Senate Panel Votes To Release CIA Torture Report

By: Brandon R. Cottrell 
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – The Senate Intelligence Committee voted last week to release parts of a four year long report that investigated CIA terror interrogations during the Bush administration.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, who voted in favor of releasing the report, described the results as “shocking” and that such a program “must never be allowed to happen again” (Photo Courtesy Washington Post).

The panel, which is comprised of fourteen members, had eleven members voting in favor of release and three members (Republican Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, Dan Coats of Indiana and Jim Risch of Idaho) voting against release of five hundred pages (out of six thousand total pages) of the report.

Though the report needs to be declassified, the release should still provide the fullest account of the enhanced interrogation techniques that were used.  According to members of the intelligence community, however, the report will not paint a full picture as the underlying investigation “fail[ed] to include interviews from top spy agency officials who authorized or supervised the brutal interrogations.”

Senator Richard Burr, who voted in favor of releasing the report, believes that the report is “flawed and biased” but thought it important “to give the American people the opportunity to make their judgments.”

Amid concerns that the CIA will “sanitize key elements of their investigation” as they redact passages that could comprise national security, the White House reported that it would instruct intelligence officials to cooperate fully with the pending release.

Additionally, Dean Boyd, a CIA spokesman, said that the agency would “carry out the review expeditiously” and that “we owe it to the men and women directed to carry out this program to try and ensure that any historical account is accurate.”

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, stated that “”The purpose of this review was to uncover the facts behind the secret program and the results, I think, were shocking . . . the report exposes brutality that stands in sharp contrast to our values as a nation [and] it chronicles a stain on our history that must never be allowed to happen again.  This is not what Americans do.”  Feinstein has additionally stated that she hopes the report will be released to the public within thirty days.

Amnesty International issued a statement with similar sentiments, stating that “the interrogation techniques amount to torture and therefore violated international law” and that it wished the report would be released in full but acknowledged that “given the systematic failure of the U.S. authorities to declassify and disclose anything like the full truth . . .  any transparency on them is a step in the right direction.”

The report accuses the CIA of overstating the significance of alleged terrorist plots and prisoners, and exaggerating the effectiveness of the program by claiming credit for information surrendered before they were subjected to the interrogations.

 

For further information, please see the following: 

AP – Senate Panel Votes To Release CIA Torture Report – 3/April/14

New York Times – Senate Panel Votes To Reveal Report On C.I.A. Interrogations – 3/April/14

USA Today – Senate Panel Votes To Declassify Part Of CIA Report – 3/April/14

Washington Post – Senate Panel Votes To Release CIA Interrogation Report – 3/April/14

Civil Suit Opened against Dutch State by Srebrenica Survivors

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre filed suit against the Dutch government, arguing that Dutch peacekeepers should have prevented the bloodshed.

The Mothers of Srebrenica, survivors of the 1995 massacre opened suit against the Dutch state, arguing that Dutch peacekeepers should have done more to prevent bloodshed. (Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

On 11 July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran the town of Srebrenica, a UN-protected safe haven for Muslims. General Ratko Mladic’s troops moved by lightly-armed Dutch peacekeepers in the safe area, where thousands of Muslims gathered for protection. As days followed, nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered and their bodies dumped in mass graves. The event has been called the worst bloodshed on European soil since World War II.

Mladic, dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, and former Bosnian Serb political chief Radovan Karadzic are facing charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Hague.

In 2007, a victims’ group, the Mothers of Srebrenica brought suit in connection with the massacre. The Mothers of Srebrenica represents about 6,000 widows and victims’ relatives. They have been seeking justice for several years for the massacre, which the UN’s International Court of Justice has ruled genocide.

“They did not prevent the murder of thousands of civilians,” the group’s lawyer Marco Gerritsen told the Hague court, where the case is being heard.

“The Mothers of Srebrenica want the responsibility of the Dutch to be recognised and then compensation, even though this is less important to them,” said Semir Guzin, another victims’ lawyer.

“Of course, this procedure is not going to give us our sons and husbands back, but will bring a bit of justice,” Hatidza Mehmedovic, one of about a dozen representatives of the Mothers present at the hearing.

In 2013, the European Court for Human Rights ruled against the Mothers of Srebrenica, stating that the United Nations had immunity.

However, in September 2013, the Dutch Supreme Court ordered the government to pay damages to victims’ relatives. Those victims had been handed over to Bosnian Serb forces by Dutch soldiers. More recently, the Dutch state’s lawyer argued that the Netherlands had no direct control over the Dutch peacekeeping unit during the operation. Civil proceedings against the Dutch state had been put on hold pending the outcome of the case against the UN.

“It is about Dutch soldiers, but Dutch soldiers wearing blue helmets and therefore completely under UN control,” Gert-Jan Houtzagers told the court. “Dutchbat did what it could with a handful of men. They tried to protect as many refugees as possible. That didn’t work, but it’s twisting the facts to say they [Dutchbat] led people like lambs to the slaughter.”

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Srebrenica Survivors Sue Dutch Government – April 7, 2014

Deutsche Welle – Srebrenica Relatives Sue Dutch Government – April 7, 2014

Guardian – Srebrenica Massacre Survivors Take Legal Action against Dutch Government – April 7, 2014

Washington Post – Srebrenica Widows Sue Dutch Government – April 7, 2014