists did not cut nay heads off, rape women or hang children, Slaughter innocents.

                  4. Dohnal,

                    I’m sure the Japanese appreciate you defending their soldiers, who the U.S. executed for waterboarding. “McCain: Japanese Hanged For Waterboarding”

                    “…Republican presidential candidate John McCain reminded people Thursday that some Japanese were tried and hanged for torturing American prisoners during World War II with techniques that included waterboarding. …”

                    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mccain-japanese-hanged-for-waterboarding/

                    How do you like my research?

                    1. Never defended the Japs during the war, condemned the Japs , now they are Japanese. Had too many relatives over there. I would be defending our torturing of them cause they did not sign Geneva and were torturing us. That was war. I am talking about terrorists and Nazis. McCain has his opinion and I have mine. Far more people agree with me than John. I will not leave our people or those kids in Iraq or anyplace else defenseless against terrorists. I do not believe that people that cut off kids heads as they did yesterday to kids, rape women, stone them and every other despicable act, have rights. You do.

                  5. Dohnal,

                    So now you’re against our “ally,” Saudi Arabia?

                    “Saudi Arabia carries out 77th execution of 2014”

                    “…Saudi Arabia beheaded on Tuesday a convicted drug trafficker, the 77th state execution in the oil-rich kingdom this year despite international concerns …”

                    http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/22817

                    How do you like my research?

                    1. What is th matter with that, he was convicted. You know damn well that I am talking terrorists, Nazi types, Japs that ignored international laws during war and you are trying to transpose that into lawful executions of criminals.

                    2. Dohnal, now you’re back to defending Pontius Pilate:

                      Matthew 27:37

                      “And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.”

                      How do you like my research?

          1. Interesting bits that you left out of your ‘quote’! That appears to be how you edit your supposed digest as well.

            1. ” As they do unto you”. That is how these outlaws live. They only understand one thing power and here we come.

      1. I wonder Zach that if you have the integrity to admit that if it were your family that was held by these monsters you would be willing to do what it takes to get them back if you could. Really easy to sit on a high house and claim something. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

        I would presume that the guys that were water boarded are breathing a lot better than our men and women that died on 9/11. Or the countless Americans that had there heads chopped off…

        Do I think some advanced techniques should be used just to get your jollies off, NO.

        Do I think using advanced techniques on high value terrorists that end up saving lives of our soldiers Or citizens that seems more reasonable. If my mom is about to be killed and raped I presume I would be willing to give a terrorist an enema or play Christmas music too loud or water board them a little. But hey, I admit that my mom means a lot to me.

        1. Chris,

          Thanks for defending the Japanese who killed U.S. soldiers on the Bataan Death march http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March. Thanks for trying to overturn Nuremberg, which stated that “following orders,” wasn’t a sufficient excuse for torture and murder of civilians.

          /sarcasm

          What about forcing parents to watch as you crush the testicles of their children?

          The unconfirmed rumors I’ve heard were that after that, all those people were murdered, kids too. Among so much of what you don’t get, is that unless a psychopath is doing the torture, normal human beings can’t engage in that. It eats them up. That’s where so many of the sources are coming from, it’s the CIA’s own people who can’t live with what they did.

          For all we know, you, Chris, could be a “high value” source on a terrorist. All it takes is for 1 American on a watch list (millions) to but dial your phone, or someone you’re in contact with. Could be a pizza parlor, a laundromat, …. Then someone could think maybe it’s time to have a little “chat” with you. It could be the lives of our soldiers at stake.

          “Shocking cases in CIA report”

          Janat Gul begged the CIA for death.

          Delivered to the CIA in July 2004 by a foreign ally, Gul was thought to have intelligence about an attack on the US planned to take place ahead of the presidential election. Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, authorized CIA director George Tenet to use all approved torture techniques on him save waterboarding. Soon he was hallucinating, seeing his family in the mirror.

          A CIA cable recorded: Gul “asked to die, or just to be killed.”

          There had been doubts about the intelligence justifying Gul’s capture even before the CIA had him in custody. One official said in March 2004 it was “vague” and “worthless in terms of actionable intelligence.” In August of that year, CIA officials at Gul’s detention site twice reported they did not think he was withholding information. But the response from headquarters was to continue torturing him, apparently out of fear of missing information on the threat.

          By October 2004, Gul’s accuser recanted. It is unclear if that accuser gave up Gul in the first place after he was himself tortured. The CIA transferred Gul to an unknown foreign partner, and he was ultimately freed….

          http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/09/cia-report-torture-program-disarray

          Torture is wrong. It’s always wrong. Once you allow it, you destroy our greatest defense against terrorists, a free and open society. If people, who have actionable information, are afraid that they will be tortured if they come forward, they won’t. If you were remotely conservative, you’d understand that.

          “I Can’t Be Forgiven for Abu Ghraib”

          “…I was an interrogator at Abu Ghraib. I tortured.

