CIA Tactics

We are aware of some of these “enhanced interrogation techniques” from various leaks and the CIA’s torture report. Some of these techniques consist of rectal feeding and rehydration which is a debatable technique itself since it is thought to be a helpful method to dehydrate detainees who refused to eat. Another technique is the confinement in a box where detainees are kept inside small boxed for long periods of time. The most commonly heard about, waterboarding: where the detainee is strapped on the board tilted down, head to the ground while the face is being covered with a cloth and water is poured down making them have a drowning sensation. Other techniques also include beating and threats to their family members and loved ones, along with

On December 9, 2014, a 528 page document was released to the public known as the “CIA Torture Report”. It contains details of the CIA’s (Central Intelligence Agency) “enhanced” interrogation. The document, which is actually a summary of the 6,700 page report states that the United States, has been torturing its detainees in foreign countries in order to get confessions or answers from them. The many tactics used by the CIA include but not limited to, facial and abdominal slaps, rectal “feeding” and/or rehydration, ice-water baths, sleep deprivation for more than a week, shackling in stress positions, isolation, sensory deprivation, water-boarding, and walling (being slammed against a wall repeatedly). Detainees were also told that their families would be harmed, and/or sexually assaulted. Many Americans are against this “enhanced” interrogation, others feel it is necessary.

Stress positions are meant to break the will of the detainee. In "Forced Standing" detainees are shackled in a standing position. In a 1956 CIA report on soviet interrogation, Harold Wolfe and Lawrence Hinkle noted that after as little as 18 hours edema occurs causing swelling of the ankles to at least twice the normal size. The swelling continues up to the mid thigh. This causes circulatory failure and eventually renal failure. The 2 experts when evaluating the treatment called it "physical torture" (Wolfe 1956). While outside lasting marks may not be present the internal damage can be devastating

‘Phycologists find these tactics immoral and beyond torturous, and a ticking time bomb for disaster (O’Donohue).’ Although not everyone disagrees with the tactics Research has shown that these interrogations both have pros and cons. Research from the Phycological association shows that these types of interrogations “betrays trust and human rights, professional ethics and the society's trust (Pope).” For example, many believe that the interrogations break the Miranda rights per the 5th amendment, but others argue that the 5th amendment rights should be reserved only for people holding a valid US citizenship. (Rychlak) Medical ethics of the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, because these facilities are not on US soil the 5th Amendment rights should also apply to these detainees that are detained, making it a national policy. (Quinn) After the 9/11 attacks congress authorized president Bush to authorize “all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons’ (Worthington).” However, this was quickly shut down by former

Countless of the harsh techniques the CIA was depicted of frequently using were merely bluffs to get information out of a detainee more easily without physical harm (Rodriguez, Jose A.). Furthermore, 30 is the longest amount of days the CIA will subject a detainee to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT), and it doesn’t usually reach that long (Rodriguez, Jose A.). Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was charged for terrorism on 9/11, and has been portrayed by media and various articles as a victim of the CIA’s “ineffective” and “immoral” interrogation (Rodriguez, Jose A.). Media put great emphasis on the fact that Mohammed was waterboarded, and made it seem like waterboarding is a rampant and common practice by the CIA. Numerous political cartoons, like the one above, specifically show waterboarding as a form of torture because of how much emphasis it has been getting as cruel and completely inequitable for the CIA to repeatedly perform on its detainees. Mohammed was waterboarded 5 times, but media twisted it around as being much worse, and him being waterboarded multiple times more than this number. There are those who say the number doesn’t matter because waterboarding is cruel in general, and should never be done. However, tens of

One of the most common methods of torture that was used by the CIA is stress positions. The detainee was shackled to the floor or ceiling for up to three days at a time. This even happened in intervals over a period of three months in some cases. The purpose of these stress positions was to cause exhaustion, muscles fatigue, and discomfort. According to some detainees, they were forced to urinate and defecate on themselves in these positions. Al- Nashiri was blindfolded and shackled to the ceiling while an officer placed a handgun to his head and operated a cordless drill near

To evaluate the ethical-ness of waterboarding, the ethical reasoning model is used (Malone and McMillan, 2017). This model has four steps. First recognize the conflict; second evaluate the options; third commit to a decision; finally, act. In this situation, the conflict is waterboarding as a torture technique. Waterboarding is the act of covering a detainee's face with a cloth fabric, usually a towel, and pouring water over the subject to give the feeling of drowning and suffocating. After 9/11, then President Bush signed an executive order that stated, “Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, “mutilation, cruel treatment and torture,” does not apply to Al-Qaeda or Taliban captives” (Andrews and Parlapiano, 2014). From a legal standpoint, torture, to include waterboarding, was legal in the eyes of the

