IG Report: Waterboarding Was Neither "Efficacious Or Medically Safe"

A CIA inspector general's report from May 2004 that is set to be declassified by the Obama White House will almost certainly disprove claims that waterboarding was only used in controlled circumstances with effective results.

On Monday, the Washington Post reported the impending release of a May 7, 2004 IG report that, the paper added, would show that in several circumstances the techniques used to interrogate terrorist suspects "appeared to violate the U.N. Convention Against Torture" and did not produce desired results. It is difficult, the report will conclude, "to determine conclusively whether interrogations have provided information critical to interdicting specific imminent attacks."

A fury of speculation ensued among a host of reporter-bloggers, who viewed the forthcoming information as the strongest proof to date that proclamations of waterboarding's usefulness were overblown.

But there is no need to wait for the report's declassification. Information from its pages was already made public in the footnotes of the Office of Legal Counsel memos written by Steven Bradbury in 2005 and released by the current administration less than one month ago.

And the conclusion seems pretty clear: Not only did interrogators, for a period of time, use waterboarding that was deemed by U.S. officials to be more frequent and intense than was medically safe, it did so to apparently limited results.

As the Huffington Post reported back in mid-April, on a footnote on Page 41 of the Bradbury memo, it is written that "Agency interrogator[s]" had "in some cases" used the waterboard in a manner different than the way "used in the [the Marine Corps' Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape] SERE training."

"The difference was in the manner in which the detainee's breathing was obstructed," read the footnote, citing the IG report. "At the SERE school and in the DoJ opinion, the subject's airflow is disrupted by the firm application of a damp cloth over the air passages; the interrogator applies a small amount of water to the cloth in a controlled manner. By contrast, the Agency interrogator... applied large volumes of water to a cloth that covered the detainee's mouth and nose."

Medical personnel at the detention facility protested the use of the waterboard in that form, stressing that "there was no a priori reason to believe that applying the waterboard with the frequency and intensity with which it was used by the psychologist/interrogators was either efficacious or medically safe.'"

The important things to take away from the footnote seem clear: for a period of time interrogators were using the waterboard with a "frequency and cumulative use" that had to be toned down. Moreover, they were doing it in a way that was determined to not be "efficacious."

The officials tasked with crafting and implementing the interrogation methods adjusted the techniques to fit within the legal parameters set forth by the Bush Department of Justice. But for a period of time, they were operating in excess and outside those bounds.

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Comments

[GinnyW]

09:06 AM on 05/17/2009

Need I remind youse guys again? Ask anyone in Salem, MA about the efficacy of dunking (water boarding). Although some of the suspects died in the test, it has kept Salem safe from attack by witchcraft for all these years, n'est pas??

[oranj]

01:37 PM on 05/15/2009

Obama is just as bad as Bush. The change was merely presentation.

Obama administration threatens Britain to keep torture evidence concealed
If a British court describes Binyam Mohamed's torture, then the U.S. will no longer inform Britain of terrorist plots, Obama threatens

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/21453

[Juez]

03:56 PM on 05/14/2009

PROOF IS NOW AVAILABLE THAT CHENEY, BUSH, RUMSFELD, GONZALEZ AND BYBEE VIOLATED THE U.N. CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE. PROSECUTE THESE MEN! Send Them To Jail !!

[ladyoftheisland]

03:40 PM on 05/14/2009

Cheney with his multiple deferments claims to know the value of torture; Colonel Jack Jacobs, with his experience in the field, said he got more with cigarettes, food and medical care.

Coddling the enemy comes the cry. Well, if the end justifies the means how can that matter? There is no great philosophy here, just very basic logic. If better, faster results can be gotten with cigarettes,food and medical care what's the problem, don't we want bettter, faster results? Or are we just a nation of bullies pulling wings off flies?

Which is a better source for things military, Colonel Jacobs or VP Cheney. It's kind of a no brainer.

[Moshe]

02:12 PM on 05/14/2009

Torture is never really about geting the truth from an individual: It's about getting unquestioning obedience from the masses by using torture as a tool of terror.

Torture is the ultimate tool of terror. It has been used for centuries primarily to intimidate the masses, to put them in such a constant state of fear that they or their families will be tortured, so that they will not dare stand up to government officials, which means that government officials then will have unlimited power.

Advocates of torture, unhindered by any moral limits, don't much care for the niceties of the Rule of Law, but would rather have unquestioning obedience.

Start with military use and then just follow the rapid slippery slope to rape rooms in the local police stations, and mission accomplished.

Of course that ugly, brutal reality sickens and revolts any moral human, but for the advocates of torture, the ends justify the means. And that's the argument defenders of torture are making right now: The ends justify the means.

