Variety of Interrogation Techniques Said to Be Authorized by CIA

Typical for ABC News. Go ahead and trot out a picture (probably faked based on Brian Ross’ record) to go along with a story from unnamed sources and provide NO verification of facts. Your efforts to terrorize the American public based on distortion and misrepresentation are clearly coordinated with Terrorsts. I hope you achieve your desired state of gratification the next time a few thousand Americans die as you seem to hope for.
You make me sick!

This is absolutely disgusting. To think that an American government would condone spying on it’s own citizens, unlawfully detaining prisoners, torture those prisoners, and deliberately manipulate intelligence reports to conduct an invasion of a sovereign nation makes me absolutely sick.
To think this government would carry out these despicable acts in my name, supported with my tax dollars is revolting.
Throw the bums out. Every damn last one of them. Throw them out.

[E]ucher,
Once upon a time, there were two documents called the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights (really one in the same, but passed separately). They were, in this mystical time, the sole basis for all law. These two documents were unique, as no other government in the world was based on the theory of individual liberties.
The first document provided for democratic elections, republican government, rule of law, separation of powers, and checks & balances. The second guarenteed the rights of all citizens to do anything that wasn’t expressly forbidden by the Constitution or Federal statute; to speak out; to petition government; to assemble; to worship anything, everything, or nothing at all; to receive due process of law; to be secure from unlawful searches (i.e. without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation); and to even carry weapons in order that the government can be held in check. In this mystical past, the government worked. If the citizens were not satisfied with the government, they selected new leaders. Throughout these many years, there were a great many threats. Communist revolutionaries, powerful foreign enemies, plundering pirates, and a terrible, bloody civil war. Yet in each of these cases, the executive acted in order to curtail the threats, while still obeying the law. The United States survived these threats, and outlasted them.
Your US sounds like it has outlived the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I’m pretty ticked off about that! This is my country as much as it is your country as much as it is Steve’s country. None of us is trying to start a coup. None of us is trying to get Hugo Chavez to become our president. The Constitution still has meaning in this country. Mr. Bush himself took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend that document above all else. There is no fine print saying, “except when there are monsters with rags on their heads living under the bed.” Let us be serious! If we want to be protected by sacrificing all of our liberties, then we have given into fear, the goal of every terrorist there is. It is each and every one of our rights to say, “you know, the president is doing a horrible job…clean house!” It is each and every one of our rights to criticize our government. And, it is each and every one of our rights to demand that the president is subject to the rule of law.
The president is intentionally weak. Our system was created so that the executive would be weak. If you want a powerful president who “protects you,” go to Iran. Better yet, go to North Korea – that way you don’t even have to become Muslim.

One question to answer is how do people end up in these prisions? I am not an expert on this by any means, but I can imagine that in our haste to find Osama and Co. we have rounded up many more innocent men (and as has been reported) children, than cold-blooded killers. It has been reported that there are teenage boys in Guantanamo Bay. How many of them are guilty of anything? We don’t know because the government hasn’t charged them with a crime. A guy in Afganistan was picked up, sent to over three of our gulag prisons, beaten, tortured and raped by US Soldiers with a broom handle, and then released with a piece of paper, a certificate, that he was “not a threat to the United States of America.” His interogators told him that he was originally picked up him of being a terrorist because he was wearing a Casio digital watch, which could be fasioned to detonate bombs.
This man’s story was printed in an issue of Harpers magazine last year. Maybe you say he’s lying and that he’s a part of a terrorist plot. But stories like his are common, and consitient, and they keep coming out. The CIA torture techniques do deep damage to the human psyche. We need to be more careful.
America, Love it or Fix it.

eucher,
I, too, would want a strong president. Problem is, Bush and Co., represent the weakest, as well as, worst, presidency in US history.
The moron itself has stated that Osama “hates our freedoms”.
So, everytime Bush and Co. take away another of our freedoms, bin Laden and terrorists everywhere, win.
Everytime the moron itself (Bush&Co – our representatives on the world stage) participates in acts publically despised by bin Laden, terrorists win. (Read what bin Laden says. One of his justifications for “9-11″ was the rendition process used by the US, amongst many other accusations)
and,
actually, the Koran never says a non-Muslim must convert. It states that non-Muslims are to be respected, as long as they do not attempt to change Muslims to another religion.
Simple, isn’t it?

