'Success' of CIA Torture: Anti-Americanism at its Zenith (L'Orient Le Jour, Lebanon)
"It was
the U.S. Department of Justice that had to disgrace itself by acting the hypocrite:
the case will remain closed for 'the admissible evidence would not be
sufficient.' … In 577 dense pages a mirror is placed under Uncle Sam's nose
that seems to say: look at what you are: liar, charlatan, sometime criminal,
arrogant, domineering, violent, pretentious, death-merchant,
unworthy preacher. In the end, no more and no less virtuous than any other
country: human, all too human. … All that the CIAhas managed to achieve, talking only of
the Middle East, is the return of an al-Qaeda hardened by years of trial, the
hatching of a Daesh [Islamic State] which we haven't heard
the last of, the re-destabilization of Afghanistan - pending the same or even
worse for Pakistan - and almost everywhere an anti-Americanism at its zenith now
shining with every ray. "
It was Barack Obama (is it any wonder?) who
found the right words: "No nation is perfect.But one of the strengths that makes America exceptional is our willingness to openly
confront our past, face our imperfections, make changes and do better."
It was the incomparable New
York Times which had the most merciless
editorial: "It is hard to believe that anything will be
done now. ... Maybe George Tenet, who ran the CIA during this ignoble period,
could make a tiny amends by returning the Presidential Medal of Freedom that
President Bush gave him upon his retirement" [video, third from top, right].
It was the U.S. Department of Justice that had to disgrace itself
by acting the hypocrite: the
case will remain closed for "the admissible evidence would not be
sufficient."
And yet … in 577 dense pages, accompanied by 2,725 footnotes
summarizing a text of more than 6,700 pages, a Senate report - a bill of
indictment rather than the findings of an investigation - a mirror is placed
under the nose of Uncle Sam which seems to say: look at what you are: liar, charlatan,
sometime criminal, arrogant, domineering, violent, pretentious, death-merchant,
unworthy preacher. In the end, no more and no less virtuous than any other
country: human, all too human.
For isn't that the way to read this indictment against the war
on terror, a pretext of which authorizes, or rather requires, the post-9/11
Republican administration to resort to every weapon, even the most
reprehensible of all, torture? It was believed that that everything, or almost
everything, had already been said in a book published in 1958 [La Question, about French
torture in the Algerian Civil War] Well no! Here is a new version that has been
served to us, with special American sauce this time, with a mass of detail that
would make jealous the Marquis
de Sade, including simulated executions, sleep deprivation, Russian
roulette, sexual abuse, threats, rectal forced-feeding, death from hypothermia …
One is almost tempted to beg for the mercy of public opinion
if such remedies had produced some results. In fact, all that the Central Intelligence
Agencyhas
managed to achieve, talking only of the Middle East, is the return of an al-Qaeda
hardened by years of trial, the hatching of a Daesh [Islamic
State] which we haven't heard the last of, the re-destabilization of
Afghanistan - pending the same or even worse for Pakistan - and almost
everywhere an anti-Americanism at its zenith now shining with every ray. At no
time, the report's authors maintain, has it been established that these techniques
prevented a single terrorist act; any feeble coerced confessions were always obtained
prior to the use of torture.
It must be recognized that these strong-arm tactics bore one
benefit: they allowed their two godfathers to build up quite a gold mine.
Indeed, Drs. James Mitchell and Bruce Jensen [video below], psychiatrists of the state, based
on estimates, were royally paid: $1,800 per day (!). The business was so juicy
that they started their own company charged with taking the baton from the CIA,
which had to pay out to them the tidy sum of $81 million, in addition to $1 million
to protect its offspring from eventual prosecution.
Posted by Worldmeets.US
Posted by Worldmeets.US
The Senate's condemnation remains to date the most severe
since the scandal denounced by the 1970's Church Committee,
named after the Idaho senator who went to war against the House of Spies Inc.
for espionage, failed assassination attempts and administering LSD to uncooperative
detainees. When one considers that, in a report submitted to Congress in 1989,
the CIA denounced some "inhumane" techniques as being "counter-productive,"
it is clear that since then, it has had at its disposal a new Perfect Torturer's Handbook - an updated
21st century edition - which also takes account of the financial demands of
modern times. An example: On November 20, 2002, for having caused a death from
hypothermia - of Afghan terrorist GulRahman, the officer in charge of the interrogation was
condemned to … receive a check for $2,500 for a task performed to perfection.
To read Senate torture report fragment
on death
of Afghan terrorist Gul Rahman, CLICK ABOVE
George W. Bush told CNN
on Sunday: "We are fortunate to have men and women who work hard at the
CIA on our behalf. They are patriots." [video, top,
right]
Former Vice President Dick Cheney: "The report's full of
crap. The agency had received all the authorization it needed,
starting from the attorney general." [video, second from top, right].
Oh! These firemen-arsonists who, believing they are extinguishing
a fire, fan the flames …
