K@W -28th August,2009

SOURCES: REPORT TO DETAIL ALLEGED ABUSE INSIDE CIA SECRET PRISONSWASHINGTON (CNN) -- CIA interrogators threatened an al Qaeda prisoner with a gun and an electric drill to try to scare him into giving up information, according to a long-concealed inspector-general's report due to be made public on Monday, sources familiar with the report confirmed to CNN.Attorney General Eric Holder is considering appointing a prosecutor to investigate a CIA interrogation program.The gun and drill were used in two separate interrogation sessions against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, one of the sources said. Al-Nashiri is accused of plotting the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, which left 17 U.S. sailors dead.The sources did not want to be identified because the report, completed by the CIA's inspector general in 2004, has not yet been made public. A federal judge in New York has ordered a redacted version of the report released Monday as part of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU.The interrogations took place in the CIA's secret prisons before 2006, when then-President George W. Bush moved all detainees from such facilities to the federal prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, both sources said.Details of the report were first published by Newsweek magazine late Friday.Newsweek also said that, according to its sources citing the inspector-general's report, interrogators staged mock executions to try to frighten detainees into talking. In one instance, Newsweek reported, a gun was fired in a room next to one terrorism suspect so he would think another prisoner was being killed.A CIA spokesman would not talk about specifics of the inspector-general's report but said all the incidents described in it have been reviewed by government prosecutors."The CIA in no way endorsed behavior -- no matter how infrequent -- that went beyond formal guidance. This has all been looked at; professionals in the Department of Justice decided if and when to pursue prosecution. That's how the system was supposed to work, and that's how it did work," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said.One of the sources, a former intelligence official who is familiar with the report, said that while the report "reaffirmed" the interrogation program, it "also showed some had strayed off center."The official said about a dozen cases of potential misconduct by interrogators were referred to the Justice Department. Of those, only one person was prosecuted, the official said, with the rest being referred to the CIA accountability board, an internal disciplinary board. Two people resigned rather than face the CIA board, the official said.This official said that when CIA leadership found out about the drill incident, they were "angry as hell." The official called it "nickel-and-dime foolishness" that was not tolerated. The individual who used the drill was pulled from the program and "sharply reprimanded," the official said.Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, released a statement Sunday saying, "Leaked portions of the CIA Inspector General's report offer more proof that government officials committed serious crimes while interrogating prisoners. So-called 'enhanced interrogation techniques' like mock executions and threatening prisoners with guns and power drills are not only reprehensible but illegal." In anticipation of the release of the report Monday, Romero added, "Releasing the report with minimal redactions is essential to knowing what crimes were committed and who was involved." The release of the inspector-general's report comes as Attorney General Eric Holder is considering whether to appoint a prosecutor to investigate the CIA interrogation program, begun by the Bush administration after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks

K@W
K@W Assignment: Report to detail alleged abuse inside CIA Secret Prisons.

The article given has been uploaded recently from a CNN website and is dealing with the issue of alleged abuse of terrorist inside CIA secret prisons. The knowledge issue of the aricle is: Is it ethical to threaten/torture a terrorist in order to extract vital information.
The media have hyped this incident up. The knowledge issue made is invalid and a very narrow-minded statement made. However, to torture a terrorist or anybody in order to extract vital information is uncivilized behaviour. Nevertheless, in special cases where the terrorist is not willing to co-opperate extremem measures such as threat have to be used. Afterall, it is not about the protection of one man, or a city, or a state, but it is about the protection of an entire contry.
In the article, there is no where a mention that the terrorist was tortured or even touched by a CIA interrogator. In fact, it is clearly stated that the CIA interrogators used “guns and electric drill to try to scare” the terrorist. They were trying to scare the terrorist, not out of hatered or contempt, or even revenge; it was for their country’s safety. There is a possibility that some questioning must have been done between the CIA interrogator and the terrorist, but if the terrorist refuses to speak, how else will the information be pulled out? Is it possible and maybe known or expected that if a CIA interrogator or for that matter anybody from an enemy country gets caught by a terrorist oragnisation, they will shoot hi m then and there. Within the Taliban, there is a terrorist tribe, who are inhuman and work with reason that suites themselves. For example: if this terrorist tribe gets hold of an outsider in their area, they will kill him. Nothing new, expected! But How do they kill him/her? They take nails and a hammer and nail the outsider in the skull until he dies. This is not only torture but also the most inhuman and outrageous behavior a man can have. The reson behind nailing the foreigner is because they do not want to waste bullets, as they are expenssive; nails are vey cheap and work well.
The CIA interrogators are no where even close to what the talibani terrorist tribe do, then why is the media exaggerating the issue and making matters worse? Terrorists must not only have trained to cause terror but also to withstand it. Even if a gun was fired in a room next to one terrorism suspect, it is not a new thing that will traumatize them. They are use to the sound of bullets and bombs, it is the language that they speak. After the retrospection of the matter it can be said, that it is indeed unethical to torture but if need be threat can be used to some extent.
Even if a terrorist might have killed a million people it is because he/she is on a war field and the word ‘kill’ has been rooted in him/her. Still, this does not make them stone harted or inhuman. In fact, psycology studies say, that after committing such grave crime, generally the accused experiences a catharsis. Therefore, torture and threat, traumatize the terrorists even more, because many of them are undergoing a process in which they not only feel guilty but miserable for committing such deeds. In order to extract information subtle ways exist which do not require guns or drills. Instead of threatening the terrorist, scientific devises such as lie ditectors, can be utilised. If CIA interrogators threaten terrorist and use guns and drill to cause trauma, then there is no difference between them and their enemies (terrorists). It will be like the saying: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” The world is ment to progress and improve, by taking revenge terrorist, the CIA interrogators are repeating history, where no one used reason or logic and were driven by emotion, which caused the World Wars.
The bias is towards the ‘wrong’ doings of the CIA interrogators, the article is against the act of threatening of the terrorists. There is not even the slightest inclinination towards the CIA interrogatrors. Thus, without any hesitation it can be said that the knowledge issue of the article is a very narrow-minded statement made. The acts of the terrorists have been overlooked and only the minor threats made, for the extraction of vital information, have been exagerated by the media and has caused turmoil. If the knowledge claim turns out to be true, then as the article states the interrogators should be “sharply reprimanded” and “pulled from the programme”. This is a critical issue as it deals with the entire country’s protection, for if the terrorist oragnisation gets to know that a specific country has one of their men in captive bounds and he is being ill-treated, it can be dangerous to the country. The terrorists can at anytime attack the country. Thus, it is a fundamental issue and should be dealt with in a subtle manner.