The CIA, or Central Intelligence Agency, has been the subject of government mystery for years. With so many unknown secrets, it is no wonder that mistrust and controversy have joined the mysterious aura surrounding the organization. One such controversy that has drawn much attention in recent years is that associated with the CIA's Interrogation Program. Numerous reports have been and are still continuing to be released on the program, specifically on the torture utilized. Torture in itself is a sensitive issue, even more so when combined with an already suspicious government agency. These reports have therefore divided the public on the question: should the CIA face prosecution for torture in the Interrogation Program? Due to the fact that

Using the ideas from medieval torture creates a different set of techniques that can extract truthful confessions without harming the detainee and keeping within the parameters of the legal justice system. In today’s interrogations, for no permanent damage to be given, criminals are given time restraints. There are no limitations on how many times it can be used in a sitting, however. Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the CIA found legal, humane ways to extract confessions and information from their detainees.

On the other hand, the Democratic majority of the SSCI claims the CIA’s torture program was ineffective and riddled with misconduct. Among their many arguments is their assertion that the program was mismanaged and that it failed to administer proper oversight. Those found responsible of violating “CIA policies or performed poorly were rarely held accountable or removed from positions of responsibility (The Senate Committee, 2014, p. 23).” One such case took place on November 20th, 2002. Gul Rahman, a suspected afghan militant, was chained up, naked from the waist down, and left in an unheated cell overnight (Silverstein, K. 2014). When CIA officers checked on him the next morning he was dead due to hypothermia. The man responsible for this negligence was the junior officer, Matthew Zirbel. Matthew Zirbel was the commanding officer at the CIA blacksite, the Salt Pit where this brutal act took place. Even though he was on his first foreign tour and colleagues had warned of his “lack of judgement, honesty and maturity (The Senate Committee, 2014, p. 50)”, Zirbel held a position of great power. This fault had been identified by the C.I.A but the executive director, Kyle Foggo, decided that no disciplinary action was merited. Furthermore, the CIA never informed Rahman’s family of his death and were holding Rahman without him meeting the standard for detention.

Deciding Who to Torture Ideally, the decision to interrogate is based on solid evidence linking a suspect to terrorist activities or indicating that a suspect is in possession of formation. However, too often, the decision to interrogate is based on whether a suspect seems to fit a “terrorist profile,” behavior that is perceived as suspicious, or association with known or suspected terrorists. In 2002, MaherArar, a Canadian citizen of Syrian birth, was seized by U.S. officials at Kennedy International Airport. He was subjected to intense interrogation over the course of several days, and then flown to Syria for in-depth interrogation. He was held in a small, dimly lit prison cell and repeatedly beaten over the course of 10 months. To stop

Torture has been used throughout history to obtain pertinent information from terrorists of the state by using many different techniques both physical and emotional. The definition of torture as it pertains to gaining information is any “act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession” according to the Convention Against Torture. The legality of torture has been discussed within the international community multiple times creating multiple treaties. Such treaties came from the Geneva Convention and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. While the countries who sign these treaties have an obligation to create effective legislation against the torture of terrorists, some countries still skirt around the international laws. The United States has used torture in the recent years to obtain intelligence from suspected terrorists. The moral dilemmas behind these actions are controversial and are debated whether or not such actions should be used to achieve information. While some organizations believe the torture of terrorists is beneficial to the United States, torture is immoral, unjust, and should not be used by any organization or state to achieve its goals. The basis for the argument against torture can be affirmed using well known and accepted moral understanding from known

Another alternative explanation pertaining to the proposed relationship between the frequency of terrorism and the influx of torture may be a result of the alleged effectiveness of such techniques. Despite the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture, some senior Five Eyes intelligence officers support the effectiveness of torture and believe that the techniques were critical to protect national security. Specifically, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has taken the position that EIT and other methods designed to ensure national security and save lives should be the most important priority for policymakers. For this reason, CIA officials have suggested that more coercive methods be used against suspected terrorists, even if the

The American citizens have been wrestling with the question of whether their government intelligence agencies should be prohibited from using torture to gather information. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11th the American government vowed to do whatever it took to hunt down those involved. In May 2004, The New Yorker released photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The disturbing pictures were released on the internet showing bodies of naked Iraqis piled onto each other being tortured and humiliated. There was a huge up roar, which caused President Bush to publicly apologize. Soon after, the CIA Conformed the use of waterboarding on three Al-Qaida suspects in 2002 and 2003, which further annihilated the debate. Since these reports, torture has been in the forefront of national politics, and the public has struggled to commit to either side.

The controversial interrogation technique known as water boarding, in which a suspect has water poured over his mouth and nose to stimulate a drowning reflex, has been banned by CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden. Human rights groups and a number of leading U.S. officials have branded the practice