          Abu Ghraib dominates every minute of every day for me. In early 2004, workers inside Abu Ghraib were scrambling to cover the murals of Saddam Hussein with a coat of yellowish paint. I accidentally leaned up against one of those walls. I still wear the black fleece jacket with the faded stain. I still smell the paint. I still hear the sounds. I still see the men we called detainees….
          http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/opinion/the-torture-report-reminds-us-of-what-america-was.html

          1. John, you see there is the difference between you and I. I did not say it was okay to torture and kill and murder innocent civilians and people. I did not say it was okay to murder terrorist that you have in captivity. I did not say the Holocaust was okay. I said if your family if your mother if your father if your wife or children were held by terrorists. I wonder if you would have the integrity to say you would be willing to do what it takes to free them. The people at Guantanamo we’re not innocent civilians that butt dialed someone they were murderers they were terrorist that were caught in the act of killing innocent people.

            you can make as many generalities as you like I am living in reality I am glad to know that if you’re very special loved ones were held by these murderous rapist torturers killers that you would rather see them die then then do everything in your power to get them back that is fine good for you you are a better man than I

            1. 1. Chris wrote: John, you see there is the difference between you and I.

              Agree.

              2. Chris wrote: “I did not say it was okay to torture and kill and murder innocent civilians and people.”

              Sure you did. You can’t determine innocence and guilt if you resort to torture. People will say anything to make it stop.

              3. Chris wrote: “I did not say it was okay to murder terrorist that you have in captivity.”

              Where did you express support for holding those who ordered torture, and those who carried it out accountable?

              4. Chris wrote: “I did not say the Holocaust was okay.”

              Your statements undermined the justice delivered at Nuremberg. How is that not excusing the European Holocaust?

              5. Chris wrote: “I said if your family if your mother if your father if your wife or children were held by terrorists.”

              Which of the folks who the U.S. Government tortured had kidnapped somebody?

              For a guy who hates capitalism, who refuses to accept the reality of income inequality, I don’t think bringing up kidnapping is your best move. “Cal Ripken Jr. offers $100,000 for arrest, conviction of mom’s kidnapper” http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/01/justice/ripken-mom-kidnap-reward/index.html Kidnapping’s epidemic south of our border. A key factor are the drug cartels, who btw get about 60% of their revenue from pot. When is Gov. Walker going to end the job-killing-government-regulations against it?

              6. Chris wrote: “I wonder if you would have the integrity to say you would be willing to do what it takes to free them.”

              For your Walter Mitty fantasies, the preview of “Man on Fire.”

              https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIUbdYxUFVgAL6T7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTFlb3JnY3BkBHNlYwNzYwRzbGsDaHF2aWQEdnRpZAMEdmlkAzAwMDEyNTc5MzU3OARncG9zAzE-?p=denzel+washington+man+on+fire&vid=000125793578&l=2%3A33&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fd4.yimg.com%2Fsr%2Fvideo%2Fthm-300×300%2Fe42d163d066729c7961b54a6d2db87d7&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymotion.com%2Fswf%2Fvideo%2Fx1yi53q&tit=MAN+ON+FIRE+-+OFFICIAL+MOVIE+TRAILER+2004+-+Denzel+Washington%2C+Dakota+Fanning%2C+Radha+Mitchell+-+Entertainment&c=0&sigr=11c6k528i&sigt=13dn3qpuf&mid=d1d81ac5be7432e3&pid=&age=1345511393&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av%2Cm%3Asa&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&tt=o&mid=d1d81ac5be7432e3&sr=pr

              7. Chris wrote: “The people at Guantanamo we’re not innocent civilians that butt dialed someone they were murderers they were terrorist that were caught in the act of killing innocent people.”

              “Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo Hardcover”

              “In October 2001, nineteen-year-old Murat Kurnaz traveled to Pakistan to visit a madrassa. During a security check a few weeks after his arrival, he was arrested without explanation and for a bounty of $3,000, the Pakistani police sold him to U.S. forces. He was first taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he was severely mistreated, and then two months later he was flown to Guantanamo as Prisoner #61. For more than 1,600 days, he was tortured and lived through hell. He was kept in a cage and endured daily interrogations, solitary confinement, and sleep deprivation. Finally, in August 2006, Kurnaz was released, with acknowledgment of his innocence. Told with lucidity, accuracy, and wisdom, Kurnaz’s story is both sobering and poignant–an important testimony about our turbulent times when innocent people get caught in the crossfire of the war on terrorism.”

              http://www.amazon.com/Five-Years-My-Life-Guantanamo/dp/0230603742

              was published in 2008.

              When do the trials start for all the guilty guys at Gitmo?

              Please include links.

              8. Chris wrote: “you can make as many generalities as you like”

              Thanks.

              9. Chris wrote: “I am living in reality”

              You’re a legend in your own mind.

              10. Chris wrote: I am glad to know that if you’re very special loved ones were held by these murderous rapist torturers killers

              Are you referring to the CIA?