What good are new rules when we have an administration who thinks they are not required to obey the law?

Please, Robert, fewer pronouns– your post is completely incoherent.

Bush makes us weaker. Hatred and torture will not make us stronger or free. Look at history. The downtrodden will always rise up, and torture never did anything but make people feel downtrodden. Bush is weak. Bush is weak.

If the President has committed a crime, then impeach him. That’s how it works. Repeating he comitted a crime over and over again does not make it true (Plame-gate anyone?). And, as mentioned above, the constitution protects American citizens, no?

Many of you posting above are quite scary. You are the reason our founding fathers put so many checks and balances in our government. They understood how people overreact and can abuse others in the name of expediency or national defense.
Bush is one of the dumber Presidents and worst leaders we have ever seen. The history books will soon take a giant dump on him and his cohorts as they shred the US Constitution.
I am all in favor of a robust defense of our nation. I am in favor of tracking down those that mean us harm and stopping them prior to their mission accomplishment. I do not support us becoming just like the islamofascists who would slit all our throats. What is the point of fighting the war on terror if we are going to give up everything great about the United States of America?
Weak minded ones above talk tough and say we should torture and abuse whoever as the means to a noble end. It is the strong who say we should continue to respect the rule of law, decency and common humanity as we fight to bring our enemies to justice.
Our tortures, Abu Ghrab and other abuses do nothing but fuel terrorist rage. There are enough already. Why should we create more and destroy our rule of law?

Commit a heinous crime… lose your freedom. Its actually rather simple.

Hah! You call that torture? What the hell do you think is happening in some of these African and middle eastern countries. U.S. torture techniques are on the scale of boy scouts and sibling brothers.

just as I thought…no guts…..who is runnig this show anyway???!!! ….some wanabe loser…..go post what I said….or enlist….oh….I also know somebody that was in the
Batan death march…..and he still marches every day……so post it…..

You Americans are sickening.

Torture is wrong.

This is simple. All of you that do not like US policy you have two choices: 1) Get rid of your leaders through voting…and that means your local idiots because they virtually voted unanimously for the war (for good reasons at the time)OR GET THE HELL OUT…seriously, I am sick of each and every one of you whining your asses off about everything going on…DO SOMETHING!! Put up or shut up. This is not a Bush thing or a Cheney thing…this is a YOU thing. What you believe is only important if you do something about it and your choiced are above…SHUT UP.

You may have the guns but your afraid to use them! Chaney, Draft Dodger, Bush, AWOL from National Guard so he could drink and dope out! Republican Congress has less than 15% that have served in the military! What are you going to do with the guns?

Being in the military, I find it disheartening to see a small percentage of the American public and our political leaders attempting to place a “blanket ban” on all torture methods. What we’re dealing with is not conventional warfare. We are facing an enemy that is willing to sacrifice their own lives to see our imminent destruction. They don’t abide by the laws of war outlined in the Geneva Convention and have no regards to the innocent lives of their own citizens. At what point are we, as America, going to develop a spine and come to the realization that when dealing with such a radical group, radical measures are needed to better improve the safety of myself and other soldiers serving our country overseas ensuring the safety of Americans on the homefront. By openly rejecting any proposed plan of effective interrogation, you have willingly doomed the lives of American soldiers, our allies serving alongside us, and innocent Iraqi civilians that could have otherwise been saved with the information gathered from these interrogations. I thank all of you who have rejected these interrogation plans. You have compromised my safety, and ultimately my life and the lives of everyone I serve with, for the sake of a terrorist’s life. The next time you even contemplate about referring to yourself as an American, let alone a Patriot, please, do us all a favor and spare us the lie.

