White House Fears Release Of CIA Torture Report Will Risk American Lives Worldwide
The United States is apprehensive that the CIA Torture Report may risk the security of U.S. citizens all over the world. It has tightened security at U.S. embassies worldwide before CIA reveals how "torturous" its interrogation of 9/11 suspects has been.
The CIA Torture Report is scheduled to release on Tuesday. This is the first time CIA will reveal how it tortures its detainees kept in secret facilities across Asia and Europe. According to White House spokesman Josh Earnest, there are indications that the report may lead to a "greater risk" for American individuals and facilities all over the world. "The administration has taken the prudent steps to ensure that the proper security precautions are in place at US facilities around the globe," Al Jazeera quoted Earnest.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee which prepared the torture report, was asked by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday that she should "consider" the timing of the report's release. On the other hand, the White House admitted that that there might not be any "ideal time" to make the report public. While the complete 6,200-page report will remain classified, the committee is going to release the 480-page summary which will disclose how CIA has treated about 100 suspected terrorists captured during U.S. operatives from 2001 to 2009. Several U.S. officials, who read the report, have claimed that the report is going to accuse CIA of "harsh" interrogative techniques even though it has failed to produce any "life-saving intelligence."
The report apparently blames CIA for lying about the covert programme to officials at the Justice Department and the White House. Even congressional oversight committees were kept in the dark about the programme, the report apparently claims. CIA is also accused of applying several harsh methods of interrogation such as stress positions and waterboarding at secret prisons in the Guantanamo Bay U.S. military base in Cuba.
BBC reported that U.S. President Barack Obama had halted the interrogation programme after taking office in 2009. He also acknowledged that CIA methods against al-Qaeda prisoners did amount to torture. The interrogation methods appear to be more brutal and more extensive than what CIA had previous admitted.
Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au