              Above you brought up kidnapping, you didn’t mention anything about rape. Now you’re adding rape. That’s exactly what the CIA did, they “renditioned” (that’s kidnapping) suspects off the streets and then tortured them. One of their methods was anal feeding, which is rape.

              11. Chris wrote: that you would rather see them die then then do everything in your power to get them back that is fine good for you you are a better man than I

              What’s your excuse for all the mistakes in this statement?

            2. Going after Zach and now John with the same straw argument about their personal integrity under imagined circumstances for either of them and a family member is completely off the topic and meaningless for this discussion. Zach and John refusing to answer your specific strawman question is NOT proof of any supposed lack of personal integrity about anything.

              Depending on the time frame you’ve referenced many of the detainees at Guantanamo were innocent civilians, sold for cash rewards from US operatives in intial “terrorist,” roundups.

              You’ve obviously missed reading anything about the total lack of value in information “gained,” through torture. There is none. Shoots your entire rant here. Try reading the story I’ve linked to, an example of an American soldier exhibiting the highest order of moral standards and personal integrity imaginable, which you might consider emulating to even a miniscule degree.

              http://www.thenation.com/blog/154649/us-soldier-who-committed-suicide-after-she-refused-take-part-torture

              1. Non. Your non answer is answer enough.. these people were working there assess off to save American lives. No straw man arguing needed. If it was your lives one they were working to save. Your blood that they were fighting for I doubt you would be talking this way.

                You can answer easily enough if you would be willing to waterboard a kidnapper if it saved your kids or wife or family. Clearly you won’t answer that because it doesn’t fit your narrative.

                I can answer it. I would do what it takes to save my loved ones.

                  1. Steve, a big talking bull shitter huh?

                    I call it speaking the truth at least I am man enough to speak the truth regarding this issue yes I would be willing to waterboard a kidnapper that he had information that would lead to the release of my loved ones the kidnapper will be fine waterboarding does not kill you it does not chop your head off.

                    clearly you and your friends would not do that you would rather have the kidnappers stay silent and have your loved ones die. I understand that, that is very big of you. yes the kidnapper would be very much more respectful of you that you did not water board hi. your family would be dead, but you showed mercy and I’m sure the next time your wife or your loved ones were kidnapped they would consider that… but wait your family is now dead because you did not save them.

                    funny that the Liberals, the kings of the straw man argument would be crying foul when I propose a not so unrealistic situation… but when they cry Guns will cause the wild wild west at 10 will lead to the end of civilization as we know it not passing Obamacare will result in millions of citizens dying in the next two years that shit is completely fine…

                    1. If I see a liberal around here I’ll let you know. At some future date maybe you can figure out what political persuasion you think you are addressing.

                      As you’ve missed the two prior attempts to give you a hint that TORTURE DOESN’T YIELD ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE and with your addition of two more straw arguments, guns and the health insurance company guaranteed profits bill (ACA) which absolutely don’t validate anything you claimed anywhere here about your fantasy scenarios nor the topic being discussed, i.e. the release of the torture memo summary, here are a couple polite suggestions.

                      Keith Olbermann for President in 2016, if he’ll have us. Grab your dictionary as you’ll surely need it, and be ready with the pause/replay button, as I’m certain this will otherwise zoom right over your head, this guy never suffered fools, and kindly sit down and listen.

  4. Getting back to the OP, just to mention one of the important distinctions completely lost on two commentators here is that NO actionable intelligence (zero, none) was derived through any of the EITs *enhanced interrogation techniques* i.e. torture since 9/11. Of course the perpetrators of EIT claimed otherwise.

    The MSM, full membership partners in the political class under the direction of the “aristocracy” have been successful in turning opinion to a large extent to a reluctant acceptance of this despicable EIT behavior on the part of many USians. By accepting the official narrative of fear for our imminent personal survival, we citizens are more easily duped and further engender actions like the brutality practiced by the increasingly more militarized civilian police in repression of free speech and true patriotic rights to free speech and the right to assemble and to air grievances against those who act in our name without our consent or questioning behaviors that sicken us. Often times practicing ourselves being totally compliant to dictators, especially those petty would be tyrants here at home in our own state.

    We witness here in these comments some examples of the most pathetic victims of the MSM, and their political party propaganda who will easily pervert common verses from ancient, spoken language, common law scriptures (biblical writings) into comments such as, “do unto others as they have DONE to you,” which to my youthful indoctrination read in a completely different and oppositional manner, namely (simplified), “do unto others, as you would have them to do unto you.”

    Funny how Republicans have never criticized Obombya for expanding the most effective anti-Amurikan terrorist recruitment tool out there. Drone murders.

  5. The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights (ratified December 15, 1791) prohibiting the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments, including torture. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause also applies to the states

      1. And what precisely within this article dismays you? Any chance you might be able to cast your thoughts into cogent sentences comprised of accurately spelled words?

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