White House To Declassify “Holy Grail” Torture Report That Could Undercut Cheney

[jefferson_dem]

White House To Declassify “Holy Grail” Torture Report That Could Undercut Cheney

There’s a big piece of news about Dick Cheney and torture buried toward the end of this big Washington Post piece about the torture wars.

Specifically: The White House has decided to declassify and release a classified 2004 CIA report about the torture program that is reported to have found no proof that torture foiled any terror plots on American soil — directly contradicting Cheney’s claims. The paper cites “allies” of the White House as a source.

Dem Congressional staffers tell me this report is the “holy grail,” because it is expected to detail torture in unprecedented detail and to cast doubt on the claim that torture works — and its release will almost certainly trigger howls of protest from conservatives. Tellingly, neither the CIA nor the White House knocked down the story in response to my questions, with spokespeople for both declining comment. Here’s the key nugget from the Post piece:

Government officials familiar with the CIA’s early interrogations say the most powerful evidence of apparent excesses is contained in the “top secret” May 7, 2004, inspector general report, based on more than 100 interviews, a review of the videotapes and 38,000 pages of documents. The full report remains closely held, although White House officials have told political allies that they intend to declassify it for public release when the debate quiets over last month’s release of the Justice Department’s interrogation memos…

Although some useful information was produced, the report concluded that “it is difficult to determine conclusively whether interrogations have provided information critical to interdicting specific imminent attacks,” according to the Justice Department’s declassified summary of it.

This news is particularly timely in light of Cheney’s continuing high-profile claims that torture may have saved “hundreds of thousands of lives.” The report is the one I wrote about recently that the ACLU obtained through litigation in highly redacted form. It has an entire redacted section that discusses the “effectiveness” of torture — or lack thereof.

The release of this thing is going to be a big deal. You heard it here first.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/white-house-to-declassify-holy-grail-torture-report-that-could-undercut-cheney/

[Peacetrain]

1. Be careful what you ask for...

You just might get it.. :)

EDIT
Cheney has been on a tear, daring this administration to release all the infor..well what he wanted was just two pages..but duh, with that comes the rest..

[Windy]

2. drip...drip...drip....drip.... nt

[babylonsister]

3. Then, DICK, can we all have a chat about it? nt

[jaxx]

5. I had this mental picture of dick on his knees begging for his hidden bunker!

;-)

[No Elephants]

13. If he said "yes," would it matter? Who believes anything he says?

[pleah]

4. Still waiting for prosecutions.

Yawn.

[MNDemNY]

6. Godot.

[MNDemNY]

8. Godot.

[progressoid]

9. Don't hold your breath.

[pleah]

11. I'm not.

:-(

[No Elephants]

14. Then, please consider supporting the ACLU with as much as you can, contact your Sens and Rep and

sign this online petition from the ACLU to Holder for appointment of a Special Prosecutor.

https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=Nat_Petition_SpecialProsecutor&s_src=UNW090001ACT&s_subsrc=flyer&JServSessionIdr010=5rs8lpxp61.app23a

[pleah]

17. Already done.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. everything needs to come out

all of it.

[opihimoimoi]

10. The Truth needs to....Cheney is ripe for exposing his Disgusting Flaws & Crimes

War Criminal for real...

[LiberalFighter]

12. The only thing the torture did was saved hundreds of thousands of scumsucking

Republicans from being ridiculed and losing their jobs during the Bush administration.

[Hepburn]

15. Wow....imagine that...documents which prove Cheney is a liar....

...:sarcasm:

[Jennicut]

16. Dick would look like a real dick then. Well, he already does.

But this would take that little smirk off his face. Prosecutions sure would too.