The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee recently uncovered the hidden horrors of what the C.I.A has been doing overseas: brutally torturing terrorism suspects during interrogations through practices including water boarding and prolonged sleep deprivation. The C.I.A committed immoral and inhumane crimes that disregarded American values, and polluted the image of the United States.According to a New York Times article by Mark Mazzetti, the Senate looked at a series of reports from a C.I.A facility in Thailand. The reports say that "the [torture] sessions became so extreme that some officers were 'to the point of tears and choking up,' and several said they would elect to be transferred out of the facility if the the brutal interrogations continued". The C.I.A did not give in to the humane requests of its officers and "rejected [their] questions" regarding the "utility" and "legality" of the torture practices. I found this particularly shocking. I would not guess that this was the U.S. government based off of these actions.
However, what is arguably more concerning than the C.I.A brutalizing its detainees is that the C.I.A deceived the U.S. government and hid from the American people what it was truly doing. This deception was not limited to the interrogations, "The report also said that the C.I.A's leadership for years gave false information about the total number of prisoners held by the C.I.A., saying that there had been 98 prisoners when the C.I.A records show that 119 men had been held" (New York Times). The report also concluded that at least 26 of these men were wrongfully held. This sounds almost like part of the U.S. government has gone rogue.
Apart from the fact that the C.I.A's victims were not on U.S. soil, they were still treated in ways which the U. S. Constitution explicitly forbids. And all Americans should believe that everyone is deserving of the basic human rights that Americans receive everyday. Nobody should face excessively cruel punishment or be unrightfully held captive. The US must monitor what it is doing over seas more closely to avoid creating this image for itself, one that makes the country appear weak by showing that it cannot stick to a strict set of values.
What should be done to punish/correct the CIA? What can be done to prevent the U.S. from committing crimes in foreign territory in the future?
Spencer,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that the CIA has violated a very important part of the US Constitution. There is even a specific Amendment that rules out all "cruel and unusual punishment" however, I am not sure how much the US can do to punish the CIA. For my oral history, I interviewed an ex-CIA agent who worked as an intelligence officer and I was shocked to find out how much power the CIA actually has. Granted, that was fifty years ago, but with today's technologies it is hard to believe that the CIA has become less involved in countries that we do not have good relations with. I think that the CIA has so much international power that it would be very hard for the US to give them any sort of punishment besides a mere "don't do that again". I think that the US relies too heavily on the CIA that we as a nation cannot afford to not have the CIA at a time like this with hacking scandals of foreign countries, Al Qaeda, and the Middle-East.