The Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA’s brutal interrogation tactics used on terror detainees found that the harsh treatment produced little valuable intelligence and that the measures were more extreme than the intelligence agency said. While the public already knew of some of the tactics used against detainees, including “waterboarding,” many new details emerged from the report. Members from the msnbc.com community reacted to the release of the long-awaited report.
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Theseus-69: I feel shame for what our nation did under the shadow of fear and free-range manipulation of statutes and laws. As a retired military veteran I wonder how we got it all so wrong. If we do not hold our leaders to account, then our time on the world stage is coming to an end — we lack any moral compass by which to lead the nation and we shall indeed reap the whirlwind.
D. Appel: We are a nation of laws. If we are not willing to stand up for those laws and admit when we have broken them, we will lose respect throughout the world. There is never a right time to do the wrong thing … and never a wrong time to do the right thing. Now that this information has come forward it is time that we, as a nation, demand that those guilty face the consequences of their actions. The American people were lied to … Congress and the Senate were lied to … it is an act of treason and Bush/Cheney need to be punished for what they perpetrated. They are not patriots … they are usurpers of the ideal of what America is supposed to stand for. They sold this nation out and were paid handsomely for their actions.
Davey Williams: If Republicans want to impeach and sue over immigration, they can’t exactly argue that we can’t sue and prosecute over torture. We’re talking about a fair trial for the Bush crowd; what do the Geneva Conventions allow? What did they actually allow, and what is the appropriate penalty if they exceeded the law?
Rob-306572: No sitting president would allow a past president to be brought up on this or other charges. If for no reason other then the simple one: No president wants to set the example because all presidents know full well that they likely did something during their tenure that could lead to either charges against them — or at the least some very uncomfortable legal charges that they would have to answer for. And no president wants to set themselves up for that.
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Rick-881466: Torture is a violation of international law and is never acceptable. Any and everybody involved in approving or implementing this should be rendered to the Hague for prosecution.
arnold-1634182: As damaging as this report is to our national character, we are being even further embarrassed by the politicians and officials who are publicly defending these shameful actions. It takes generations for the U.S. to regain its moral authority in the world.
Zora Renee: The problem is that the CIA is a shadow service with no true oversight by anyone. Part of it is “plausible deniability,” the unwillingness of Congress to actually know and ask the proper questions; the other is that they are in the shadows — which means that they are not accountable to anyone!
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Dan_p: The most damning thing is that the techniques were developed by two psychologists who had no experience in interrogation or counterterrorism. In other words, someone assumed torture works, and had psychologists develop ways to torture — not garner information, not prevent further attacks, just create an atmosphere of “learned helplessness.” Now, the question is who made the decision to do this? lisafp1: Release of this report places lives at risk rendering the act of releasing it rather self-indulgent. Annyp: The CIA has always done this but it was never exposed before. What the CIA did to these people is less than what would happen to them [if they were] tortured by their own country. Time for it to be exposed. The other countries involved in this should be ashamed as well. B_D_W: Can you imagine how mad the public would be if they could see everything Congress (including each individual in Congress) signed off for the CIA to do? Of course they would condemn it when it comes to light, but they agree when it is a secret. This isn’t a political party problem, it is a politician problem. QUIZ: How closely have you followed news of the CIA torture report? Responses were edited for clarity.
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