Americans need to hear Senate report on torture

Combat operations are officially over in Afghanistan, 13 years after the United States and a coalition of NATO forces went to war in retaliation for the terrorist attacks on American soil Sept. 11, 2001.

But as flags were being lowered Monday in Kabul, signaling the conclusion of the war, extra security and barriers were being raised around U.S. military bases and diplomatic posts in anticipation of the release of some details about torture committed by agents of our government during the “war on terrorism” in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The 480-page summary of a 6,000-page-plus report by the Senate Intelligence Committee was released Tuesday morning. And while it was not a “shock” to many, as we had anticipated the uncivil and inhumane acts that might be described, it is still shameful.

Many Republicans in the Senate, who charged that the Democrat-driven study was distorted and ideologically motivated, had advised against releasing the report, which has been years in the making. They suggested that it would pose a threat to national security and warned that if the contents were made public, there could be violent reactions in various parts of the world.

But the American people have a right to know what was done in their name, and supposedly for their benefit. They deserve the the raw, naked truth, and that is what they got — literally.

According to the report, waterboarding was used on some detainees to the point of “near drownings”; forced sleep deprivation kept prisoners awake for up to 180 hours while bound in deplorable positions; some were stripped naked and dragged through corridors while being slapped; and others were subjected to “rectal rehydration,” whatever that means.

Despite all of this notorious (and illegal) conduct, the report concludes that such tactics were basically ineffective, producing no significant information that prevented another attack.

In addition to mismanaging the operation, the study says, the CIA “fabricated” information and mislead its superiors in the White House and Congress.

These are charges that current and former CIA officials, as well as members of George W. Bush’s administration, have rejected, insisting that the program was effective and that everything done was authorized.

President Brack Obama, who acknowledged in August that “we tortured some folks,” has said the interrogation procedures used “were not only inconsistent with our values as a nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our national security interests.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, who said, “The CIA’s actions a decade ago are a stain on our values and our history.”

It is an unerasable blemish that will be part of our Afghanistan war legacy forever.

Along with the end of America’s combat mission in Afghanistan — more than 10,000 troops will remain in an “advisory” capacity — and the release of the torture report, there was another development this week that reminds us of another “stain” the country bears.

Uruguay accepted six men who had been detained (without charges) at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base for more than 12 years. They are among 19 who have left the U.S. detention Center in Cuba this year; 136 remain in a facility Obama promised during his first campaign to close.

For those who still think the Senate report should not have been released, please consider the words of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a former prisoner of war and victim of torture during the Vietnam War.

Although noting that “the truth is hard to swallow,” McCain said the American people are entitled to it.

“I have often said, and will always maintain,” McCain said, “that this question isn’t about our enemies; it’s about us. It’s about who we were, who we are and who we aspire to be. It’s about how we represent ourselves to the world.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2014 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Americans need to hear Senate report on torture."