A public outcry arose last week around the Senate torture report when Senator Dianne Feinstein accused the CIA of blocking investigation of the CIA’s torture program. The CIA has reportedly been fighting efforts to declassify the report. Since then, more officials—both former and current—have come out to call for the report’s release.
Former Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora weighed in on the Rachel Maddow show last Friday in support of declassification. He said:
“I think President Obama had it just right…He said that it’s important to know where we had been and it’s important to serve as a guide to know where we are going and he got it right on both counts. The nation hasn’t really yet come to grips adequately with what we did and what the consequences of our actions were. And what’s more: there are a large number of American people, according to some polls maybe 50% of the public, that believe vaguely or generally it maybe ok to use torture in defending the country. It’s important that we understand that that would be a mistake as it was a mistake to use torture or cruelty during the war on terror. In making these critical decisions, we have to understand facts of this ill-fated experiment with torture.”
Former CIA Counterterrorism Official Phillip Mudd has also called for declassification. Mudd said on CNN:
“I think [the Senate torture report] should be released. I think there ought to be a couple of rules on how we release it. The report should be bipartisan. It should represent both sides of the aisle. And if the CIA has a rebuttal, which I suspect they would, I think we ought to allow that to be released at the same time. This is important for the American people to understand this era in American politics and war on terror. If this happens, I think it is okay.”
Human Rights First agrees and that’s why we have been working hard to push for the release of the torture report on the Hill and at the White House.
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