On 9 December, the US’s Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) released parts of a detailed report on the CIA’s ‘Detention and Interrogation’ program on detainees between 2001 and 2006. This report is a chilling proof of the horrific torture tactics used by the CIA under the garb of “enhanced interrogation techniques”. Several instances of torture and abuse by the CIA have been documented: detainees were orally and anally forcefed, they were subjected to rectal feeding, some detainees showed symptoms normally associated with a violent rape, prisoners were subjected to mock executions and waterboarding, prisoners were threatened with not only their own murder but also with the rape and murder of their children and family members, at least one prisoner died during interrogation due to hypothermia (where the body’s temperature drops below that required for normal functioning) with no action taken against any CIA employee, prisoners were kept awake for over one week causing them to experience hallucinations, the prisoners were kept in the dark with no talking allowed, detainees were constantly shackled to the wall or floor. Several illegal techniques of ‘interrogation’ were used. There is also documented evidence of people being incarcerated and tortured for months based on false and flimsy accusations. One detainee for instance was subjected to “ice water baths” and 66 hours of standing sleep deprivation, he was later released as the CIA had mistaken his identity. Moreover, the CIA often hid facts and misrepresented its operations to cover up the truth of its “enhanced interrogation” and torture techniques. This report has conclusively nailed the horrific underbelly of the US’s so-called ‘war against terror’.
