(Newser)
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Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats are about to wrap-up a three-year investigation into the "enhanced interrogation techniques" the CIA used during the Bush administration, and sources tell Reuters that they've found "no evidence" that the tactics played "any significant role" in Osama bin Laden's death, and precious little that they produced any counter-terrorism breakthroughs at all. The report is based on millions of pages of CIA documents that contain all the gory details on when and how torture was used.
Republicans withdrew from the study in 2009 because, due to criminal investigations, the panel wasn't able to interview witnesses to verify the documents. The report comes just ahead of the Monday release of Hard Measures, a book from CIA clandestine operations chief Jose Rodriguez, in which he defends torture. "We made some al-Qaeda terrorists with American blood on their hands uncomfortable for a few days," Rodriguez told 60 Minutes. "I am very secure in what we did."