Any way you read the Geneva Conventions, We are breaking them and deserve to be tried for War Crimes.
an example of this very thing when a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, was tried in 1947 for carrying out a form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian during World War II, and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

idiots, we don’t descend to their level, just because the ‘terrorists’ are breaching conventions doesn’t mean we have to as well.

Any american who condones torture is a coward.

FYI – the picture above was taken during a training session to help US military members cope & resist enemy interrogations.
As I see it, the real difficulty here is the inability to accurately define torture (same problem we have with terrorism). Everyone seems to have a different idea of what is unbearable or physical pain (or, even more vague, “emotional distress).
For many, having a woman conduct the interrogation would be “unbearable” while for others, the inability to “tough out” a cold night in a cell only proves a lack of moral fortitude.

Jacob, thanks for your service, but don’t put your sob story on me. I spent 9 years in the Army myself and still have the moral conscience to object to torture. How can you qualify torture anyway? Saving one life is worth waterboarding? 100? 10,000? What would you be willing to do, or (more cowardly) have someone else do, to save the lives of 10 million people? Slowly dissecting the terrorist alive? And if that didn’t work? What if he begs to be martyred? If torture makes you “tough” and able to better protect your country, making you more “patriotic” in the process, then why stop at waterboarding? That seems pretty weak to me. Why not attack his family? Why not rape a 6 month old baby in front of his face? Where exactly is the limit? Apparently you have none, or any morals for that matter. Wake the hell up.

This very dangerous nuclear usa made dictator in front of a well painting
picture of herself, do not help the war
against terror by just killing and torture people, who fallow the rule of law.

Omg. And you know what’ ssad the ppl who are all for this… saying that this article is a fake… look at what the US Gov has actually admitted to! They freakin’ destroyed tapes of the CIA torturing accused terrorists.
Apparently this government does not believe in Innocent until proven Guilty.
Did you know that Torturing a person to get any kind of confession is COERSION?! That ppl, under extreme duress, would willingly admit to having killed their family if it meant that pain whether physical, emotional or psychological would end?!

It is obvious that it’s illegal under international law. Any info you could get with these techniques would be shaky at best seeing as how one would say anything to have such pain stop. And to the people who say that it’s not torture as the person cannot possibly die while being water boarded, that is nonsense. Death is rather not uncommon while waterboarding. If you people are ok with this then, fine. Be the kind of people that torture but what is there to defend about your country if there isn’t the lofty ideals? Soil?
This honestly just makes me sympathize with my fellow Muslims UNLESS they are proven guilty as terrorists. IF they are not, you are simply enflaming anti-western sentiments.

I just wonder how many American soldiers lives were saved by getting the information? No one will ever know. I suggestion to those few or many read a book or two about the what happen to our Men when caputred, in WWI – WWII, Korea and Veitnam, it will open your eyes. God help our men if caputred by the insurgents, not one has survived.

Eucher says:
“Of course, there is another option to the war on terror – we can all convert to Islam. What part of world domination and death to all non-Muslims don’t you understand?”
Eucher:
Sir, Islam does not teach “death and domination to all non-Muslims.” Quite frankly, your misinterpretation of Islam to justify someone that you support doing whatever they like whenever they like is no better than a terrorist who claims that Allah, Islam, or The Koran teaches “death and domination to all non-Muslims.”
Both are blatant misinterpretations of an entire religion that happens to be just as complex as Christianity.
I am proud to be an American and even more proud to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, however I will not support anyone and anything who suggests that the Muslim faith is all about hatred. I for one am educated enough to know better.
Disclaimer:
I am actually the kind of person who supports the proverbial suggestion that drastic times call for drastic measures, therefore I support all of the aforementioned means of interrogation. If you do the crime; you must do the time. However, I do feel that those who are performing the interrogation must first be free of wrongdoing themselves!

