Vol. 73/No. 17      May 4, 2009

The documents reveal the use of torture by the CIA since at least 2002, including “waterboarding” and other brutal techniques. Officials in the Obama administration said that no CIA agents involved in the torture would be tried.

The Justice Department originally issued the documents to give legal cover for specific incidents where individuals were tortured in the course of Washington’s “war on terror.” Those tortured were accused of being involved in terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda.

The documents outline authorized tactics in some detail. They include sleep deprivation, placing a detainee in a dark, confined area with insects, and forced nudity, in addition to striking the detainee in the face or abdomen and slamming him or her into a wall.

Waterboarding, a torture method that simulates drowning by pouring water over a cloth that covers the nose and mouth while one is shackled to an inclined board, was also approved. The memos indicate that waterboarding was employed at least 266 times against two detainees alleged to be leaders of al-Qaeda.

The Obama administration said it would not authorize these methods today, but defended the actions of the CIA at the time.

“It is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution,” said Obama in an April 16 statement.

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair released a statement the same day offering rationalizations for the torture program. “Those methods, read on a bright, sunny safe day in April 2009, appear graphic and disturbing… . But we will absolutely defend those who relied on these memos and those guidelines,” he said.

“Let us be thankful that we have public servants who seek to do the difficult work of protecting our country under the explicit assurance that their actions are both necessary and legal,” he added.

News of further attacks on democratic rights came April 16 as reports of illegal wiretapping by the National Security Agency surfaced. Intelligence officials announced an “overcollection” of wiretaps on domestic communications took place in recent months, the New York Times reported.

The Times said surveillance of domestic phone calls and e-mail messages was carried out “beyond the broad legal limits.” A statement from the office of the director of national intelligence wrote off the illegal spying as “inadvertent mistakes.”

Last July Washington passed a law with bipartisan support that expanded the legal authority of the White House to spy without a warrant on communications between U.S. citizens and foreign nationals “reasonably believed” to be outside the country.  
 
 
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