Barack Obama, President of the United States has said that some of the tactics described in a Senate report on harsh CIA interrogations were “brutal”, “wrong” and “counterproductive.”
He said that the CIA techniques, employed in the wake of September 11, 2001 bombing, “were not only inconsistent with our values as a nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our national security interests.
“One of the things that sets us apart from other countries is that when we make mistakes, we admit them,” Obama said.
Obama said the report, which condemned the CIA for brutality and deception, was released as an important step in the process of making sure that such a scenario which makes clear that the interrogation programme under the administration of his predecessor, George W Bush was created too hastily and without enough thought about potential consequences, isn’t ever repeated.
Obama dismantled the enhanced interrogation programme in 2009.
The heavily redacted 480-page report published on Tuesday uncovered the treatment of around 100 suspects rounded up by US operatives between 2001 and 2009 on terrorism charges.
The US embassies in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Thailand are warning of the potential for anti-American protests and violence after the report.
Afghanistan and Thailand were hosts to two of the secret facilities where prisoners were interrogated.
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