Opinion: U.S. must learn from torture report
By Dianne Feinstein
A week ago today, a five-year review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program was finally made public, drawing back the curtains on a very dark period of American history. The purpose of making this report public is simple: to ensure something like this can never happen again.
The 500-page executive summary that was made public is part of a larger 6,700-page review of a CIA program that included clear examples of torture, far outside the bounds of American values.
Dianne Feinstein
It’s important to remember the study is based on CIA’s own records: 6.3 million pages of the CIA cables, memos, reports, e-mails and other documents. These records from the very time the actions took place — appear extensively in the report’s 38,000 footnotes.
Many of these records were disturbing, at times deplorable.
But there was also some wisdom in those records, like a 2005 email from then-CIA Inspector General John Helgerson. It read, in part: “We have found that the Agency over the decades has continued to get itself in messes related to interrogation programs for one overriding reason: we do not document and learn from our experience — each generation of officers is left to improvise anew, with problematic results for our officers as individuals and for our Agency.”
This report provides that documentation, and now we need to learn from it and apply the lessons.
We must never again allow our country to veer so far off course. To do that, we have to study where we went wrong.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said last week on the Senate floor, “The truth is sometimes a hard pill to swallow.” Indeed, the executive summary includes some particularly vile treatment, and it’s difficult to comprehend what happened. We included these details to drive home how wrong and un-American this program was.
One detainee was kept awake for 180 hours — that’s more than seven days without sleep. One otherwise healthy detainee died while in custody, likely from hypothermia.
Beatings were common, painful stress positions were often used and threats were made against detainees’ lives and against their families. There were even mock executions.
All of this happened outside the normal system of checks and balances. Congress was blocked from oversigt, and policymakers reviewing the program were often misinformed. What guidelines existed to prevent abuse were repeatedly ignored.
The result of these actions? A program of interrogation and torture that yielded no information necessary to stop terrorist plots or capture terrorists.
This was an ugly program, but let me be clear: Our country is strong enough to own up to what we did and make the necessary changes to make sure it never happens again.
It’s what the most powerful country in the world should and must do.
Lindsey Graham, a Republican colleague from South Carolina who also spoke on the Senate floor on Dec. 9, made this point: The evils our enemies visit upon us are far worse than how we treated these prisoners, but we must hold ourselves to a much higher standard than ISIL or al Qaeda.
This isn’t about our enemies. This is about us.
So now we need to move forward. It’s time to finally enact federal laws that ban interrogation techniques like these from ever being used again.
In the coming days, I plan on joining several other senators in offering a series of recommendations that stem from this report. We shouldn’t have to rely on a presidential executive order, which could be reversed and is the only thing prohibiting the CIA from resuming this program.
Critics of this report have said that releasing it will make us less safe, that the world is too unstable to handle what this report found. In considering these concerns, I determined that there is never a good time to admit we tortured people, but it must be done.
But it’s not the report that’s at fault, it’s the fact that we allowed torture to happen in the first place.
When we released the report, I talked on the Senate floor about how the study was conducted, what was in it and what it meant.
But the speaker who followed me really put it in the proper context, and that was Sen. McCain.
No one knows better that torture doesn’t work than John. He spent five years as a prisoner of war. He lived this debate, and I’m proud to have him on my side.
John spoke eloquently, offering argument after argument against the use of torture.
One passage in particular stuck me: “It is essential to our success in this war that we ask those who fight it for us to remember at all times that they are defending a sacred ideal of how nations should be governed and conduct their relations with others — even our enemies.”
Let’s not forget that lesson. Let’s not repeat the same mistakes. I encourage everyone to read the report, come to your own conclusion and if you agree, join in the fight to end torture.
Dianne Feinstein represents California in the U.S. Senate.
I don’t often agree with John McCain anymore, given his attack dog style feckless attacks on ‘all things Obama’ but I do on this.
John McCain is a man of honor who has experienced torture.
Dick Cheney is not a man of honor and has experienced nothing beyond the internal ravings of his own dark soul.
One believes America should be a nation of honor and principle. The other, clearly, believes the opposite.
Meanwhile the news reports that terrorists like those in Gitmo are now cutting the heads off children.
But lets play GO FISH with them to get answers.
We dare to feign ignorance of torture, want to be absolved of our transgressions, yet our country pays billions to non gov’t military forces to do the same thing on our behalf.
Only the woman that Sen. F is could get this out in the open for us but the reality is- this isn’t the end of these deplorable practices.
Making the good guys the bad guys, whether it is our police or military or CIA, is the number one agenda of dangerous leftists and their useful tools like the marching and rioting poverty pawns and add the indoctrinated college students who are largely uneducated/unemployed when they leave who spawn this kind of thinking and in this report it is led by a very old has been liberal Senator who wants attention and lives in her gated multimillion dollar mansion so she can relate to normal people. While back in the real world, the real terrorists are slaughtering people alive and kidnapping and really torturing people, including a school full of children today. And these insane leftists are worried about water-boarding killers and murderers?
