By Julian Hattem and Kristina Wong.
Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released an exhaustive review of the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects under President George W. Bush.
The executive summary of their controversial report runs more than 500 pages, and contains new information based on a review of more than 6 million classified documents provided by the CIA. Here are some of the highlights.
CIA wrongly held 26 people and accidentally interrogated sources
Of the 119 people detained and harshly questioned by the CIA during its program, at least 26 were wrongly held, the report concludes.
In one instance in the spring of 2004, the CIA realized that it had detained former sources only after shackling them upright in a position where they could not sleep for 24 hours.
“The two detainees had tried to contact the CIA on multiple occasions prior to their detention to inform the CIA of their activities and provide intelligence,” the report says, but their messages were not translated until after the interrogation.
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McCain Joins With Dems In Support of CIA Report
By Alexandra Jaffe.
Republican Sen. John McCain broke with members of his party Tuesday, lauding the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on torture and decrying the use of torture as having “stained our national honor” and doing “much harm and little practical good.”
McCain, a survivor of torture himself from his Naval service during the Vietnam War, said from the Senate floor that the techniques outlined in the report “not only failed their purpose — to secure actionable intelligence to prevent further attacks on the U.S. and our allies — but actually damaged our security interests, as well as our reputation as a force for good in the world.”
Many Republicans have argued against releasing the report, especially as the threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria grows, and U.S. intelligence officials have warned that its release could cause backlash from nations and groups hostile towards the nation. American embassies in the Middle East have been put on heightened security alert for its release.
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On “Fox News Sunday,” Chris Wallace spoke to Jose Rodriguez, the former director of the National Clandestine Service of the CIA, who oversaw the agency’s interrogation program.