I understand that everyone feels that this type of torture is cruel. Just a couple of things to ponder:
1) How many innocent people died on 9/11/01?
2)How many public beheadings where posted by the enemies television system?
3)How many American prisoners of war died during interrogation during WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam?
As much as I have mixed feelings for this type of torture – mainly because I do not want it done to me – it has SAVED many, many innocent american lives. People we are at war, they drew first blood on our soil. Diplomacy does not fair well with the kind of enemy that continues to assassinate their own people – and be rewarded as heros. This is a completely different kind of war than any our country has experienced. To have all of the political punditsa and candidates bad mouth, lambast, and disrespect our President is just wrong, and it sends a terrible message to the enemy. I can’t help but wonder if anyone else was President, would they take the same measures or even more extreme measures. The Congress and the Senate has consistantly cut back on the Defense funding – while voting themselves pay increases – and has our military personell at a low. Thus the need to send over the “National Guard.” If we all, as voting americans get on our elected officials to raise the funding and pay for the military the “National” Guard would be protecting our Nation, here on the land of the United States, instead of defending our rights on foreign land – which by the way leaves us extremely vurnerable. Just my 2 cents…

I think it’s terrible that other counties can do what ever they want (as far as torture). But we being the good ‘ol USA. Always follow the geneva code. And if we don’t, there’s always some snitch ratting someone off. We here in the US are just to nice, always playing by the rules, yet every other country throw the rule book out the window. War is war, I say do what ever you have to do, to accomplish the goal. What ever that goal may be. Believe me if we don’t do it, they (enemy) will. That’s for sure.

I understand partisan hatred of Clinton or Bush or whoever. However, i think it is pretty distasteful for these folks that say somehow terrorist is somehow George Bush’s fault. It preceded him. It preceded Clinton. It’s been around for hundreds of years in different forms.

Aren’t we missing an important point? ‘Do unto others a you would have done unto yourself’, ‘an eye for an eye etc.’
Don’t complain when you get drafted, captured and waterboarded folks!
This is no ‘War on Terror’ it is a ‘War of Terror’!
I’m thumbing the next UFO out of here (-;

This country is going down the tubes and fast due primarily to a leftist mentality. Why tie the hands of the military, CIA and Law Enforcement??? If waterboarding works… and from what I see and read it indeed works… why limit its use… we should be increasing its use. The cia and law enforcement has to get information… it helps us immensly. They should not have to give information or videos to anyone. Twist their arms, pull their fingernails… hammer their toes and yes use waterboarding… get the answers we need and act on this information. I also feel that local law enforcement officers should also use this wonderful technique on all convicted drug dealers to get the suppliers names… all the way to the top… when are we going to win the war… lets get tough and let the faucets run… AMEN

hmm… lets see, a terrorist tortured or an American killed, idk about you but i honestly could careless for any waterboarded terrorist, thats just my opinion. i mean c’mon hes been proven to be a terrorist. better him then an American soldier fighting for what is right.

A post by Steve on September 6, 2006(This is absolutely disgusting. To think that an American government would condone spying on it’s own citizens, unlawfully detaining prisoners, torture those prisoners, and deliberately manipulate intelligence reports to conduct an invasion of a sovereign nation makes me absolutely sick)
Just maybe Steve is willing to accept responsibility for one of the detainees and take him home. Wonder how
well Steve would sleep at night? Torture is not being uncomfortable for a
period of time. Torture is being physically abused to the point,up to and including death.

