OSF Report Slams Interrogation Techniques That Led to Bin Laden

George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) has released a report focusing on the evils of rendition, enhanced interrogation techniques, and, of course, George W. Bush.

Regarding rendition and enhanced interrogation techniques, OSF says:

54 foreign governments reportedly participated in these operations in various ways, including hosting CIA prisons on their territories; detaining, interrogating, torturing, and abusing individuals; assisting in the capture and transport of detainees; permitting the use of domestic airspace and airports for secret flights transporting detainees; providing intelligence leading to the secret detention and extraordinary rendition of individuals; and interrogating individuals who were secretly being held in the custody of other governments.

Enhanced interrogation techniques were carried out in these CIA prisons, or “black sites,” as they were called during the Bush presidency. In Dec. 2012, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) referred to the prisons and the interrogation techniques as “terrible mistakes.”

So what kind of terrible torture happened in these facilities? According to the OSF report, they included but were not limited to:

[Detainees being subjected to] techniques… such as “walling” (quickly pulling the detainee forward and then thrusting him against a flexible false wall), “water dousing,” “stress positions” (forcing the detainee to remain in body positions designed to induce physical discomfort), “wall standing” (forcing the detainee to remain standing with his arms outstretched in front of him so that his fingers touch a wall four to five feet away and support his entire body weight), “cramped confinement” in a box, “insult slap” (slapping the detainee in the face with fingers spread), “facial hold” (holding a detainee’s head temporarily immobile during interrogation with palms on either side of the face)…

If you search that list and find yourself at a loss for anything approaching torture, remember that “water dousing” includes “waterboarding,” which Democrats, and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), refer to as torture every chance they get. 

By the way, even the OSF report admits Bush only approved waterboarding for in the case of three detainees. 

Ironically, as recently as this past Sunday, Feb. 3rd, outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was asked if waterboarding helped us find Osama bin Laden; his answer was, “Yes.”