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Here's a key excerpt from Sen. Carl Levin's opening statement at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today on "Aggressive Interrogation Techniques":
Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists are taught to expect Americans to abuse them. They’re recruited based on false propaganda that says the United States is out to destroy Islam. Treating detainees harshly only reinforces their distorted view and increases their resistance to cooperate. The abuse at Abu Ghraib was a potent recruiting tool for al Qaeda and handed al Qaeda a propaganda weapon they could use to peddle their violent ideology.So, how did it come about that American military personnel stripped detainees naked, put them in stress positions, used dogs to scare them, put leashes around their necks to humiliate them, hooded them, deprived them of sleep, and blasted music at them. Were these actions the result of “a few bad apples” acting on their own? It would be a lot easier to accept if it were. But that’s not the case. The truth is that senior officials in the United States government sought information on aggressive techniques, twisted the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees. In the process, they damaged our ability to collect intelligence that could save lives.At the Washington Independent, our friend Spencer Ackerman is live-blogging the details of the hearing, including this chilling quote on water-boarding: "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong," said CIA lawyer Jonathan Fredman. Suffice to say, some of our soldiers were doing it wrong.--Dana Goldstein
