STUPID TO RELEASE CIA TORTURE REPORT

Release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s CIA torture report will do damage to the CIA and put Americans in Muslim countries at risk

Waterboarding and other forms of torture are not nice. They violate American values and their effectiveness is somewhat questionable. Nevertheless, that’s what the CIA resorted to in attempting to pry information out of suspected post-9/11 terrorists.

Democrats led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have released a lengthy report on the tactics the CIA used against detainees suspected of ties to al Queda. The report was released in defiance of strenuous objections by intelligence experts who said it will do damage to the CIA and put Americans in Muslim countries at risk.

Feinstein made an impassionate speech on the Senate floor Tuesday, defending the release of the report to assure that we will never again resort to torture. Although a bedrock liberal, Feinstein has staunchly defended the National Security Agency's secret data collection program and also strongly supported the CIA's covert use of drones for targeted killings.

The Senate report not only excoriates the CIA for its interrogation tactics, but it also accuses the agency of lying to Congress and the Bush administration about its use of toruture, something that George W. Bush vehemently denies.

Americans learned of the CIA’s torture tactics some years ago, but not to the extent described in the newly released Senate report. So was it necessary to release the report as Feinstein claims. Definitely not! We need the CIA to maintain our national security and anything that damages the agency will diminish its ability to protect us.

Most congressional Democrats supported the report’s release while Republicans opposed it. President Obama wanted the report made public. I suspect most Americans are happy that the CIA was trying to protect them from further terrorist attacks and couldn’t care less about the Senate’s torture report.

Defying the warnings by intelligence experts of damage to the CIA and risks to Americans is just plain stupid!