Cancer is not fought with honey. These cancerous people need to be cut out.
Feinstein is like Moonbutt. A senile goat needing a pasture.
I don’t have a printable name for anyone who would disagree that the US should own up to what we did and never do it again.
This is not a political party, a left or right issue, it is a human issue.
Because ISIS or any other religion, political body, or anything, resorts to torture on their own, does not give us a reason or a right to do the same.
Justass, you are one sick deranged dude that, I have no doubt, would be out torturing those you continue to put down and accuse. Im glad you dont have any more motivation than to exercise your fingers tortureing those of us who see this blog and read your ugly dribble. Maybe if you opened your mind…no not a good idea…..
cranky: Who would you have us own up to? The terrorists? ISIS?
Your president has already apologized to them for US killing Osama. You know, the guy who had 3000+ Americans killed simply because we are Americans/Christians.
Still waiting on their apology for 911…but not holding my breath. They are too busy cutting children’s heads off and murdering kids in schools.
The left has tried to get away with defining the word “torture” for their own purpose, it is now seen used as a featured Democrat hit piece coinciding with negative testimony from the idiot named Goober regarding Bummer Scare. Torture is what the real terrorists are doing, burning and torturing people alive. This country didn’t do anything remotely close by a mile and what was used described in the report never amounted to torture at any time and was widely used in WWII. Of course Brave Whacko Barako uses drones and who knows what is hit as he has no boots to ever touch the ground, he does have a lot of basketball and golf shoes and spare time for sports and rap music parties.
There sure are some mean spirted people that comment here on Lake Tahoe News. I get it you hate the President and anybody who has views different than yours. I was’nt a big fan of Presidents Reagan, Nixon or G.W Bush. While I disagreed with the wars and govt. policy that favored the large corporatons and turned a blind eye to massive amounts of pollution I did so in a civil manner.
The killing of innocent unarmed citizens by a militarized police force. Tax breaks for the wealthy and tax hikes for the middle class. People trying to instill fear into regular good, hard working folks so they will vote against their own best intrests all the while watching big business and the top 1% walk away with tons of loot,ripped from the pockets of the middle class, poor, seniors ,veterans and the disabled!
I hope your attitude changes in the next year. Instead of waving your fist in the air and shouting out hate speech, extend your hand to help someone and then shake their hand.Who knows? Maybe you’ll feel better about yourself and the world around you. OLS
Careful there, OLS, one of the geniuses here is going to label you a much hated “liberal.” My recommendation, not that you’re asking, or should, is that you accept the compliment. Although we liberals have allowed the screwballs to define us, “Progressive” seems to be a good enough replacement term that pretty much defines itself.
Speaking as a long time liberal, I’ve made pretty good careers combining full term (4+years) active duty in the military, a 4 year term in mid-management on the San Francisco waterfront (ever waited to tie up a freighter at 0300 at a dock in Richmond?), and 30 years in law enforcement. My political activism actually goes back to around the 8th grade and the House Un-American Committee, as well as Tail Gunner Joe’s abuses, but I showed up as a huge supporter of the folks opposing the American Viet Nam adventure (along with many of my fellow veterans) and eventually became active in the recent campaigns of our president.
I’m dismayed, but hardly disarmed, by the screwballs who are steering our national agenda with a helm that is only marginally, or perhaps inversely, attached to the rudder.
OLS, as much as I wish that Kae would turn this into a true forum, open to ideas – even, or especially, anonymous ones, but a clearly enforced code of conduct with folks to enforce it (I think she already knows my opinion on that,) I admire your stubbornness in taking on the craziest amongst us. I continue to simply imagine that’s why we have a “delete” button. When a progressive candidate for President suggests we have a universal delete button, I’ll support her. Or, perhaps even him.
OLS: I always appreciate your words and respect your opinions even if I disagree. But we are AT WAR with terrorists! There is nothing nice or warm and fuzzy about WAR. They have started this war and if we stand around holding hands to be nice-nice, we will lose. Though I don’t agree with Cranky, he/she is right about this is not about Dems or Reps. This is a war that has been declared on all Americans and ANYONE, A N Y O N E, who will not convert to their Islamic ways. They must be stopped and I don’t care how we do it. Our existence depends on it.
To put things into perspective: More people were in the stadium during the Oakland Raiders last home game, than there are members of ISIS.
Fish, that’s just a stupid comparison. The people at the Raider game don’t want to kill infidels.
Since the beginning of all this I have been uncomfortable with where we were going. Eisenhower would have thrown some of these people out of a second story window for the advice they were giving. The United States does not torture. This is cruel and unusual punishment. Say what you like but we need to look at our constitution, and read what it says instead of what we want it to say.
