CIA Torture Secrets Revealed

Well, finally we no longer have to imagine what awful pain was inflicted on the likes of Abu Zubaydah, one of the first al Qaeda members to rat, to get them to spill the beans. And who else do we have to thank for this info than Newsweek and the Guardian, always ready to lend a hand to the cause of belittling America.

Details emerged yesterday about the seven interrogation techniques the CIA is seeking to be allowed to apply to terror suspects. Newsweek magazine reported that a New York lawyer, Scott Horton, who has acted as an adviser to the US senate on interrogation methods, had acquired a list of the techniques. The details were corroborated by information obtained by the charity Human Rights Watch.

The techniques sought by the CIA are: induced hypothermia; forcing suspects to stand for prolonged periods; sleep deprivation; a technique called "the attention grab" where a suspect's shirt is forcefully seized; the "attention slap" or open hand slapping that hurts but does not lead to physical damage; the "belly slap"; and sound and light manipulation.

Several of those techniques chime with information gleaned about interrogation methods used against some serious terror suspects. The New York Times recently reported that Abu Zubaydah, the first al-Qaida member captured after the September 11 attacks, was kept in a freezing cell until he went blue, and later assailed with loud Red Hot Chili Peppers music.

No hanging by hooks, no electrodes to the nipples, no racks, no thumb screws. No tea party, either, granted -- but these methods appear to be ideal for the situation. They are mild enough to avoid the common criticisem of torture -- that it is not effective -- but stern enough to disorient and exhaust, which is key to getting out information.

There are four Republican Senators who have a lot to answer to this morning, now that this news has broken. John McCain and his rat pack of turncoats in the Senate who foiled the president's recent terrorist trials initiative were privvy to this information long before the Guardian broke the story today.

We can understand McCain's unique perspective, having been tortured by the North Vietnamese. But that perspective should have allowed him to look at this list of techniques and see that the America that carefully applies techiniques like this to protect free people is a good nation, a moral nation, and still a beacon on the hill.

Hat-tip: memeorandum
Related Tags: War on terror, Terrorism, CIA, al Qaeda, Torture, Human rights