I for one think that there’s not enough going on to keep this country safe I say look at all phone calls going in and out of the U.S. I say if they find one of these terroist or there sister’s or there brothers and they have information to bring these people down and they don’t give the info up then they should use any and all means possible to get it. They can listen to all my calls read all my e-mails if that what it takes to keep the people of the U.S. safe then so be it. Thats the problem we have to many panty wastes running this country. They killed thousands of people that never hurt anyone on 9/11. When the japanese bomb pearl the U.S. Our country did not stop till we put them on there knees and stopped the threat and thats what should be done now. Quit fooling around and kill these animals

I’m an ex-interrogator for the U.S. Army. My fellow soldiers were stationed at “Gitmo” (Guantanamo). I worked in Serbia as the head of interrogation for the military holding facility. I’ll tell you that in order to end up in Gitmo, there would have to be multiple sources that led to your detainement. I’ve personally been involved with the collection of intelligence that seemed critical and required immediate action, but the General wouldn’t move on it until my intelligence was verified by multiple sources (CIA, foreign intel, NSA, FBI, J2, etc.) One of my most exciting missions (and I won’t post details) involved the detering of an insurgent group from bombing a U.S. facility. My intel alone didn’t mean squat until the CIA showed up with a few sources of their own and the NSA provided some intel that supported my source. Once we had 3-5 sources of intel, we were able to finally act and did recover explosive devices and detain multiple individuals suspected of involvement. Granted, two of the individuals detained turned out to have nothing to do with the plot, so we let them go after sweating it out in a Serbian prison for 30 days (that’s how long it took to find out they had nothing to do with the plot). But we did catch the “Mastermind”. The intelligence process works. There are situations where people are inconvenienced for extended periods of time, but we ensured that they all were healthy and unharmed during detainment, which is more than I can say for those who hold American hostages (beheading, beating, etc). The way we ran the detention and interrogation process, we looked like heros once the two suspects were released, and one of them even became a source. The same consideration for humanity was practiced by all of the intel personnel I worked with (Army, CIA, NSA, DIA, J2), so I expect that most intel personnel act accordingly. Granted, there may be a few untrained, unruly or jaded individuals (Abu Graib) who should be punished accordingly, but those who are properly trained in their trade will operate responsibly according to my experience.
Everyone I’ve read above has addressed the symptoms of the real problem. What we have here is a simple values conflict. Liberty vs. Security. I don’t believe that either one is permanent and lasting. At times, we must sacrifice SOME of our liberties in order to ensure security. When the threat is lessened (it will never be gone) we can choose as a country to decrease Security and increase our Liberties again. I don’t agree with anyone who says that we are not under threat. I’ve seen it and prevented it first hand. At the same time, I don’t believe we need to build a bubble over the U.S. and put cameras on every block (extreme, I know). What is important is that, as a country, we draw together to address the value that is most critical at the time. Unfortunately, the question of our current safety as a country is scrutinized daily. Some sources would say that we are completely safe…no attacks since 9/11, we’re fine. Others would say that there is an imminent attack being planned right now. Two things need to happen for Americans to feel comfortable: 1) we have to trust the information given, and 2) we must feel that the information justifies a sway towards one value or another. Bush & Co have done a great job in ensuring security for the last 7 years. Many feel that he has completely ignored liberties for this security, and maybe he has. But you have to remember (both Republicans and Democrats) that Congress has a lot of power that they have not exercised to counter Bush’s decisions. Despite what they say in Congress publicly, there is enough support for Bush’s actions that there must be some information that is not hitting the main stream media. The President is the Command and Chief of our country. His responsibility is enforcement of legislation and national security. That position requires strong conviction, integrity, and decision making capabilities. Bush has demonstrated all of the above (though some of the decisions made had poor results). If you’ve ever been involved in major decision making (corporate, military, organizational), you will know that often times, you must chose the lesser of two evils. There is no way to avoid pain. The Bush period has been a time of pain for our citizens, so people are tying Bush to that pain. While I don’t think that this period has been the best time for America, I do believe that Bush was the best choice for this time. His time is ending now, and the new question is, who will have the conviction, integrity and decision-making skills necessary to run the country for the next 4 years of pain (some day the pain will go away and we’ll hopefully get our liberties back)? Who has shown that they will do what they say and knows how to make decisions? I’ll tell you right now that none of the current Democratic candidates have shown any of those traits, and only a few of the Republican candidates have. While I don’t agree with McCain on many issues, he has shown those skills. Romney has shown them in political and corporate arenas, and has done that more successfully than any other candidate. Thompson seems to have some of those qualities as well.
So, the solution to our problems is to elect a President that can properly evaluate and respond to the values conflict in our nation now, and to get behind him (or her) 100%. Fight the fight until the decision is made…then support the decision until the result is measured. Then fight the fight again on the follow-up decision, and support the decision. Giving less than 100% support to the decision (regardless of our position) is “Unpatriotic”. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing, but do it at the right time in the right place, then SHUT UP and support it!

