Nelson fails to stand against CIA torture

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published June 6, 2007

The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee last week tried to assert some oversight of the Central Intelligence Agency's secret interrogation program. But Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., sided with the White House, casting the decisive vote against a measure that would have halted funding of the program in an attempt to rein in the CIA's use of torture except in dire emergencies.

While the funding ban likely had no chance of clearing the full Congress, Nelson's vote stifled a more public review of U.S. interrogation techniques that have been largely hidden from view. Nelson said in a statement that he is concerned about information gathering and will monitor the situation, but that he did not want to cut funding.

"I don't want to bar the use of appropriated funds or limit a future president's decisions with an Army field manual that is designed for the military and not the intelligence community, " he said.

What about holding this president accountable?

In asking Congress to approve the CIA's secret program last year, President Bush claimed that the methods used in interrogating suspected terrorists complied with U.S. laws, the Constitution and international treaties. Lawmakers made the mistake of believing him. The New York Times reported last week that Bush is preparing to introduce a new interrogation policy that would reauthorize some of the harshest tactics and allow interrogators to use methods that are banned under the military's own written policy.

Democrats on the intelligence committee proposed an amendment to bar spending on interrogation methods that go beyond the Army Field Manual, which bans physical pain and pressure. The proposal would have made an exception in cases where the president determined "that an individual has information about a specific and imminent threat."

It might seem intuitive that a prisoner's willingness to divulge secrets would increase along with the level of pain inflicted. The former Soviet Union saw it that way, and the Bush administration is following Soviet policy, even though experts say that torture is not the best way to extract information.

A recent report by the Intelligence Science Board, sponsored by the Pentagon, concluded there is no evidence to support the administration's claim that the use of harsh interrogation methods are effective. In some cases, the report said, torture produces false information and complicates prosecutions.

Like Bush, Nelson apparently sees nothing wrong with modeling the CIA's secret interrogation program on the torture chambers of totalitarian states the United States once condemned.

[Last modified June 6, 2007, 00:43:40]