Senate Probe: US Torture Not Working Very Well

Little Useful Evidence, Plenty of False Leads

The question of the moral acceptability of torture may have been shrugged off by officials, but a new Senate report to be released soon is going to show that the strategy wasn’t particularly effective either.

According to those familiar with the probe, it is going to show that despite Bush Administration claims to the contrary, torturing suspects didn’t produce any serious intelligence coups, and played no significant role in finding bin Laden.

Former officials have loudly defended the practice, insisting it wasn’t “technically” torture under US law, and a new book called “Hard Measures” to be published next week by a former top CIA official is going to claim that the practices “saved American lives.”

The Senate report will not only throw these claims into doubt, but will also reportedly include instances when torturing suspects produced false leads. The CIA has defended the policies as well, but insisted that it has never carried out any studies to see if they actually work.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.