Does classified report show that CIA sent DOJ inaccurate info on harsh interrogations?
A classified report by the Senate Intelligence Committee reportedly says the CIA sent flawed information about its harsh interrogations to the Justice Department, impeding proper analysis of the legality of those methods.
McClatchy News says the secret report calls into question the Justice Department’s legal opinions finding that waterboarding and other harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects didn’t violate the law.
The report also says the CIA didn’t keep an accurate account of the number of individuals it held and issued erroneous claims about the number of people subjected to harsh interrogations, the McClatchy story says. And the report says CIA personnel used interrogation methods that weren’t approved by the Justice Department or CIA headquarters.
One terrorism suspect was waterboarded 82 times and another 183 times, the story says, citing a CIA Inspector General’s report. Their cases clashed with the CIA’s assertion that repetition of harsh techniques “will not be substantial because the techniques generally lose their effectiveness after several repetitions,” the news service says.
A CIA spokesman refused to comment because the report was classified. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the intelligence committee, told McClatchy, “If someone distributed any part of this classified report, they broke the law and should be prosecuted.”
Feinstein’s committee has sent portions of the report to the executive branch for declassification.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
