CIA Torture Report Lowers U.S. Global Standing

Dagmawi Teferi, News Editor

A Senate Intelligence Committee recently released a report disclosing new information on the Central Intelligence Agency’s(CIA) torture practices on terrorist suspects. The report revealed that the CIA’s interrogation and detention programs were far more brutal than previously believed.

The report details of interrogations that lasted for days. Methods of torture included forcing detainees to go for over 180 hours without sleep as well as making them stand on broken legs. The prisons in which they were held were so cold that one detainee actually froze to death. The report also describes “well-worn waterboards,” indicating that there have been more than only three detainee’s to ever be waterboarded as the CIA has previously stated.

China, which has consistently been opposed to torture of international prisoners, has accused the U.S. of hypocrisy following the release of the report. Russia as well as a number of other nations have also denounced the methods of the CIA, as described in the report.