Efficiency no justification for criminal activity – Snowden on CIA torture report
VIDEO, 30.01 min, published on Russia Today RT, Dec 10, 2014 (download video, 236.86 MB).
The world cannot accept efficiency as an excuse for what is essentially “criminal behavior” on the part of the CIA, former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden told Amnesty International via a Paris-Moscow video link.
Snowden, who still resides in Russia under an asylum request, told Amnesty International that morality cannot be tossed aside for the sake of so-called “efficiency” when it comes to the activities of the CIA.
“A government could say that rape has a positive effect because we have a declining demographic crisis in the country… Efficiency has no place in the debate about right and wrong,” Snowden said, agreeing to the question about whether the US is in deep moral crisis … //
… The roughly 6,000-page report was finally published by the Senate Intelligence Committee, and gave the panel’s findings following a four-year- investigation conducted at a cost of more than $40 million.
READ MORE: Facing justice: UN, HRW, Amnesty call for prosecuting US officials for torture.
Among the report’s findings: the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques was not an effective means of acquiring intelligence; the CIA’s justification for the use of such tactics rested on inaccurate claims of their effectiveness; the interrogations and conditions of confinement of detainees was “far brutal and far worse” than the CIA claimed; and that the CIA “actively avoided or impeded congressional oversight of the program.”
Snowden currently lives in Russia, where he received a three-year residence permit in August 2014. Snowden faces conviction and imprisonment in the US should he choose to return.
(full text).
some Related Links for the CIA torture report:
- UN: we won’t take ‘no’ for an answer, CIA torture must be investigated, on Russia Today RT, Dec 11, 2014;
- on FT.com: The key findings;
- on The Mirror. 10 worst cases of abuse suffered by detainees;
- on The Guardian: … is a ‘load of hooey’, according to CIA’s torture adviser;
- on Mail Online: brutal and ineffective;
- The Independent.co.uk: So when will Britain come clean about its role? These shocking findings conclusively show that torture is not only morally wrong – it doesn’t get results either (with 12 timeline dias;
- Senate report on CIA torture could lead to prosecutions of Americans abroad, on The Guardian, by Julian Borger, Dec 10, 2014: Human rights groups say actions on foreign soil could fall under legal jurisdictions of those countries or the ICC in The Hague;
- CIA torture report release, on Google News-search;
Other Links:
’Die-in’ for Eric Garner: Hundreds shut down mall, block streets in London protest [VIDEO], 3.10 min, on Russia Today RT, Dec 10, 2014;
Revenge of the Unforgiven, How Righteousness Killed the World Economy, on NYT, by Paul Krugman, Oct 12, 2014: Stop me if you’ve heard this before, the world economy appears to be stumbling. For a while, things seemed to be looking up, and there was talk about green shoots of recovery. But now growth is stalling, and the specter of deflation looms …;
Fed Aim Off Target as Inflation Descends Near Danger Zone, on Bloomberg, Torres, by Craig, Dec 10, 2014;
… and this:
- Vital Energy Meditation Music … , 69.48 min, uploaded by SleepMusicRelaxZone, July 23, 2013.