So we will hear Mr. Cheney continue to sing multiple choruses of this tune, at least until we put him in jail for war crimes, which hopefully will be sooner rather than later.

Allowing war criminals to profit from their crimes and avoid any consequences is a very dangerous precendent.

Until torture is punished, torture is acceptable and we are all in grave future danger from this blight on humanity.

[cornelison]

10:50 AM on 05/14/2009

Like Rove, Cheney thinks he's immune from prosecution. Their smug attitude will come back to bite them on the ass.

[Punkynsnow]

02:36 PM on 05/14/2009

We can only hope!

[Jazzman323]

10:16 AM on 05/14/2009

What was Nancy Pelosi's role in OK-ing these techniques? As House Intelligence Committee chairman in 2002, she was advised of these techniques and asked if they were doing enough.

Now she is denying she was advised of their use, but her story is disputed by Leon Panetta, Porter Goss, and Michael Sheehy, then Mrs. Pelosi's top aide on the Intelligence Committee, showing that she was advised of their use and even asked if the CIA needed more support from Congress to carry out its mission.

Either way, it is not good for Pelosi. If she did not know about the use of these techniques, then she wasn't doing her job properly.

[Conejo]

06:52 AM on 05/14/2009

I enjoyed Bill Clinton's reaction to Cheney's activity. He laughed and aptly said, "it's over." It's pitiful, really, watching this old draft dodger trying to resurrect something good from eight years of his wrong doing. My God, he almost destroyed our country! Instead of yapping about how he made our country safe by torture, he should feel lucky that he will probably not be prosecuted for a crime. He should crawl into the woodwork where he belongs. He should start going to church and pray for redemption.

[StayinLeft]

02:20 AM on 05/15/2009

You are assuming he has a soul worth saving. send his ar$$ to Gitmo.

[Wordstosay]

10:46 PM on 05/13/2009

I have come to conclusion Cheney just did not know what to do looking mean was his raise to power and the power is not being received by the new administration ...all I can say what is taking the world court here is man with his many who wanted to create a law to justify injustice not only toward those that cause other to see who he really is but to hide something more sinister in my opinon...

[R2D2-51]

06:27 PM on 05/13/2009

To PJBURKE:

Absolutely, my Father BTW was a Naval Aviator at Guadalcanal.
I first began putting the puzzle together around 1974 after my Father showed me a Harvard study group on social engineering that had the structural paradigm of math and electrical theory on input-output processes to effect change. That became the point at which I began a crusade of research in my university library for 30+ years, and when I spotted your post I thought wow-finally cerebral.

In my early days I began using events in the news as benchmarks, 4 ex. 1990’s our DEA guy who was assassinated in Mexico & subsequent U.S. Supra case allowing the U.S. Govt. permission to kidnap persons and bring them into the United States for trial. What used to be unheard of 30 years ago is now accepted practice, and this generation doesn’t know the difference, and that’s how it works as core principle, as one author describes "Culture Shock" Where trying to shove too much at once on the masses won't take.

Thus,as one generation experiences changes over time, future generations won’t have that as a reference point, thus are more accepting of that practice versus prior generations acutely aware and would reject.

In a nutshell; the frog in the pan scenario & why time line reference points are critical in putting pieces together.

[signwrite]

05:56 PM on 05/13/2009

rush says its for his love of the country that Cheeney is everywhere talking about security.......my a$$!
five deferments to avoid the draft is not love of country.....

[CherokeeGirl]

05:54 PM on 05/13/2009

this will end up being a murder trial when everything comes out.

[RPBLCN]

04:50 PM on 05/13/2009

Waterboarding is good for you. Builds character. Nothing like a day at the beach. Come on wake up.

[American50]

03:25 PM on 05/13/2009

history will show that Cheney is a hero!!!!!!!

[giuglia]

07:47 PM on 05/13/2009

yes, to fascist dictators everywhere.

[ibezoo]

08:02 PM on 05/13/2009

And that will be in the same history books that will teach that Nixon really wasn't a crook. And Hitler was misunderstood.

[Loompa]

09:14 PM on 05/13/2009

and Pelosi didn't lie, and Reid isn't a crook and Obama didn't know Wright was anti-American and Obama didn't know Ayers was a terrorist

[R2D2-51]

02:55 PM on 05/13/2009

Sentence correction: Honor and dignity are important human characteristics that I believe are values that lead to having a healthy relationship with other humans and our planets biosphere in maintaining life-force continuity without further degradation of humanity.

Civilization therefore has a duty to defend itself against an attack on human dignity.