For a lot of folks, the Senate Intel Committee report is so long overdue that it seems like a rehash (no, there’s lots of new details in here) of a dark chapter that has been closed. But so long as the CIA continues to assert that torture (though it doesn’t use that word) yielded actionable intelligence, I don’t see how you can call this a closed chapter in American history. From CIA Director John Brennan’s statement today (“EITs” is the euphemism for torture: enhanced interrogation techniques):
Our review indicates that interrogations of detainees on whom EITs were used did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists, and save lives. The intelligence gained from the program was critical to our understanding of al-Qa’ida and continues to inform our counterterrorism efforts to this day.
Remember, also, that federal law was not able to prevent the Bush-era torture program or to punish it, and that what now stands in the way of reviving such a program is a mere executive order by President Obama. On torture and all the legal, political, and moral ramifications associated with it, we remain at the edge of the abyss, unrepentant and undaunted.
