THE US Justice Department revealed last week detailed memos describing barbaric interrogation techniques used by CIA operatives on suspected terrorists.
The techniques, which were approved by the Bush administration, were used between 2002 and 2005 in CIA secret overseas prisons. The tortures involved keeping detainees awake for up to eleven straight days, placing them in a dark, cramped box and putting insects into the box to exploit their fears. Another well-documented torture is ‘waterboarding’, where the prisoner is immobilised and subjected to the sensation of drowning without causing death.
President Obama, under CIA pressure, was reluctant to reveal the memos. It was only because of an impending court case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union that he did so. But he reassured the agency that its operatives involved would not be prosecuted.
