CIA report was a great disservice

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Was it torture or, as others would say, harsh tactics used to obtain intelligence to protect our citizens? That’s a matter of opinion. 

The fact is that our country has subjected our enemies to severe punishment, such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, forcing detainees to stand or remain in stressful positions, slamming them against walls and confining them to small boxes, for some time. There should be no reason for a report, despite the fact that we have used those tactics to obtain crucial intelligence.

It blows my mind that such a report was released to the public — and therefore to our enemies.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has spent years fighting the CIA in an attempt to produce evidence of abuse, finally got her wish. Thirteen years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a 500-page assessment of the harsh interrogation and detention techniques utilized by the CIA from 2002 to 2007.

The report, based on more than 6 million pages of documents and photos, presents evidence that the CIA’s interrogation methods during those years were brutal and that the agency went so far as to lie and cover up the tactics to the White House, the Justice Department, Congress and the American people. Said Feinstein, “If the Senate can declassify this report, we will be able to ensure that an un-American, brutal program of detention and interrogation will never again be considered or permitted.”

Nonsense. What a vastly oversimplified statement. 

The CIA used tactics that produced vital information that not only led to the capture of some of the most dangerous terrorists, but also saved American lives. The fact that these materials were made public is a travesty. Feinstein should have considered that it was un-American to release this information. 

Members of ISIS and Al Qaeda can cut off the heads of our citizens, but we can’t pour water on the terrorists’ faces? Three thousand people were killed on our own soil on Sept. 11, 2001, and every method we used to ensure that this never happens again is now public knowledge? 

The U.S. continues to fight the war against terrorism. This Senate report will only incite Islamic extremists to continue their anti-American violence.

In a statement, Rep. Peter King, former chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said, “This report puts American lives at risk around the world; ignores the reality that these methods saved American lives; smears the reputations of dedicated Americans who [used] lawful methods which were not torture; and returns us to the ‘blame America first’ days of the 1960s and ’70s.”

King has it exactly right.

Even CIA Director John Brennan defended his agency by pointing out that enhanced interrogation techniques provided information that was “used in the ultimate operation to go against Bin Laden.”

President Bush used unmanned airstrikes as a tactic against terrorists, but his main strategy was to capture them, take them to interrogation centers and retrieve intelligence. President Obama has abandoned this strategy, and instead utilizes unmanned air strikes on enemy targets. 

Even with these types of detailed strikes, unfortunately at times, there are civilian casualties. Now we have killed innocent people and we are not retrieving any intelligence. 

The report has already led to increased Al Qaeda activity, and will be used by organizations like ISIS to recruit and to continue to pillage, plunder and murder. It’s only a matter of time before ISIS spreads further, and poses a very real threat to American interests and personnel in other countries. 

Releasing this report was truly a grave disservice to the American people. It’s too late to turn back now. At the very least, we must make the right decisions when it comes to protecting this country against the threat of ISIS. 

Alfonse D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is a regular contributor to our sister newspapers in Long Island. Point of View is a column open to all.

CIA, torture, Dianne Feinstein, Alfonse D’Amato

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