Release Report On CIA's Use Of Torture
Release Report On CIA's Use Of Torture
By ALEXANDER EMMONS | FRESH TALK
The Hartford Courant
6:15 p.m. EDT, April 30, 2013
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-emmons-release-senate-report-on-torture-0501-20130430,0,7154372.story
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As I grew up, everything changed. When I was in fifth grade, in early 2004, reports emerged that President George W. Bush had authorized waterboarding at Guantanamo Bay. That spring, we learned that our country brutally tortured people at Abu Ghraib and at so-called black sites. Year after year, I read more reports of torture, indefinite detention and unfair trials — all in the name of my security.
At the time, I found these reports hard to understand, and impossible to accept. I was told we had to fight the war against terrorists. But my fifth-grade self thought the war was in Iraq and Afghanistan, so why were we torturing people in Cuba? Most of all, I asked, why are we torturing anyone?
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Now I am in college. I worry about what my children will accept as a status quo. I want them to grow up in an America that respects, protects and fulfills the human rights of all people. I believe that torture is a terrible sin and must never be allowed.
President Barack Obama and Congress should do more to make sure America never uses torture. The first step is to release the Senate Select Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA's use of torture. The report was commissioned in 2009 and completed in December. Publishing the facts will help convince Americans that torture was a terrible mistake.
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Biden, McCain Push for the Release of Senate Torture Report
4-30-2013
By Marc Jayson Climaco
New Media Content Specialist
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/2013/04/30/biden-mccain-push-for-the-release-of-senate-torture-report/
Senator John McCain brought up torture with Vice President Joe Biden this weekend in a candid conversation about U.S. policy at the Sedona Forum 2013.
“We should expose those abuses of human rights committed by the United States, hold people responsible, and make sure that this kind of thing never happen again,” McCain said.
And the Vice President agreed with him—joining other national security experts who have called for the release of the report. “I think the only way you exorcise the demons is that you acknowledge exactly what happened straightforward,“ Biden said.
This report—based on three years of research, including a review of 6 million pages of official records—remains classified and is currently with the Obama administration for review. Those who have read the report say that it shows the CIA torture program was much more widespread and cruel than we thought, and much less effective at gathering actionable intelligence than torture proponents claim. Now, the review process is being delayed.
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