U.S. Senate Hearing Exposes Bush Administration’s Role in Torture Policy

Washington, Jun 18, (RHC).- A Senate hearing on Capitol Hill has exposed the George W. Bush administration's role in setting up the guidelines for torture. The chair of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, Carl Levin, accused top administration officials of sanctioning the use of harsh interrogation techniques used at Guantánamo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

During a hearing on Tuesday, Senator Levin revealed a senior CIA lawyer told Pentagon staff at Guantánamo in 2002 that torture is “basically subject to perception.” CIA attorney Jonathan Freedman said in 2002: “If the detainee dies, you’re doing it wrong.” Levin also revealed military psychologists played a role in devising the military’s interrogation routines.

The Pentagon’s former general counsel, William Haynes, was repeatedly questioned on Tuesday about his role in authorizing interrogation techniques that amount to torture according to many legal and human rights groups. During two hours of testimony, Haynes responded to dozens of questions by saying he could not recall or remember details about the process of approving the interrogation techniques.

The U.S. Senate also released documents Tuesday confirming that the U.S. military hid the locations of some prisoners from the International Committee of the Red Cross in order to cover up the torture of prisoners.