“…peacefulness in
the face of a grave wrong that could only be stopped by violence would be a
sin. Defense of one's self or others could be a necessity, especially when
authorized by a legitimate authority.” Saint Augustine
The news is full
of articles today about America’s C.I.A. interrogation tactics. We learn there
is a great difference of opinion about the effectiveness of the C.I.A.’s
methods of getting information out of “detainees” at various facilities around
the world. How can we know who is right?
Several things
can be certain: These “detainees” are not regular prisoners of war. They have
targeted thousands of our own civilians and killed them—3000 at one time on
9/11. They have killed their own people by the hundreds and probably more.
These “detainees” are not uniformed military soldiers; and in the history of
warfare, non-uniformed combatants like these would have been summarily executed
as spies and saboteurs. At least one of the detainees worked on the attack of
the USS Cole.
How have we
treated them? After costing the lives of our own soldiers who captured them,
they were “read their Miranda rights?” (Miranda rights are rights for the
American people. The captured killers, not being American citizens, do not have
any legal rights under U.S. law.) Next, their “legal cases” were transferred
out of military courts into the civilian courts—supposedly because military
courts are more likely to be too harsh on them. Lately, the government has been
transferring the prisoners out of Guantanamo into various places—the last
cohort of prisoners were sent to Uruguay—does that make any sense?
Senator Diane
Feinstein, in her report believes that interrogation techniques were “cruel,
inhuman, and degrading.” Far be it from us to do anything “degrading” to people
who randomly murder 3000 innocent Americans!
The Democrats
(only) on the Senate Intelligence Committee issued the recent report on
how the torture procedures of the C.I.A. has been so unfair and vicious to
these “detainees.” The committee report has specified that
1)
Enhanced
interrogation techniques were not an effective means of gaining useful
information. The most efficacious method of getting information out of
detainees was to confront them with information already known by the
intelligence community.
2) Conditions of confinement were more harsh than
represented by the C.I.A.
3)
C.I.A. provided inaccurate information to D.O.J.
about the techniques being used.
4)
C.I.A. actively avoided Congressional and
executive oversight of its use of interrogation techniques.
5)
C.I.A.’s activities impeded the other
intelligence agencies from doing their jobs effectively. Their work even
impeded the oversight of the agency’s own Office of Inspector General.
6)
CIA detained people who were not legally
authorized for detention.
7)
C.I.A. gave inaccurate information about its
interrogation techniques to the media.
8)
CIA ignored criticisms of its activities by
internal operatives.
9)
CIA did not evaluate the effectiveness of its
interrogation procedures.
10)
Other countries that hosted the detention
centers put pressure on the U.S. to quit coercive interrogation techniques.
Ex-Vice President Cheney and other members of the Bush
administration, along with a large majority of the American people believed,
after the 9/11 debacle that America should protect itself as a top priority;
and coercive techniques for getting information out of perpetrators of terror
from al Qaeda should be used if necessary. No holds were barred by the American
population as a whole, during that stressful time. It has also been true that
no organized terror strike against America has taken place since 9/11 thanks to
the diligence of the Central Intelligence Agency.
A minority view of Republican committee report by Senators
Chambliss, Burr, Risch, Coats, Rubio, and Coburn has asserted:
Minority members were largely excluded from contributing to
the final report because they were not given enough opportunity to review the
report. Majority members did not consistently attend the meetings set up by the
CIA to explain their interrogation techniques. And…CIA’s response of 6/27/13
was largely ignored. The committee, itself, decided not to interview relevant
witnesses. The committee report has cost the taxpayers $40 million to complete;
and it has no recommendations for further action.
Following is a list of links that bear on the subject of
enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA:
2)
Republican minority response to majority
Democrat Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture http://1.usa.gov/1qrrxuu
Just because something bears the aspect of the inevitable
one should not, therefore, go along willingly with it. Philip K. Dick
Ed and Nancy Manring
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