When you use your enemy's methods, the enemy has won.

The biggest news this week was that a report into interrogation techniques by the CIA in the aftermath of 9/11 and beyond were far harsher than the organisation had ever admitted. In fact it lied. Lied and lied.

I was against the invasion of Iraq, I was also against to so called 'war on terror' as it had no defined target, range or scope. And as we saw with the Russians, they could attack another country and just claim its all part of the war on terror. But I digress.

If we in the west stood for anything, it was for the rule of law, freedom. If we do not uphold these values then what do we stand for?

In an attempt to avoid being accused of carrying out torture, the Bush administration just redefined what torture was. Easy.

And yet, so very, very wrong.

Suspects were transported across borders in by military flights, to black detention centres so to be out of the reach of western laws. They were then subjected to torture, some so bad that people died. Dead. One suspect was waterboarded over 180 times. When it was clear this wasn't working, instead of the fabric over the suspects mouth, a cupped hand was used. A wonderful new thing was created, rectal hydration: when a suspect refused to eat, they blended it, shoved a pipe us his ass and poured his meal in. And this is fine. Anal rape.

Not in my name.

And yet the eagles, the hawks say this is just fine, abandoning over 200 years of life, liberty and freedom, because, of 9/11. Even when there was no evidence that the suspect was part of that act, what the heck, lets just torture the shit out of the guy. This is the death of western values, the whole reason of why we went to war, to topple the unjust regime to just replace it with one just as bad. Hoorah for freedom.

Here are some extracts from the BBC website, all copyright is theirs.



The CIA carried out "brutal" interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US, a US Senate report has said.

The summary of the report, compiled by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the CIA had misled Americans about what it was doing.

The information the CIA collected this way failed to secure information that foiled any threats, the report said.

In a statement, the CIA insisted the interrogations had helped save lives.
"The intelligence gained from the programme was critical to our understanding of al-Qaeda and continues to inform our counterterrorism efforts to this day," director John Brennan said.
However, the CIA also acknowledged mistakes in the programme, especially early on when it was unprepared for the scale of the operation to detain and interrogate prisoners.

The CIA programme - known internally as Rendition, Detention and Interrogation - took place from 2002-07, during the presidency of George W Bush.

The report reveals that:

Detainees were subjected to repeated waterboarding, slapping, stress positions and sleep deprivation
Saudi al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah was kept confined in a coffin-sized box for hours on end
Suspects were threatened with severe harm - psychologically and physically.

Analysis: Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent

This report makes deeply uncomfortable reading but it shines a much-needed torch into some dark places.
The fact that Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, or torture by any other name, was stopped years ago or that some people at the top of the US administration may not have known its full extent, does not excuse the fact it took place at all.
After going through six million pages of documents, the authors concluded that in none of the cases they had looked at did these brutal methods stop a terrorist attack. Meaning that America's reputation, and by extension that of the wider West, has been sullied for no tangible gain.
This will lay the US open to charges of hypocrisy, making it far harder for the West to criticise brutal and dictatorial regimes. It may also encourage terrorists to justify their atrocities by pointing to this past abuse.
It can only be hoped this report's publication means these practices will be consigned to history's dustbin.

Case study: Saudi terror suspect Abu Zubaydah

Abu Zubaydah

Described by US officials as al-Qaeda's former operational planner and terrorist recruiter, Abu Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan and sent to a secret facility in Thailand.
His cell was described as white with no natural light or windows, but with four lights pointing into the cell and an air conditioner.
He had two chairs, one more comfortable than the other, rotated based on his level of co-operation.
From 4-23 August 2002, following 47 days of complete isolation, Abu Zubaydah was subjected to EIT almost 24 hours a day.
Security personnel entered his cell, shackled and hooded him and removed his towel so that he was naked.
"Abu Zubaydah was typically kept naked and sleep-deprived," the report says.
He was backed up against the wall and a box laid on the floor to look like a coffin.
Whenever the suspect denied having certain information, the interrogators grabbed or slapped his face.
On the first evening, he was waterboarded, as a result of which he coughed, vomited and had spasms.
The sessions accelerated, progressing more quickly to waterboarding.
According to the report, the objective was "to ensure [he] is at his most vulnerable state", at all times.

The main points of the report include the following:

None of 20 cases of counterterrorism "successes" attributed to the techniques led to unique or otherwise unavailable intelligence
The CIA misled politicians and public, giving inaccurate information to obtain approval for using techniques
The CIA claimed falsely that no senators had objected to the programme
At least 26 of 119 known detainees in custody during the life of the programme were wrongfully held, and many held for months longer than they should have been
Methods included sleep deprivation for up to 180 hours, often standing or in painful positions
Waterboarding was physically harmful to prisoners, causing convulsions and vomiting

Mr Obama halted the CIA interrogation programme when he took office in 2009.

Earlier this year, he said that in his view the methods used to question al-Qaeda prisoners amounted to torture.

Publication of the report had been delayed amid disagreements in Washington over what should be made public.

Security was increased at US facilities around the world ahead of publication.

Embassies and other sites were taking precautions amid "some indications" of "greater risk", a White House spokesman said.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said he had ordered all top US military commanders to be on high alert.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30401100