Summary of CIA torture report

A U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) report calls into question the legal foundation of the CIA’s interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists following Al Qaeda’s attacks on 9/11

2009: On taking office President Obama signs Executive Order 13491, outlawing torture. At same time, SSCI chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein (left) initiates investigation into CIA enhanced interrogation

Enhanced interrogation: Use of simulated drowning known as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, humiliation and other techniques used against Al Qaeda prisoners   

Origin of programme: Two contract psychologists – with noexperience of interrogation methods – devise techniques based on Air Force’s Korean War-era Survival Evasion Resistance Escape
programme

Oversight: Report concludes that CIA’s enhanced interrogation programme began in 2001 and was not approved by U.S. Justice Department until August 2002

Distorted intelligence: CIA knowingly misled White House, Congress and Justice Department about effectiveness of programme to justify its use

Brutality: Techniques and conditions were far worse than agency told policymakers

Waterboarding: CIA reportedly waterboarded Al Qaeda member,Abu Zubaydah (above right), 83 times, claiming they extracted intelligence that led to hunting down Osama bin Laden (inset top). Principal architect of 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (above left), was reportedly waterboarded more than 180 times

Conventional intelligence: According to Feinstein, it was conventional FBI interrogations of Abu Zubaydah – prior to CIA waterboarding – that led to bin Laden’s whereabouts

Conclusion: CIA’s use of torture damaged U.S.’s global reputation and came with heavy costs, both monetary and non-monetary

Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau
Pictures: Associated Press