Today's release of the CIA Inspector General's report on the Bush Administration's "enhanced interrogation program" tells us that CIA personnel carried out mock executions and threatened detainees that their children would be killed and mothers sexually assaulted.
It also adds a bit more detail to the "poignancy" of waterboarding, which was applied in a manner inconsistent with approval by DOJ lawyers. But as a physician, one passage caught my eye, as I believe it clearly illustrates that this long sought "Holy Grail" criticism of the Bush Administration torture program was as much a whitewash as the DOJ legal opinions that came before and after it.
Of all of the CIA "enhanced interrogation techniques" waterboarding has gotten the most attention, fitting most people's definition of torture. I have previously written that when the CIA's doctors (Office of Medical Services, OMS) finally were consulted on the enhanced interrogation techniques in December 2004, they imposed several restrictions on the program to try to ensure that the detainees would not die as a result of interrogation. One of the changes was a requirement for a physician with a tracheotomy kit to be present during waterboarding.
This post is not about waterboarding, about which not much new is found in the OIG report, rather it is about one passage on page 69-70 of the Report, Items 166-167.
Pressure Points
- In July 2002, [redacted] operations officer, participated with another [redacted] operations officer in a custodial interrogation of a detainee [redacted] reportedly used a "pressure point" technique: with both of his hands on the detainee's neck, [redacted] manipulated his fingers to restrict the detainee's carotid artery [sic].
- [Redacted] who was facing the shackled detainee, reportedly watched his eyes to the point that the detainee would nod and start to pass out, then, the [redacted] shook the detainee to wake him. This process was repeated for a total of three applications on the detainee. The [redacted] acknowledged to OIG that he laid hands on the detainee and made him think he was going to lose consciousness. The [redacted] also noted that he has [redacted] years of experience debriefing and interviewing people and until recently had never been instructed how to conduct interrogations.
I have two things to say about this, but first what happened:
A CIA officer or contractor strangulated a detainee until he lost consciousness:
Three Times.
Blockage of the carotid arteries deprives the brain of oxygen, resulting in loss of consciousness. The technique put the detainee at risk of stroke, irreversible brain injury and death.
A "Pressure Point" in medical terms is a point on the body at which pressure can be applied to elicit a response. To elicit a pain response, one can press the supraorbital notch (a small hole in the skull above the eye), which stimulates a nerve to cause pain; one can press the sternum with a knuckle or press a firm object into the nailbeds. Compressing the carotid arteries ceases consciousness, which would preclude compliance. This is nothing more than torture. It even fits John Yoo's torture definition of causing injury to the point of organ failure (the brain does not work with out oxygen).
To call this technique utilizing a "pressure point" is a gross misrepresentation of what took place. It obfuscates the nature of the physiological process and hides the fact that this agent or contractor strangulated a detainee to uncosciousness. I have not yet reviewed the entire document. Marcy Wheeler at Emptywheel and her commenters are slicing and dicing this as we speak. However, to me, this single passage belies the nature of the OIG report:
It is the Work Product of the CIA. Resistance to publication aside, this excerpt shows that the authors of the OIG report were pulling punches. There were no prosecutions resulting from this OIG report for a reason: The report was whitewash. Underneath all of the redactions still present in the document, I suspect we would discover more of this whitewash.
It is clear from the present version and from the leaks and spin accompanying this report that the powers that be will target the line agents and contractors that "exceeded their orders". There is no evident will to hold the toture architects accountable.
Unfortunately, this document is not the Holy Grail.
To get true accountability for the torture that was conducted in our names, a new investigation by an independent prosecutor must start from the beginning, with no "restricted mandate."
I am not holding my breath, but will donate today to the ACLU so they continue their quest for accountability.
Update:
There is also a dKos group poring over the documents. Stop by and give them some help and encouragement.