Based on some of the entries, here’s how the new terrorist interrogation guide should go:
1. Ask niceley if the person is a terrorist or if they are making or know of any terrorist plans.
2. If they answer no, ask them again – perhaps giving a compliment to them prior to asking the question.
3. Wait until after dinner to ask them again. This time, strike up some conversations regarding family, friends, work, etc. Then, ask them again of their terrorist plans.
4. If they deny knowing anything or deny being a terrorist, then it must be true – let them go.

Guys what do you suggest we do with these guys???? Make sure they have a good home cooked meal and get plenty of sleep??? and then in the morning we’re going to ask you a lot of questions…and if you don’t answer we’ll do the same thing the next day??? until you tell us what we need to know…COME ON FOLKS HAVE YOU BECOME SO WEAK…THESE FOLKS WANT TO KILL US…ALL DAY LONG THAT’S WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT!!! Listen the Librels in our country are going to cause us to fall like Rome…from the inside out…they’re sooo worried about our image around the world that they bye pass the safety and freedoms they soooo enjoy…I tell you what..let one of they’re family members die in a terror attack then we’ll see what they have to say…we are growing fat and weak like Rome!!!! and the enemy can’t wait till a Liberal is elected…I mean the CAN’T WAIT!!!

Oh goodness, of course this makes sense. Lets give them steak dinners, and sit down with them at the fireside and have a chat. I am SURE that they will see the errs of their ways after they have massacred our men, woman and children. I have NO doubt that they will never again want to shed the blood of Americans if we give them every Constitution right of the Americans and make sure we “don’t hurt their feelings or their precious bodies. Of course that is the answer…..OH GOOD GRIEF IS THIS NOT INSANE!!!!

Bottom line, you all have relevant comments on torture and the like. But, are you going after the real culprits??? Does the President of the U.S.of A, the Congress The People?????? Or, IS IT THE GENERALS? REMEMBER JERRY BRESSLER’S “WHAT IF WE HAD A WAR AND NOBODY CAME”!!!!!Wouldn’t that be nice. Iraq did want us (no matter what you hear). They’re very wealthy. We’re not. Our monies are depleted because of this. News flashes now say “we’re going to charge them back! How????It’s after the fact. Are they going to gibr us a return on gas allowance for our equipment! I think not. BUT MORE IMPORT….HOW CAN YOU RESTOR 4000 PLUS US SONS AND DAUGHTERS??? YOU CANNOT!!! WRITE YOU CONGRESS PEOPLE. THAT’S WHY THEY’RE THERE, THAT’S WHAT THEY PROMISED AND THAT WHY THEY WERE ELECTED. just write to them and not strangers (get it?)/ WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OUR WONDERFUL(?) NEIGHBOR CANADA WOULD SELL FROM THEIR PIPELINE TO CHINA, BEFORE US???? ‘METHINKS THEY DON’T LOVE US ANYMORE”!. Canada’s economy, oil/gas supply, healthcare, and the lack of 4000 plus of their future are still alive. thank goodness!! Nuff said. WRITE, WRITE, WRITE your congress reprentatives NOW, PLEASE. Everbodies voice is supposed to count or I am I too Naive????

Why are they capturing these people and interrogating them? Isnt this stuff against the Geneva Convention ? Do they think everyone is a damned enemy? No wonder we are hated in this world.