This report by the bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee was issued jointly by Democratic chairman, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the panel.
But wait... There's more. This page on Senator Levin's site says:
Senator Levin's page includes a link to the unclassified Executive Summary and Conclusions of the report. It contains more than will fit in this post, but Conclusion 1 is a good place to start:
If you still wonder why I call George W. Bush the Traitor In Chief, this is one of many reasons. I hope they push this to prosecute everyone involved in this sad, tragic black stain on our once proud, once honorable nation.
Report Blames Rumsfeld for Detainee Abuses
By SCOTT SHANE and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: December 11, 2008
WASHINGTON ? A report released Thursday by leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee said top Bush administration officials, including Donald H. Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary, bore major responsibility for the abuses committed by American troops in interrogations at Abu Ghraib in Iraq; Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; and other military detention centers.
The report was issued jointly by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the Democratic chairman of the panel, and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican. It represents the most thorough review by Congress to date of the origins of the abuse of prisoners in American military custody, and it explicitly rejects the Bush administration?s contention that tough interrogation methods have helped keep the country and its troops safe.
The report also rejected previous claims by Mr. Rumsfeld and others that Defense Department policies played no role in the harsh treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 and in other episodes of abuse.
The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the report says, ?was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own? but grew out of interrogation policies approved by Mr. Rumsfeld and other top officials, who ?conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees.?
By the time of the abuses at Abu Ghraib, Mr. Rumsfeld had formally withdrawn approval for use of the harshest techniques, which he authorized in December 2002 and then ruled out a month later. But the report said that those methods, including the use of stress positions and forced nudity, continued to spread through the military detention system, and that their use ?damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened the hand of our enemies, and compromised our moral authority.?
Most of the report, the product of an 18-month inquiry and interviews with more than 70 people by committee staff members, remains classified. But the 29-page summary offers the clearest timeline to date linking the acts of Mr. Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials to abusive treatment in the field.
A spokesman for Mr. Rumsfeld, Keith Urbahn, said a dozen earlier investigations had found no such connection, and he dismissed the report as ?unfounded allegations against those who have served our nation.?
?Because of irresponsible charges by a few individuals in positions of responsibility in Congress, millions of people around the world have been led to believe that the United States condones torture,? Mr. Urbahn said.
Committee staff members said the report was approved by a voice vote without dissent, but only 17 of the committee?s 25 members were present for the vote. Mr. McCain, who was tortured while he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, has been an outspoken opponent of harsh interrogation tactics, but some other Republicans have defended such methods as legal and necessary.
Many of the particulars in the summary were made public at hearings the committee held in June and September, including the fact that members of President Bush?s cabinet discussed specific interrogation methods in White House meetings.
The report documents how the military training program called Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, or SERE, became a crucial source for interrogations as the Bush administration looked for tougher methods after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The SERE training was devised decades ago to give American military personnel a taste of the treatment they might face if taken prisoner by China, the Soviet Union or other cold war adversaries. ?The techniques were never intended to be used against detainees in U.S. custody,? Mr. Levin said in a statement.
In his statement on Thursday, Mr. McCain called the adoption of SERE methods ?inexcusable.?
The report found that senior Defense Department officials inquired about SERE techniques for prisoner interrogations as early as December 2001, when the war in Afghanistan was weeks old and American troops were just beginning to capture people suspected of being members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
In September, the committee released a December 2001 letter from the head of the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, which runs the SERE program, to a deputy of William J. Haynes II, the Pentagon?s general counsel, saying the agency?s officials ?stand ready to assist? Pentagon efforts at prisoner ?exploitation.?
The committee?s report says little about the Central Intelligence Agency, except to note that that agency also drew on the SERE program for harsh methods it used in secret overseas jails for Qaeda suspects. The C.I.A. has said it used waterboarding, a method of near-drowning previously used in the Navy?s SERE program, on three captured terrorism suspects in 2002 and 2003.
Unlike the military, the C.I.A. is still permitted to use some coercive methods, though the precise rules are classified. The agency has said that it no longer uses waterboarding.
But wait... There's more. This page on Senator Levin's site says:
Levin, McCain Release Executive Summary and Conclusions of Report on Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody
WASHINGTON ? Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.) today released the executive summary and conclusions of the Committee?s report of its inquiry into the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody.
A major focus of the Committee?s investigation was the influence of Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) training techniques on the interrogation of detainees in U.S. custody. SERE training is designed to teach our soldiers how to resist interrogation by enemies that refuse to follow the Geneva Conventions and international law. During SERE training, U.S. troops --- in a controlled environment with great protections and caution --- are exposed to harsh techniques such as stress positions, forced nudity, use of fear, sleep deprivation, and until recently, the waterboard. The SERE techniques were never intended to be used against detainees in U.S. custody. The Committee?s investigation found, however, that senior officials in the U.S. government decided to use some of these harsh techniques against detainees based on deeply flawed interpretations of U.S. and international law.
The Committee concluded that the authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques by senior officials was both a direct cause of detainee abuse and conveyed the message that it was okay to mistreat and degrade detainees in U.S. custody.
Chairman Levin said, ?SERE training techniques were designed to give our troops a taste of what they might be subjected to if captured by a ruthless, lawless enemy so that they would be better prepared to resist. The techniques were never intended to be used against detainees in U.S. custody.?
Senator McCain said, ?The Committee?s report details the inexcusable link between abusive interrogation techniques used by our enemies who ignored the Geneva Conventions and interrogation policy for detainees in U.S. custody. These policies are wrong and must never be repeated.?
Chairman Levin also said: ?The abuses at Abu Ghraib, GTMO and elsewhere cannot be chalked up to the actions of a few bad apples. Attempts by senior officials to pass the buck to low ranking soldiers while avoiding any responsibility for abuses are unconscionable. The message from top officials was clear; it was acceptable to use degrading and abusive techniques against detainees. Our investigation is an effort to set the record straight on this chapter in our history that has so damaged both America?s standing and our security. America needs to own up to its mistakes so that we can rebuild some of the good will that we have lost.?
In the course of its more than 18-month long investigation, the Committee reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents and conducted extensive interviews with more than 70 individuals.
Senator Levin's page includes a link to the unclassified Executive Summary and Conclusions of the report. It contains more than will fit in this post, but Conclusion 1 is a good place to start:
Senate Armed Services Committee Conclusions
Conclusion 1: On February 7, 2002, President George W. Bush made a written determination that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which would have afforded minimum standards for humane treatment, did not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban detainees. Following the President?s determination, techniques such as waterboarding, nudity, and stress positions, used in SERE training to simulate tactics used by enemies that refuse to follow the Geneva Conventions, were authorized for use in interrogations of detainees in U.S. custody.
If you still wonder why I call George W. Bush the Traitor In Chief, this is one of many reasons. I hope they push this to prosecute everyone involved in this sad, tragic black stain on our once proud, once honorable nation.
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