Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
This declaration has been codified into international law with the US being one of the primary movers of the process. The US of course is very prone to lecture the rest of the world about human rights and has at times used it as a basis for intervention into the affairs of other nations.
Now the lid has been blown off the simmering controversy over the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation of the CIA's use of torture.
Senate committee found CIA interrogations and detentions to be 'brutal' and urges administration to release report as quickly as possible
A leak of the major findings of a landmark Senate inquiry into the CIA’s post-9/11 torture of terrorism detainees led, on Friday, to intensified pressure on the White House and the CIA to release the inquiry speedily and with a minimum of redactions.
The classified study, prepared by the Senate select committee on intelligence, concluded that the CIA’s interrogations, secret detentions and outsourced torture sessions were “brutal, and far worse than the agency communicated to policymakers.”
More suspected terrorists underwent the agency’s post-9/11 treatment, which largely lasted from 2002 to 2006, than the CIA has publicly admitted, according to the report’s findings, which were first reported by McClatchy. Last week, committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein of California stated that the Senate investigated the cases of 100 detainees – dozens more than previously known to have gone through the CIA’s so-called “interrogation, detention and rendition” programs.
In addition to misleading policymakers, the Senate report charges the CIA with selectively and leaking classified and inaccurate information to journalists in order to portray the program in a positive light.
It appears that the White House is still determined to allow the CIA to make the determination as to what parts of the report should be officially released to the public. This would now seem to be an issue of closing the barn door after the horse has been snatched. The information has now been leaked and more is likely to come. They are likely frantically looking for the leakers so that they can try them for treason.
This is a matter that goes far beyond the normal beltway political squabbles. It involves interrogation procedures that were conducted as a matter of established policy under the Bush administration that was in violation of US and international law. However, it also involves a reluctance on the part of the Obama administration to pursue the appropriate criminal investigation. There is a huge pile of bipartisan crap that has been swept under the rug.