Caso, it really doesn’t take a stadium full of people to do things like 9/11 which killed thousands of americanAmericans, or to do be headings of Americans as well as other people that Isis does not agree with. I am pretty sure that there is not many Americans that agree with the ISIS agenda, even the furthest left liberal.
Copper, I’m not concerned with the label of being called a “Liberal”. “Leftist”, is sort of new to me, but I prefer”Progressive” over all these other terms.
A little side story. My Mom and Dad were staunch republicans since as far back as I can remember. My Mom absolutely loved Ronnie Reagan.
One Day I’m talkin’ with my Dad on the phone and I could tell he had something he wanted to tell me.
My Dad says “Bob, I’ve re-registered as a Democrat!”
I about fell outta my chair! Then he tells me
“I didn’t leave the republican party, they left me”.
He was sick of the Republicans moving so far to the right.
I’m registered “Independent” myself because The Dems have also given up ground and are more right leaning than in years past.
Am I stubborn for takin’ on the crazies???? Well, I’ve been called worse. Thanks for the compliment!!! OLS
Not to carry this on to excess, OLS, but my mother also registered Independent. My dad, a very conservative guy who was born in Shanghai and never would admit to how he registered, always told her that registering Independent would cause her to be investigated as a Commie. Just thought you should be aware of that theory.
She was an Irish, first generation, American, whose loves were pretty much limited to Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Don Sherwood, which will bring back memories to anyone from the Bay Area who lived to hear “. . the sound of the City, on KSFO.” I still have “Donny Babe’s” biography, which I gave her one Christmas, written after his death.
Uh, not by him, in case I confused anyone.
I believe we need to admit to ourselves that our morals have slipped and what the country stands (stood?) for that torture is not the way to solve our problem with terrorist groups.
Someone brought up the fact that there are a relatively few thousand ISIS members, and we already know that the jihadists are a very small portion of the worlds Muslims.
Given the above, can you imagine the rush these terrorist types get out of the fact that so few of them have the attention of the world and particularly the attention of the most powerful and progressive country in the world. We are pandering to them and they love it. The ones beheaded were usually in a place they could be noticed and captured doing relief work to help the innocent people of the middle east.
Lack of attention drives the terrorists crazy. I do not have all the answers, but If we had the resolve and the methods to isolate them in any particular area, and let them loose on themselves, I think we would be shed of the worst in a very short time.
Blaming the current president (who didn’t start the fire) is not getting anywhere. It just dilutes rational thinking. He and his predecessors, Democrat or republican all inherited situations they could not change.
Voters ultimately have the ability to change things, but only if they will be active and vote.
It is not too hard to figure out who the bad guys are…..they are anyone who is trying to keep people they disagree with from voting. Today, this is the Republican Party for the most part.
“Lack of attention drives the terrorists crazy. I do not have all the answers, but If we had the resolve and the methods to isolate them in any particular area, and let them loose on themselves, I think we would be shed of the worst in a very short time”
Gitmo comes to mind. I know of five recent vacancies.
I’ve learned (again) that politics is full of people who look for reasons to believe their opinions, regardless of any available evidence to the contrary. Critical thinking is a lost art. Intellectual honesty is becoming rare.
I think the last decent President was Ike.
We should have “learned” all we needed to know about torture from the Medieval Age and the Inquisitions.
Yep, they knew how to torture people in the day: Spanish boot, the Rack, Rat torture, Judas cradle, Burnt at the stake, just to name a few. All in the name of Christ, Lord, Country and Kings. And Medieval torture was never used to get information or intelligence; it was used to get a confession from the victim or family and friends.
The last public burning at the stake in America happened in 1741. Thirteen Slaves were burned at the stake in New York for conspiracy.
Apparently, the last public burning at the stake in Europe was in 1835 Germany.
The last “lynching” of a black person occurred in Alabama in 1981. Mike McDonald was randomly targeted by the KKK for retaliation; McDonald was nineteen years old.
Just when you think the 13th Century is behind you.
r4t,you’re completely neglecting to mention the torture being perpetrated on Christians and “the wrong muslims” by islamic “extremists” in the middle east and Africa RIGHT NOW.
Or doesn’t that count in your book?
Dog. If you want to use the “revenge” argument, go for it; it has been used for thousands of years and it is a strong motivator for retaliation.
To me, this is not a body count “tit for tat” because America is supposed to be a Country based on Laws and the Constitution (as imperfect as it is.)
The Supreme Court of the United States has said that even people put to death in America have a right not to be tortured when doing so.
What does it mean when you kidnap a person, rendition them to Cuba, torture them for a confession, then find out that they had nothing to do with a crime (as was detailed in the Torture Report)… Just say Ooops?! I believe we are better then this and we can obviously do better then torture as a means of revenge.
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Mahatma Gandhi